History Film / TheBigCountry

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Mr. Hannassey may be relentless, and he certainly won't win the "Father of the Year" award, but he's also a man of honor who always keeps his word and doesn't kill unless he must. Terrill is [[spoiler:impulsive and prideful. Killing a bunch of innocent cattle is one thing. Then he goes and leads a lot of good men to their deaths, just so he can kill one man]]!

* JerkAss: Buck [[spoiler:(although by the film's end, he's more of a JerkassWoobie)]] [[spoiler:and both Terrills]]

* SceneryPorn: Suprisingly [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]]. One would probably expect a movie called ''The Big Country'' would be a giant {{Western}} EpicMovie spend a ''lot'' of time showing off locations like Monument Valley or something, a la Creator/JohnFord. Alas, it shows off the land no more or less than most Westerns; the title's more an ironic invocation of the movie's ArcWords than anything else.

''The Big Country'' is a 1958 American Western film directed by Creator/WilliamWyler. It stars GregoryPeck, CharltonHeston, JeanSimmons, CarrollBaker, and BurlIves. The film was nominated for an AcademyAward for its outstanding musical score, and Ives won the award for Best Supporting Actor.

* DirtyCoward: Everyone ''thinks'' [=McKay=] is this when really he's just smart enough to not waste his time getting into fights over relatively minor offenses (though he probably would have had good cause to get into fighting mode when the Hannassey boys started getting physical with him in the opening). In reality, it is Buck who is the dirty coward.

* CryForTheDevil: [[spoiler: Hannassey may consider his son, Buck an underhanded disgrace, but he still visibly wept when he was forced to shoot him dead.]]

* TitleDrop: "It's a big country!". Becomes a [[LampshadedTrope lampshaded]] OverlyLongGag, to [=McKay=]'s annoyance

* RunningGag: Everyone around [=McKay=] is quick to inform him that the area he has moved to is '[[TitleDrop a big country]]'. As [=McKay=] is a former sea captain who has crossed the Pacific and and Atlantic Oceans in his day, he's not quite as impressed by this as they may have been hoping.

-->It's a Big Country!
** It must have become extremely annoying for a former sailor, who navigated ships across the Atlantic, and maybe the Pacific, to be told how Big the Country was.

* DeadpanSnarker: Lots and ''lots'' of 'em.
* DirtyCoward: Everyone ''thinks'' [=McKay=] is this when really he's just smart enough to not waste his time getting into fights over relatively minor offenses (though he probably would have had good cause to get into fighting mode when the Hannassey boys started getting physical with him in the opening). In reality, it is Buck who is the dirty coward.

* HopelessSuitor: Steve Leech has the hots for Patricia Terrill, despite her less than pleasant personality and the fact that she only wants [=McKay=] (initially).

* OnlySaneMan: [=McKay=], with Julie as the Only Sane Woman.
** Steve Leech has shades of this as well due to his obvious discomfort with Major Terrill's tactics.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: Mr. Hannassey may be relentless, and he certainly won't win the "Father of the Year" award, but he's also a man of honor who always keeps his word and doesn't kill unless he must. Terrill is [[spoiler:impulsive and prideful. Killing a bunch of innocent cattle is one thing. Then he goes and leads a lot of good men to their death's, just so he can kill one man]]!
* CaliforniaDoubling: Averted; this ''is'' a Creator/WilliamWyler film we're talking about here.

''The Big Country'' is a 1958 American Western film directed by WilliamWyler. It stars GregoryPeck, CharltonHeston, JeanSimmons, CarrollBaker, and BurlIves. The film was nominated for an AcademyAward for its outstanding musical score, and Ives won the award for Best Supporting Actor.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Averted; this ''is'' a William Wyler film we're talking about here.

* DirtyCoward: Everyone ''thinks'' McKay is this when really he's just smart enough to not waste his time getting into fights over relatively minor offenses (though he probably would have had good cause to get into fighting mode when the Hannassey boys started getting physical with him in the opening). In reality, it is Buck who is the dirty coward.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler:Steve Leech and Mr. Hannassey]]
* HopelessSuitor: Steve Leech has the hots for Patricia Terrill, despite her less than pleasant personality and the fact that she only wants McKay (initially).
* [[spoiler:OffingTheOffspring: Mr. Hannassey's code of honor forces him to kill Buck.]]

* OnlySaneMan: McKay, with Julie as the Only Sane Woman.

* {{Schoolmarm}}: Julie

* TemporaryLoveInterest: Mackay came to the west to marry [[spoiler:spoiled Patricia and ends up with honest Julie]]. Score one for the honest folks!
* UnderestimatingBadassery: The entire movie basically revolves around everyone in the county applying this to [=McKay=]. They assume that because he doesn't throw himself into meaningless fights at the drop of a hat and doesn't explode with violence just because someone calls him a mean name, he's a weakling and a coward. They assume that when he goes out for a ride he's gotten hopelessly lost in the unfamiliar country (not an entirely invalid concern, to be fair), not stopping to think for a moment that a former ship's captain might have ''some'' skill in what it takes to effectively navigate featureless, unfamiliar territory. And so on. He proves them wrong every time.
* TheWestern: Naturally.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: [=McKay=] finally decides to accept Leech's challenge to a fist-fight, on condition that they take it into the rough lands early one morning when and where no one will see them. Leech cockily believes that this is because [=McKay=] doesn't want anyone to see him get the stuffing knocked out of him. One roughly even fight later, he realizes that it's actually because [=McKay=] wasn't interested in grandstanding and had nothing to prove to anyone else but himself. Following this, while the two are not exactly friends, Leech does come to respect [=McKay=] a bit more.

->''I'm not responsible for what people think, Pat; only what I am.''

* UnderestimatingBadassery: The entire movie basically revolves around everyone in the county applying this to [=McKay=]. They assume that because he doesn't throw himself into meaningless fights at the drop of a hat and doesn't explode with violence just because someone calls him a mean name, he's a weakling and a coward. They assume that when he goes out for a ride he's gotten hopelessly lost in the unfamiliar country, not stopping to think for a moment that a former ship's captain might have ''some'' skill in what it takes to effectively navigate featureless, unfamiliar territory. And so on. He proves them wrong every time.

->''I'm not responsible for what people think, Pat; only what I am.

[[caption-width-right:250:I'm not responsible for what people think; only what I am.]]

* TemporaryLoveInterest: Mackay came to the west to marry [[spoiler:spoiled Patricia and ends up with honest Julie]]. Score one for the honest folks!

[[caption-width-right:250:some caption text]]