Les furies

One of the best Westerns ever made. Superior to other films of its time because it possesses more realism and authenticity and shuns the silly, false and simplistic moralizing which was almost a requirement for American films of this period. This is a film about real, complex people involved is realistic, complex events. Film-maker Anthony Mann hailed from Great Britain - perhaps this had something to do with the unusual realism. Positives are: 1 - The beautiful cinematography alone is enough reason to rent. The lighting is superb, there is sumptuous use of darkness, and the twilight and night scenes are ravishingly beautiful. 2 - Strong, resourceful female characters instead of the usual phony, helpless, wilting flowers. These women are people in their own right, not merely appendages of some male character. 3 - The characters are an honest mix of good and bad qualities - not artificial cardboard cut-outs simplistically meant to serve as types. 4 - Minorities are portrayed as real people. The Mexicans are portrayed with sensitivity and understanding, instead of the usual condescending caricatures. 5 - Walter Huston, Barbara Stanwyck & Wendell Corey do an excellent job of bringing their characters to life. The other actors are solidly top drawer. 6 - Excellent story-telling at its finest. With repeated viewing, you see more deeply into the complex and surprisingly subtle motivations of the characters. The only negative is that the sensuality of real life was artificially pre-filtered out of the film; but in full fairness to "The Furies," this is true of all American films of this period, due to the de facto censorship which held sway at the time. In sum, a complex, vivid depiction of love, hate, greed, loyalty, betrayal, devotion, affirmation of life and the inexorability of death, as they course through the lives of real, breathing people. Anthony Mann was far ahead of his time in crafting this truthful gem. What a special achievement!

In his final film, Huston plays a larger than life character who owns a big ranch that he is struggling to maintain financially. Stanwyck is the head-strong daughter that he clashes with, particularly when Anderson enters the picture as his fiancé. One can imagine her character later became Victoria Barkley in "The Big Valley." Mann specialized in Westerns and he does well enough here, but the problem is that the script is not very interesting. Huston and Stanwyck are always worth watching, but Corey seems to be miscast as the romantic lead. Waxman, who won the Oscar for "Sunset Blvd." the same year, provides a lively score. Interestingly, both Mann and Waxman lived from 1906 to 1967.

This one just keeps pulsating and bringing on the goods. Another of author Niven Busch's psychological westerns (preceded by "Duel in the Sun" and "Pursued"), this one has a dynamic father/daughter duo, a pretty and meek son (the late John Bromfield), and a smooth gambler seeking revenge for the death of his father. In fact, most of the characters are seeking revenge at one point or another---though the "Furies" of the title is the name of the contested ranch, in fact it could just as well refer to the motivations behind many of the characters' actions. Knockout score and photography and acting. Astounding that this one is not commercially available.

Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston are reasons enough to see any film they're in and both were nearly always good and more. Have also liked a lot of Judith Anderson's work since her unforgettable Mrs Danvers in 'Rebecca', and Beulah Bondi and Albert Dekker were always dependable. Have also loved a good deal of Anthony Mann's other work, including some of the best Westerns around, and Franz Waxman was one of the best film composers at the time in my view.

'The Furies' does fall slightly short of being the brilliant film that it could easily have been, but goodness wasn't it close to being. That is of course my feelings from my own viewing of it not too long ago, but will never hold anything against anybody that didn't care for it a great deal. My reason for saying that it was this close to being a great film is that 'The Furies' has so many strengths and those strengths were more than well done, they were brilliantly done.

It is hard knowing where to start with the praise, but lets start with the performances which were, with only one major exception, great. Stanwyck is a tremendously powerful presence, bringing her usual steel and vulnerability while Huston in sadly his last film is mesmerising. His best moments are intensely moving at times and have even more so a lot of menacing fire, the lack of any Oscar nomination or any award attention for his performance here is in my view criminal. Anderson proves herself to be a scene stealer and the tension between her and Stanwyck is one of the best executed and most interesting character/acting relationships in 'The Furies', not to mention her great last line. Bondi and Dekker are good, even though their roles are somewhat small and Gilbert Roland is appealing.

Most of the character/acting relationships are handled very well. Liked the tension between Stanwyck and Anderson and Stanwyck is far more convincing with Roland than she is with Wendell Corey, much more of a sense of them being in love. The most interesting is the father-daughter relationship, which had furious intensity and at times creepiness. Excepting Vance, the characters are interesting. TC being the meatiest and quite larger than life while not unbalancing the film.

Furthermore, Mann directs brilliantly, and the atmosphere and evocative setting is enhanced by Victor Millner's magnificently atmospheric, beautifully crafted cinematography that was deservingly Oscar-nominated. And by Waxman's rousing and at times haunting score. The script is intelligently written and taut while allowing breathing space and the story is always absorbing and tense, there is melodrama here but it is not overwrought.

Despite all those great things, a couple of things could have been done better. Corey is very stiff and a complete blank as the main romantic lead. He and Stanwyck have no real chemistry either, which is something of a moderately big problem as he has more screen time than Roland (who has far more charm and easier chemistry with Stanwyck).

Also thought that Blanche Yurka was a bit too theatrical and out of place here, though her screen time was not near as big as Corey's so wasn't as distracting.

Shortcomings aside, all in all this was a very good film because the acting, direction and photography are so good. 8/10

There's a lot of Freudian subtext in this unusual 1950 Western, but what resonates most is how director Anthony Mann so smoothly transcends the testosterone-driven genre to come up with an entertaining hybrid of a woman's picture and a Greek tragedy. At the dynamic core of this film is the masterstroke of casting Walter Huston (in his last screen role) and Barbara Stanwyck as a spendthrift father and his headstrong daughter at odds over running the expansive ranch that gives the movie its name. In Roman mythology, the Furies were supernatural personifications of the anger of the dead. As females, they represent regeneration and the potency of creation, which both consumes and empowers. It is this single-minded sense of empowerment that drives Vance Jeffords to usurp her wily father T.C. while seeking his approval at the same time.

Set in 1870's New Mexico, the story written by Charles Schnee ("The Bad and the Beautiful") is steeped in not-so-indiscreet psychological baggage. T.C. lives by his own rules by borrowing liberally from banks, paying hired hands with his own script, and allowing Mexican settlers to live off his land. Unlike her weak-willed brother, Vance enjoys provoking her father but to what end is never clear as an unacknowledged cloud of incest hangs over their strange relationship. At the same time, T.C. has a sworn enemy in gambler Rip Darrow who is looking to avenge his father's death at T.C.'s hands. Vance falls for Darrow, but she's also drawn to Juan Herrera, a childhood friend and one of the Mexicans now considered squatters. Complicating matters even more is the arrival of T.C.'s pretentious fiancée Flo Burnett, a devious socialite out to rid the ranch of the Mexicans and push Vance aside as the female head of the beleaguered family. This ploy leads to a most shocking scene that fits well within the story's noirish shadings.

As T.C., Huston gives a grand performance evoking both as the old prospector in his son John's "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" and the conflicted industrialist in William Wyler's "Dodsworth". Although a bit old for her role at 43, Stanwyck combines her no-nonsense manner with a childlike vulnerability in illuminating Vance's most complex psyche. This is excellent work from an actress who always seemed home on the range. Generally a pliable third lead in films ("Rear Window"), Wendell Corey doesn't lend charisma or a convincing edge to his swagger as Darrow, but Gilbert Roland shines in the smallish role of Juan and strikes sparks with Stanwyck that should have happened with Corey. However, it is Judith Anderson (Mrs. Danvers in "Rebecca") who steals her brief scenes as Flo bringing out a palpable tension with Stanwyck in their almost-comically cutting scenes together (pardon the pun!). Veteran character actress Beulah Bondi also has a nice near-cameo as a banker's wife fully aware of her husband's prideful shortcomings.

The intensely passionate movie swirls in all its psycho-sexual emotionalism and Shakespearean-level acts of murder, revenge and greed, but oddly (and perhaps due to the edicts of studio censors), Mann applies the brakes in the disappointing final portion of the film. Still, it's well worth viewing in the new Criterion Collection's 2008 release chock-full of extras. First, there is the meticulously academic commentary track by Western author Jim Kitses ("Horizons West"). Then there is an interesting 17-minute interview with Mann ("Actions Speak Louder Than Words") conducted just prior to his death in 1967. Another interview is offered with Mann's daughter Nina specifically for this release as she recalls her father's often underrated body of work. More of a curio is a silly, obviously scripted 1931 interview with Huston where he evasively responds to the vacuous questions of a pretty reporter. The original theatrical trailer and a stills gallery round out the extras.