- Messages
- 54,308
The Big Country (1958) with Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, and Burl Ives; dir. William Wyler. Long, slow shots of people thinking, epic vistas of mountains and plains and canyons, with some long, slow shots of people thinking, interspersed with some long, slow dialogue. When Burl Ives recites his lines the tempo picks up. Check out his false eyebrows, made from kiddy toy bat wings.
All the move-making gimmicks are here to make you think you're watching an epic: ponderous pacing, static placement of extras while the principals stare at each other to stretch out the time, crane shots, long-distance shots of riders on horseback traveling across dramatic terrain (think of Lawrence of Arabia trekking across endless lunar-like landscapes). The thing clocks in at 2 hours and 40-some minutes but it seems like about a week.
Here's the synopsis from IMDB: A New Englander arrives in the Old West, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.
Ok, I just have to do it:
https://youtu.be/bw2o_Go4QWI