Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

evanston_dad Barbara Stanwyck has some serious daddy issues in this weird cross between a women's picture, western and film noir from 1950.Walter Huston plays the daddy, and he steals the show in a vibrant performance. He owns a ranch called The Furies, which he hands over to his daughter when he tires of the daily management. But things go awry when he brings home a new wife from the city (Judith Anderson, excellent) and she has some ideas of her own about how things should be run. Tensions boil over to the point where father and daughter hate each other, and Stanwyck hatches a scheme to bankrupt her father and take the ranch away from him.It's an uneven movie at best. Characters seem to turn on a dime -- Huston and Stanwyck go from idolizing one another to hating each other back to idolizing each other -- but maybe that's the point. They're both ruled by their passions, and those passions extend to the father/daughter relationship, and sometimes confuse it, as much as to their business practices.Anthony Mann provided the noirish direction, and Franz Waxman delivers a frenzied, out-there score.Grade: B+

doug-balch This disappointing movie is a film noir version of "Duel in the Sun". It's much more intelligent and better acted than "Duel", but just like "Duel", it stretches the limits of the Western genre by introducing too much romance and soap opera. I only gave this 4 out of 10 stars in IMDb. It only accumulated 8 points in my ranking system, well below average score of 12. Despite its poor overall ranking, there were quite a few things to like about the movie: Barbara Stanwyck may have played a lot of strong women in her career, but her character is quite unusual for a Western. She does a great job, but unfortunately her role is too hammy. There's a very unusual plot element revolving around the issuance of a private currency and bank loans. The economics in the movie are sophisticated and realistic. Reminded me a lot of the accuracy of 1980's "Trading Places". Barbara Stanwyck has a great line late in the movie, when a town dance hall girl introduces herself, saying, "Hi, My name's Dallas Hart, I'm new here". Stanwyck looks her up and down and says, "Honey, you wouldn't be new anywhere." Wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't an old Mae West line. Nice authentic Arizona locations. Pretty realistic interiors. i.e. when the scene shifts to a soundstage, the rooms feel small and have low ceilings. Ford was good at this also. On the negative side: As I mentioned, it's a pot boiling "Peyton Place with spurs" more than a real Western. This is a common problem in "Land Baron" dramas like "The Big Country". Wendell Corey is very poorly cast as the central romantic lead. This movie desperately needed some charisma in this role. It was obvious they were trying to fit a 1,000 page novel into a two hour movie, which is very hard to do. In this way, it resembles Mann's "Cimarron", which he made a complete mess of ten years later. This movie is much better crafted than "Cimarron", but the extensive summarizing of characters and time passage is obvious. They handle it pretty well overall, but can't keep up. For example, Stanwyck's brother simply disappears from the movie half way through with no explanation. I won't give it away, but expect more of Anthony Mann's obligatory gore and sadism. I could do without all the shootings through the hand, draggings through the fire, spurs in the neck etc.

zetes This Antony Mann Western is little-known compared to his collaborations with James Stewart or Man of the West or a good number of other Mann films, but it's an equal to his best work. Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston (in his final performance) star as a daughter and her father, powerful ranchers who own the titular land. Their relationship, much as the title suggests, has a psycho-sexual tinge. When men call on Stanwyck, her father balks. And when hoochies cling to Huston, well, then things get real ugly! The Furies shows Mann bringing a lot of his noir skills to the Western genre. One can easily see how that genre influenced Mann's characterizations, but, in terms of film-making, he had largely moved on. The Furies is just dark and often nasty. I have to wonder why the film is so little known. My thought is that almost all Westerns feature male protagonists, with the most notably exception being Johnny Guitar. I'm not going to rag too much on that film, because I do like it, but The Furies is far superior. Stanwyck was rarely better. I might actually rate this as her best. Huston went out on one of his best performances. It's hard to believe he died before the film was even released with as much energy as he shows. My only real complaint with the movie is that it peaks too early. The standoff at the Herrera's fort is one of the greatest sequences in the history of the genre, and it's so good that the remainder of the film drags a bit. Still, a masterpiece. Thanks again, Criterion!

mark.waltz Very few westerns have the psychological impacts that this "Mourning Becomes Electra" like saga dramatizes. Barbara Stanwyck, in the role that must have influenced her "Big Valley" character for TV, is both tough and tender as Vance Jeffords, the western princess of TC Jefford's (Walter Huston) empire. Dare step on her toes, and you won't be able to rest, as love interest Wendell Corey finds out. And dare come between her and her beloved father, and you'll end up with a surprising bit of vengeance as Judith Anderson as a gold-digging San Francisco socialite finds out. John Bromfield appears briefly as Stanwyck's brother who knows that he will never have the affections of his father that Stanwyck has and pretty much resigns himself to the fact that she will be daddy's heir, not him. Barbara Stanwyck was the Queen of the west, and in almost a dozen Westerns, it was Barbara Stanwyck who gave many a western hero a run for their money. Walter Huston, as her patriarchal father, is a force to be reckoned with who has trained his daughter to be tough. When he betrays her one wish, he also becomes a victim of her vengeance. There are also Gilbert Roland as a Mexican squatter, her life-long friend who becomes a tool in her father's revenge against her; Blanche Yurka, the great Hungarian stage actress, plays the bit role of his vengeful mama; Even in the small role, we are reminded of her excellent performance as Madame DeFarge in the Ronald Colman version of "A Tale of Two Cities" years before. Just watch her intense eyes as she cackles and curses in Spanish as she pushes huge boulders off the mountain in her effort to prevent Huston and Stanwyck from gaining access to the family's mountain hideaway. Beaulah Bondi also shows up briefly as a society matron who aids Stanwyck in her efforts to take over the Furies. With all this talent, it is amazing that the scenery wasn't eaten up along the way. The great Judith Anderson, who played many of the types of roles on Broadway that Stanwyck did on screen, is subtle as she tries to worms her way into the role of Queen of the Furies, but it is Stanwyck's ultimate revenge which prevents this from happening. Later, when we get our last glimpse of the beaten Anderson, she gives herself a great exit line. This, ironically, was the second film in which one of Stanwyck's characters had an impact on Anderson's character; In the 1946 film noir, "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers", it is young Martha (who as an adult is played by Stanwyck) who pushes matriarch Anderson down some stairs to her death, giving that film its motivations.The one problem with this casting is the performance of Wendell Corey, perhaps one of the dullest leading men in Hollywood history. Stiff and unappealing, there is no doubt in the viewer's mind that Stanwyck would never feel any passion for the tree trunk like character. He was perfect as the sap husband of Joan Crawford's in the same years "Harriet Craig" but didn't have the fire that Gilbert Roland did. The previous year's "The File of Thelma Jordan" paired them together and proved that Stanwyck's passion required her to have a man on her side (and in her bed) that was her equal. Fortunately, Walter Huston is given more screen time, and is absolutely outstanding. He truly deserved an Oscar Nomination for his lively performance. When T.C. faces his final moments on-screen, he does it with such acceptance of his fate that it is truly heartfelt. It was his last film, as he died before the film was released. Stanwyck praised Huston publicly, and at her AFI tribute, Walter's son, director John Huston, praised Stanwyck (whom he had never met) for her professionalism and kindness to his father. The same year's "September Affair" took Huston's old recording of "September Song" and utilized it to great effect. Even by only being heard in that film, he truly made a huge impact, and ranks as perhaps my favorite actor of old Hollywood.