The thorn in the Terrill's side is the Hannassey clan, rival ranchers with a neighboring and much smaller spread. The Hannassey patriarch is blustering, imperious Burl Ives, and he is plagued with four hell-raising and barely civilized grown sons. The most aggressive among them is Chuck Connors, who is involved in a one-way relationship with righteous schoolteacher Jean Simmons. Simmons is the absentee owner of a ranch coveted by both the Terrill and Hannassey outfits, since it is the sole source of water in the area. Simmons wants both rival ranches to have free and equal access to the water, but Bickford seeks to purchase her ranch to force Ives & Sons out of business.
Since it is a movie, both Baker and Simmons are beautiful. Baker takes an East Coast vacation, and returns with fiance Gregory Peck, a hunky and well-to-do former ship's captain. Peck quickly surmises that a civil war exists between the Terrill and Hannassey ranches, that Heston sees Peck as a hostile rival for Baker, that Baker always sticks up for daddy, and that Baker expects Peck to demonstrate his manhood at every turn. Peck has soon had enough and breaks off the engagement, but not before purchasing the Simmons ranch.
Once Bickford realizes he will never own the Simmons ranch, he posts his men on it anyway, to prevent Ives' cattle from drinking. Ives has Connors kidnap Simmons, unaware that she has sold the ranch. Peck rides to Simmons' rescue, passing Bickford's men along the way, who have gathered near Ives' ranch to take it by force. A series of dramatic showdowns ensue.
How others will see it. The Big Country was a box office success, and pleased the critics as well. Burl Ives, due to his memorable speaking voice, garnered a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and the Jerome Moross score was also nominated. The imdb.com user ratings are consistently very high.
How I felt about it. The Big Country is certainly interesting, but it is by no means a great film. My biggest problem with it is the ending, which admittedly is crowd-pleasing but personally unsatisfying. The audience expects Good (personified by Peck and Simmons) to triumph over Bad (personified by Connors and Bickford), and it does. Connors alternates between reckless and cowardly, and Ives appears to be looking for an excuse to shoot his own son, whom he thoroughly disapproves of. But how good a parent could Ives have been if all four sons turn out to be no-account drunkards, womanizers, and idlers?
I can accept that during the whirlwind romance between Baker and Peck, she never mentioned the troubles with the Hannassey ranch. But surely Peck, a man of the world, would have realized how headstrong and father-obsessed Baker is. Peck is his own man, and it was obvious within a day or two that he is incompatible with the immature and spoiled Baker, who apparently needs a large man who will obey Bickford. This man is Heston, of course, except that he is working class and poor, while she is manor-born and rich.
Throughout the movie, all the other characters are mystified by the actions of Peck. They expect him to either blend into the Terrill family immediately, or return back East. But Peck won't do anything he disapproves of, and he doesn't bend to another's will, at least until he agrees to duel Connors. He only does this because he hopes to return with Simmons before Bickford advances on the Hannassey ranch. Because he is a movie hero, Peck has no fear of losing his life while meddling in the affairs of others, even though his own father died for that reason.
Yet, despite all his efforts, Peck is a failure. He came to Texas to marry Baker. That ended badly. Then he decides to personally broker a peace between two other ranches. That also ends in disaster. Now, the Hannassey ranch will fall into the hands of his dissolute sons, Baker will inherit the Terrill ranch with enmity against Peck, and Peck has himself a small ranch. The audience expects that he will marry Simmons, but there appears to be no passion between them, only mutual respect.