Lucy Gallant

Lucy Gallant" stars Jane Wyman as a New York woman who, when passing through a muddy Texas boomtown, recognizes a business opportunity when she sees it.  Costar Charlton Heston plays a rancher who falls for her.  They have trouble agreeing on the terms of a relationship, so she devotes herself to her growing business concern and he plays the love-sick dogie, wishing she would see things his way.

The cast is the best part of this film.  Thelma Ritter, Claire Trevor and William Demarest play colorful characters, solidly performed. Joel Fluellen is uncredited as Summertime, a black man who partners with Lucy in her early success and becomes a trusted employee; the film could have used more of him.

This fish-out-of-water story, like "Giant", chronicles the era when wildcat oil strikes changed the economy, converting cowboys into the nouveau riche. Lucy proves to be an astute businesswoman. She parlays the sudden wealth of fashion-starved women into a local retail triumph.

Casey (Heston) is mystified by Lucy's choices, but still finds her attractive. Is it because of or in spite of the fact she's an enthusiastic go-getter? In many other films of the fifties, women sacrifice their dreams for romance; what will Lucy do?

Have heard of this film for quite some time and finally got the chance to view it on tape (probably from AMC). I think the film captures the boomtown feel very well-instant population with lack of lodging or goods =business opportunities. While the film undoubtedly contains many truthful elements concerning the oil boom in Texas ( and even Governor Shivers playing himself ), it does seem just a bit stagy, although Jane Wyman's performance is actually quite good. I found it very intriguing that for the time period when the film was made, a woman was portrayed as virtually building her own business from the ground up without any real help from the man (or men) in her life. The real reason I had heard about the film previously is the "high fashion comes to Texas" bit, with Edith Head behind the creations. As usual, Edith does not disappoint. The designs, especially during the fashion show sequence, are amazing. It's no wonder that Edith Head was so sought after in Hollywood as a costumer for films (most notably for Alfred Hitchcock). She was a real talent. I am in total agreement that this film needs to be released on DVD, as I don't believe that it has ever even been on VHS at any point.

One of my favorite Saturday Night at the Movies movie from childhood. Even as a ten-year-old though, I hated Casey Cole, Charlton Heston's character - horribly misogynist, manipulative and macho to a degree rarely seen out of other Charlton Heston movies. He makes every effort to pull the smart, beautiful, passionate and ambitious Lucy away from her successful business and into his idea of the perfect little woman - barefoot and pregnant and waiting for the Lord and Master at the front door at the end of the day. Lucy loves him but is determined to be herself and not an empty shell to be filled with just him. I watch it now with happy dread - I have to see again just what a pig Casey Cole is while also seeing the awesome Jane Wyman glow and grow through every minute of her screen time.Absolutely worth the watch. My favorite character actresses Clair Trevor and Thelma Ritter are Casey fans but reliably good as well.

Jane Wyman plays a refined and educated Eastern woman who arrives in a Texas Oil town to get married. After the wedding is off, she sells her trousseau to get the money to start a dress shop. After 20 years she runs the biggest department store in Texas and socializes with the Texas rich. Charlton Heston waits patiently in the background for her to realize that she can have love and a career. This is one of the few movies from this decade that allowed the leading lady to be something beyond a stereotypical 50's woman.

For many the costumes are the best part of the movie. The fancy department store has fashion shows with great 50's styles styles created by Edith Head and others. I would love for this to come out on DVD. It used to play on TV on Saturday afternoon about 30 years ago and I almost always watched it.

Lucy Gallant is one of my all-time favorite movies. I love the story of the strong, driven, successful woman, Lucy Gallant. She so reminds me of the woman I always aspired to be. It was such a perfect match between Jane Wyman and Charlton Heston. They really complimented each other. I originally taped this movie off the TV probably twenty-plus years ago, obviously on VHS. I still have it, but it's an incredibly poor recording, very old and worn from so much playing. I also have to fast-forward through the commercials, that were left in when it was originally taped, though after twenty years or more, they are pretty interesting. It's always been one of my favorite movies to watch over and over. I would love to find a good copy on DVD.