The Furies - Criterion Collection

The Furies - Criterion Collection
by Anthony Mann

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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Barbara Stanwyck, Gilbert Roland, Judith Anderson, Walter Huston, Wendell Corey
Director: Anthony Mann
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-06-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion

Movie Reviews of The Furies - Criterion Collection

Movie Review: Anthony Mann, film noir and The Furies
Summary: 4 Stars

Anthony Mann cut his teeth in movies directing some of the best "film noir" the genre had to offer.
Movies like T-MEN, RAW DEAL, SIDE STREET and DESPERATE showed his strengths in composition, cinematography and gritty realism in his storytelling (if at times a little uneven). However...Mann really hit his stride when he began directing the "western". Here Mann is in his element.

1950 was the year that made Anthony Mann a directing icon. Filmed before 1950's WINCHESTER 73, yet released after is THE FURIES (1950) This is a deliciously demented mixture of film noir and classic western elements.

Walter Huston plays T.C Jeffords, the widowed, ruthless, cold blooded, yet charismatic cattle baron. Barbara Stanwyck plays Hustons spoiled, headstrong tomboy daughter Vance Jeffords. While he has a son (played by John Bromfield) Huston has chosen Stanwyck to be the eventual ruler of his empire once he has retired. However...after being away on a long trip, Huston returns with a new love interest, the more "society friendly" Flo (played with great complexity by Judith Anderson)

Flo and Vance butt heads and when it is clear that she is jockeying for control of the ranch and trying to edge out Vance, Stanwyck reacts with a disturbing act of violence that has horrific results. Stanwyck flees the ranch and takes refuge with her long time friend played by Gilbert Roland. Roland is a squatter on Hustons land and in retaliation, Huston reacts with an act of violence of his own to spite Stanwyck.

In the aftermath, Stanwyck spits out the most memorable line of the movie at Huston

"now I hate you in a way I didn't believe a human could hate. Take a good long look at me T.C. You won't see me again until the day I take your world away from you!"

And thus begins an epic clash between father and daughter.

As with all of the Mann westerns, the terrain figures prominently in THE FURIES just as much as in Winchester 73, The Man From Laramie and Man Of The West. Unlike Ford, who emphasized and incorporated the beautiful vistas and sweeping grandeur of the southwest, Mann goes for something different. Mann sets his stage in desolate, remote, dangerously rocky hills. He goes for an almost claustrophobic feel. Bullets richochet off boulders, horse and riders struggle on unsure, gravely ground and rocks and boulders tumble dangerously down hillsides.
In a Mann western, the terrain is just as dangerous and deadly an opponent as any black hat wearing villain.

The film also has a memorable performance by Wendell Corey as a gambling house owner whose father was cheated out of his land by Huston, and who may or may not be an ally of Stanwyck. Also of note is Thomas Gomez as Hustons gleefully evil henchman "El Tigre".

It's logical that THE FURIES and Winchester 73 would incorporate a lot of noir style in them as that was Mann's forte prior. But THE FURIES mixes the two genres to the best effect I think. It has possibly some of the best cinematography I've ever seen in a B&W western, Red River and Winchester 73 being the possible exceptions.

Again, like most Mann westerns, there is a "King Lear" style father figure in Huston. Stanwyck has a wonderful and demented strength and stands toe to toe with the imposing, wiley Huston all the way through. Corey is smartly understated next to these two titans. An excellent film, a great western and on my own personal top 20 greatest movies list.
I suggest getting the Criterion dvd of the movie. It has a great commentary that analyzes practically every frame of the film, an entertaining, fact filled booklet with interesting analysis of the film as well as an unpublished interview with Mann. There is a 1930s era interview with Huston at his home. The set also comes with a new printing of the Niven Busch novel on which the film is based. It is shown in its original aspect ratio.

Mann has always seemed to me to be the bridge between Fords more traditional vision of the west and the bleak, amoral, bloody violence of Peckinpaw. There would be no Peckinpaw without Mann, but there would be no classic Mann westerns without Ford. While The Furies is not as entertaining as the collaborations between Mann and Stewart, it is one heck of a ride and definately worth buying just to see the excellent treatment that Criterion gives this, until now, rarely seen little gem.

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Summary of The Furies - Criterion Collection

Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston are at their fierce finest in master Hollywood craftsman Anthony Mann's crackling western melodrama. In 1870s New Mexico Territory, megalomaniacal widowed ranch-owner T. C. Jeffords (Huston, in his final role) butts heads with his daughter, Vance (Stanwyck), a firebrand with serious daddy issues, over her dowry, choice of marriage, and, finally, ownership of the land itself. Both sophisticated in its view of frontier settlement and ablaze with searing domestic drama, The Furies is a hidden treasure of American filmmaking, boasting Oscar-nominated cinematography and vivid supporting turns from Judith Anderson, Wendell Corey, and Gilbert Roland.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

. New, restored high-definition digital transfer . Audio commentary featuring film historian Jim Kitses (Horizons West) . A rare, 1931 on-camera interview with Walter Huston, made for the movie theater series Intimate Interviews . New video interview with Nina Mann, daughter of director Anthony Mann . Stills gallery of rare behind-the-scenes photos . Theatrical trailer . PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Robin Wood, a 1957 Cahiers du cin?ma interview with Mann, and a new printing of Niven Busch's original novel . More!

Seconds into Anthony Mann's hardboiled horse opera, Barbara Stanwyck absent-mindedly plays with a pair of scissors. Not to worry: she'll put them to use soon enough. Until that time, Stanwyck's volatile heiress, Vance, alternately flatters and manipulates her egotistical father, T.C. Jeffords (a feisty Walter Huston in his final performance). It's the 1870s and T.C.'s ranch, the Furies, inspires envy throughout the New Mexico territory. If Vance picks a suitable husband, T.C. promises her a handsome dowry. Unfortunately, she chooses brutal gambler Rip Darrow (Rear Window's Wendell Corey). If it wasn't for Vance's friendship with Mexican-American squatter Juan (Gilbert Roland), she wouldn't inspire much sympathy, but Vance stands up for the Herreras when financiers pressure the Jeffords to throw them off their land. Then, T.C. takes up with scheming socialite Flo (Rebecca's Dame Judith Anderson), and the tense relations between father and daughter explode into all-out war. By the end, those scissors end up in someone's face, leading to a cycle of revenge-oriented violence. Adapted from Niven Busch's novel by Red River's Charles Schnee, The Furies isn't as deliriously over-the-top as Busch's Duel in the Sun, but it plays more like Shakespearean tragedy than Technicolor camp, and Stanwyck owns the screen from start to finish. The excellent extras include erudite commentary from film historian Jim Kitses, a terrific 1967 interview with Mann for British TV, a playful 1931 chat with Huston, remembrances from Mann's daughter Nina, an essay from critic Robin Wood, and a new printing of Busch's original novel. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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