Duel in the Sun (1946)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

not great. only perfect. for the story, mix of different lines. for cast. and for the meet between Jennifer Jones and Gregory Peck in a last scene who impress again and again. it is a masterpiece . for the opportunity to discover a lost age of Hollywood in the best version. for the desire, and the reasonable result, to make a different western. and for its...humanitarian perspective about love and family. sure, I am far to be objective about it as admirer of Lillian Gish and Gregory Peck . but it is real good film. maybe, obvious, perfect.

When Scott Chavez (Herbert Marshall) kills his wife and her lover, he contacts his cousin and former passion Laura Belle (Lillian Gish) and makes arrangements for his daughter Pearl Chavez (Jennifer Jones) to live with her and her family since he will be executed. On the arrival, Pearl is welcomed by Jesse McCanles (Joseph Cotton), the younger son of Belle that is a lawyer that brings her to the huge ranch Spanish Bit that belongs to his father, the invalid Senator McCanles (Lionel Barrymore) that lives on a wheelchair. Pearl is also welcomed by Laura Belle, but the Senator is cold and ironic with her, calling her half-breed. Soon Pearl meets Belle's older son Lewton 'Lewt' McCanles (Gregory Peck), who is a scoundrel and a wolf, and he tells his intentions to her. One night, Lewt forces Pearl and she submits to him and she becomes ashamed and angry with Lewt. Meanwhile the railroad is ready to trespass the Spanish Bit fence and the Senator organizes a group of men to defend his real estate. However the railroad people has a court order and the army on their side and Jesse tries to explain the Senator that he should let them in. However the Senator expels his son from the ranch and when Jesse is going to say goodbye to Pearl, he finds Lewt in her room. Jesse leaves Pearl behind and Lewt promises to marry her; but when she learns his real intention, she believes she is trash and becomes her lover. "Duel in the Sun" is a melodramatic soap opera in the Old West, with detestable characters. Jennifer Jones does not fit to the role of a naive young woman and the viewer does not feel sorrow for her due to her promiscuous behavior. Gregory Peck has an excellent performance in the role of a scum. David O. Selznick's pretension to make a film comparable with "Gone with the Wind" is quite absurd. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Duelo ao Sol" ("Duel in the Sun")

David O. Selznick's misguided attempt to recreate the success of GWTW in a western setting. The film has pleasures to be sure but also some woefully terrible parts. On the plus side: the cinematography is gorgeous and some of the supporting performances are good, Lillian Gish and Charles Bickford come off best. However there are some fatal flaws: a meager story to pin two and a half hours of film on and an overly earnest tone are two big deficits but what really hurts the film the most is the complete miscasting of the two leads. Gregory Peck was a fine actor but he was also an icon of resolute decency, whereas other actors with that persona like Henry Fonda could occasionally play a villain convincingly Peck could not. His casting alone would not be so bad if it wasn't paired against the absurdity of Jennifer Jones as Pearl. While I'll admit to never being a fan of hers within a limited range she could be an okay actress when the role wasn't too demanding, for instance The Towering Inferno. Pearl Chavez is far outside that scope, the part isn't really that good to begin with, even an actress as skillful as Vivien Leigh would probably been hard pressed to make her real although Ava Gardner with her raw sensuality probably could have made her if not necessarily real at least convincing but Jones mistakes over emphasis with depth and Vidor's florid style of direction doesn't help her. Part of the blame probably rests with Selznick's famed smothering control and that fact he was determined to make Jones the greatest of all stars which resulted often in putting her in material for which she was not suited and away from her strengths as a performer. The film is entertaining in an often campy way but one viewing should be enough.

Duel in the Sun (1946) *** (out of 4)Now legendary Western has half-breed Pearl (Jennifer Jones) going to live with a rich family after her father is killed. Once at the place Pearl's beauty attracts the older, kinder brother Jesse (Joseph Cotten) as well as the young, more violent Lewt (Gregory Peck). Soon the two brothers are at odds over the woman as both take different paths in their lives but each will wind back up with the girl. It's no secret that producer-writer David O. Selznick wanted this to match his GONE WITH THE WIND. It's no secret that this film fell well short of that but while it never reaches the greatness it should have you can't help but admire the film and its many faults. I've read that the original cut of this thing was over ten-hours and I'd believe this because watching it today it seems as there's all sorts of stuff missing as the story jumps around quite a bit and characters go through certain changes that are never really discussed or shown. The Cotten character goes through a whole lot of changes after being kicked out of the house and when he returns it's as if an entire life span had gone by yet we never really learn what he was doing in this time. Even the change in Peck's character seems to come out of nowhere. The greatest thing the film has going for it is the amazing cast that really makes this thing stand out. For starters, Jones is downright brilliant in her role as she perfectly handles the seduction side of the character but also the characters confusion about who she is and how she's destroying this family. Peck and Cotten are both terrific in their parts but it's Peck that really sticks out as the villain. It's a wonder he didn't get the chance to play too many bad guys in his career because he did a great job with this one. Lillian Gish plays the boy's mother and as you'd expect she does a great job and really pulls off the sentimental character. Lionel Barrymore is the mean-as-snakes father and he does his usual great job of screaming and playing a creep. The final sequence with Barrymore and Gish is quite effective. We even get Walter Huston playing a fast-wired preacher who tries to save Jones from her sins. What really makes this film stand out from the other Westerns from this era is its sexuality, which is very high and it's amazing that they got so much past the censors. The rape scenes with Peck and Jones are effective and the burning lust their characters show on screen is certainly something we didn't see everyday. Even with all the good things, DUEL IN THE SUN still comes up short in terms of greatness. The film never reaches the levels of GONE WITH THE WIND but there's enough here to make it worth viewing and especially if you're fans of the stars.