Pursued **** (1947, Teresa Wright, Robert Mitchum, Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger, Harry Carey Jr, Alan Hale Sr) – Classic Movie Review 6,350

Raoul Walsh’s brooding, gritty and very impressive 1947 Western film Pursued boasts tremendous performances and startling noir-style cinematography by the masterly James Wong Howe.

‘Robert Mitchum fights for the love of three people who want to see him dead… his family.’

Director Raoul Walsh’s brooding, gritty and very impressive 1947 Western film Pursued boasts tremendous performances from a fine, off-beat team and startling noir-style black and white cinematography by the masterly James Wong Howe, with breathtaking outdoor shooting at Gallup, New Mexico.

Teresa Wright and Robert Mitchum are excellent, while Judith Anderson is on commanding form as Ma Callum, the farm family matriarch whose adopted eldest son Jeb Rand (Mitchum) leads the hunt for the killers of his foster father Grant (Dean Jagger). Wright plays Jeb’s foster sister Thor and John Rodney plays her brother Adam.

Niven Busch’s wordy, Freudian-minded screenplay leads to a big, exciting action finish, and Walsh directs with an eye for mood, tension, and, especially, authentic Western atmosphere.

At the centre of it all, the languorous hero Mitchum broods and glowers splendidly. There is plenty to brood and glower about. The orphan Jeb Rand (Robert Mitchum) has been raised by the Callum family on their nearby horse ranch after his family were murdered in the 1880s, but of course he is still haunted by the childhood trauma. The plot is kind of based on a real-life story. Niven Busch was inspired to write his screenplay by a newspaper article he read in El Paso, Texas, about a boy, sole survivor of a family wiped out in a feud, being raised by the family who had killed his folks. 

Also in the cast are Harry Carey Jr, Alan Hale Sr, Clifton Young, Ernest Severn, Charles Bates, Peggy Miller, Norman Jolley, Ray Teal, Ian Wolfe, Lester Dorr, Tom Fadden, Ian MacDonald, Lane Chandler, Elmer Ellingwood, Jack Montgomery, Crane Whitley, Eddy Waller and Virginia Brissac.

Milton Sperling produces for Warner Bros release. It is scored by Max Steiner and is designed by Ted Smith.

It has gone down in macabre legend as the film The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison watched on the night he died on 3 July 1971.

It was a hit. On a estimated cost of £610,000, it earned $2.9 million at the US box office.

There is also a hideous colorized version on the Internet, ruining the work of ‘the best cameraman in the world’, James Wong Howe.

Niven Busch and Teresa Wright were married from 1942 to 1952. Wright must have liked writers. She married playwright Robert Anderson in 1959.

Milton Sperling is credited as producing the film, but Busch had a hand in the production and recruited his wife, who is top billed over Mitchum.

Wright and Mitchum were also together in Track of the Cat (1954). with Mitchum top billed.

Busch was a bit of a philosopher as well as a mover and groover: ‘I had absolute control over Pursued. And I was very, very happy with the result. I had a marvellous cast, a terrific crew, and the best cameraman in the world, James Wong Howe. I was very proud of the story; it has kind of Greek overtones –incest feeling, and all that– which the West was like. Greece in the ancient days must have been very much like the West. Passions were powerful and arms were at hand.’

RKO’s 1948 Blood on the Moon is another first-class Western film noir starring Robert Mitchum.

The cast

The cast are Teresa Wright as Thor Callum, Robert Mitchum as Jeb Rand, Judith Anderson as Mrs Callum, Dean Jagger as Grant Callum, Alan Hale Sr as Jake Dingle, John Rodney as Adam Callum, Harry Carey Jr as Prentice, Bobby “Bonedust” Young as The Sergeant, Ernest Severn as Jeb Rand age 11, Charles Bates as Adam Callum age 11, Peggy Miller as Thor Callum age 10, Ian Wolfe as Coroner, Norman Jolley, Lane Chandler, Elmer Ellingwood, Jack Montgomery, Clifton Young, Ray Teal, Lester Dorr, Tom Fadden, Ian MacDonald, Crane Whitley, Eddy Waller and Virginia Brissac.

Pursued is directed by Raoul Walsh, runs 101 minutes, is made by United States Pictures, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Niven Busch, is shot in black and white by James Wong Howe, is produced by Milton Sperling, is scored by Max Steiner, and is designed by Ted Smith.

Release date: March 5, 1947.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,350

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