The Big Country

Ben Mankiewicz introduces The Big Country, 1958.

Ben Mankiewicz introduces The Big Country, 1958.

Robert Osborne introduces The Big Country, 1958.

Hostile neighbor Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives) intrudes on the Terrill wedding announcement party, confronting the major (Charles Bickford), aide Leech (Charlton Heston) and groom McKay (Gregory Peck) standing by, in William Wyler's The Big Country, 1958.

Chuck Connors is Buck Hannassey, number one son at a local ranch who’s just finished hassling the star (Gregory Peck), an east coast fella who’s just been greeted by his fianceè, whose dad owns the rival ranch, and her friend Julie (Jean Simmons), the schoolteacher, with whom he now misbehaves, early in William Wyler’s The Big Country, 1958.

After credits blazing across the prairie, Gregory Peck as Jim McKay of Maryland arrives in San Rafael, greeted by terse-friendly ranch foreman Charlton Heston, Chuck Connors leading local ruffians, Carroll Baker the awaiting bride-to-be, opening William Wyler’s The Big Country, 1958.

Representing the ranching family he's marrying into, Maryland sea captain Jim McKay (Gregory Peck) pays a first visit to friendly but stubborn neighbor and schoolteacher Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons), who won't sell her land, in William Wyler's The Big Country, 1958.

McKay (Gregory Peck) enlists Ramon (Alfonso Bedoya) in his attempt to ride Old Thunder -- the Terrill family's notorious stallion -- in private, in William Wyler's The Big Country, 1958.

McKay (Gregory Peck) and Leech (Charlton Heston) have agreed to a private pre-dawn showdown shot at remarkable distance by cinematographer Frank Planer in director William Wyler's The Big Country, 1958.

TCM's remembrance of actor Charlton Heston features images from Ben-Hur (1959), Touch of Evil (1958) and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) among others.

Feuding families vie for water rights in the old West in William Wyler's epic drama, The Big Country, starring Gregory Peck. Charlton Heston, Burl Ives and Jean Simmons (Telluride Film Festival honoree 2008).