I finally saw The Big Country on the big screen last night–at the Rafael. I was wrong to give this sprawling, 1958, pacifistic western a B. This is A material.
This was the second of the Rafael’s three-part, weekend-long Academy Color Restorations series. Part 3, Jean Renoir’s The River, starts tonight at 7:00.
The restoration itself was a mixed bag. Most of the movie had that clear, color-punched look that the Technirama process–which used twice as much film per frame as standard 35mm–delivered in the original release prints. But significant chunks looked mediocre and sometimes worse, with bluish blacks, heavy grain, and even out-of-focus shots.
During the Q&A after the movie (more on that below), I asked, Academy Governor, film historian, and visual effects supervisor Craig Barron about the restoration in general, but not about the inconsistent image quality. He talked mainly about the difficulties in restoring from a Technirama source, since that format died decades ago. In answer to someone else’s question, he explained that the restoration was entirely photochemical for budgetary reasons, and that he wished they had had the money to restore it digitally.
So what about the movie, itself?
Although not well-enough known to warrant a digital restoration, it belongs among the great westerns, and is arguably the beginning of the anti-western sub-genre that blossomed a decade later. But unlike later anti-westerns, The Big Country has a real hero, albeit one whose courage comes in his refusal to behave by the code of the west. Gregory Peck plays James McKay, a sea captain who’s come west to marry his sweetheart, the daughter of a wealthy and powerful rancher. Captain McKay’s reluctance to prove his manhood soon runs foul of the locals, especially foreman Steve Leech (Charlton Heston in a rare supporting role). He also opposes his future father-in-law’s violent harassment of a far less wealthy competitor.
Visually, The Big Country is very much of its time. As with many major, widescreen period pieces of the 1950s, shot after shot emphasizes the bigness of everything, from vast landscapes to boulders to the thick steaks served at breakfast. Even the title emphasizes the largeness of the setting and story, although the multiple screenwriters wisely turned that title into a running joke.
After the film, Barron and director William Wyler’s daughter, Judy Wyler Sheldon, came on stage to talk a bit and answer questions. Sheldon recalled a feud her father had with Peck doing the shooting (they co-produced the film together). She talked about how the auturists rejected her father for the sin of being too versatile. She also mentioned her father’s pacifistic leanings, which also inspired his previous film, the Quaker Civil War drama Gentle Persuasion (which I’ve also yet to see on the big screen). “If he was still alive,” she added, referring to his opposition to war, “I know who he’d vote for.”
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