The Big Sky

As a fan of westerns, I'm always somewhat taken aback when someone tells me they don't like the genre. Everyone has their preferences. I can understand and appreciate that.  Like any successful genre though, I think you have to give it a chance. Do some exploring, see what's good, what's considered a cult classic, what's bad and what you should avoid. There are little groups of niches within the western of course, one that any movie fan should be able to appreciate, the expansion to the west in the United States, like 1952's The Big Sky.

The 19th Century was an incredibly busy one for the ever-growing United States as hundreds of thousands of people moved west trying to build new lives. American expansion isn't an easily handled topic for a movie with all its epic qualities and large scale and scope, but when handled right, it can be a beautiful story in the end. 'Sky' isn't your typical western, focusing on some of the first explorers into uncharted land more than gunfighters and shootouts. That's a good thing though, a big, expansive western about a chapter in American history so often overlooked. Our history has to start and continue, and this is as good a place as any to jump off from.

It's 1832, and Jim Deakins (Kirk Douglas) is traveling to Louisville when he meets another young traveler, Boone Caudill (Dewey Martin). With so much open land to the west of St. Louis just waiting to be explored, Jim and Boone head west looking to join up with Boone's uncle, Zeb Calloway (Arthur Hunnicutt), a trapper and frontiersman, one of the few men to explore deep into the west and the unknown. They find him in a jail cell and sign on for an expedition up the unexplored Missouri River. Along for the trip is Teal Eye (Elizabeth Threatt), a Blackfoot princess who will be used as a negotiating ploy in the trading process for beaver pelts. Trading seems a long way off though as Jim, Boone, Zeb and the crew of the keelboat must fight off Indian attacks, murdering white men, and nature's ever present danger.

Exploring the untapped American west and all its beauty is one of the most simple, direct and straightforward story ideas ever. There is something beautiful in the simplicity; a land untouched by technology or business.  Director Howard Hawks filmed this movie on location in Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the end result is stunning. Seeing the valleys, the mountains, the rivers, you understand why people would risk it all in the 1830s to uproot their families and move them west. That's the most appropriate word I can think of; stunning. It is a gorgeous movie to watch, even if I wondered what the movie would have looked like in color and a widescreen presentation (2 years too early) instead of the black and white standard presentation. Minor potatoes really, color or not, the Tetons are breathtaking.

Depending on the role and the movie he was in, Arthur Hunnicutt could be so downright homey and folksy, so home-spun and backwoods he drove me up a wall.  There is such a thing as being too folksy if you ask me.  He no doubt had talent though, and this is one of his most understated roles. Yes, there are bits of folksy attitude, but in the right doses it works. His Zeb serves as Sky's narrator, explaining what's going on to our crew of adventurers. The narration has some humor to it and never tries to be anything too over the top. It's just the trials and tribulations of traveling as Zeb sees it, and that's all.  He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, losing to Anthony Quinn in Viva Zapata!, and it's one he deserved. Hunnicutt and his veteran presence -- as an actor and as his part requires -- gives the movie that steady feeling of knowing where it needs to go.

In a variation on the buddy picture, Douglas and Martin are cast together nicely as Jim and Boone, two friends always competing, always getting into scrapes, and always coming out on the other side the better for it.  These aren't characters who develop and change much, just two young men looking for adventure, and that's okay because that's all the story needs. They look to be having a lot of fun, and that's all that matters. Threatt never starred in another movie, strange considering how good she is here, making an easily stereotypical part into something better. Some of the keelboat's crew include Jourdonnais (Steven Geray) or 'Frenchy' to his men, the captain and owner of the boat, Romaine (Buddy Baer), a Goliath of a man, and Henri Letondal as La Badie, the cook. The very white Hank Worden plays Poordevil, a groan-inducing, stereotypical portrayal of an Indian who's touched in the head, while Jim Davis is Streak, a conniving bandit working against the expedition.  

With a story that covers several months on the trail/river, 'Sky' leans more toward an episodic plot than one continuous storyline.  This is both good and bad.  The more interesting parts flow at a quick pace, but the slower ones drag it down. I don't dislike the movie, but at 138 minutes it feels a tad long in places, especially toward the end.  Lost footage has been reinserted into the movie as well so that could have something to do with it. None of this is enough to not recommend this movie though. Dimitri Tiomkin's score is a nice touch, as big and wide as the story it accompanies, and the movie itself is a beauty. It doesn't receive the recognition it deserves so see if you can track a copy down or at least look out for it at TCM.

The Big Sky <---trailer (1952): ***/****