@@JeffreyCantelope Same here I see The Big Country several times a year, it's got everything, how in the world could the academy give the award for Best Picture to Gigi? It's still a mystery even now.
One of the most spectacular westerns ever made. And a score for the ages. Hard to believe it has never been reacted to. So congrats on being the first. And if you are now a Jean Simmons fan, she was in another spactacular movie made only 1 year later. It is not a western but it is every bit as good as this one, if not better. Talkin' bout Stanley Kubrik's epic masterpiece, SPARTACUS. This movie is loved by millions out here and as of now you'd be the first to my knowledge to react to this one too if ou did.
Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Chuck Connors, Jean Simmons ...and Burl Ives, who won an Academy Award for his performance in this. One of my favorite films. And one of the best theme songs in film.
This is definitely one of the best westerns ever. Another one you must watch is Shane. It's about a gunfighter trying to put the past behind him but circumstances won't permit it. Another Gregory Peck movie with a similar theme to Shane is The Gunfighter.
This movie was also directed by the late William Wyler who afterwards directed Ben Hur. Love Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck and Jean Simmons in this 🍿 movie
He also played for the Boston Celtics their first season. One of only a few men who played multiple pro sports. He is also credited as the first pro basketball player to shatter a backboard.
He also broke his little finger when filming that opening scene of the Rifleman. He said if you could see it there was a little tear running down his face.@Vlasko60
Yes, I quite agree. Definitely a western epic. I was surprised that she didn't mention the musical score, but then maybe she did in the extended version on Patreon.
John McKay is a very ethical character. A character of rare and great integrity, which is what really distinguishes this movie. Moral clarity. Determined to do what's best for all.
I'm 74, I saw this movie at a drive in with my mom and little brother when I was 8. I still believe it is the best western movie ever made, the story of a man with impeccable character.
This 55 year old tips his hat, sir. For I feel closer to your generation than the one equally younger. The simple message of mature manhood is rare, but even these kids can see the value of it when on display. 🍻
@@robertchristiansen5169 It is, There were 10 great westerns of all time and The Big Country could certainly be No. 1, it has everything, Superb Acting, Incredible Scenery and Expert Directing(William Wyler), Fabulous Music Score (Jerome Moross), and Burl Ives who stole the film With his surprise role of Ruffus Hannessy for which he won the only award for Best Supporting Actor!!!!!
@@richardscanlan3419 Unfortunately I fear that these channels do not react to the great movies because they do not get many views and they want to have visitors and subscribers, that is their right, and we wander through those channels looking for those great movies and because the majority are nice people and it is always better to see the movies accompanied...
@@richardscanlan3419 Ben Hur from 1959 won 11 Academy Awards and it was deserved, however Titanic from 1997 also received 11, and wasn't nearly as good!!!!!
Great Choice! Burl Ives was such an underrated Character Actor, but he did earn an Oscar for this role. Chuck Conners was a revelation. Loved, Loved , Loved her gown at the engagement ball. Before HD, I always thought her dress was black, but it’s actually a beautiful Navy blue. The score is just beautiful. This movie is such a gem!
~ My first exposure to Burl Ives was as a toddler in the early 50s when hearing his recording of Little White Duck on one of the folk music albums that first brought him to fame in another genre ~
@@samuraiwarriorsunite Sam Peckinpah created the show before leaving to create the short-lived adult Western series, "The Westerner", starring Brian Keith, and having an illustrious film career.
My earliest childhood memories. My family moved to Nigeria in 1965 for dad’s job as a surveyor. We lived in a house in the middle of nowhere. No neighbors, no neighborhood kids to play with. Mom was a film buff and brought along her favorite LP of Mantovanni playing the greatest score from classic films. I would wake up in the morning with the exhilarating music of Big Country coming from the kitchen as mom made breakfast. Big Country was my favorite, looking at the album cover with an epic shot of Gregory Peck with open sky behind him. I was obsessed with finding out what Big Country was about. With just that one photo Gregory Peck became my favorite actor without ever seeing him act at all. I was 5 years old. I didn’t see the film until 1970 back in the Philippines. I was so excited when I heard the opening theme. I was traumatized by the violence and the film haunted me in my nightmares. I was only 10 years old. It took a long time before I could make myself see it again. Older, I appreciated it more. It was epic. It lived up to what I imagined it to be back when I was only 5 in Nigeria. I love the film and Gregory Peck was a hero for me. The music is still played by symphony orchestras around the world. Epic! I am an illustrator and sculptor. Horses are my favorite subjects with my artwork. I wonder where that came from….
@@Dave-hb7lxJerome Moross. Soundtracks of movies from my childhood. Ray Harryhausen’s Cowboys and dinosaurs, The Valley of Gwangi. Charlton Heston in the 1965 medieval film The Warlord.
The wife and I watched this last evening. The new restored film. Just beautiful, great acting, great dialogue, great locations, and a great film. Just moved into the top 5 of my favorite horse operas.
Excellent reaction. I was a teenager when I first saw this film. It was on television, late at night. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to watch it. Then I heard the score, along with the opening credits. It was such a powerful opening, I was hooked, and watched it all the way through. I agree with Madison about that ending scene, and the unspoken attraction between the two leads. Nothing needed to be said. It was clear with the they looked at each other.
I have always thought that Chuck Conners should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting actor that year. He expressed the whole gamit of emotions and his facial expressions made them REAL! He sold his character!
A superior script, superior direction, superior acting by every cast member, superior cinematography, superior set design and costuming..."Big Country" is in my top 5 westerns of all time. Great call, Ms. Madison. Enjoyed your reaction.
High time somebody reacted to this great movie. I'm pretty sure you're the first on RUclips. The script, the plot, the directing, the acting, the incredible scenery, the fantastic music score, everything is just perfect. My mother could take or leave most Westerns, but The Big Country was one of her favorite movies of all times.
Among her other credits, she's the young Estella in "Great Expectations" and Ophelia in "Hamlet." And in "Elmer Gantry" she's outstanding as the evangelist Sharon Falconer.
The greatness of Burl shines through, what a role to pull off, and a very well deserved Oscar to boot. In case you don't know, he was also a great singer with the sweetest voice, "Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer" just one of his many hits. I miss him so.
Absolutely my favorite western with an amazing score and cast all of whom were huge in film during the fifties and sixties. You're commentary is right on with the character development and love story of Julie and Jim. The moral goodness and humble traits of Jim make him one of my favorite characters in cinema. Good job!
Madison - There is a great underrated western that you will love - "The Professionals". It stars Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Jack Palance. It also stars the great African American actor Woody Strode for whom the "Toy Story" character Woody is named.
2:24 gotta watch The Ten Commandments... Charlton Heston main actor... He also was the voice of God. He was also a voice in the animated Prince Of Egypt, you can hear him clearly. 5:075:08
I found this movie a few years ago because I was looking for movies based on novels by Donald Hamilton. There are seven. Four are Dean Martin "Matt Helm" movies, a movie starring Sterling Hayden in 1957 called "Five Steps to Danger," there is Glen Ford in the 1954 "'The Violent Men," and this movie. Donald Hamilton wrote 27 Matt Helm novels that were published from 1960 to 1993. If you get the time, watch "The Violent Men." I have these movies on DVD and BluRay and I managed to accumulate the novels that the movies were based on. Hamilton also wrote gun articles for outdoorsmen's magazines. If you liked the protagonist played by Gregory Peck in "The Big Country," you might like Glenn Ford as John Parrish in "The Violent Men." Hamiliton's protagonists are not typical--that's why they are interesting. "The Big Country" was 2 hours and 47 minutes--"The Violent Men" is only 96 minutes. The Violent Men has Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson and Brian Keith as costars. Thanks for sharing your reactions. Your comments were like watching a new movie because you see things I miss. Different people, different viewpoints.
Omg I'm so glad you listened to our recommendation to watch this movie! So glad you enjoyed it too! I grew up watching Gregory Peck movies and this is one of my favorites! His next best movie would probably be THE GUNS OF NAVARONE! it's not a western, but a was movie, but my late father told me it was epic for the time that it came out. It doesn't really have the romance of BIG COUNTRY, but is still a movie you will enjoy. He also stars in one of the greatest adaptations of a book...ever....TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, for which he won an academy award. The book is fantastic too. Either movie will likely impress you I think. Thanks again for watching these wonderful movies. It's a load of fun to see it through your eyes! Keep smiling👍🙂
Movie trivia: The actor who played Ramon was Alfonso Bedoya, who years earlier spoke the line usually misquoted as "Badges? We don't need any stinkin' badges!"
@@stephenmonk8787 Well, Wallach is wonderful as Tuco in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," where he curses Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name (call him Blondie there) at the end.
Such great themes in this film. The Terrells are all about pride and outward show-the opinion of the world. Jim is about moral integrity and true dignity. The Hanasseys are vulgar and rough, but the old man is closer to Jim 's values than not. Buck is just a lost soul. And perhaps the most interesting is Leech. He's been formed by old man Terrell, but once he is shown the meaning of true honor his true self comes out. A really fine film and another strong reaction.
Saw it in a drive in theater with my folks and my sister. I was 10yo. Westerns were big where I grew up. El Paso Texas! Great film. And not finalizing all the relations at the end, as you observed, was just brilliant. As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
I only knew Burl Ives from the christmas specials when i was a kid, he was a singer to me. When i saw this i was blown away by his performance, wonderful actor. I watch this movie a few times a year, its one of my favorites of all time.
Heston agreeing to be in this movie is actually what got him the role of Ben Hur. Heston had just come off of "The Ten Commandments", another great Biblical epic, but his portrayal of Moses was, to put it simply, epic to match the style. He wasn't sure he wanted to play in a smaller film right after such a big one, but he went for it anyway--and because the director saw how subtle Heston could play a role, especially with that hate and fury boiling just beneath the surface, he decided he was perfect. EDIT: Also, in the book, it is actually made clear that Steve and Pat were an item before she went off to the East and became "a lady". As such, she decided she was too good for Steve and got with Jim.
As I understand it, Heston initially turned down the script because he would be billed fourth, behind Peck. Simmons and Baker. His agent urged him to reconsider. because he'd be working with Peck (who, if Heston was a star, was a much bigger one) and with Wyler (a two-time Best Director winner) He took his advice and a year later he worked again with Wyler on "Ben Hur," and we know how that turned out for him, Wyler, Hugh Griffith and the picture. By the way, Peck was another Jim in another Western in 1958, "The Bravados." In some ways, it's Peck's "Searchers," for Jim Douglass is a driven, determined and angry man, much as John Wayne's Ethan Edwards is. Highly recommended, and not simply because Curly Joe DeRita gets to play a serious role!
Gregory Peck always played an honorable man...except in the movie "The Boys From Brazil." Here he went in the totally opposite direction. and played one of the most heinous men in history.
@@DanielGarrett0123 OK so he did play baddies early on in his career. I never cared much for watching those old black hats versus white hats westerns.Still, but the black hatters don't come close to a Josef Mengele.
@@larky368 Peck has a small role in the remake of "Cape Fear," in which he was the hero, as does Robert Mitchum, who played the villain. There, though, Peck is on the side of Robert De Niro's bad guy, while Mitchum is helping Nick Nolte's good guy!
And Oh. My. God, the score! Jerome Moross was robbed of the Oscar. That main title score, Blanco Canyon, and the music for the Hennessys harassing James and Patricia on their ride back to the ranch is classic! (I think it's called "The Wecoming.) And Willie Wyler didn't like the score! Well, he was almost deaf at the time, so ...
Anything with Mr. Peck is good, but here are four MUST SEE movies of his. Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) Moby Dick (1956) The Guns of Navarone (1961) Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
I totally agree with you, I found him way more Honorable than Charles Bickfords character felt the Terrills where very snobby and Gaslighted the Hennessys doesn't excuse them Buck was a bad egg but they he definitely has a better character in my opinion.
Great reaction & discussion! So much fun watching your work! The great Christmas classic, "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas", is sung by Burl Ives, aka Rufus Hannassey. What an underrated talent. Hope someday you watch one of Peck's greatest performances( many) in "To Kill a Mockingbird". It was a tremendous book and movie. Thx Madison!
This is a great movie with all wonderful actors Chuck Conners plays a cowardly rogue brilliantly and the stunts done by the horsemen are awesome. Both Jean Simmons and Carroll Baker are beautiful in their parts and the Musical score is the icing on the cake . Love it.
One of my favorite films, and no one reacts to it. Thanks! I consider it a treatise on how to be a man. I love the fight in the middle of nowhere with no music. I love the line, "How many times does a man have to win you?" I love how Chuck Connors plays such a low down dog here, but plays the epitome of a fine man in "The Rifleman."
So much here. Burl Ives, Hannassey won the Academy Ward for Best supporting actor in this movie. He could play a tough meany or a very gentle man. Also a good singer. Charlton Heston was already a big star and leading man, but, took this part to work with the Director, which led to him being cast as Ben Hur. Chuck Conners, Buck, went on to star in The Rifleman tv series and was one of televisions best dads.
The actor (Chuck Connors) who played Buck, played in my favorite western TV show The Rifleman. He plays a completely different character. A God-fearing Christian ex Civil War veteran and single parent of a young boy. I hope someday you will check out The Rifleman at least the first episode.
it was great hearing something about the horses from someone who actually knows something about them. Burl Ives was a folk singer. My parents had several of his albums and they were beloved in our house. He dabbled in acting later in life and it got him an Oscar for this role. I just discovered this movie about a year ago, and was drawn in by the fabulous score.
This is one of my personal favorites in westerns. The acting is fenominal and it is a great character study. the scenery and story are great. I just love it.
Love the fact you love westerns, I grew up watching them with my dad. Recommendation Will Penny which was Charlton Hestons favorite role. Also Ride the High Country with 2 western greats Randolph Scott and Joel McCrae, my personal favorite.
1:37 Your editor should have also taken this opportunity to inform you that "The Big Country" is not only directed by the same director as "Ben Hur", but also "Roman Holiday" - William Wyler, one of Hollywood's ever greatest directors!
Two of mine are both spoken by Alfonso Bedoya's character. When Jim McKay asks, "any advice?" Bedoya says, "Don' do iit..." Later when he's admitting Jim McKay rode 'Ol Thunder, he says, "a man like him is very rare." They're both just perfect lines when they're delivered.
There was definite pacifist thing going on in the postwar films of William Wyler, George Stevens & some other filmmakers. Not coincidentally, Wyler & Stevens had been WWII documentary filmmakers and had seen combat and the horrors of war up close. Not just strictly pacifist, but just ways of dealing with life than was typically shown in Hollywood films. This film shows Pecks character as being proud and only fighting when being forced too. Wyler further explored this in Friendly Persuasion with Gary Cooper. Stevens, mostly did screwball comedies before the war. His film crew was there when some of the concentration camps were freed. It really changed his outlook. His movies became more serious. He tackled some of the same themes as WW did in this film with another great western, Shane. It portrayed another reluctant hero, only fighting when forced too. He later made the Diary of Anne Frank. This was a brief, very unique, take on film making. These great directors were trying to show that you could be tough and self reliant while trying to solve problems without immediately resorting to violence.
A great movie that I saw for the first time just a few weeks ago. Gregory Peck was a real presence. His humility and graciousness belies a steely strength and he goes out of his way to hide it. Learning to ride that difficult horse, or, fighting the Charlton Heston character when no one was around, or, ignoring great odds to rescue his love interest.....all evidence of this unique blend of strength and humility that Peck carried so well. Writers should take note....not all heroes have to be all about the flash.
Burl Ives and Chuck Connors played epic roles in the duel scene...it was done so well. I saw this picture years ago, and always remember the acting. Absolutely stunning performances.
Another standard cliche of westerns is picking one side of the range war as the good guys. Usually the big ranchers are the bad guys. In this movie, you begin thinking that the big rancher types are going to be the good guys and that would have been different, but as you can see it turns out that neither side is the good guys
Burl Ives was famous for playing much older than he was. He was only 48 years old when he he did this film. The same year he played Elizabeth Taylor's father-in-law 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof'.
I love this movie so much, first and foremost my first horse I actually owned was a cheeky appy that bucked me a few times, second I was a Northern Navy Sailor who ended up on a Mississippi horse ranch and kinda was treated kinda the same way. Gregory Peaks character is the type of Man I strive to be. This is the type of stories we need in modern cinema.
Another impressive guy in this movie is Chuck Connors, he playsBuck Hannassey. Connors played in both the NBA and the MLB - pro basketball and baseball. He was 6’5”. Also Ramon - played by Alfonso Bedoya is an awesome actor. He also played Gold Hat from Treasure of the Sierra Madre - “Badges?! We don’t need no stinking badges!” Carroll Baker, who plays Pat the spoiled finance, played the evil mother in Kindergarten Cop. Jean Simmons, who plays Julie, not too long before she died as in an episode of Star Trek TNG “The Drumhead.” Burl Ives, who plays Rufus Hannassey, was a singer - check out his song “A Little Bitty Tear.” He was also the narrator snowman from the old claymation movie “Rudolf the Rednosed Reisndeer.”
Thank you so much for your reactions to these old classic epic movies, Ben Hur and now The Big Country. You have made some of us oldies very happy who have grown up with these brilliant movies as children. When I watched this as a kid I always imagined Gregory Peck as the proper upstanding naval captain of this movie when he played Captain Horatio Hornblower. But he also starred with Carroll Baker again in the other epic western of the time How The West Was Won. Another thought I used to have as a child when watching Ben Hur was that Charlton Heston's other epic period movie El Cid where he played the most noble Spanish knight Rodrigo de Vivar were so similar to each other in style and atmosphere even the titles were two-worded names. I think because both Ben Hur and El Cid had the same brilliant musical composer Miklos Rozsa. Jean Simmons is one of my favourite actresses, she is most remembered by me in her role in Spartacus (1960) a passion project by Kirk Douglas and directed by Stanley Kubrick and won 4 oscars. Very surprisingly and sadly, there are very few movie reactions to the 1960 movie of Spartacus and absolutely no movie reactions at all to El Cid on youtube, very much like The Big Country. Thanks again for giving these old movies a look.❤
Yeah, I don't understand why "El Cid" isn't better remembered, it's a lovely movie. Another neglected Heston gem is the romance/adventure "The Naked Jungle" (1954) with the wonderful Eleanor Parker. And any fan of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" really ought to catch Heston's "Secret of the Incas" to see where a lot of Indy's tropes came from.
One of the best westerns, I think. I’m so glad you watched it, as I always enjoy your insightful and heartfelt reactions. Next, I hope you will turn to Peck’s “The Gunfighter,” often called the first psychological western. I was surprised at how little I remembered of this, even though I’ve seen it twice. I think I will show it to my daughter when she comes home from college (she graduates in May). The premiere experience was interesting, but the chat moves too fast for an old guy like me (I’m 69).
7:59 this was Alfonso Bedoya's last film. He died shortly before it was released. He was most famous for playing the bandit Gold Hat in The Treasure of Sierra Madre.
Madison ... Bravo ... This is what a movie reaction is supposed to be - letting us enjoy your genuine reaction to a movie that you instinctively knew you'd enjoy. Two top-flight actors in a setting that you are naturally drawn to. It was very enjoyable to experience your joy. Looking forward to more.
Another Western that doesn't go by the "rules" is "The Bravados" with Gregory Peck. Burl Ives was a very popular singer with such songs as "A Little bitty tear", "Funny way of laughing," and "A holly, jolly Christmas".
So many stars in this, both at the time and later like Chuck Connors. And supporting cast who are recognizable such as the Mexican wrangler, Ramon, who was the bandit leader in Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Irrespective of the fact that this is a period piece, Buck is a great villain because he's a "type" recognizable from real life - a small, selfish, mean-spirited jerk who confuses bullying with strength and ends up pushing too far.
My mother bought a beautiful all black gelding from our next door neighbor. He was named "Trouble". He was being kept in a corral as a colt. The rancher turned loose a couple of dozen chicks for free range eggs in his barn. The next morning he found every chick that had ventured into the corral had been stomped into the ground. My mother's theory was that Trouble just wasn't ridden enough. She tried to get my little brother to ride him but that didn't last long. When I returned from Viet., I got the job. Just like Old Thunder, you could saddle him in the corral without any problem. You could mount him without any trouble. However, as soon as Trouble felt you relax in the saddle that was his clue to start bucking. Or as soon as you road him out of the corral & he saw room to run. My mother hired a rodeo calf roper who was working on another ranch to break him. Trouble took the bit in his teeth & took off with him as well. Some horses are just too smart to be ridden! We had to chain the corral gate shut as Trouble learned to slide the gate latch over & let himself out. He wound up being our largest pet. He would follow us everywhere on our ranch as long as we didn't try to ride him.
Buck, who you love to hate, was of course well played by The Rifleman himself, Chuck Conners, who wound up as a bad guy opposite Heston again in "Soylent Green" (1973). His famous TV series ran from 1958 to 1963.
If you would like more Gregory Peck, I would recommend "12 O'clock High". This war drama was based on historical facts and characters. It was required viewing amongst the military academies and service schools.
Everyone was sleeping on Jim because they didn’t respect his being a sailor. Anyone who sailed in those days had a life that was as hard as any cowboy’s. Speaking of: You might love watching Peck as a ship’s captain in Captain Horatio Hornblower.
William Wyler also directed, "Roman Holiday." So he actually directed all 3 of the movies you mentioned here: "Ben Hur," " The Big Country" & "Roman Holiday." 😉
“To Kill A Mocking Bird”
with Gregory Peck is a classic and a cameo of a young Robert Duval!!!
Agreed. Another great Peck movie. I also think "The Keysof the Kingdom" (1944),as well.
@@JeffreyCantelope How about The Yearling from 1946, terrific film 📽️ !!!!!
@@scottmiller6495 great film but The Big Country just hits me differently.
@@JeffreyCantelope Same here I see The Big Country several times a year, it's got everything, how in the world could the academy give the award for Best Picture to Gigi? It's still a mystery even now.
One of the most spectacular westerns ever made. And a score for the ages. Hard to believe it has never been reacted to. So congrats on being the first.
And if you are now a Jean Simmons fan, she was in another spactacular movie made only 1 year later. It is not a western but it is every bit as good as this one, if not better. Talkin' bout Stanley Kubrik's epic masterpiece, SPARTACUS. This movie is loved by millions out here and as of now you'd be the first to my knowledge to react to this one too if ou did.
Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Chuck Connors, Jean Simmons ...and Burl Ives, who won an Academy Award for his performance in this. One of my favorite films. And one of the best theme songs in film.
This is definitely one of the best westerns ever. Another one you must watch is Shane. It's about a gunfighter trying to put the past behind him but circumstances won't permit it. Another Gregory Peck movie with a similar theme to Shane is The Gunfighter.
The older classics are the best. No need for CGI just great locations and great actors.
You’re picking winners Madison. This one’s in my all-time top 10.
This movie was also directed by the late William Wyler who afterwards directed Ben Hur. Love Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck and Jean Simmons in this 🍿 movie
William Wyler had such a diverse filmography. Definitely worth a deeper dive!
Chuck Conners, who portrayed Buck, played The Rifleman, a popular TV character. He also played major league baseball with the Chicago Cubs.
He'd appear a number of years later opposite Charleton Heston in "Soylent Green" (1973. Slightly different genre but still enjoyable.
He also played for the Boston Celtics their first season. One of only a few men who played multiple pro sports. He is also credited as the first pro basketball player to shatter a backboard.
He also broke his little finger when filming that opening scene of the Rifleman. He said if you could see it there was a little tear running down his face.@Vlasko60
Charleton Heston starred in a really good western titled WILL PENNY.
The paint that Charlton Heston rode was named Domino, was also the horse in the TV show The Texan staring Rory Calhoun.
One of the greatest Westerns ever made, with absolutely EPIC characters and the perfect actors to play them. And one of the best scores ever.
Yes, I quite agree. Definitely a western epic. I was surprised that she didn't mention the musical score, but then maybe she did in the extended version on Patreon.
The author of the novel is Donald Hamilton, who created Matt Helm, who in the books is not very much like Dean Martin, who played him in four movies.
John McKay is a very ethical character. A character of rare and great integrity, which is what really distinguishes this movie. Moral clarity. Determined to do what's best for all.
I'm 74, I saw this movie at a drive in with my mom and little brother when I was 8. I still believe it is the best western movie ever made, the story of a man with impeccable character.
This 55 year old tips his hat, sir. For I feel closer to your generation than the one equally younger.
The simple message of mature manhood is rare, but even these kids can see the value of it when on display.
🍻
That's a man with Gregory ImPECKable character, lol
@@robertchristiansen5169 It is, There were 10 great westerns of all time and The Big Country could certainly be No. 1, it has everything, Superb Acting, Incredible Scenery and Expert Directing(William Wyler), Fabulous Music Score (Jerome Moross), and Burl Ives who stole the film With his surprise role of Ruffus Hannessy for which he won the only award for Best Supporting Actor!!!!!
I’m of a similar age and saw it on the big screen with my parents. A very impressive film and Madison’s critique was excellent 😊
The Big Country is the greatest Western Motion picture of all time, it should have won Best Picture of 1958, PERIOD!!!!!
One other thing, another great western is Shane, staring Alan Ladd, a major star in the 40’s, and 50’s. It’s usually on the top 10 lists.
Yes, a must see!
Madison, one movie you much watch which stars Gregory Peck is “ To Kill a Mockingbird.” It is one of Pecks greatest role.
A Flippin must ...my fav
Moby Dick is a good movie.
Ben Hur and now The Big Country, the channel is reaching a high level.
I have both movies in my collection - so,you must be right:))
@@richardscanlan3419 Unfortunately I fear that these channels do not react to the great movies because they do not get many views and they want to have visitors and subscribers, that is their right, and we wander through those channels looking for those great movies and because the majority are nice people and it is always better to see the movies accompanied...
Its always been a fun channel.
@@richardscanlan3419 Ben Hur from 1959 won 11 Academy Awards and it was deserved, however Titanic from 1997 also received 11, and wasn't nearly as good!!!!!
@@scottmiller6495 can't judge Titanic as I have never seen it.
Saw a british version made in the fifties - that was pretty good.
Great Choice! Burl Ives was such an underrated Character Actor, but he did earn an Oscar for this role. Chuck Conners was a revelation. Loved, Loved , Loved her gown at the engagement ball. Before HD, I always thought her dress was black, but it’s actually a beautiful Navy blue. The score is just beautiful. This movie is such a gem!
Burl was great as Big Daddy in the film version of "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" with Paul Newman and Liz Taylor.
I always loved Chuck Conners in The Rifleman.
One of the best TV westerns ever. With an iconic opening.
~ My first exposure to Burl Ives was as a toddler in the early 50s when hearing his recording of Little White Duck on one of the folk music albums that first brought him to fame in another genre ~
@@samuraiwarriorsunite Sam Peckinpah created the show before leaving to create the short-lived adult Western series, "The Westerner", starring Brian Keith, and having an illustrious film career.
Old Man Hennessy is actually a fairly honorable guy. He's just overcome with his hatred for the Major.
My earliest childhood memories. My family moved to Nigeria in 1965 for dad’s job as a surveyor. We lived in a house in the middle of nowhere. No neighbors, no neighborhood kids to play with. Mom was a film buff and brought along her favorite LP of Mantovanni playing the greatest score from classic films. I would wake up in the morning with the exhilarating music of Big Country coming from the kitchen as mom made breakfast. Big Country was my favorite, looking at the album cover with an epic shot of Gregory Peck with open sky behind him. I was obsessed with finding out what Big Country was about. With just that one photo Gregory Peck became my favorite actor without ever seeing him act at all. I was 5 years old. I didn’t see the film until 1970 back in the Philippines. I was so excited when I heard the opening theme. I was traumatized by the violence and the film haunted me in my nightmares. I was only 10 years old. It took a long time before I could make myself see it again. Older, I appreciated it more. It was epic. It lived up to what I imagined it to be back when I was only 5 in Nigeria. I love the film and Gregory Peck was a hero for me. The music is still played by symphony orchestras around the world. Epic! I am an illustrator and sculptor. Horses are my favorite subjects with my artwork. I wonder where that came from….
@@Dave-hb7lxJerome Moross. Soundtracks of movies from my childhood. Ray Harryhausen’s Cowboys and dinosaurs, The Valley of Gwangi. Charlton Heston in the 1965 medieval film The Warlord.
The wife and I watched this last evening. The new restored film. Just beautiful, great acting, great dialogue, great locations, and a great film. Just moved into the top 5 of my favorite horse operas.
Burl Ives speech is awesome. He was great in this. A villain who still lived by a code
Excellent reaction. I was a teenager when I first saw this film. It was on television, late at night. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to watch it. Then I heard the score, along with the opening credits. It was such a powerful opening, I was hooked, and watched it all the way through. I agree with Madison about that ending scene, and the unspoken attraction between the two leads. Nothing needed to be said. It was clear with the they looked at each other.
I have always thought that Chuck Conners should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting actor that year. He expressed the whole gamit of emotions and his facial expressions made them REAL! He sold his character!
A superior script, superior direction, superior acting by every cast member, superior cinematography, superior set design and costuming..."Big Country" is in my top 5 westerns of all time. Great call, Ms. Madison. Enjoyed your reaction.
High time somebody reacted to this great movie. I'm pretty sure you're the first on RUclips. The script, the plot, the directing, the acting, the incredible scenery, the fantastic music score, everything is just perfect. My mother could take or leave most Westerns, but The Big Country was one of her favorite movies of all times.
The actress playing the part of Julie is Jean Simmons, she was in a ton of movies!! Always gave a great performance!!
Among her other credits, she's the young Estella in "Great Expectations" and Ophelia in "Hamlet." And in "Elmer Gantry" she's outstanding as the evangelist Sharon Falconer.
The greatness of Burl shines through, what a role to pull off, and a very well deserved Oscar to boot. In case you don't know, he was also a great singer with the sweetest voice, "Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer" just one of his many hits. I miss him so.
Absolutely my favorite western with an amazing score and cast all of whom were huge in film during the fifties and sixties. You're commentary is right on with the character development and love story of Julie and Jim. The moral goodness and humble traits of Jim make him one of my favorite characters in cinema. Good job!
Madison - There is a great underrated western that you will love - "The Professionals". It stars Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Jack Palance. It also stars the great African American actor Woody Strode for whom the "Toy Story" character Woody is named.
Definitely a must watch.
2:24 gotta watch The Ten Commandments... Charlton Heston main actor... He also was the voice of God. He was also a voice in the animated Prince Of Egypt, you can hear him clearly. 5:07 5:08
I found this movie a few years ago because I was looking for movies based on novels by Donald Hamilton. There are seven. Four are Dean Martin "Matt Helm" movies, a movie starring Sterling Hayden in 1957 called "Five Steps to Danger," there is Glen Ford in the 1954 "'The Violent Men," and this movie. Donald Hamilton wrote 27 Matt Helm novels that were published from 1960 to 1993. If you get the time, watch "The Violent Men." I have these movies on DVD and BluRay and I managed to accumulate the novels that the movies were based on. Hamilton also wrote gun articles for outdoorsmen's magazines.
If you liked the protagonist played by Gregory Peck in "The Big Country," you might like Glenn Ford as John Parrish in "The Violent Men." Hamiliton's protagonists are not typical--that's why they are interesting. "The Big Country" was 2 hours and 47 minutes--"The Violent Men" is only 96 minutes. The Violent Men has Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson and Brian Keith as costars.
Thanks for sharing your reactions. Your comments were like watching a new movie because you see things I miss. Different people, different viewpoints.
Charlton Heston and Chuck Connors will finally have it out in "Soylent Green" (1973).
Omg I'm so glad you listened to our recommendation to watch this movie! So glad you enjoyed it too! I grew up watching Gregory Peck movies and this is one of my favorites!
His next best movie would probably be THE GUNS OF NAVARONE! it's not a western, but a was movie, but my late father told me it was epic for the time that it came out.
It doesn't really have the romance of BIG COUNTRY, but is still a movie you will enjoy.
He also stars in one of the greatest adaptations of a book...ever....TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, for which he won an academy award. The book is fantastic too. Either movie will likely impress you I think.
Thanks again for watching these wonderful movies. It's a load of fun to see it through your eyes! Keep smiling👍🙂
Movie trivia: The actor who played Ramon was Alfonso Bedoya, who years earlier spoke the line usually misquoted as "Badges? We don't need any stinkin' badges!"
For years I've remembered that as being Eli Wallach. Thanks for correcting me.
@@stephenmonk8787 Well, Wallach is wonderful as Tuco in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," where he curses Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name (call him Blondie there) at the end.
I'd highly recommend "Red River" as another classic epic underappreciated Western, with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. A Howard Hawks film.
Did you know that George Stevens considered Montgomery Clift for the title role in "Shane"? Or that William Holden was considered for Joe Starrett?
Such great themes in this film.
The Terrells are all about pride and outward show-the opinion of the world. Jim is about moral integrity and true dignity. The Hanasseys are vulgar and rough, but the old man is closer to Jim 's values than not. Buck is just a lost soul. And perhaps the most interesting is Leech. He's been formed by old man Terrell, but once he is shown the meaning of true honor his true self comes out.
A really fine film and another strong reaction.
Saw it in a drive in theater with my folks and my sister. I was 10yo. Westerns were big where I grew up. El Paso Texas!
Great film. And not finalizing all the relations at the end, as you observed, was just brilliant.
As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
I only knew Burl Ives from the christmas specials when i was a kid, he was a singer to me. When i saw this i was blown away by his performance, wonderful actor. I watch this movie a few times a year, its one of my favorites of all time.
Heston agreeing to be in this movie is actually what got him the role of Ben Hur. Heston had just come off of "The Ten Commandments", another great Biblical epic, but his portrayal of Moses was, to put it simply, epic to match the style. He wasn't sure he wanted to play in a smaller film right after such a big one, but he went for it anyway--and because the director saw how subtle Heston could play a role, especially with that hate and fury boiling just beneath the surface, he decided he was perfect.
EDIT: Also, in the book, it is actually made clear that Steve and Pat were an item before she went off to the East and became "a lady". As such, she decided she was too good for Steve and got with Jim.
As I understand it, Heston initially turned down the script because he would be billed fourth, behind Peck. Simmons and Baker. His agent urged him to reconsider. because he'd be working with Peck (who, if Heston was a star, was a much bigger one) and with Wyler (a two-time Best Director winner)
He took his advice and a year later he worked again with Wyler on "Ben Hur," and we know how that turned out for him, Wyler, Hugh Griffith and the picture.
By the way, Peck was another Jim in another Western in 1958, "The Bravados." In some ways, it's Peck's "Searchers," for Jim Douglass is a driven, determined and angry man, much as John Wayne's Ethan Edwards is. Highly recommended, and not simply because Curly Joe DeRita gets to play a serious role!
Gregory Peck always played an honorable man...except in the movie "The Boys From Brazil." Here he went in the totally opposite direction. and played one of the most heinous men in history.
He also plays a really bad character in a movie called Duel in the Sun
He plays the leader of a gang of outlaws in Yellow Sky (1948).
He was also Captain Ahab in "Moby Dick". Looks like some holes are being picked in your theory.
@@DanielGarrett0123 OK so he did play baddies early on in his career. I never cared much for watching those old black hats versus white hats westerns.Still, but the black hatters don't come close to a Josef Mengele.
@@larky368 Peck has a small role in the remake of "Cape Fear," in which he was the hero, as does Robert Mitchum, who played the villain. There, though, Peck is on the side of Robert De Niro's bad guy, while Mitchum is helping Nick Nolte's good guy!
And Oh. My. God, the score! Jerome Moross was robbed of the Oscar. That main title score, Blanco Canyon, and the music for the Hennessys harassing James and Patricia on their ride back to the ranch is classic! (I think it's called "The Wecoming.) And Willie Wyler didn't like the score! Well, he was almost deaf at the time, so ...
Always made me chuckle when they thought he was lost. He was a ship's captain, he would've known where he was better than any of them.
And he had that funny watch (compass).
Anything with Mr. Peck is good, but here are four MUST SEE movies of his.
Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
Moby Dick (1956)
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
"Crawl. You act like a dog. Crawl like one." Pop Hennessy was driven by his vendetta but there was decency in him.
I totally agree with you, I found him way more Honorable than Charles Bickfords character felt the Terrills where very snobby and Gaslighted the Hennessys doesn't excuse them Buck was a bad egg but they he definitely has a better character in my opinion.
Great reaction & discussion! So much fun watching your work! The great Christmas classic, "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas", is sung by Burl Ives, aka Rufus Hannassey. What an underrated talent. Hope someday you watch one of Peck's greatest performances( many) in "To Kill a Mockingbird". It was a tremendous book and movie. Thx Madison!
Oh! That is possibly the greatest western (I’d call it a meta-western) that I’ve ever seen.
Heston did not want to do this movie, because he was not the star, but his agent convinced him to do it. His next role after this was Ben Hur.
This is a great movie with all wonderful actors Chuck Conners plays a cowardly rogue brilliantly and the stunts done by the horsemen are awesome. Both Jean Simmons and Carroll Baker are beautiful in their parts and the Musical score is the icing on the cake . Love it.
You must watch, To Kill A Mockingbird, both the picture, and G Peck received the Academy Award. It takes place in the south, during the 1930’s.
One of my favorite films, and no one reacts to it. Thanks! I consider it a treatise on how to be a man. I love the fight in the middle of nowhere with no music. I love the line, "How many times does a man have to win you?" I love how Chuck Connors plays such a low down dog here, but plays the epitome of a fine man in "The Rifleman."
Should try Ole Yeller, a family western. Memorable!
So much here. Burl Ives, Hannassey won the Academy Ward for Best supporting actor in this movie. He could play a tough meany or a very gentle man. Also a good singer. Charlton Heston was already a big star and leading man, but, took this part to work with the Director, which led to him being cast as Ben Hur. Chuck Conners, Buck, went on to star in The Rifleman tv series and was one of televisions best dads.
Heston wasn't Wyler's first choice for Ben Hur.
The actor (Chuck Connors) who played Buck, played in my favorite western TV show The Rifleman. He plays a completely different character. A God-fearing Christian ex Civil War veteran and single parent of a young boy. I hope someday you will check out The Rifleman at least the first episode.
it was great hearing something about the horses from someone who actually knows something about them. Burl Ives was a folk singer. My parents had several of his albums and they were beloved in our house. He dabbled in acting later in life and it got him an Oscar for this role. I just discovered this movie about a year ago, and was drawn in by the fabulous score.
This is one of my personal favorites in westerns. The acting is fenominal and it is a great character study. the scenery and story are great. I just love it.
Love the fact you love westerns, I grew up watching them with my dad. Recommendation Will Penny which was Charlton Hestons favorite role. Also Ride the High Country with 2 western greats Randolph Scott and Joel McCrae, my personal favorite.
I love the .Tall T with Randolph Scott.
1:37 Your editor should have also taken this opportunity to inform you that "The Big Country" is not only directed by the same director as "Ben Hur", but also "Roman Holiday" - William Wyler, one of Hollywood's ever greatest directors!
Jim is a perfect male role model.
A real man with nothing to prove to anyone but himself.
"I'm not responsible for what people think." One of my favorite movie lines ever.
Two of mine are both spoken by Alfonso Bedoya's character. When Jim McKay asks, "any advice?" Bedoya says, "Don' do iit..." Later when he's admitting Jim McKay rode 'Ol Thunder, he says, "a man like him is very rare." They're both just perfect lines when they're delivered.
Great choice! Thank you Madison!
Im 65 YEARS OLD now and I love 💕 to see you young people watching these classic older movies and appreciating them . Keep it up Maddy!
There was definite pacifist thing going on in the postwar films of William Wyler, George Stevens & some other filmmakers. Not coincidentally, Wyler & Stevens had been WWII documentary filmmakers and had seen combat and the horrors of war up close. Not just strictly pacifist, but just ways of dealing with life than was typically shown in Hollywood films. This film shows Pecks character as being proud and only fighting when being forced too. Wyler further explored this in Friendly Persuasion with Gary Cooper.
Stevens, mostly did screwball comedies before the war. His film crew was there when some of the concentration camps were freed. It really changed his outlook. His movies became more serious. He tackled some of the same themes as WW did in this film with another great western, Shane. It portrayed another reluctant hero, only fighting when forced too. He later made the Diary of Anne Frank.
This was a brief, very unique, take on film making. These great directors were trying to show that you could be tough and self reliant while trying to solve problems without immediately resorting to violence.
A great movie that I saw for the first time just a few weeks ago. Gregory Peck was a real presence. His humility and graciousness belies a steely strength and he goes out of his way to hide it. Learning to ride that difficult horse, or, fighting the Charlton Heston character when no one was around, or, ignoring great odds to rescue his love interest.....all evidence of this unique blend of strength and humility that Peck carried so well. Writers should take note....not all heroes have to be all about the flash.
Burl Ives and Chuck Connors played epic roles in the duel scene...it was done so well. I saw this picture years ago, and always remember the acting. Absolutely stunning performances.
GIANT ....Is a must watch ..Elizabeth Taylor ..Rock Hudson .. James Dean I think 1956
Another standard cliche of westerns is picking one side of the range war as the good guys. Usually the big ranchers are the bad guys. In this movie, you begin thinking that the big rancher types are going to be the good guys and that would have been different, but as you can see it turns out that neither side is the good guys
Burl Ives was famous for playing much older than he was. He was only 48 years old when he he did this film. The same year he played Elizabeth Taylor's father-in-law 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof'.
I love this movie so much, first and foremost my first horse I actually owned was a cheeky appy that bucked me a few times, second I was a Northern Navy Sailor who ended up on a Mississippi horse ranch and kinda was treated kinda the same way. Gregory Peaks character is the type of Man I strive to be. This is the type of stories we need in modern cinema.
Excellent! Glad to see you introduced to more actors who should be in your repertoire, especially Charles Bickford!
I grew up without a father. This was one of my favorite films. Jim McCay became a male role model for me., thank God!
Gregory Peck, my favorite actor! Burl Ives won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Another impressive guy in this movie is Chuck Connors, he playsBuck Hannassey. Connors played in both the NBA and the MLB - pro basketball and baseball. He was 6’5”.
Also Ramon - played by Alfonso Bedoya is an awesome actor. He also played Gold Hat from Treasure of the Sierra Madre - “Badges?! We don’t need no stinking badges!”
Carroll Baker, who plays Pat the spoiled finance, played the evil mother in Kindergarten Cop.
Jean Simmons, who plays Julie, not too long before she died as in an episode of Star Trek TNG “The Drumhead.”
Burl Ives, who plays Rufus Hannassey, was a singer - check out his song “A Little Bitty Tear.” He was also the narrator snowman from the old claymation movie “Rudolf the Rednosed Reisndeer.”
Jean Simmons was in 2 all time classics when still a v young actress. Try Great Expectations and Black Narcissus
One of my top 10 movies. I've see this about a dozen times and I NEVER picked up on Jim fighting for Julie! Wow! Well done.
Thank you so much for your reactions to these old classic epic movies, Ben Hur and now The Big Country. You have made some of us oldies very happy who have grown up with these brilliant movies as children. When I watched this as a kid I always imagined Gregory Peck as the proper upstanding naval captain of this movie when he played Captain Horatio Hornblower. But he also starred with Carroll Baker again in the other epic western of the time How The West Was Won. Another thought I used to have as a child when watching Ben Hur was that Charlton Heston's other epic period movie El Cid where he played the most noble Spanish knight Rodrigo de Vivar were so similar to each other in style and atmosphere even the titles were two-worded names. I think because both Ben Hur and El Cid had the same brilliant musical composer Miklos Rozsa. Jean Simmons is one of my favourite actresses, she is most remembered by me in her role in Spartacus (1960) a passion project by Kirk Douglas and directed by Stanley Kubrick and won 4 oscars. Very surprisingly and sadly, there are very few movie reactions to the 1960 movie of Spartacus and absolutely no movie reactions at all to El Cid on youtube, very much like The Big Country. Thanks again for giving these old movies a look.❤
Yeah, I don't understand why "El Cid" isn't better remembered, it's a lovely movie. Another neglected Heston gem is the romance/adventure "The Naked Jungle" (1954) with the wonderful Eleanor Parker. And any fan of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" really ought to catch Heston's "Secret of the Incas" to see where a lot of Indy's tropes came from.
Burl Ives is so excellent in this. Especially when he shoots Chuck Connors, "I told you I'd do it!"
One of the best westerns, I think. I’m so glad you watched it, as I always enjoy your insightful and heartfelt reactions. Next, I hope you will turn to Peck’s “The Gunfighter,” often called the first psychological western.
I was surprised at how little I remembered of this, even though I’ve seen it twice. I think I will show it to my daughter when she comes home from college (she graduates in May). The premiere experience was interesting, but the chat moves too fast for an old guy like me (I’m 69).
7:59 this was Alfonso Bedoya's last film. He died shortly before it was released. He was most famous for playing the bandit Gold Hat in The Treasure of Sierra Madre.
Excellent choice. The next logical step, as far as Gregory Peck is concerned, is his part in "How The West Was Won". You know it makes sense 😇
Another great Peck western would be, "The Gunfighter". For Heston, "Will Penny" (and f you want Heston with Conners, "Soylent Green".
THIS is a great - and greatly underrated - film!!!
Am very happy that you watched this!
I'm so glad you are reacting to this movie. I love this movie . It's definitely one of my favorite Gregory Peck movies. It has a stellar cast.
Thanks, Madison, for reacting to this film. It's one of my favorites. The music by Jerome Moross is iconic. William Wyler also directed Roman Holiday.
One of the best top 2 or top 3 westerns. Period.
You should watch "To Kill a Mockingbird " with Gregory Peck.
Madison ... Bravo ... This is what a movie reaction is supposed to be - letting us enjoy your genuine reaction to a movie that you instinctively knew you'd enjoy. Two top-flight actors in a setting that you are naturally drawn to. It was very enjoyable to experience your joy. Looking forward to more.
One of my favorite westerns every.
Another Western that doesn't go by the "rules" is "The Bravados" with Gregory Peck. Burl Ives was a very popular singer with such songs as "A Little bitty tear", "Funny way of laughing," and "A holly, jolly Christmas".
Try Gentleman's Agreement (1947) or Elmer Gantry (1960).
It's one of the best movies ever made.
Perfection...actors, writing, direction, cinematography, The Big Country!
Madison, YOU should write the sequel.
So many stars in this, both at the time and later like Chuck Connors. And supporting cast who are recognizable such as the Mexican wrangler, Ramon, who was the bandit leader in Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Irrespective of the fact that this is a period piece, Buck is a great villain because he's a "type" recognizable from real life - a small, selfish, mean-spirited jerk who confuses bullying with strength and ends up pushing too far.
My mother bought a beautiful all black gelding from our next door neighbor. He was named "Trouble". He was being kept in a corral as a colt. The rancher turned loose a couple of dozen chicks for free range eggs in his barn. The next morning he found every chick that had ventured into the corral had been stomped into the ground. My mother's theory was that Trouble just wasn't ridden enough. She tried to get my little brother to ride him but that didn't last long. When I returned from Viet., I got the job. Just like Old Thunder, you could saddle him in the corral without any problem. You could mount him without any trouble. However, as soon as Trouble felt you relax in the saddle that was his clue to start bucking. Or as soon as you road him out of the corral & he saw room to run. My mother hired a rodeo calf roper who was working on another ranch to break him. Trouble took the bit in his teeth & took off with him as well. Some horses are just too smart to be ridden! We had to chain the corral gate shut as Trouble learned to slide the gate latch over & let himself out. He wound up being our largest pet. He would follow us everywhere on our ranch as long as we didn't try to ride him.
Buck, who you love to hate, was of course well played by The Rifleman himself, Chuck Conners, who wound up as a bad guy opposite Heston again in "Soylent Green" (1973). His famous TV series ran from 1958 to 1963.
You mentioned this is the same director as Ben -Hur...yes - but also the same director as...Roman Holiday too.
You might want to try "The Bravados" with Gregory Peck.
If you would like more Gregory Peck, I would recommend "12 O'clock High". This war drama was based on historical facts and characters. It was required viewing amongst the military academies and service schools.
Everyone was sleeping on Jim because they didn’t respect his being a sailor. Anyone who sailed in those days had a life that was as hard as any cowboy’s. Speaking of: You might love watching Peck as a ship’s captain in Captain Horatio Hornblower.
William Wyler also directed, "Roman Holiday."
So he actually directed all 3 of the movies you mentioned here: "Ben Hur," " The Big Country" & "Roman Holiday." 😉