61
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Slant MagazineClayton DillardSlant MagazineClayton DillardAlthough The Best Years of Our Lives remains Wyler’s most essential assessment of the American psyche, The Big Country is stunning for how it meshes the intimate strife of a particularly white American stripe of self-resentment with the epic vista of Technirama Technicolor.
- A huge, sprawling western with just about everything: brilliant photography, superb music, an intelligent script, and excellent performances, including one from Heston that is one of the best of his career.
- 80The Observer (UK)The Observer (UK)Strong allegorical undertones reflecting the Cold War, then at its height, and an unforgettable score by Jerome Moross. [31 Dec 2006, p.12]
- William Wyler’s sprawling Western about iron-willed ranchers squabbling over desirable land, The Big Country, is one of the prime wide-screen epics of the late ’50s, but today it’s remembered mostly for composer Jerome Moross’ magnificent Big Sky score.
- 75Orlando SentinelOrlando SentinelThe Big Country is a sprawling western that is handsomely photographed by Franz Planer and meticulously directed by William Wyler. [02 Oct 1994, p.51]
- 63The Seattle TimesJohn HartlThe Seattle TimesJohn HartlThe characterizations now seem a tad thin, but Ives still impresses, and so does Charlton Heston as the most conflicted character, caught in the middle of this Cold War allegory about two feuding families and an outsider (Gregory Peck) with pacifist leanings. [29 Feb 1996, p.D3]
- 60Time OutTime OutFinely crafted, though, with some marvellous camerawork (Franz Planer), an outstanding performance from Heston, and a vague message about violence predictably underscored by a marathon fist-fight between Peck and Heston. [31 Aug 2005]
- 50The New York TimesBosley CrowtherThe New York TimesBosley CrowtherFor all this film's mighty pretensions, it does not get far beneath the skin of its conventional Western situation and its stock Western characters. It skims across standard complications and ends on a platitude.