James McKay (Peck) arrives in a small western town that is surrounded by hundreds of miles of land and far away from the law. He is to wed Patricia Terrill, daughter of ‘the major’, who runs the Ladder cattle ranch. Despite owning tens of thousands of cattle and hundreds of thousands of acres of land, the major wants more. He has been trying to buy the “big muddy” from Jean Simmons’ character, Julie Maragon, for several years. She inherited the land from her grandfather and is intent on not selling the land to the Terrills or the Hannassey’s, another family who is desperate to get the land.
McKay finds himself in the middle of all of this. Harassed by both the Hannassey’s and the Terrills, McKay’s cool demeanor is classic Gregory Peck. You know he’s a capable man, but he is reserved — he is patient. And despite being doubted, challenged, and made fun of for his hat and eastern-ways, McKay remains the better man. This drives his fiance nuts, however. She hates that everyone thinks McKay a coward, and demands he do something about it. McKay comes up with a genius plan to put himself and potentially everyone in the area in a better situation, but I won’t spoil it for you.
The Big Country is a great movie. The acting is solid, as is the character development and the evolving relationships. The cinematography takes advantage of the amazing countryside, treating the viewer to some beautiful outdoor scenes that really shine on Blu-ray. MGM did an excellent job bringing The Big Country to HD. Other than a handful of brief scenes where the colors are subdued or some odd ‘ghosting’ appears (not exactly the term I’m looking for, but close), the image quality is surprisingly great. Expect crisp images, vibrant colors, and lots of interesting visual detail to soak in. The English DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track does a fine job, and other spoken and subtitled languages are included as well.
Extra features are few, but they aren’t bad. Here’s what you get:
-Trailer (3m, HD)
-Fun In the Country (5m12, SD) – This is narrated by Jean Simmons and is sort of a vintage behind the scenes feature. You will see Gregory Peck playing chess on set and other cast and crew racing turtles. It’s unusual, but surprisingly candid, and worth viewing.
-TV Spot (53s, SD) – An original TV Spot, promoting the movie.
To the summary…