(pb; 1948)
From
the back cover
“With
his novel Duel in the Sun (1946) and his screenplay for Raoul Walsh’s Pursued
(1947), Niven Busch brought the western into decidedly Freudian territory,
marrying the genre’s rugged exteriors with equally untamed psychologies. First
published in 1948, The Furies continued his revisionist steak with the
thundering tale of Vane Jefford, tough right hand and hot-blooded heiress to
her beloved patriarch, ruthless New Mexico cattle baron T.C. Jefford. But when
her widower father brings home a new flame, Vance’s simmering jealousy threatens
to shatter trust, draw blood, and bring ruin to the clan.”
Review
Furies is a
cinematic-vivid, psychologically intense, epic and sometimes suspenseful
Western tale of tempestuous familial struggles, betrayal, greed, murder and─for
some of the characters─redemption. It gets chatty at times but not so much that
it made me, a minimalist reader and writer, want to set it down. This is an
ambitious, accomplished and memorable work, one that will stick with this
reader for a long time to come. This is not only worth reading, it is worth
owning.
#
The
resulting film was released stateside on August 14, 1950. It was directed by
Anthony Mann, from Charles Schnee’s screenplay.
Barbara Stanwyck played Vance Jeffords. Walter Huston played T.C. Jeffords. Gilbert Roland
played Juan Herrera. Wendell Corey played Rip Darrow (cinematic stand-in for
the book’s Curley Darragh). Judith Anderson played Flo Burnett.
John
Bromfield played Clay Jeffords. Blanche Yerka played “Herrera Mother.” Thomas
Gomez played El Tigre. Wallace Ford played Scotty Hyslip. Frank Ferguson played
Dr. Grieve.
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