The Furies (1950)

Barbara Stanwyck here... Barbara Stanwyck there... Barbara Stanwyck, Barbara Stanwyck everywhere.(Sheesh!) I honestly can't say that I've ever been very impressed with Barbara Stanwyck as an actress.But, after having to put up with her here (as the Vance Jeffords character) as she completely dominated this Western (and dragged it down to the level of being a snivelling, petty Chick Flick), I now loathe her with an undying passion like no other.Personally, I think that director Anthony Mann made a monumental error by allowing Stanwyck's spoilt, vain, rich-girl character to completely take control of The Furies' story.With its excellent location shooting and A-1 camera-work, this Western certainly had a lot of potential to be a really first-rate tale, focusing in on T.C. Jeffords (Vance's father), an arrogant, demanding cattle baron.Set in New Mexico (in the 1870s) - Instead of The Furies being a rough and tough Western yarn, it was all frills and lace with the two-faced, treacherous, spiteful Vance Jeffords forever appearing in one ridiculously expensive gown after another. (Talk about being a total clothes-horse!) I'm certainly pleased and relieved to know that with all of the subsequent Westerns that Mann directed throughout the 1950s, he thankfully kept the tone of his pictures totally masculine and rugged, sans Barbara Stanwyck.

This film is about a nasty old rancher and his amazingly macho and unstable daughter. They go from the best of friends to the worst of enemies through the course of the film and the viewer is probably left wondering why all this really occurred.I have seen most of Barbara Stanwyck's films, so my reaction to "The Furies" may be different from that of other viewers. Seeing Stanwyck playing yet another butch female was a bit tough for me. First, because this sort of role was way too common for her--it had become a cliché. Second, because this sort of lady, though present in 1940s and 50s movies was awfully anachronistic--you just didn't find women like this in the Old West. And so, as a retired history teacher, I blanched at such a character. I WISH there had been tough as nails like her but frankly women were not given this opportunity in those days. The closest you might find like her might have been a tough old prostitute--but the idea of a lady bossing EVERYONE around like a mini-tyrant just seemed silly. And, coming from petite Stanwyck who made a bazillion films about tough old broads, it just felt too familiar.At the same time, I loved part of the film's plot. Seeing Stanwyck's character have a WAY too close relationship with her father (it looked like it was bordering on the incestuous--with their kissing each other on the lips and overly familiar manners) was exciting. This embodiment of the old Electra Complex (like an Oedipal Complex with with the genders reversed) was very interesting and fresh. And, what I really LOVED was how this eventually played out--when another woman (Judith Anderson) wanted the father (Walter Huston) sparks really, really flew. To me THIS is what makes the film worth seeing--and which makes it possible to overlook the silliness of Stanwyck's ultra-macho demeanor. It also helped to explain, in part, the twisted sort of relationship between father and daughter and the bizarre things they do through the course of the film. They fight because it is not permissible for them to act out their dark impulses--at least this is how the Freudians would interpret all this.What's to like other than the incestuous aspects? The cinematography was great (not surprisingly it received an Oscar nomination) and the direction by Anthony Mann was very nice. What's no to like? Well, some of the acting (not just Stanwyck's) was very far from subtle--especially the crazy old lady who played Gilbert Roland's mother (Blanche Yurka)! And, overall, I think the film, despite its faults, is still worth watching. However, considering what great westerns Mann directed, I cannot agree with one reviewer who felt this was his best film. What about "Winchester '73" or "The Naked Spur" or "The Tin Star"?By the way, the aging Walter Huston does some amazingly macho things for a guy who died before the film debuted. However, in at least one of these scenes you can see the wires that were used to provide the illusion of a tough and virile Huston. Towards the beginning of the film, Huston climbs in a mud hole to extricate a calf. As he's tossing it, look carefully for the wire that helps him with this arduous task.

Barbara Stanwyck has some serious daddy issues in this weird cross between a women's picture, western and film noir from 1950.Walter Huston plays the daddy, and he steals the show in a vibrant performance. He owns a ranch called The Furies, which he hands over to his daughter when he tires of the daily management. But things go awry when he brings home a new wife from the city (Judith Anderson, excellent) and she has some ideas of her own about how things should be run. Tensions boil over to the point where father and daughter hate each other, and Stanwyck hatches a scheme to bankrupt her father and take the ranch away from him.It's an uneven movie at best. Characters seem to turn on a dime -- Huston and Stanwyck go from idolizing one another to hating each other back to idolizing each other -- but maybe that's the point. They're both ruled by their passions, and those passions extend to the father/daughter relationship, and sometimes confuse it, as much as to their business practices.Anthony Mann provided the noirish direction, and Franz Waxman delivers a frenzied, out-there score.Grade: B+

This film about the feud between a megalomaniac rancher T.C. Jeffords(Walter Huston) and his daughter Vance (Barbara Stanwyck) is an unusual but excellent western. Jeffords and his daughter have a complex relationship with even a hint of the sordid that had to remain unstated in 1950, when this film was made. In middle age T.C. takes a wife, Flo (Judith Anderson). Vance sees Flo as a threat to her relationship with Daddy, and in an angry moment hurls a pair of scissors at Flo's face. In revenge T.C. kills someone who means a great deal to his daughter, the squatter Herrara (Gilbert Roland).From this moment forward the battle between father and daughter shifts from being one of violence to one of wits. Wendell Corey plays Rip Darrow, Stanwyck's love interest in this film. He quickly finds that as long as Daddy is alive that he will always come in second. Daddy has ownership of all of the emotions Vance has to give - both love and hate.This film is basically a film noir played out on a Western landscape. It is often "Mourning Becomes Electra" from the father/daughter angle versus mother and son. Directed by Anthony Mann, maker of the thinking person's Westerns, it is a shame that Walter Huston did not live to see the release of this - his final film - in which he gives so great a performance.