The Sea of Grass (1947)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writers:

Conrad Richter (novel)
Marguerite Roberts (writer) ...

Release Date:

25 April 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

Spencer Tracy. Cattle baron . . ruthless, rugged! Katharine Hepburn. Fiery . . . fascinating gal from St. Louis! Robert Walker. Gun-shooting and gambling fool! Melvyn Douglas. He knew women! Soft words, Soft looks!

Plot:

The highly melodramatic western begins with St. Louis resident Katharine Hepburn marrying New Mexico cattleman Spencer Tracy after a short courtship...

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Homesteader | Pregnant Woman | Judge | Mother Son Reunion

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Col. James B. 'Jim' Brewton
Katharine Hepburn	...	Lutie Cameron Brewton
Robert Walker	...	Brock Brewton
Melvyn Douglas	...	Brice Chamberlain
Phyllis Thaxter	...	Sara Beth Brewton
Edgar Buchanan	...	Jeff, Cook on Brewton Ranch
Harry Carey	...	Doc J. Reid
Ruth Nelson	...	Selina Hall, Sam Hall's Wife
William 'Bill' Phillips	...	Banty, Brewton Ranch Hand (as Wm. 'Bill' Phillips)
Robert Armstrong	...	Floyd McCurtin (Brewton's attorney)
James Bell	...	Sam Hall, Homesteader
Robert Barrat	...	Judge Seth White, Salt Fork
Charles Trowbridge	...	George Cameron
Russell Hicks	...	Major Harney
Trevor Bardette	...	Andy Boggs, Homesteader

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #11861, Adult Audience) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Chinle, Arizona, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

In his autobiography, Elia Kazan said of this film: "It's the only picture I've ever made that I'm ashamed of. Don't see it."

Quotes:

Brice Chamberlain: Why do women insist on loving men for what they want them to be instead of what they are?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (1993) (TV)

Did anyone notice the similarities between this and McLintock?

Considering that Sea of Grass is helmed by a director who's not familiar with the western milieu it's amazing that it comes off as well as it does. Elia Kazan is so much better in an urban setting like On the Waterfront. Yet Tracy and Hepburn do make this work on some levels.

John Wayne in McLintock and Spencer Tracy in Sea of Grass have the same view of the prarie. Both films take the side of the cattle rancher as opposed to the farmer. Certainly other films like Shane make the farmer the good guy. But events here show that Tracy was right about the prarie as his arch rival in politics and love, Melvyn Douglas, ruefully points out.

Tracy and Wayne also have spousal problems, although certainly Wayne handles his with a tad more humor. One thing that Maureen O'Hara does and Katharine Hepburn doesn't is share his vision of the prarie. She befriends the farmer family nearby and that is what causes the rift between her and Tracy.

McLintock is a comedy and Sea of Grass is a western soap opera. Kazan was lucky in casting folks like Edgar Buchanan and Harry Carey who knew their way around a western. Robert Walker was taking some tentative steps toward a similar role in Vengeance Valley. He only appears in the last half hour of the film as the kid with dubious paternity, but you will remember him.

Katharine Hepburn would have to wait another 28 years before doing another traditional western in Rooster Cogburn. Eula Goodnight is certainly light years from Lutie Cameron. Colonel Jim Brewton though is the same type cattle baron as G.W. McLintock.

I think the film is more for fans of soap opera than for fans of westerns. And certainly it's for fans of Spence and Kate.