Watch It's a Big Country For Free

Best movie of this year hands down!

Simply A Masterpiece

Fresh and Exciting

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Sociologists would have a ball with this 1952 anthology film describing the different facets of American life- it's various forms of culture whether they be religious, social, political, etc.The anthology is made up of 8 straight stories,vignettes, if you don't know and has quite an array of movie talent in the film which is narrated by Louis Calhern.Even Nancy Davis shows up as a prim and proper schoolteacher who runs into conflict with a student's father when she tells him to have his son's eyes checked for glasses.Gary Cooper salutes Texas and there is an effective display of contributions of African Americans. Ethel Barrymore is upset in her story that she wasn't counted in the census and S.Z. Sakall portrays a bigot against Greeks whose daughter, Janet Leigh, quickly weds Greek Gene Kelly.The problem with the film is that each segment only lasts for about 20 minutes or so and therefore there is little time for character development. Marjorie Main steals her vignette as the mother of a dead Korean War soldier who gets a visit from Keith Brasselle, a fellow serviceman, who reads a letter that his friend sent just before his death. This was poignant, but too brief as well.The film depicts various forms of Americana.

Well-intentioned anthology film from MGM that lacks a clear focus. It's a collection of short stories that don't seem to have any other point except, I suppose, that the United States is a melting pot and how swell that is. Absolutely nothing wrong with that idea but I feel like more effort could have been put into (a) writing better stories and (b) having the stories connect better to drive home the "we're all different but we're all together" theme. The best anthology films tend to connect their stories and this just doesn't do that well. Still, it's full of old stars and the stories themselves, while not the strongest, are enjoyable enough. Worth a look for classic film fans. Probably kryptonite to cynics.

I saw this movie when it originally came out and I took more people to see it in at least two successive trips to the old Crawford Theater. It is touching and worthwhile and depicts an America that all should see. Ethel Barrymore gives one of the best performances of her career. The preacher to the President is another vignette that stands out. There are memorable performances by Gary Cooper, Van Johnson, Gene Kelly, and Marjorie Main. Each vignette is a memorable one and all touch your heartstrings and provoke thought. It would be nice if it were available on DVD or even tape. What a delightful anthology this is. I recommend this to all. It is a movie you will enjoy.

I doubt if a film like It's A Big Country could be made in and about the America of post Vietnam and Watergate. A whole lot of the clichés presented here just aren't bought any more by large segments of the population. For whatever it's worth the film is a presentation of what we thought about ourselves in 1951.It's a film with several different segments, some serious some pretty funny about every day Americans in all walks of life, in all parts of the then 48 states.The two I liked best were those that ironically starred the two men who were not MGM contract players, Gary Cooper and Fredric March. Gary Cooper plays a Texas cowboy talking about his state and disillusioning us with a tongue in cheek delivery about the way Texans and Texas are perceived by the other 47 states. Of course Cooper's humor and the whole premise behind this segment was that Texas was our largest state in land mass. That ended in 1959 when Alaska became the 49th state, still it's the highlight of It's A Big Country.Fredric March plays an Italian American father who's opposed to his son, Bobby Hyatt, getting needed glasses even after teacher Nancy Davis tells him it's necessary. He's got some old world ideas that need a bit of adjustment. March plays the role with dignity never do you feel he's a caricature.Another episode that is nicely done involves Gene Kelly, Greek American boy falling for Janet Leigh, Hungarian American girl. They've got a problem though, her father played by Hollywood's number one Hungarian S.Z. Sakall. In the past 20 years we've seen a whole lot of stories about ancient ethnic hatreds coming out of Eastern Europe. Sakall is carrying some old grudges against Greeks though he really isn't sure why. Point being that here in America you're supposed to leave that all behind. That segment is still very much relevant.Could we make It's A Big Country today? Not at this time, maybe at some future point when we've reached a national consensus that despite all our problems, America's a pretty good place after all.