Incredible fate for this western, which is now one of the classics of the genre, but the making of which was very difficult for everyone.
If The Great Outdoors often appears among the monuments of the western, it is both because of its scale and because of its themes, its hero being a pacifist and therefore different from the usual characters of the genre. If you’re curious about it, it’s currently hosted on Amazon Prime Video.
James McKay finds himself unwillingly at the heart of a conflict between his fiancée’s family, the Terrills, and that of the Hannasseys, neighboring ranchers. But the existence of this great film is a pure miracle…
Cursed from the scenario
MGM Charlton Heston meets the director of ‘Ben-Hur’
From the moment of writing, it’s a disaster. Seven screenwriters were hired in turn and despite this, the two producers of the film, actor Gregory Peck and director William Wyler (future author of Ben-Hur), were not at all satisfied. However, the shooting date arrives, the teams are ready and the money committed: they are forced to give the first shot in July 1957 before having a script that they really like.
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The film’s leading female lead, Jean Simmons said years later:
MGM
Jean Simmons
We learned our lines, then we received a new version. We would spend the night learning it and in the morning we would receive an even different version. It made our lives as actors impossible.
Simmons continues: “Willie Wyler was really mean and impossible to work with. On every movie he was looking for a victim and this time it fell on me.”adding during another interview*: “He asked me to do the scenes over and over again, without telling me why. I was totally confused. And if I made an unexpected move, he would tell me that I had succeeded. He wanted the unexpected.”
Settling scores at Wyler Corral
On the set, Gregory Peck and William Wyler do not get along at all, their quarrels revolving less over the actual packaging of the scenes, but above all over the shooting schedule and therefore the budget. The pressure of production weighs on both of them, and Wyler doesn’t like what he films because the script doesn’t speak to him enough. The heat of California is also a source of tension and fatigue.
MGM
Gregory Peck and Carroll Baker
Only the actor Burl Ives, who won an Oscar for his role as a formidable ranchero having to manage a turbulent and dangerous son, would have kind words towards the director: “I found Willie delightful. He never annoyed me, and I learned a lot from him.”
The filming of The Great Spaces then continues in the studio, where the two men do their work without speaking to each other. Post-production is also complicated. Wyler wants to change the music in the film. Composed by Jerome Moross, it was acclaimed by the test audience, and Peck insisted on keeping it. He will win his case, and she will win an Oscar nomination.
An unresolvable montage
But even more complicated to manage, the director offers a 4-hour cut that cannot be released in theaters. An hour had to be cut, and Wyler refused, seeking to strip Peck of his co-producer credit.
The final version comes out “only” 2h46 long. Wyler would say when promoting the film: “I will never make a film with Greg Peck again… You can quote me”. Atmosphere !
* Sources: Jean Simmons: Her Life and Career by Michelangelo Capua