The Furies (1950)

The Furies (1950) is the first western directed by Anthony Mann (although it was released after Winchester ’73).

T.C. Jeffords (Walter Huston) owns an enormous ranch called the Furies, a cattle empire that he built up in a determined but unscrupulous manner. He has a vast empire in land and cattle but is chronically short of cash. That will be important later.

He has a son named Clay, for whom he has little respect. T.C.’s daughter Vance (Barbara Stanwyck) is another matter. She’s the apple of his eye and she’s as tough and strong-willed as her father. T.C. enjoyed building up his empire but he’s not so fond of the tedium of the day-to-day running of his business. He has promised Vance that she will take over the running of The Furies.

T.C. made a few enemies along the way. He has an uneasy relationship with Juan Herrera (Gilbert Roland). The Herreras are squatters on The Furies but they believe they have an ancestral claim on the land. To make things more awkward Juan is in love with Vance. She regards him as just a friend.

It would make life easier for T.C. if the Herreras could be driven off The Furies. That will also be important later.

Another of the old man’s enemies has just appeared on the scene. Rip Darrow (Wendell Corey) is a gambler who owns the Legal Tender Saloon. The Darrows believe that T.C. cheated them out of a parcel of land known as the Darrow Strip. And T.C. shot Rip’s father. As you might expect things are pretty tense between T.C. and Rip. Rip still believes that the Darrow Strip is his by right. Yet another factor that will prove to be important.

The situation is about to get a lot more tense. Vance has fallen for the smooth-talking gambler. It’s a courtship that will lead to unexpected results.

The spark that will eventually lead to an explosion is provided by the arrival of Flo Burnett (Judith Anderson). Flo is a middle-aged adventuress and she’s got her hooks into T.C. and that is a threat to Vance. Vance means to have The Furies and it’s obvious that Flo also intends to have everything that T.C. has including The Furies. There’s going to be an epic battle between these two women.

When it happens the explosion takes a surprising and shocking form and it has momentous consequences. Vance discovers that hate can be more satisfying than love, or at least that’s what she thinks.

This is not a conventional western. It’s a western melodrama, in the sense that movies like Duel in the Sun (1946) and Forty Guns (1957) and the bizarre Johnny Guitar (1954) are western melodramas. You could also describe these movies as women’s westerns. The plots are not driven by conventional western themes like revenge but by emotional dramas.

There’s one major gunfight scene but it doesn’t play out in a straightforward western way.

There’s a very strong emphasis on psychological and emotional drama. Revenge plays a role, but again not in typical western style. And the resolution does not come in the form of a showdown with six-guns. It’s a psychological and emotional showdown.

Anthony Mann’s westerns are often described as noir westerns. I’ve always been a bit sceptical about this. The Furies does have noirish qualities and a slightly noirish look. Unusually for a major studio western in 1950 it was shot in black-and-white and there are plenty of noir shadows and night scenes, with characters silhouetted against the night sky in a very moody brooding noir way. It’s closest in spirit to noirish female-centric melodramas like Mildred Pierce and Leave Her To Heaven. And there's a touch of Greek tragedy and even Shakespearian tragedy (both of which appealed to Mann).

Nobody but Barbara Stanwyck could have played Vance Jeffords. Nobody else could have made such a character so convincing and so fascinating. Vance is not a straightforward heroine. She adores her father but she intends to have The Furies no matter what she has to do to get it and even if it sets her against him. She’s not an entirely sympathetic character but we have to admire her tenaciousness. She’s a bit like Scarlett O’Hara. She’ll do what she has to do to get what she wants.

Walter Huston, in his final film rôle, is just as good. They’re a father and a daughter who are not so much people as forces of nature. T.C. starts out as a larger-than-life heroic figure but we soon begin to suspect that he’s a hero with feet of clay. He makes foolish financial decisions. His infatuation with the scheming Flo shows his poor judgment. He is indecisive and impulsive and he has a brutal streak (which his daughter has inherited). Vance and T.C. are complicated and conflicted.

Wendell Corey is a bit overshadowed by Stanwyck and Huston but he’s OK as well. Gilbert Roland and Judith Anderson round off a strong cast.

There are some slightly disturbing vaguely incestuous undertones to the relationship between Vance and her father. It’s subtle but remember that 1950 was the high tide of Freudianism.

The Criterion DVD release of The Furies includes an unusual and very welcome extra - the source novel by Niven Busch! Not in some silly ebook format but an actual physical book, a proper paperback. I think that this is a superb idea. And there are lots of other extras as well including an audio commentary (which unfortunately reveals spoilers for all of Mann’s other westerns and should therefore be avoided). There’s an excellent and enlightening 1967 interview with Anthony Mann and a whimsical 1930s interview with Walter Huston. The transfer is gorgeous.

The Furies isn’t a perfect movie. The ending is perhaps not entirely satisfactory. It is however an absorbing psycho-sexual-emotional melodrama and it’s nicely overheated and it’s highly recommended.