The Kentuckian

"The Kentuckian" is one of those films that made young men in the mid-20th century dream about adventure in the pioneer days. It's every bit as good an entertainment film for the young folks of the early 21st century. If only they can pry themselves away from their hand phones. All of the cast do a fine job in this look back at the early pioneer days when the West in the U.S. was still east of the Mississippi River. Bolstering the plot and action and adventure is some tremendous camera work and scenes in beautiful outdoor settings. It seems that modern films have all but forgotten about the early years of the settlement and expansion of America. This is a fine film to introduce a peek at what that early history was like, with a story that no doubt replayed itself many a time in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Burt Lancaster and crew provide an entertaining look back when boys of yesterday dreamed about early adventure in the new world.

A mix of 50's sensibilities and period art the way they could only do it in the 1950s. Lancaster is stiff at times, but shines in the riverboat scene and of course handles the on screen fights pretty well. A.B. Guthrie Jr. knows what to put in a frontier story, and Matthau, McIntire and Carradine act rings around the rest of a fairly lackluster cast. The part of the boy isn't well-directed, and only manages to be a fairly sympathetic character. Both Foster and Lynn seemed miscast... Foster was too elegant for the indentured servant role and the Lynn character weak for a frontier schoolmistress. But the story holds together and is worth the watch for fans of Matthau, Lancaster, or the genre of offbeat 50's westerns. Watch for almost a dozen 'stock' cowboy figures from that era popping in and out of scenes, like James Griffith as a perfectly evil riverboat gambler.

Woodsman Eli Wakefield and his son Little Eli look to journey from Kentucky to Texas in the 1800s. In the course of their travels, their paths cross with those of an indentured servant girl, a school teacher, a corrupt local lawman and a bullwhip-wielding bully. This film, which is notable for the debuts of Walter Matthau (acting) and Lancaster (as director), tells its relatively slight tale in a gentle and leisurely manner. The moments of drama are well done but infrequent, and interspersed with rather too many scenes of Big Eli looking besottedly at his son (played rather badly by a young actor called Donald McDonald who spends most of the film wearing an expression like a tormented ferret). The strengths of this film are the portrayal of 18th century rural Kentucky, the gorgeous scenery, Lancaster's good-natured but earnest performance and Bernard Herrman's music.

This is a delightful movie. For one thing, it does a fine job of putting you in the time and place - the set interiors are wonderful. Burt Lancaster is great as the boy grown up who wants his son to be free in a free country, to "take life in big bites", as he has done. That events conspire against him is inevitable, and the story pulls you along convincingly. The one to watch for is Walter Matthau, in a very early role, who is a real SOB with a wicked bullwhip. While the dialogue may sound preposterous and stilted, this is the way people spoke back in 18th century America, and the movie wins on many points. While it is definitely a product of the 50's, and feels like it, it still rings authentic and heart felt in a way that many other similar movies from the same period simply do not. A cut above, and definitely worth the time to seek out and watch.

That was the boastful phrase uttered by Walter Matthau to everyone else at the gathering; he stood before them snapping his bullwhip in air, its wicked cracking part of an old cultural ritual where a man stands before the tribe boasting of his might. This movie is totally underrated--not only does Matthau give one of his best performances in a smaller role, but there is tons of folklore and history in this gem.

The most interesting thing about this movie is it's depiction of the frontier life of the 1820's, which is virtually unknown to most people today. Alternating between leisurely pace, and exciting action, it's an interesting look at a part of the U.S. history that is seldom explored in film. I enjoyed it very much, including Bernard Herrmann's score, which fits perfectly into the action. What would have seemed as an unusual choice for composer, turned out to be exactly right in this case. Only the ending was a little disappointing to me, it was much too abrupt. Just five minutes more of showing them all heading off to Texas (on the steamboat, or in a wagon train perhaps?) would have been much more satisfying...

This was a decently put together film. Not too heavy but not too lightweight either, (the bullwhip fight with Matthau is almost worth the price of admission). It is a basic decent family film that doesn't get saccharine or soggy. The white indentured servant angle is one that I haven't seen a lot of and it plays well here. Burt is robust as usual and kickin' a lot of frontier butt. Its kinda unusual(for me) to see him play a rube.