The Furies

In New Mexico there is a cattle baron called T. C. Jeffords: his land is large, his debts are larger, and he pays in scrip he prints himself. His daughter Vance is his only heir and his only equal. When T. C. moves to marry a new woman, Vance opposes it and the matter turns into a personal war. The subject is not land but how alike father and daughter are. Both are ruthless, neither gives way, and the film never separates them; Vance's revenge is carried out by her father's method, which is money. The form is less western than family tragedy: houses, dinners, verbal combat. There is little violence, but when it comes it comes with a pair of scissors, and that scene is unexpectedly harsh for its period. Anthony Mann directs, in one of the first entries of his fifties western run. Barbara Stanwyck took the role at her own insistence. Walter Huston died shortly after; this is his last film. Wendell Corey plays the man opposite Vance. Who it is for: viewers who like character-driven westerns and hard heroines. Who it is not for: anyone expecting large-scale western action; the film is almost entirely interior and proceeds through talk.