There’s a case to be made that William Wyler is the greatest director who’s ever stepped foot on this planet.
Three of his movies - Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives (a personal favorite of mine as it's one of the best war movies ever made), and Ben-Hur won Best Picture, and he won Best Director for all three films. He was also nominated for Best Director a whopping 12 times, more than any other director ever.
Well, being as prolific as he was, he directed over 30 westerns, but arguably his best is 1958's The Big Country starring Gregory Peck. I would call it one of the greatest westerns ever made, even though you rarely see it on any best-of-western lists (including our own!). Here's why it's such a gem.
Gregory Peck Plays A Man Who Prefers To Keep The Peace Without Violence
You know, a lot of people love to talk about Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven as a deconstruction of the western myth, and yeah, it definitely is. William Munny is an unvarnished former outlaw, and he's not a good man, though he's trying. However, the movie does not romanticize the West, and actually paints a rather bleak picture of what it was probably like to live back then.
The Big Country also subverts the western myth, but in a very different way. You see, westerns were always about machismo. They were about men being men, and often shooting first, and asking questions later. But Gregory Peck's character, James McKay, isn't like that at all. Instead, he's soft-spoken, jovial, and even peaceful. This conflicts with a familial war that he's caught in the middle of since he's marrying the daughter of the father who's at war with an enemy.
Everybody expects McKay to step up and “be a man,” but he doesn't live by other people's expectations. This leads to people thinking he's a coward when he's really not at all. He just doesn't see the need to prove himself to anybody. This is a vastly different western “hero” from so many of the ones you would see in the ‘50s, making this western truly stand out.
The Score Is Probably One Of The Most Magnificent That The Genre Has Ever Produced
I don't think anybody is going to debate the greatest theme of all time for a western. It's the one from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by the legendary composer, Ennio Morricone. But, you know, here's the thing about that theme - similar to the theme of Jaws, it's so great that it's almost BIGGER than the movie. Like, you'd often find The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly theme in other movies, and often parodied.
That said, the theme to The Big Country, by Jerome Moross, is just so stirring, and so sweeping that I think it may rival Morricone's masterpiece. In fact, the whole score to The Big Country is just so ambitious and wonderful that it totally fits THIS movie, and no other.
I think that's what really makes it special. This movie often feels vast and yet full at the same time, and this score perfectly matches the film's energy. It's definitely one of the best scores I've ever heard, and not just for a western, either.
In The End, It Deserves Way More Love Than It Gets Today, As It's A Masterpiece
I actually never even heard of The Big Country until my dad recommended it to me, since it really left a lasting impression on him when he was just a child, and I can see why.
The film is both unlike any other western I've ever seen but also fits comfortably within the genre. The whole cast is wonderful (Especially Burl Ives), and it really takes you away.
So, if you haven't seen The Big Country yet, definitely check it out. It's a masterpiece that you don't hear about often enough.
