The Big Sky (1952)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

A.B. Guthrie Jr. (novel)
Dudley Nichols (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 August 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

Theirs the great adventure...

Plot:

Jim Deakins is a frontiersman and Indian trader who is making a perilous journey with a group of other...

Plot Keywords:

Missouri River | Fur Trader | Trapper | Native American | American Indian

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Jim Deakins
Dewey Martin	...	Boone Caudill
Elizabeth Threatt	...	Teal Eye (Blackfoot princess)
Arthur Hunnicutt	...	Zeb Calloway / Narrator
Buddy Baer	...	Romaine
Steven Geray	...	'Frenchy' Jourdonnais (riverboat captain)
Henri Letondal	...	La Badie
Hank Worden	...	Poordevil
Jim Davis	...	Streak

Runtime:

140 min | 122 min (edited version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:A (1953) | West Germany:6 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #15447)

Filming Locations:

Grand Teton National Park, Moose, Wyoming, USA

Company:

Winchester Pictures Corporation

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Story takes place in 1832. Automobiles are visible during prologue.

Quotes:

Zeb Calloway: Keep you eyes open. If you see anything, shoot. Don't bother to aim because you probably couldn't hit nothing no how.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ghosts of Mars (2001)

Soundtrack:

Brandy Leave Me Alone

A young Kirk Douglas stands out in this historic recreation of early western river travel

This film is EXCELLENT and is filled with many vivid scenes of the Jackson Hole Valley country. Being shot along the Snake River and within easy sight of the Teton Mountain range it gives an amazingly accurate account of what early Keel Boat travel might have been like along the Missouri River and other Western tributaries. Kirk Douglas (Jim Deakins) is superb as he portrays one of three game hunters, along with Dewey Martin (Boone), and the comic backwoods relief of Arthur Hunicutt (Uncle Zeb). Mr. Hunicutt steals the show with his Southern drawl and folksy way cultivating a feeling for the viewer as being one of the "crew". The use of actual French actors & accents adds to the believable setting of the early 1800s environ and customs of the trappers and mountain men who blazed the trails into the West and survived through trade and co-operation with the Indian tribes who populated it. From using trees along the bank to catapult game down to the Keel boat, to the unforgettable scene where "medical" aid is rendered to Kirk.

Well worth your time and any children should be shown it as well because they'll remember it throughout their lives. I certainly have!