The Furies

Rambling Over-Acting and Psychologically Over-Wrought. That Smothers the Bleak Cinematography and Adult Sensibilities. Barbara Stanwyck Tries to Anchor Walter Huston's Bellowing and Gyrations. But Huston Plays the Patriarch so Over-the-Top and Belligerent that You would Think its His Last Movie...It is. Wendell Corey is Miscast as a Hard-as-Nails Gambler. Gilbert Roland Plays Better and His Scenes with Stanwyck come off the Best. Alliances Shift and Deep-Rooted Affections and Respect are Unsteady. Judith Anderson has a Small Part and Makes the Most of it and is Part of the "New" Violence that Mann is Known for. Familiar Faces Abound and the High Production Value is Everywhere. But the Story is one of Low-Intrigue and Boils Down to Family Foundations and Strong Payback and Back Again. Frustratingly Fraught to Freudian Formulas and Essentially a "Woman's Western". The Movie Does have an Edge to it that Foreshadows the 1950's Maturation of the Genre. But Overall there is something Flat and Forced about the Whole Thing. Anthony Mann would Make 2 Other Westerns in 1950. "Devil's Doorway" and "Winchester 73. Both are Far Superior to this Disappointment. Still it's Packed with a Production Quality that Can't Be Ignored...And is... Worth a Watch.

Airless, baroque 'noir/western/woman's picture' full of grandiloquent posturing and petty nastiness, entirely lacking the sober, tragic sense of the classical Oresteia, which the heavy symbolism of the name given to the ranch, and to the film, contrives only to parody. A car-crash vehicle for Stanwyck's self-indulgent hamming. And about as bonkers and boring as that other woman-dominated Western, Nicholas Ray's insane Joan Crawford vehicle 'Johnny Guitar.' I'll give it 4 because the monochrome lighting camerawork is so good.

Vance Jeffords plans to inherit the ranch, but when her father brings home a new wife she finds herself being pushed out. She takes drastic action which gets her banished from the furies. Now she plans on getting her revenge and the Furies from her father. Starts off slow, but gains momentum as you go along.

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.