2002 Talk About Movies
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Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

THE BIG COUNTRY

Directed by William Wyler. Starring Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford. 1958, 165 minutes, USA, English, Color. Available at Kensington Video.

Ernie: The antagonists, Rufus and the Major, have ended up at opposite positions from where they started. Rufus came from good breeding, but he's degraded into a hillbilly. Matthew: He came to the wild land and became a wild man. He's king of his huge family... Ernie: ...but his sons are utterly dissolute, and he can see his failure in them. And the Major didn't come from good breeding, but put on airs as he became wealthy. He and his family are still barbaric -- they gather around to see a fight.
* * *
Ernie: There's a lot of exploration of what makes a man, but in the end, when Rufus and the Major are alone in the canyon, you can see that they're the same man. Matthew: They're small men who have gained enlarged visions because of the Big Country in which they live. There was a point to the fellow's asking McKay if he's ever seen anything so big, and him answering, "Yes, a couple of oceans." Because he was a sea captain, he had a broader vision of the world. But for all their big country, all Rufus and the Major can see is their own little war.