Duel in the Sun (1946)

[titoli]

Anybody here who knows what the difference is between the 144 min roadshow version and the usual 129 min version?

Is it only additional music? I only found out that it has an overture and exit music and intermission music.

Yeah, they're in my dvd, bout 6-7 minutes of music. But the ouverture is not only made up of music but includes also a spoken comment.

Rewatched it after eons and more or less everything has been said in the discussion. (But Dust Devil, the first gunshot is heard after a few minutes when Marshall kills wife and lover). Sure, it is easy to understand what was the problem with the sex here: Pearl is led by sexual impulses and there's not redeeming side to it.
Peck (who's the victim of Mae Clark's treatment) should have been given Cotten's part and his given to some roguish character (Flynn? Power?). The finale stayed in my mind and in spite of the melodrama is still the best part of the movie. But 127' of melodrama with some good scenes (the Army confrontation, the saloon in the beginning and in the Bickford's murder, the horse's taming and antics - much better than Lee's praised Cat Ballou drunken horse) are just too much, in spite of the technicolor. The black girl should have at least have earned an Oscar nomination. 5/10

[drinkanddestroy]

While I consider this a mess plotwise, contains 2.5 hours worth of twist and turns sans momentum or logic - a lot of meandering. DitS is very worth watching just for the technicolor/cinematography, the orange, studio-lit skies and the sets (especially the cantina in the movie's opening moments). While it's undeniably flawed, it's an important western.

The only thing important about this movie is that it is the first movie Martin Scorsese ever saw

[Dust Devil]

The only thing important about this movie is that it is the first movie Martin Scorsese ever saw

I don't know if it's the first but the fact he reviewed/mentioned it in his documentary did do it a big favor.

[drinkanddestroy]

I don't know if it's the first but the fact he reviewed/mentioned it in his documentary did do it a big favor.

I believe he says it is the first movie he remembers seeing

[Dust Devil]

I believe he says it is the first movie he remembers seeing

I'll take your word for it.

[drinkanddestroy]

actually, he may have said different things at different times. At least once he said that ti was first movie he ever saw, or first movie he ever saw in theaters, or first movie he can remember seeing. Other times, he mentioned how it was a great influence cuz he saw it so young etc. but he doesn't explicitly say it was first, e.g. at 4:05  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0yuKp55cuw&list=PL7K7UEvDonQ0Y_f0jnBNZMo43KYjXz5lP

either way, it was an early influence on Scorsese

[T.H.]

The only thing important about this movie is that it is the first movie Martin Scorsese ever saw

Quoting a post from 7.5 years ago is a bit odd but Duel in the Sun has some brilliant moments and is a very unique western. I'm not that swayed by Scorsese's film opinions when he loves Elia Kazan, whose work I can't stand.

[dave jenkins]

https://www.amazon.com/Duel-Roadshow-Blu-ray-Jennifer-Jones/dp/B071JL4D1J/

[Jessica Rabbit]

Also called Lust in the Dust, this is a lurid, sexy, campy, politically incorrect ham and cheese sandwich. I love it. Gregory Peck for once is really sexy and thankfully not in "noble mode". He's so much better for it.

[drinkanddestroy]

Also called Lust in the Dust, this is a lurid, sexy, campy, politically incorrect ham and cheese sandwich. I love it. Gregory Peck for once is really sexy and thankfully not in "noble mode". He's so much better for it.

This movie is terrible. I have no opinion about Peck's sexiness, except to note that he was always considered a sexy guy, not just here. And there are plenty of better movies where Peck is not the goody-goody. See The Bravados and Yellow Sky and The Gunfighter. All Westerns.

The Gunfighter is one of my favorite Westerns. Duel in the Sun is at times excruciating.

[Jessica Rabbit]

This movie is terrible.

Not at all. It may be a turkey, but I like turkey, with lots of gravy. I haven't seen The Gunfighter and Yellow Sky yet.

[Spikeopath]

Adding my 10 penneth worth   

Pearl, you're curved in the flesh of temptation.

Duel in the Sun is predominantly directed by King Vidor and is produced and written by David O. Selznick who adapts (with help from H.P. Garrett & Ben Hecht) from Niven Busch's novel. It stars Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, Lillian Gish and Lionel Barrymore; with a huge support cast list that contains the likes of Herbert Marshall, Walter Huston, Charles Bickford & Harry Carey. The plot centres around Pearl Chavez (Jones), a half Indian girl who is orphaned after her father kills her mother and her lover. Pearl is sent to live with an old sweetheart and friend of her fathers, Laura Belle McCanles (Gish), here she becomes involved in prejudice and forbidden love that turns the McCanles family inside out.

David O. Selznick had hoped to recreate, even surpass, the success he had had with Gone With the Wind 7 years previously, only in a Western setting. Plagued with controversy both on and off the screen, the film, in spite of poor reviews, was a box office hit. Tho it's believed that due to high production costs and a cash driven advertising campaign, that the film ultimately only broke about even. The controversy on the screen stemmed from the sexual nature of the story, something that earned the film its famous "Lust In The Dust" nickname. Yet were it not for the Hays Code censors and religious review boards, the film would have been far more controversial, out went rape and a downplaying of the overt sexuality that existed prior to the cuts. Off screen controversy came in the form Selznick's relationship with Jones, a coupling that would break up both their respective marriages. The role of Pearl was originally meant for Hedy Lamarr, and even Teresa Wright was lined up too, but both women fell pregnant. Thus Selznick got the chance to shoehorn in his love and push her to the forefront of the movie with almost tyrannical urgings. 8 directors, 3 writers, 3 cinematographers & 4 editors would ultimately be used (that we know of). While bad weather, strikes and illness to Jones would also plague production. It's a wonder the film got finished at all.

It's an odd film in many ways, but one that appears now to have been very harshly treated by the critics of the day. That's not to say it's a masterpiece of classic Oater cinema, because it's not. But if viewed as a fun Horse Opera with Selznick getting away with as much as he can, then it's not half bad at all. Certainly the cast seem to be playing it as a fun piece of work, especially the wonderful Huston as OTT minister man, The Sinkiller. So viewed without expectation of serious melodrama, Duel In The Sun delivers some fun entertainment. Granted not all of it is intentional; the ending for one is preposterous and mirthful when really it shouldn't be. But the fact remains that the film is entertaining. Action wise it scores well, with stand out scenes including Jones on a runaway horse, hundreds of mounted horsemen riding to defend grumpy Jackson McCanles' (Barrymore) land against railroad incursion, and Peck (playing a sexual rebel type) taming a sex crazed stallion (even the horse knows what is expected of it here!).

Then there's the vast scope of the Western vistas, that are in turn dripping with lurid Technicolor. The terms beautiful and sordid spring to mind, now that is surely two words that aptly apply to the film as a whole? For the best performances one needs to look into the support cast, where Bickford, the afore mentioned Huston, Gish and the always enjoyable Butterfly McQueen, all deliver stoic like performances. Jones is a touch miscast, saddled with being the epicentre of the film (and Selznick's attentions), she at least deserves credit for trying to make the so-so writing work. She certainly looks beautiful and in the more quiet moments for her character the good actress threatens to break out. Peck, in a role originally meant for John Wayne-who balked at the sexiness of the plot, gives it gusto supreme, but whilst acknowledging it being an unusual role for him-so thus a brave choice, he never once convinces as a sexual dynamo. Cotton gets the short straw in that the role is badly underwritten, which when one considers that the story is essentially a Cain & Abel based story; he deserved better. While Barrymore is solidly doing what he does best and his only failing here is to not be as good as his on screen wife. Musically, Dimitri Tiomkin provides a competent if unmemorable score.

Fun, sexy and with little snatches of daring in the plot, Duel In The Sun is better than some would have you believe. But maybe, just maybe, it needs to be viewed with a glint in the eye and the tongue firmly planted in cheek? 7/10

[Jessica Rabbit]

You said it, Spike.  I think people take this way too seriously.

Peck...never once convinces as a sexual dynamo.

Ha, that's what you think! I believed it.

But when Jones says: "Trash, trash, trash, trash, trash..", you really can't argue with her.

[dave jenkins]

35mm screenings: https://www.filmlinc.org/films/duel-in-the-sun/