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The Big Country

The Big Country
Big country833.jpg
Theatrical release poster by Saul Bass
Directed by William Wyler
Produced by Gregory Peck
William Wyler
Written by Robert Wilder
Starring Gregory Peck
Jean Simmons
Charlton Heston
Carroll Baker
Burl Ives
Charles Bickford
Chuck Connors
Music by Jerome Moross
Cinematography Franz F. Planer, ASC
Edited by Robert Belcher
John Faure
Robert Swink (sup)
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • October 1, 1958 (1958-10-01)
Running time
166 minutes
Language English
Box office $4 million (US/Canada rentals)

The Big Country is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston and Burl Ives. The supporting cast features Charles Bickford and Chuck Connors. The picture was based on the serialized magazine novel Ambush at Blanco Canyon by Donald Hamilton. and was co-produced by Wyler and Peck. The opening title sequence was created by Saul Bass. The film is one of very few pictures in which Heston plays a major supporting role instead of the lead.

Ives won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as well as the Golden Globe Award. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for the musical score by Jerome Moross.

Successful sea captain James McKay (Gregory Peck) travels to the American West to join his fiancée Patricia (Carroll Baker) at the enormous ranch owned by her father, Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford), referred to by all as "The Major". Terrill has been feuding with Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives), the patriarch of a poorer, less refined ranching clan, over water rights in the arid grazing lands of the high plains.


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