The Big Country (1958)

I said before that I couldn't really characterize William Wyler's directorial style. Now I must be getting the hang of it, because as I watched TBC, I thought of two others: Friendly Persuasion and The Westerner. They're all set in the 19th century and have protagonists who are big on peace.

Rather unusually for a western, the hero in this one, James McKay (Gregory Peck), is a ship captain -- and a fish out of water. He comes to the frontier because it's home to Patricia Terrill (Carroll Baker), his intended. Apparently, no one warned him that her wealthy father, Henry (Charles Bickford), is leading one side of a feud with the rugged Hannassey clan, led by Rufus (Burl Ives), over access to a waterhole on land owned by Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons), who's on good terms with Jim and Pat but unwilling to sell to either patriarch. Like Julie, Jim doesn't let social closeness color his judgment of the situation. But to call him neutral would be misleading; he simply seeks a third option....

Brute Force (1947)

I sat on this disc for a while, taking a break from movies in general. The title suggested that I would have to prepare myself for more grit. On the other hand, the year of release guaranteed that it wouldn't show anything too severe on screen. The golden age of film noir was bleak but hardly ripe for R ratings, especially in Hollywood.

This one belongs to the semi-genre of prison films, which must have felt pretty well-worn after the '30s. But compared to the bulk of those, BF could be seen as more of a precursor to The Shawshank Redemption. While the prisoners are all decidedly criminal -- even collectively murdering snitches -- they get far more of our sympathy than harsh, deceptively soft-spoken chief of security Munsey (Hume Cronyn). Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) leads a group effort to escape, not only because the prison is intolerable but because his wife refuses vital medical attention unless he's with her.