1 | [[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/duel_in_the_sun_1946.jpg]] |
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3 | ''Duel in the Sun'' is a 1946 Technicolor {{Western}} film directed by Creator/KingVidor and produced and written by David O. Selznick, [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on a novel of the same name]] by Niven Busch. |
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5 | Pearl Chavez (Creator/JenniferJones) is a ''Mestiza'' (half-white, half-Native American) girl who is orphaned after her father kills her mother after he caught her with a lover. Before he is executed as a punishment, he arranges for his daughter Pearl to live with his second cousin and old sweetheart, Laura Belle (Creator/LillianGish). |
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7 | When she arrives, the gentle and gracious Laura Belle is happy to welcome her to their home, but not so her husband, the wheelchair-bound Senator Jackson [=McCanles=] (Creator/LionelBarrymore), who calls her a "half-breed" and jealously despises Pearl's father. Pearl also meets their sons, the [=McCanles=] brothers: Jesse (Creator/JosephCotten) and Lewt (Creator/GregoryPeck), the latter being a ladies man with a personality quite unlike that of his gentlemanly brother Jesse. He expresses his interest in Pearl in direct terms and she takes a strong dislike to him, and when she eventually submits to Lewt's aggressive advances one night, Pearl is angry with him and ashamed of her own behavior; however, she also cannot help but be flattered by his lust and attentions. This starts a downward spiral that draws them both. |
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9 | This was Selznick's attempt to outdo ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', and he was personally crushed when it ended up being a critical and commercial disappointment. The film's sensual nature managed to pass the notoriously prudish standards of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode but some religious groups, notably the Catholic Legion of Decency condemned the film, and any attempts to boycott the film [[StreisandEffect only encouraged audiences to see it]] and may have played a part in the movie breaking even at the box office. |
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11 | Creator/PaulBartel's ''Film/LustInTheDust'' (1984) took its name from the nickname ''Duel'' earned, and shared some of its plot, albeit aimed towards a comedy spoof direction. |
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14 | !!This film contains examples of: |
15 | * AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Pearl spends most of the movie chasing after bad boy Lewt. |
16 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: The cold Senator [=McCanles=] admits his love for his wife Laura Belle [[spoiler: before she dies]]. |
17 | * AxCrazy: Lewt is established from the start to be violent, but once he [[spoiler: guns down Sam Pierce and becomes a wanted man]], it becomes clear that he's an imminent threat to others. |
18 | * BadassPreacher: Jubal Crabbe (Creator/WalterHuston), a gun-toting preacher nicknamed the "Sinkiller", that Laura Belle calls in to counsel Pearl on how to avoid the evils of temptation. |
19 | * BetrayalByOffspring: The Senator considers Jesse to have done this when he supports the railroad in a land dispute. |
20 | * BettyAndVeronica: The gentlemanly Jesse and bad boy Lewt are the Betty and Veronica respectively to Pearl's Archie. |
21 | * {{Brownface}}: Jennifer Jones wears a brown tan ([[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/26/9a/63269a82941652c991edaa6f98da2ab1.jpg pretty obvious at some points]]) to play the Mestiza Pearl. |
22 | * CainAndAbel: Lewt and Jesse eventually end up in a showdown. [[spoiler: Lewt ends up shooting Jesse, but it isn't fatal.]] |
23 | * DarkShepherd: Jubal Crabbe. When you're a preacher and your idea of discouraging bad behavior is to carry a gun (to the point you're nicknamed "Sinkiller"), you're this. |
24 | * DeathByAdaptation: In the film, [[spoiler: Pearl dies]] at the end as opposed to the book where the character [[spoiler: survives and marries Jesse]]. |
25 | * HalfBreedDiscrimination: Senator [=McCanles=] coldly shows contempt to Pearl due to being half-Native American, calling her a "half-breed." |
26 | * HotBlooded: Lewt gets riled up pretty easily. |
27 | * HairTriggerTemper: Lewt flies into a rage at the slightest provocation. |
28 | * IHaveNoSon: Jesse's backing of the railroad in a land dispute results in his disownment and banishment from the family home by the Senator. |
29 | * MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler: Lewt ends up gunning down Sam, the man who proposes to Pearl. He also shoots his own brother Jesse, but he isn't killed.]] |
30 | * RomanticFalseLead: Sam Pierce, a neighboring rancher who is smitten with Pearl. She does not love him but says yes to his proposal. [[spoiler: Before they can be married, however, Lewt picks a fight with Pierce in a saloon and guns him down.]] |
31 | * SiblingTriangle: Brothers Jesse and Lewt compete for the affections of Pearl. |
32 | * SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: At the beginning of the movie, Lewt is loutish but not without charm. By the film's end, however, he has crossed the line into full-blown villainy. |
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