This 1954 western won an Academy Award for Best Writing and Katy Jurado was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Spencer Tracy is Matthew Deveraux, a self-made Irish (with a name like Deveraux? -- Cajun maybe -- but Irish?) cattle baron owning a huge herd and ranch. He is absolute patriarch over his 4 sons and Indian wife (Jurado), ruling with little feeling for his sons who he treats as hired hands but doting on his spouse.
He does have a soft spot, however, for half-breed son Joe (Robert Wagner) which the other three sons from a previous marriage especially the oldest Ben (Richard Widmark) deeply resent. Joe has fallen in love with Barbara (Jean Peters), the governor's daughter further complicating things as the governor (E.G. Marshall) is highly prejudiced against Indians.
A violent dispute with a copper mining company polluting creek waters leads to all kinds of legal trouble and Matt must sign the ranch away to his sons. Joe becomes the sacrificial lamb and goes to jail for 3 years basically to keep his father free.
Meanwhile Ben now runs the cattle business as he sees fit and in direct defiance of his father's wishes.
The film has beautiful landscape photography that is not to be missed. Both Tracy and Widmark offer strong performances.
But there are some problems here that hold the film down.
Wagner's performance is flat and he is not believable at all as being part Indian. Jurado has little to say or do and how she was Oscar nominated is hard to fathom.
The other two sons portrayed by Earl Holliman and Hugh O'Brian are woefully underdeveloped just going along with whatever Widmark's character wants. By the end of the film they have disappeared entirely.
Compare this with a film like the "The Sons Of Katie Elder" where the group dynamic and personalities of 4 similar western sons are much better developed and explored and you may feel somewhat cheated by what this film could have been.
It's never quite clear (at least to me) why Joe has to go to jail since he did not even start the fight with the copper company. And why the copper company would care if anyone goes to jail (since they get everything they want in the settlement) is also a head scratcher. This just seemed a highly contrived plot device.
Finally, another Indian, Two Moons (Eduard Franz - a serious miscast if I ever saw one), saves Joe at a critical point in the film.
Wny he appears at just the right moment and his devotion to the Deveraux family is never fully explained (at least to my satisfaction).
In fact, there is a whole subplot about Matt Deveraux and the Indians that is touched on but never explored as well. Matt has a surprising respect for wolves (especially for a cattleman) that begged for some further explanation. He is a complex multi-faceted character that should have been better developed.
An average oater saved only by Tracy, Widmark, and the spectacular scenery. It could have been so much better.
Spencer Tracy is Matthew Deveraux, a self-made Irish (with a name like Deveraux? -- Cajun maybe -- but Irish?) cattle baron owning a huge herd and ranch. He is absolute patriarch over his 4 sons and Indian wife (Jurado), ruling with little feeling for his sons who he treats as hired hands but doting on his spouse.
He does have a soft spot, however, for half-breed son Joe (Robert Wagner) which the other three sons from a previous marriage especially the oldest Ben (Richard Widmark) deeply resent. Joe has fallen in love with Barbara (Jean Peters), the governor's daughter further complicating things as the governor (E.G. Marshall) is highly prejudiced against Indians.
A violent dispute with a copper mining company polluting creek waters leads to all kinds of legal trouble and Matt must sign the ranch away to his sons. Joe becomes the sacrificial lamb and goes to jail for 3 years basically to keep his father free.
Meanwhile Ben now runs the cattle business as he sees fit and in direct defiance of his father's wishes.
The film has beautiful landscape photography that is not to be missed. Both Tracy and Widmark offer strong performances.
But there are some problems here that hold the film down.
Wagner's performance is flat and he is not believable at all as being part Indian. Jurado has little to say or do and how she was Oscar nominated is hard to fathom.
The other two sons portrayed by Earl Holliman and Hugh O'Brian are woefully underdeveloped just going along with whatever Widmark's character wants. By the end of the film they have disappeared entirely.
Compare this with a film like the "The Sons Of Katie Elder" where the group dynamic and personalities of 4 similar western sons are much better developed and explored and you may feel somewhat cheated by what this film could have been.
It's never quite clear (at least to me) why Joe has to go to jail since he did not even start the fight with the copper company. And why the copper company would care if anyone goes to jail (since they get everything they want in the settlement) is also a head scratcher. This just seemed a highly contrived plot device.
Finally, another Indian, Two Moons (Eduard Franz - a serious miscast if I ever saw one), saves Joe at a critical point in the film.
Wny he appears at just the right moment and his devotion to the Deveraux family is never fully explained (at least to my satisfaction).
In fact, there is a whole subplot about Matt Deveraux and the Indians that is touched on but never explored as well. Matt has a surprising respect for wolves (especially for a cattleman) that begged for some further explanation. He is a complex multi-faceted character that should have been better developed.
An average oater saved only by Tracy, Widmark, and the spectacular scenery. It could have been so much better.