Pursued (1947)

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Copyright 8 March 1947 by Hemisphere Films, Inc. Presented by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 7 March 1947. U.S. release: 2 March 1947. U.K. release: 10 November 1947. Australian release: 24 June 1948. 9,020 feet. 102 minutes. SYNOPSIS: In turn of the century New Mexico, an avenger seeks to kill the last of the Rands. NOTES: Film debut of John Rodney. He followed up his impressive performance here with an unimportant part in Key Largo; and that was followed by Fighter Squadron (1948) and "Calamity Jame and Sam Bass". Which is all I have for his movie career. He then moved over to TV. Locations in Monument Valley.COMMENT: Fascinating variant on Wuthering Heights, superbly photographed, drivingly scored and forcefully directed, with Judith Anderson and surprisingly Dean Jagger and newcomer John Rodney giving forceful portrayals. Mitchum and Teresa Wright are also well cast and directed, with excellent cameos by Alan Hale and Harry Carey Jr. Walsh makes marvelous use both of his broadly scenic natural locations (in awesomely mountainous and rimrock country) and his realistic backlot sets. The action set-pieces are superlatively staged. Impossible to forget such sequences as the rifle ambush from the ridge and the shoot-out with Harry Carey Jr (one of his most unforgettable portraits). Jagger is grippingly malicious as the vengeful Grant Callum, while Judith Anderson's strong portrait is likewise unforgettable. One of Steiner's most appropriately aggressive scores.One of the first of the so-called psychological westerns - and one of the most suspensefully written and directed and spellbindingly produced.

No need to recap the plot. It's an unusual western for the time, with dark psychological undercurrents and noirish stylings. Mitchum carries the movie without changing expression let alone emoting. Not so, Miss Wright who has a little too much malt shop for my liking. Pairing her with the studly Mitchum is risky, to say the least, but she's a good enough actress to manage. The story's dark with some striking b&w visuals, especially those awesome rock monoliths peering down like silent gods. The story's told in flashback such that we're intrigued by the main thread of what it is that haunts Mitchum's character. And that's despite a lengthy and somewhat turgid screenplay given to sub-thread meanderings. I would have liked it better had Mitchum's haunting gotten more screen time. Anyway, the great Judith Anderson gets a sympathetic role for once that also turns out to have some depth. Given the year 1947, Pursued embodies two emerging fashions of the period—concern with psychological afflictions and couched on a background of noirish stylings. The trends characterize many post-war productions, and here even spread into that most conservative of Hollywood genres, the western.All in all, it's a suspenseful story, well acted, with impressive visuals, even though the screenplay could use some tightening up.

Moody film noir from director Raoul Walsh has young boy left orphaned by a bloodthirsty band of killers, who dog the boy's trail even after he grows up into Robert Mitchum (seems to me that's the point where they might have given up stalking him). Mitchum smolders, as usual, though his character here is just a thumbnail sketch, and the melodrama inherent in this scenario is far beneath him. Judith Anderson fares a bit better playing the boy's elderly but wise guardian (a clichéd part, but invested with a salty kick by the actress). Lackluster film co-starring Teresa Wright and Dean Jagger just doesn't hold much interest, despite good cinematography by James Wong Howe and an atmospheric score by Max Steiner, top talents all around. *1/2 from ****

The theme of 'Pursued' is violent revenge. Don't forget that this was made shortly after WWII ended, so that the theme of men returning from combat, and the constant threat of death, was something everyone was conscious of; it's almost as if Jeb has PTSD (the 'black dog riding his back'), and death follows him, through no fault of his own, throughout the movie. The premise isn't complicated at all: a man brought up to love the daughter of his adopted family kills her brother - the fact that her family killed his is a bit irrelevant; see below. When Thorley reveals her intention to murder Jeb on their wedding night, I have to concede that it's a little unconvincing, but this is a limitation of Teresa Wright's performance, which is too wholesome - if she'd played it a bit sexier, more hot-blooded, she'd be much more believable. In terms of the 'operatic' plot, it's completely logical; two men have had a go at Jeb, now it's a woman's turn, and the stakes are even higher. Jeb phlegmatically welcomes death each time, and each time it turns out that he's the only one with the true killer instinct. The posse coming for Jeb is his real nemesis, and it's here that the happy (happy? Your mother-in-law shoots the guy who shot your father just as they're about to string you up?) ending lets the movie down; Thorley should have sacrificed herself to save Jeb and redeem herself and the Callums, but presumably this was thought too depressing for 1947. This would have dispensed with all the desperate last-minute exposition, too. The camera work is sublime, and Judith Anderson does a great Ma-in-law from Hell. I wonder what Elvis Presley would have made of the role...Mitchum shows just how far ahead of the 1950's beefcake field he was.