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The Big Sky (1952)

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Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 7
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 0

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 0

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Movie Info

The Big Sky is based on a popular novel by A.B. Guthrie. Kirk Douglas and Dewey Martin play a pair of Kentucky frontiersmen who embark upon the first keelboat trip up the Missouri River way back in 1830. Joining Douglas and Martin are Martin's grizzled old uncle Arthur Hunnicutt and garrulous Frenchman Steven Geray. Running afoul of various Indian tribes, Douglas nonetheless romances Sioux princess Elizabeth Threatt (their off-screen relationship was on the kinky side, as an embarrassed Douglas

Unrated, 2 hr. 2 min.

Western, Action & Adventure

Directed By: Howard Hawks

Written By: Dudley Nichols

In Theaters: Aug 6, 1952 Wide

Turner Home Entertainment

The Big Sky Trailer & Photos

Cast

Kirk Douglas
Jim Deakins
Dewey Martin
Boone Caudell
Elizabeth Threatt
Teal Eye
Arthur Hunnicutt
Zeb
Buddy Baer
Romaine
Hank Worden
Poordevil
Jim Davis
Streak
Steven Geray
Jourdonnais
Henri Letondal
Labadie
Robert Hunter
Chouquette
Booth Colman
Pascal
Paul H. Frees
McMasters
Frank de Kova
Moleface
Guy Wilkerson
Longface
Sam Ash
Don Beddoe
Horse Trader
Barbara Hawks
Indian Girl
Frank Lackteen
Jay Novello
Bill Self
Max Wagner
George Wallace I

Critic Reviews for The Big Sky

All Critics (10) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (0) | DVD (2)

A saga as long as the day and as big as all outdoors.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

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A.H. Weiler

New York Times

Top Critic

Though this sublime 1952 black-and-white masterpiece by Howard Hawks is usually accorded a low place in the Hawks canon, it's a particular favorite of mine -- mysterious, beautiful, and even utopian.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

This is a rousing, good-time adventure tale with two Hawksian buddies making their way through the untamed wild.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

This is not one of Hawks' great films, but it's one of his most visually satisfying.

August 11, 2005 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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Audience Reviews for The Big Sky

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An old movie with cowboys and Indians. This movie is OK - at least it doesn't automatically paint all Injuns as evil. Interesting that most of the time they walk the ship up the river. That certainly is not what they teach us about the river highways of Canada's fur trade.

December 28, 2008

Red Lats

Super Reviewer

I?ve begun to have my reservations about the works of Howard Hawks, his work always just seems kind of silly to me, especially when compared to what John Ford was doing. This is a pretty good western, but not the greatest. First of all, the film?s treatment of Indians is a little better than some of the other movies

August 15, 2009

MJS MJS

Super Reviewer

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