IMDb > The Kentuckian (1955)

The Kentuckian (1955) More at IMDbPro »


IMDb Holiday Movie Guide

Overview

User Rating:
6.2/10   758 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 27% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Felix Holt (novel)
A.B. Guthrie Jr. (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Kentuckian on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
7 August 1955 (Japan) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Hunter...Frontiersman...Adventurer!
Plot:
A Kentucky widower bound for 1820's Texas with his young son is thwarted in his efforts by a corrupt constable, a long-standing family feud, and a beautiful indentured servant. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
User Comments:
When A Wakefield Meets A Fromes more (17 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Burt Lancaster ... Elias Wakefield (Big Eli)
Dianne Foster ... Hannah
Diana Lynn ... Susie
John McIntire ... Zack Wakefield
Una Merkel ... Sophie Wakefield
John Carradine ... Fletcher
John Litel ... Pleasant Tuesday Babson

Rhys Williams ... Constable
Edward Norris ... Roulette Dealer

Walter Matthau ... Stan Bodine
Donald MacDonald ... Little Eli Wakefield
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
The Gabriel Horn (USA) (working title)
more
Runtime:
104 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.55 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The average shot length of this film is about 7.75 seconds, which makes it one of the faster cut early CinemaScope films. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Little Eli Wakefield: How long now, Pa? How many more days?
Elias Wakefield: We ain't much more than started!
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Hollywood Remembers Walter Matthau (2001) (TV) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful.
When A Wakefield Meets A Fromes, 5 August 2008
7/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

In the first of two films Burt Lancaster directs as well as stars, he plays the title role of Eli Wakefield who is The Kentuckian. The part of the frontiersman in the James Monroe presidency fits Lancaster's robust personality perfectly. He's very much a combination of both the William Holden and Robert Mitchum characters in Rachel and the Stranger, taking the best aspects of both for his portrayal. Like Mitchum he's got 'woodsy' ways and like Holden he aims to see his son grows out of those ways.

Just where and how little David McDonald does grow up does concern Lancaster and he does during the course of The Kentuckian reexamine just what it is he wants for himself and his son. He's also got a real problem in the shape of a pair of inbred mountain people called Fromes whose family has feuded with the Wakefields for a couple of generations.

Burt's moving west with his boy to get away from the mountain feud so his kid has a chance to grow up and their destination is Texas which the Mexicans had opened up for Yankee settlers eventually to their regret. But he helps a lady in distress in the person of bond servant Dianne Foster and spends his 'Texas' money buying out her contract from Will Wright.

So a planned visit with brother John McIntire and sister-in-law Una Merkel is going to be longer than he thought especially with McIntire wanting to remake Lancaster into a merchant like himself. McIntire also has a wife picked out for him in the person of school teacher Diana Lynn.

The film was shot in Owensboro, Kentucky and presumably in 1955 there was still enough 'woodsy' territory that it still looked like 1820 frontier America. Director Lancaster got good performances out of his cast which included Walter Matthau making his motion picture debut. Matthau plays a tavern owner and town bully, a mean man with a bull-whip who goes after an unarmed Lancaster with one. That scene is really the climax of the film.

However the two to watch for here are the Fromes brothers, Paul Wexler and Douglas Spencer. They are a pair of evil looking dudes, no doubt ancestors of those guys from Deliverance.

In a recent biography of Burt Lancaster, because of some disparaging comments Lancaster made about directors, the Director's Guild first refused to let him direct his own film. Eventually the production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster got a waiver from the Guild. I think they wanted to Burt to sweat a little. For him though directing turned out not to be something he wanted to do, he got through the film with some difficulty and it was no accident that while he was on the production end, Lancaster only directed one other film in his career, Midnight Man.

The Kentuckian is a good film, perfectly suited to Burt Lancaster's athleticism and charisma, a must for his fans.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (17 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Kentuckian (1955)

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
The Last Picture Show The River Gone with the Wind The Gunfighter How the West Was Won
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
News articles IMDb Drama section IMDb USA section
Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.