Lucy Gallant (1955)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I watched this film...all the way through...but I didn't like it. It seems to me that if there were ever a man and a woman that didn't belong together it was the two main characters in this film, played by Wyman and Heston. Aside from that, and I admit I can't put my finger on it, this film just feels off-target to me. Like when I play pool and every shot is about one inch off the mark. And although I'm a man, it appeared to me that Charlton Heston wouldn't have been a good kisser at all.The basic story line...at least for a while...seems okay. Wyman is traveling by train through Texas and gets laid over in a cow town that is becoming an oil town. She gets the idea to go into a store for ladies fashions and makes a hit of it. Meanwhile she falls in love with a ranch owner who eventually becomes an oil man. But, oil and water don't mix and Wyman and Heston always seem at odds. And frankly, I have to align with Wyman's character here. Heston plays a mild bully. In the end, she -- unfortunately -- bows to his idea of what a wife should be. What a shame.Interestingly, Texas Governor Allan Shivers and fashion designer Edith Head both appear as themselves near the end of the film.There's nothing wrong with the performance of Jane Wyman here. It's the film that's off. But despite Wyman's strength as an actress, I'd have no desire to wade through this again.Charlton Heston apparently disliked his performance here...and I concur. To be frank, I was never impressed with Heston in romantic films. Despite being in several of the great films of the era, (and "Ben-Hur" is in my top 5), I'm not sure Heston's acting ability was very broad.Claire Trevor is here, and I liked her in her role. There just should have been much more of her! The wonderful Thelma Ritter is here...basically playing Thelma Ritter...and she's as fascinating to watch here as in any other film! William Demarest, usually an interesting character actor, doesn't fit here. And Wallace Ford (as her husband) has little to do beyond drinking whiskey.I don't know that I've ever seen a Jane Wyman film that I felt quite this negative about. Not bad though...a single miss in her most productive years.

One of my favorite Saturday Night at the Movies movie from childhood. Even as a ten-year-old though, I hated Casey Cole, Charlton Heston's character - horribly misogynist, manipulative and macho to a degree rarely seen out of other Charlton Heston movies. He makes every effort to pull the smart, beautiful, passionate and ambitious Lucy away from her successful business and into his idea of the perfect little woman - barefoot and pregnant and waiting for the Lord and Master at the front door at the end of the day. Lucy loves him but is determined to be herself and not an empty shell to be filled with just him. I watch it now with happy dread - I have to see again just what a pig Casey Cole is while also seeing the awesome Jane Wyman glow and grow through every minute of her screen time.Absolutely worth the watch. My favorite character actresses Clair Trevor and Thelma Ritter are Casey fans but reliably good as well.

Jane Wyman is "Lucy Gallant," who goes to new territory to set up in business and sell women's clothes - to be her own woman, to stand on her own two feet. But when Charlton Heston set his eyes on her, he fell in love with her and wanted her for himself. By the way, he doesn't like these "independent women." He is both attracted to and dismayed by her being cool to him in the beginning. But he is just as determined as she is. Claire Trevor, Thelma Ritter, and William Demarest all give good support, but this film belongs to Ms. Wyman, who gives the role both her vulnerability and firm resolve. "Lucy Gallant" is a harder-to-find film of hers than others. And, while it may seen rather predictable and not that much original in concept, its production values and good actors make up for it. Ms. Wyman's likable disposition invites the viewer to spend time with her and we never lose interest in her world as she tries to make a go of it and having to deal with Charlton's passes at her. Will she succumb to his advances? Will she triumph over tragedies that befall her business? You'll only learn, if you enter the world of "Lucy Gallant."

Have heard of this film for quite some time and finally got the chance to view it on tape (probably from AMC). I think the film captures the boomtown feel very well-instant population with lack of lodging or goods =business opportunities. While the film undoubtedly contains many truthful elements concerning the oil boom in Texas ( and even Governor Shivers playing himself ), it does seem just a bit stagy, although Jane Wyman's performance is actually quite good. I found it very intriguing that for the time period when the film was made, a woman was portrayed as virtually building her own business from the ground up without any real help from the man (or men) in her life. The real reason I had heard about the film previously is the "high fashion comes to Texas" bit, with Edith Head behind the creations. As usual, Edith does not disappoint. The designs, especially during the fashion show sequence, are amazing. It's no wonder that Edith Head was so sought after in Hollywood as a costumer for films (most notably for Alfred Hitchcock). She was a real talent. I am in total agreement that this film needs to be released on DVD, as I don't believe that it has ever even been on VHS at any point.