THE BIG LAND 1953
The Big Land is a 1957 western filmed in Warnercolor.
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Produced by Alan Ladd
Based on the 1956 novel The Big Land by Frank Gruber
Cinematography by John F. Seitz
The cast includes:
Alan Ladd as Chad Morgan
Virginia Mayo as Helen Jagger
Edmond O'Brien as Joe Jagger
Anthony Caruso as Brog
Julie Bishop as Kate Johnson
John Qualen as Sven Johnson
David Ladd as David Johnson
Don Castle as Tom Draper
Jack Wrather, Jr. as Olaf Johnson
George Lewis as Dawson
James Anderson as Cole
Former Confederate office Chad Morgan leads a cattle drive to Missouri assuring the ranchers to get $20 a head.
However a ruthless cattle baron named Brog scared off all the other buyers and will pay a much lower amount per head.
Morgan is blamed for what has happened and he chooses not to return back to Texas with the ranchers. He spends the night in a livery stable and comes across the town drunk Joe Jagger, who is nearly lynched for stealing whisky. Chad help keeps him sober after they leave town.
The two come across farmers who need a better way to sell their wheat. They go to Kansas City to meet Tom Draper, a railroad man presenting to him an idea to build a railroad spur to ship the wheat. Castle is also engaged to Helen Jagger, who is Joe's sister and a singer in the town saloon.
Helen is very happy with the change in Joe. She is appreciative with Chad for helping in the change, but this also brings out some jealousy in Tom.
Villain Brog disrupts the towns construction for a spur while Chad is out of town. Joe tries to stand up to Brog but is gunned down by the same.
The death of Joe turns Helen against Chad when he returns and Brog stampedes cattle through the town .destroying a lot of what has been built.
In self defense Chad kills Brog and his henchman who triy to ambush him.
Helen in turn embraces Chad and Tom realizes that he has lost her. However, he agrees to build the railroad spur.
This is a very good western and has it's fair share of action.
Ladd is his usual stolid self and gives a good performance. So also does Virginia Mayo and Edmond O'Brien. Anthony Caruso makes a good villain though he has been seen more in the gangster genre films.
And as a footnote, David Ladd is the son of Alan Ladd.
The overall acting by the cast is very good. The movie does not drag and moves along at a good pace.
According to IMDB, the rating of this movie is 6.4 out of 10.
This film comes on television and is also available on DVD.
Recommended film for a western movie collection.
Louie The Movie Buff