The Big Sky (1952)

Masterful Movie

Crappy film

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I enjoyed this movie. I would rate it a 7.5 if the rating scale allowed. Director Howard Hawks has quite a varied filmography: comedies like Bringing up baby, westerns like Rio Bravo, noirs like the Big Sleep. And add adventures like this one to his credit. I wish it was done in color! It would have been fitting for it's beautiful setting. I know many of the scenes were shot on a sound stage but the panoramic scenery shots would have sparkled in color.Kirk Douglas rarely gave a bad performance and this is no exception. It might not be Oscar worthy but he is convincing with his natural virility and famous on screen magnetism. His sidekick Arthur Hunnicut adds his endearing quality to the film as he usually does. It's also fun to see Jim Davis before his Dallas days as well as Dewey Martin (The thing from another world, The longest day) and Paul Frees (countless movie voice overs).Although not my favorite adventure film, the story is believable and without any serious gaps. It's simple but includes some humor and added character development. Just a bit on the long side, it's a pleasant 140 minute diversion.

Most westerns I've seen were set in the years after the US civil war but this one is set several decades earlier when much of the west was part of the United States in name only with vast areas that had rarely if ever been visited by white men. One such area was the upper reaches of the Missouri river; a land inhabited by the Blackfoot Indians. This film tells the story of a group of independent fur traders who intend to travel to this area because of the potential for profit and because most of the closer territories are controlled by 'The Company'. The protagonists are Jim Deakins and Boone Caudill; two men who became friends on the way to St Louis and signed up for the job there along with Boone's uncle Zeb who they met in jail. Normally such a job would be impossible as they would not be welcome in Blackfoot territory but the boat's captain has an Indian woman named Teal Eye on board; the daughter of a chief, who had had been captured by another tribe. One the way up river they have many things to contend with including Company men, Crow Indians, nature and Teal Eye who wants to kill Boone because he has the scalp of the Blackfoot warrior he believes killed his brother.I was a little surprised when the film started to see it was in black and white and 'narrow screen'… I'd imagined with a title like 'The Big Sky' it would be in Technicolor and widescreen to show of those big skies to maximum effect. Given its age I shouldn't have been too surprised though and the film still looked good; in fact the black and white was an advantage for the many night scenes where colour often looks slightly unnatural. The actors did a fine job although looking at it with a modern eye it is a pity that the Indian characters weren't played by Native Americans. That said the politics seemed admirably liberal for a film of this time; the Indians weren't portrayed as savages and most of the furriers respected them and Boone's dislike was based on his brother's death and even that changes over time. Even the hostile Crow are only hostile because the Company has stirred them up. As well as their various adventures there is the inevitable romantic subplot; Deakin's clearly has feelings for Teal Eye but by the end she sees him as a brother and fancies Boone… something that will test their friendship. If you like westerns don't be put off by the lack of colour; watch it and enjoy a fine story well acted.

Yes, I know this is a frontier western but it yet is one that manages to feel more like an adventurous pirate movie at times. The characters travel by water and also their looks and behavior seem more suited for a pirates movie. I'm not saying all this as a complaint though, on the contrary really. I like the movie for having such an adventurous feeling and atmosphere to it. It makes this an unique sort of western, by Howard Hawks.In its setup and with its story, this foremost remains a quite simplistic movie. Basically it's a movie in which the main characters are traveling from point A to B and come across all sorts of dangers and meet new people on their way. This is an approach that often gets picked for a movie of this sort, made around the same time period but most of those movies don't really work for me, since they are often just not that interesting to follow and also way too slow in certain parts. This is even a problem I have with lots of other Howard Hawks movies but I can honestly say that this movie did actually work for me. Even though the movie definitely had plenty of slow moments in it, it never bored me because it was a very engaging one to watch.Like most of these movies do, it also builds- and relies heavily on the comradely amongst its main characters. This is a theme that quite often appeals to men, so you can also really truly call this a men movie, despite the fact that it also throws in a obligatory love-story.It's not like Kirk Douglas his performance makes this movie but his presence is still of course a welcome one. It's a movie from the very early days of his career, before he really was an household name, even though he had already earned himself an Oscar nominated and earned another one in the same year as this movie got done, for his role in "The Bad and the Beautiful", which is also a movie that I absolutely loved watching!It's not the type of western that's set in only the desert. Like I said before, for most part its set on a river and in the northern countryside, in which the Indians still ruled. It provides the movie with some beautiful scenery, that perhaps is not really done enough justice by the movie its black & white camera-work. But who knows, maybe the overall movie would had not worked out as well if it indeed got shot in full, bright color. So we just have to take this movie for what is and be glad for the way that it turned out to be.An adventurously entertaining-, as well as intriguing movie to watch.8/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This is a shockingly enjoyable love story, remarkable for having appeared in 1950s republican America...a place better known for extreme homophobia. Here's the scene that did it for me. Imagine two spectacularly handsome men camping out in the middle of nowhere, completely chill, philosophizing about their lives and nearly cuddled up in the most intimate man-on- man-sleeping-together scene before Brokeback Mountain. Their intimacy might be explained as having been compelled cinematically for the success of the single-camera take. However, it works romantically, if only platonically. The men are completely relaxed and natural, and they radiate their euphoria over being in each other's company. To keep this relationship in check, the producers added a Black Foot princess to generate the more expected heterosexual rivalry, albeit a decidedly perfunctory one. In the end, this movie is about two men who love being with each other more than anything in the world and that's pretty amazing for 1952. The Big Sky succeeds by dint of its successful casting. Kirk Douglas and Dewey Martin, two glamorous, rugged men, seem thrilled and unembarrassed with the subject matter: a boat full of men headed upriver to trade with Native Americans amidst glorious scenery. Neither ever had a role that betrayed their personalities more charismatically.