Roseanna McCoy Reviews

ROSEANNA McCOY departs from Hollywood convention to tell a love story set against a Blue Ridge Mountain backdrop without resorting to "Li'l Abner" hillbilly stereotypes. Taking liberties with the facts of the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud, the story concentrates on a romance between two young members of the clans, Johnse Hatfield (Farley Granger) and Roseanna McCoy (Joan Evans), who meet at a country fair. She tries to put him out of her mind, but can't stop herself from falling in love, and one night Johnse comes to her house and carries her off. They end up back at the Hatfields' house, where the clan greets her with mixed reactions. Devil Anse (Charles Bickford), the Hatfield patriarch, sends Roseanna home in an attempt to keep peace between the two families, but the gesture fails and the two sides once again wage war. Meanwhile, the lovers are reunited and run off together. Their path takes them right through the gunfire, however, forcing both sides to cease warring, presumably for good. Although ROSEANNA McCOY did poorly at the box office, producer Sam Goldwyn seems to have been more concerned with rendering an honest sketch of mountain life than with profit. Great attention is paid to detail and atmosphere, giving a better sense of locale and history than was usual in Hollywood pictures.