Editing The Big Country (section)

==Reception==
[[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote in a negative review, "for all this film's mighty pretensions, it does not get far beneath the skin of its conventional Western situation and its stock Western characters. It skims across standard complications and ends on a platitude. Peace is a pious precept, but fightin' is more excitin'. That's what it proves."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=October 2, 1958 |title=War and Peace on Range in 'Big Country' |journal=[[The New York Times]] |page=44 }}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called the film "one of the best photography jobs of the year", with a "serviceable, adult" storyline "which should find favor with audiences of all tastes."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/variety211-1958-08/page/n71/mode/1up |date=August 13, 1958 |title=The Big Country |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=6}}</ref> ''[[Harrison's Reports]]'' declared it "a first-rate super-Western, beautifully photographed in the Technirama anamorphic process and Technicolor. It is a long picture, perhaps too long for what the story has to offer, but there is never a dull moment from start to finish and it holds one's interest tightly throughout."<ref>{{cite journal |date=August 9, 1958 |title='The Big Country' with Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker and Charlton Heston |journal=[[Harrison's Reports]] |page=128 }}</ref> [[Richard L. Coe]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' called it "super stuff. Franz Planer's photography of Texas is downright awe-inspiring, the characters are solid, the story line firm, the playing first-rate, the music more than dashing in this nearly three-hour tale which should delight everybody."<ref>{{cite news |last=Coe |first=Richard L. |date=August 22, 1958 |title='Big Country' Is a Whopper |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |page=B10 }}</ref>

[[John McCarten]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote, "Of those involved in this massive enterprise, Mr. Bickford and Mr. Ives are the most commendable as they whoop and snort about the sagebrush. But even they are hardly credible types, and as for the rest of the cast, they can be set down as a rather wooden lot."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=McCarten |first=John |date=October 11, 1958 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |page=93 }}</ref> Philip K. Scheuer of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' called the film "too self consciously 'epical' to be called great, but at its best, which is frequently, it's better than good."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Scheuer |first=Philip K. |date=August 10, 1958 |title=Lengthy 'Big Country' Jogs, Lopes and Gallops |journal=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=E1 }}</ref> ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote that the picture's attempts to convey a message were for the most part "superficial and pedestrian," and found that "the pivotal character of McKay, played on a monotonously self-righteous note by Gregory Peck, never comes alive. It is mainly due to the power of the climactic canyon battle, and Burl Ives' interesting playing as Rufus, that this remains a not unsympathetic film, decorated pleasantly by Jean Simmons and with spirit by Carroll Baker."<ref>{{cite journal |date=February 1959 |title=The Big Country |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=26 |issue=301 |page=14 }}</ref>

The film was a big hit, being the second-most popular movie in Britain in 1959.<ref>"Four British Films in 'Top 6': Boulting Comedy Heads Box Office List", Our Own Reporter. ''The Guardian'' (1959-2003) [London (UK)] 11 Dec 1959: 4.</ref> On [[review aggregation]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/big_country/ |title=The Big Country |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=August 18, 2023}}</ref>

President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] liked the movie so much, he screened it on four successive evenings in the White House during his second administration.<ref name='Coyne1997'>{{cite book |last=Coyne |first=Michael |title=The Crowded Prairie: American National Identity in the Hollywood Western |publisher=I. B. Tauris |date=1997 |location=New York City |page=92 |isbn=978-1-86064-259-3}}</ref>

[[Playmobil]] designed an entire cowboy line based on the architecture of the film.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In a poll of 500 films held by [[Empire (magazine)|''Empire'']], it was voted 187th-greatest movie of all time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.empireonline.com/500/61.asp |title=Empire Features |publisher=Empireonline.com |date=2006-12-05 |access-date=2014-08-19 |archive-date=May 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522054031/http://www.empireonline.com/500/61.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>