The Furies

United States

1950

109 Min

Black and White

1.33:1

English

Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
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SCR Charles Schnee, Niven Busch

CAST Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Huston, Wendell Corey, Judith Anderson, Gilbert Roland, Thomas Gomez, Beulah Bondi, Albert Dekker

PROD DES Henry Bumstead, Hans Dreier, Sam Comer, Bertram Granger

Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston are at their fierce finest in master Hollywood craftsman Anthony Mann’s crackling western melodrama The Furies. 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 husband, 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. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Anthony Mann

Anthony Mann (June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American actor and film director.

Born Emil Anton Bundsmann in the Point Loma area of San Diego, Mann was the son of an Austrian immigrant, Emile Theodore Bundsmann, and Bertha Waxelbaum of Macon, Georgia.

Mann started out as an actor, appearing in plays off-Broadway in New York City. In 1938, he moved to Hollywood, where he joined the Selznick International Pictures.

Mann became an assistant director in 1942, directing low-budget assignments for RKO and Republic Pictures.

Mann was respected for his acute visual sensitivity toward the American Western landscape, effortlessly blending natural vistas with human drama. Mann’s dramas verged on classical tragedy, often showing anguished heroes attempting to resolve personal pain and confusion.

In 1967, Mann died from a heart attack in Berlin, Germany while filming the spy thriller A Dandy in Aspic. The film was completed by the film’s star, Laurence Harvey… read more

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axsaxs

4Apr12

What a strange, but entertaining, western-noir hybrid. I haven't seen anything like it. Great performances from both Stanwyck and Huston, with some really weird Freudian incest vibes thrown into the mix.

Zach A

1Nov11

I was blown away by Barbara Stanwyck. Such a complex, layered western by Mann. But I can't help but attribute a great deal of the complexity to Stanwyck's performance. Mesmerizing. Would be a great double bill with Forty Guns by Samuel Fuller.

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Dave

25May11

Criterion once again does film fans a huge service by making this one widely available. This one was overlooked in favor of Mann's more famous westerns with Stewart and Cooper, but it's just as good as anything he did in those other fine films. Walter Huston is great here, as is Stanwyck and the lush photography from Victor Milner is amazing. Great western.