The last Great Western has still not been topped

1958s The big country is a rousing Western starring Gregory Peck that rewrote elements of the genre in an era when Westerns were at the height of their cinematic popularity. A film of epic proportions, directed by William Wyler, it is a subtle reimagining of the genre itself. It deals with themes of violence and peacemaking, and could even be seen as an allegory for the times in which it was produced. Wyler demanded top quality in his production – so much so that he alienated some of his actors. And while Peck may not have been as synonymous with Westerns as actors John Wayne and later Clint Eastwood, he had a fair amount under his belt by the end of his career.

The Western never really died out and The big country has yet to be surpassed. At nearly three hours long, the film is not a quick watch, but it is far from a slog. And while later Westerns have also attempted to subvert the genre, Wyler does so in a way that lacks the clumsiness of later attempts. It is, quite simply, a masterpiece of cinematic art.

The Big Country deconstructed traditional Westerns

• The big country makes fun of the exaggerated violence of earlier Westerns and spreads a pacifist message.
• Director William Wyler presented The big country as an allegory for the Cold War.

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One of the qualities of Peck’s character James McKay that makes him stand out is his aversion to violence. McKay does his best to avoid confrontations with his opponents throughout most of the film. McKay is a former East Coast sea captain who is ridiculed by the locals when he heads west to join his fiancée Patricia Terrill on her father’s ranch. His East Coast manners often clash with the rough and tumble locals, such as Buck Hannassey and his sons. This stark contrast of attitudes was intentional by the filmmakers.

The attitude that The big country physical violence is the reason why it has been called “revisionist” by students of the genre. European Journal of American Culture said it “promotes a revised attitude towards previously accepted moral conventions of violence within the genre and should therefore be understood as a revisionist work.” That it draws the line between classic and revisionist westerns. McKay’s unwillingness to get involved in a fight even leads to tensions between him and Patricia at one point. The film ends poignantly with two feuding patriarchs killing each other.

To a large extent, The big country is part satire and part commentary on the Western itself. While many other Westerns later broke with the tradition, such as Play me the song of death (1968) or Plateau Drifter (1968), The big country is unique in its ability to present such a strong representation of the genre without being overly dogmatic in its execution. That’s not to say McKay never gets into fights throughout the film, but when he does make his decisions, they carry weight and illustrate his character’s methodical decision-making process.

Wyler also inspired The big country with parallels to the Cold War. In the 1950s, tensions were building between the Soviet Union and the United States and Americans lived in fear of impending nuclear war. Viewers have noted parallels in the film to Burl Ives’ character Rufus Hanassey and the First Secretary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Nikita Khrushchev. Ives won an Oscar for his portrayal of the head of the family who keeps his brood in a “sequestrian ravine, cut off from the rest of the world, just as the USSR lay behind the Iron Curtain.” Just like Twelve noon (1952) served as a metaphor for the Red Scare that was widespread in Hollywood at the time. The big country walks a fine line between purely Western and modern allegory.

“The Big Country” was one of many westerns for actor Gregory Peck

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As an actor, Peck worked in many different genres, from war films to romance films. However, he ended his career with several westerns. Before he hit the screen, Peck acted in over 50 plays. His first breakthrough came in Days of Glory (1944) as the romantic lead. The film is a war story set in Russia during the Nazi invasion in the 1940s.

Peck’s first Western was released two years later Days of Glory in 1946. Duel in the sun deals with racial tensions in the American West when a young mixed-race woman falls in love with two white brothers, played by Gregory Peck and Joseph Cotton. According to Turner Classic Movies, when the film premiered, director David O. Selznick was “upset by the poor reviews, jokes about ‘Lust in the Dust,’ as the film was called, and even complaints in Congress about the film’s unbridled sexuality.” Unfortunately, despite a film that aimed for higher artistic expression and pushed the boundaries of the restrictive Hays Code, Selznick’s production only broke even. This didn’t stop film greats like Martin Scorsese from commenting on what an impression it made. Duel in the sun to him as a director.

Peck established himself as an actor who took on many roles with principled messages. His role in The Gunslinger (1950) has similar echoes as McKay in The big country. In The Gunslinger, Peck plays Jimmy Ringo, a gunman trying to escape his reputation as the fastest gunman in the West. Like McKay, Ringo is “tired of violence, but has been constantly egged on to it.” An almost identical premise exists in the revisionist western Leave in which Keifer Sutherland plays a jaded gunslinger opposite Donald Sutherland who tries to hang up his gun after accidentally shooting a child. After his performance in The GunslingerPeck was cast in the lead role in Twelve noon which inevitably went to Gary Cooper because Peck was afraid of being pigeonholed into a specific role.

Big Country director William Wyler began his career in Hollywood directing Westerns

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Wyler later even directed Cooper himself The Westerner (1953), but at that time he was no newcomer to the Western genre. From 1925 to 1928, the Swiss-German immigrant Wyler made exclusively Westerns – all silent films. He became a master of the genre. His first “talkie” Western was a pre-Code film called Heroes of Hell (1929). Despite his talent for making films about the Wild West, some of his most memorable cinematic achievements were films such as Mrs Miniver (1942), The best years of our lives (1946) and Wuthering Heights (1939) with Lawrence Olivier.

Even with The big country Although Wyler has an indelible reputation in American cinema, the cast and crew struggled to make the film with Wyler in the director’s chair. In the late 1980s, Jean Simmons revealed that she was traumatized by her experiences on set. “We would learn our lines, then get a re-write, stay up all night learning the new version, and get another re-write the next morning. It made acting almost impossible,” Simmons explained (via TCM). Caroll Baker described Wyler’s confusing directing directions in a scene where Charlton Heston had to grab her wrists, leaving her with welts that had to be iced between takes. Heston expressed shock when he learned they had given conflicting instructions, saying, “Jesus Christ, I was almost a hundred pounds heavier than she was.” The film would also destroy Peck and Wyler’s relationship.

Astonishing, The big country still has a 100% rating with critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 91% rating with audiences. Few films can stand the test of time so well. Perhaps it is the combination of deft storytelling on a large scale, the performances of the cast and the stirring soundtrack that sets it apart from other westerns of its time. It is a typical American western that the likes of Kevin Costner still try to recreate with Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024). The big country remains one of the few films that does justice to its genre while breaking the norm.