The Big Land Reviews

Below-average western starring Ladd as an angry cattle driver who is outraged at villain Caruso's offered price per head. Caruso happens to be the only buyer in the territory who has access to the railroad, and therefore he can undercut the price of cattle to $1.50 instead of the $10 a head the ranchers were expecting. Ladd meets up with a washed-up, alcoholic architect, O'Brien, after saving him from being lynched. They decide, with the help of Ladd's railroad developer friend Castle, to build their own town where the cattlemen can come to sell their cattle at reasonable prices and ship them by train. Excited by the challenge, O'Brien sobers up and draws up the plans for the new town. The grand opening of the cattle town is stopped by Caruso and his thugs, who shoot O'Brien and then destroy the settlement by causing a stampede. Ladd has finally been pushed too far. He puts aside his hatred for violence (the horror of the Civil War had taken its toll on him), straps on his guns, and goes out to settle things with the evil Caruso and his men. While the Ladd character is well drawn and interesting, the film rambles in the middle and takes much too long to get to the main conflict. O'Brien's performance is very good, but Caruso does no more with his villainous cattle buyer than scowl. Song: "I Leaned on a Man" (Wayne Shanklin, Leonard Rosenman).