Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Big Sky (1952)
Director: Howard Hawks
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
While not up to the standard of Hawks' best Westerns (Red River, Rio Bravo), still an evergreen delight. Douglas and Martin are the two Kentuckians who join a pioneering trading expedition up the Missouri River to buy furs from the Blackfoot Indians. Problems are many, what with the dangers of the landscape and the hostility of certain Indians. But Hawks is less concerned with the adventurous aspect of the odyssey than with the relationship between the two men, who slowly discover a deep mutual respect, only to have it threatened by their both loving the same woman (an Indian they capture as a hostage against trouble). Episodic, rambling and very amiable, with a nice line in black humour (most evident in the marvellous sequence where Douglas has his finger amputated, only to lose it in the undergrowth). First shown in a 140-minute version.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Howard Hawks
Producer: Howard Hawks
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Steve Geray, Elizabeth Threatt, Arthur Hunnicutt, Buddy Baer, Michael Douglas full cast
Genre(s): Westerns
Duration: 122 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 50 greatest monster movies
As Joe Johnston’s long-awaited reinvention of Universal’s howl-at-the-moon classic ‘The Wolfman’ hits cinemas, Time Out lists our 50 favourite cinematic stalkers, growlers, slashers and biters.
Mark Kermode: A life in film
Dave Calhoun chats to Britain's most outspoken film critic and pundit ahead of the release of his memoirs
Has Ricky Gervais gone all serious?
The trailer to 'Cemetery Junction' suggests that its writer-director is suppressing his funny bone.
The genius of Roman Polanski
Ahead of his new film, 'The Ghost', we must forget the media circus and remember the artist pleads Wally Hammond
Oscars 2010: The nominees
Tom Huddleston offers his acute analysis on the list of nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards
Rotterdam 2010: Geoff Andrew's report
Geoff Andrew finds rich leftfield pickings at the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival
Can Tom Ford cut it as a director?
After ten years as creative head of Gucci, Tom Ford has directed his first movie. Nina Caplan meets him
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
So here it is… Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this.
2009: The year in film
We look back at the best movies of 2009 and pick out some of our favourite lists, features and interviews.
What do you think?
Post your review now