Duel in the Sun (1946)

Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.

Director:

King Vidor

Writers:

David O. Selznick (screenplay), Niven Busch (suggested by a novel by),

Stars:

Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Jones	...	Pearl Chavez
Joseph Cotten	...	Jesse McCanles
Gregory Peck	...	Lewton 'Lewt' McCanles
Lionel Barrymore	...	Sen. Jackson McCanles
Herbert Marshall	...	Scott Chavez
Lillian Gish	...	Laura Belle McCanles
Walter Huston	...	The Sinkiller
Charles Bickford	...	Sam Pierce
Harry Carey	...	Lem Smoot
Joan Tetzel	...	Helen Langford
Tilly Losch	...	Mrs. Chavez
Butterfly McQueen	...	Vashti
Scott McKay	...	Sid
Otto Kruger	...	Mr. Langford
Sidney Blackmer	...	The Lover

Storyline

When her father is hanged for shooting his wife and her lover, half-breed Pearl Chavez goes to live with distant relatives in Texas. Welcomed by Laura Belle and her elder lawyer son Jesse, she meets with hostility from the ranch-owner himself, wheelchair-bound Senator Jackson McCanles, and with lustful interest from womanising, unruly younger son Lewt. Almost at once, already existing family tensions are exacerbated by her presence and the way she is physically drawn to Lewt.

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Plot Keywords:

half breed | lovers | shooting | texas | father son estrangement | 

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Taglines:

FURIOUS, UNFORGETTABLE LOVE! (original print media ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 September 1947 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

King Vidor's Duel in the Sun

Filming Locations:

Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$20,400,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Selznick Studio, The, Vanguard Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min 144 min (roadshow)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

David O. Selznick reportedly spent $2,000,000.00, an unheard of sum in 1946, on the promotion of this film.

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Goofs

When the Cavalry rides off after intimidating McCanles from attacking the railroad because as the Senator says "I fought to defend that flag (the Stars and Stripes)", the music played is "Bonnie Blue Flag", which was an anthem of the Confederacy.

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Quotes

Lewt McCanles: You double-crossin' bobcat.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Lost in Space/The Spanish Prisoner/Mercury Rising/Kurt & Courtney/Character (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Varsoviana"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Arranged by Frank Perkins

User Reviews

Just remember, don't call her "Honey".

PURE OPERA. From the scenic backdrops seething in passionate colors to Jennifer Jones' over-ripe performance and Dimitri Tiomkin's tempestuous score...'Duel In The Sun' isn't just another soapy oater, it is the ultimate soapy oater. Brimming with more bad taste than any screenwriter could possibly misconceive, this Selznick classic is the penultimate guilty viewing pleasure...if you like you're Westerns on the sleazy side that is!

The performances are all unapologetically over-the-top, with Ms. Jones, in an Oscar winning performance no less, as Pearl Chavez, the 'half-breed' vixen torn between lust for Gregory Peck's Lewt McCanles, the bad-boy brother gone badder, and the 'save-me-from-myself' brand of love for Joseph Cotten's Jesse McCanles, the good brother with not-a-whole-heck-of-alot of sex appeal going for him. In between all this indecision, Ms. Jones sets fire to the scenery with as many sultry leers and poses as, I suppose, the censors of the time would permit her. "I'm TRASH, TRASH, TRASH," Pearl exclaims. And that about sums it all up. In spades! I should also make mention of the other Oscar winning performance, that by the venerable Lillian Gish as Laura Belle McCanles who, in perhaps the most painfully rapturous sequence, resurrects her silent film training in a tour-de-force of physical acting that, in less capable hands, would only be embarrassing. Not that you won't be tempted to laugh mind you, even Grand Opera, at the best of times, isn't this exquisitely sublime. And then there is Butterfly McQueen...as the befuddled maid (what else)...in the only role written for obvious comedic effect, whose long-winded sincerity couldn't be the more perfect foil for a hurried house full of whitees with nothing but sex on the brain...

On the technical side, it is an unquestionably ravishing film to look at. In glorious Technicolor, the 'Old West' never looked more mythic or more prone to tragedy...the 'campy' side that is. And, yet once more, Dimitri Tiomkin finesses our ears with a resounding melody of wide open spaces and of still bigger ambitions and desires, culminating in a symphonic tempest for two ill-fated (or over-sexed) lovers who could only be united in death.

WOW, this picture is right off the Harlequin Romance map! And I enjoyed every minute of it.