Pursued

Plot synopsis:
Set in New Mexico around the turn of the 20th century and told in flashback, the film tells the story of Jeb Rand (Mitchum), whose entire family was slaughtered when he was a child. In the aftermath of the massacre, Jeb is found by Mrs. Callum, a widow, who raises him in her family. Traumatized by the killings, Jeb does not recall anything of that night, except for vague images that he sees in a frequent nightmare. Mrs. Callum raises him as her own son, together with her daughter Thorley and her son Adam. Years later, Jeb is shot at while riding a colt, but the shooter misses him; although Mrs. Callum blames the incident on deer hunters, she knows that it was an attempted murder by her brother-in-law Grant. Mrs. Callum confronts Grant and it is revealed that Jeb's father took the life of Mrs. Callum's husband, and Grant was the one who killed Jeb's parents in an act of revenge and swore to kill Jeb when he was old enough. Mrs Callum pleads with Grant to leave Jeb alone, reasoning that he is not a threat to anyone. Grant agrees to let Jeb live but only to prove that when he is old enough, he will turn on Callum.
Years later, Jeb, Adam and Thorley are adults and one day law officials arrive to recruit volunteers to join the US Army to battle the Spaniards. Jeb and Adam are told that one of them must join and after agreeing on a coin toss, Jeb loses and signs up. Jeb is injured in battle and while recuperating in hospital experiences his flashbacks to the night of his family's murder once again. Due to his injuries he is honorably discharged from the army and sent home and awarded the Medal of Honor.
Although adoptive brother and sister, Jeb and Thorley have long been in love and after his homecoming celebration Jeb tried to convince Thorley to run away with him and get married as soon as possible as he suspects that someone, or something is following him. Thorley refuses stating she wants to get married on her own terms and not out of fear. Jeb goes for a long horse ride in order to clear his head and stumbles upon an abandoned ranch which he suspects he has seen before. His mother confirms that the ranch is indeed where he and his real parents lived when Jeb was a child and the same ranch where they were murdered. In order to earn money so he can provide for himself and Thorley, Jeb plans to take his share of his inheritance and gamble at a casino. Adam expresses anger at the fact that Jeb is listed in their mother's will to receive the same amount of money as he and Thorley will upon her death, despite Jeb leaving the ranch to fight in the war and Adam continuing to work solidly on the ranch.
Jeb wins big at the casino and the owner Jake Dingle offers him to become his partner. Meanwhile Adam has researched Jeb's past and knows about his murderous parents and their subsequent deaths. Still furious about their financial situation, Adam attempts to kill Jeb on his way back from the casino but is killed in self defense. Jeb is acquitted of the murder in court but is shunned by Thorley and Mrs Callum who states that Jeb is dead to him. With no family, job or home of his own, Jeb accepts Jake Dingle's offer and becomes part owner of the casino. Months later at the town dance Jeb discovers that Thorley is engaged to a man named Prentice. Grant alerts Prentice as to what Jeb did to Thorley's brother and convinces him to make an attempt on Jeb's life. Prentice attempts to ambush Jeb on his way home but is gunned down in self defense.
Some time later Thorley and Mrs Callum hatch a plan to gain revenge on Jeb for the pain he has caused them. Thorley pretends to forgive Jeb and agrees to marry him, planning to murder him on their wedding night. On the night in question Thorley can not bring herself to carry out the murder and reconciles with Jeb, somehow knowing in her heart that he is innocent and that he truly loves her. Tired of waiting, Grant rounds up a gang and they chase Jeb across the desert intending to finish the job he started all those years ago. Jeb is shot and finally recalls the night of his parent's murder, realizing it was Grant who killed them and that Mrs Callum was there too. It is revealed that Mrs Callum had an affair with Jeb's father and when her husband found about it, he attempted to murder him but was killed in self defense, resulting in Grant slaughtering Jeb's entire family in order to avenge his brother's death. Mrs Callum upon learning that Jeb survived the slaughter, adopted him out of guilt. Thorley pleads with her mother not to allow Jeb to be hanged, stating there is still time to make up for her actions. As Grant is about to hang Jeb, Mrs Callum shoots him dead. She asks for and receives forgiveness from Jeb and Thorley, and advises them to look to the future and enjoy their lives together.

Tags: revenge, melodrama

Review:
Looking at the other reviews for "Pursued", I don't think I have to repeat the plot summary for this dark, thoughtful 1947 western, directed by Raoul Walsh.
The story told in flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks with the narration of Robert Mitchum, a relentless villain, a hidden family mystery...plus gunfights and New Mexico scenery.Interesting camera-work is the main attribute of this late 1940s western.
I say the latter because of all the stark black-and-white contrasts, night scenes and facial closeups.Conclusion - I'd call this a must-see film, I find it has lots of great moments.It's a movie I enjoy watching again and again.
Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger and company all acted well, and I appreciated their talents.
Pursued (1947), a noir Western directed by the great Raoul Walsh and stars Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright and Judith Anderson.The plot is simple enough: Set in New Mexico (and shot there too) around the turn of the century and told in flashback, the film tells the story of Jeb Rand (Robert Mitchum) whose family was murdered when he was a small boy.
The sight of this haunts him, which manifests itself in bad dreams, into adulthood, as he is brought up by Mrs. Callum (Judith Anderson) and her two children, including Thor (Teresa Wright), whom he falls in love with.
But Rand also has other problems to sort out, especially his jealous half-brother Adam Callum (John Rodney).The photography, by the esteemed James Wong Howe is breathtaking, all harsh black-and-white vistas; the editing too, by Christian Nyby (who would later go on to take credit for directing the classic science fiction film The Thing from Another World!
Robert Mitchum is his usual laconic self (which is no bad thing!), Judith Anderson as always is excellent, Teresa Wright is good as Mitchum's half-sister and love and Dean Jagger, Alan Hale and Harry Carey Jr. all turn in memorable performances.
The story unfolds through a series of flashbacks in which the hero Jeb Rand (Robert Mitchum) struggles to evoke an obscure incident of his early childhood.
Walsh is opening the door to a new expressionism in western, eventually taken over by Mann and Boetticher.In this film, whose dramatic structure is as pure as a greek tragedy, even celebrations are sad, as when Mitch comes as a hero of war.
It could have take the form of a dream (Mitchum appears like a sleepwalker throughout the entire film), but thanks to Howe's outstanding photo and Steiner's powerful score, it developed into a nightmare..
This is not so much a Western as a film noir that happens to be set in New Mexico around the turn of the century.
In the turn of the Nineteenth century, the orphan Jeb Rand is raised by Mrs. Callum (Judith Anderson) with her daughter Thorley and her son Adam.
When Jeb is shot by the one-armed Grant Callum (Dean Jagger), Ms. Callum goes to the hotel and tells his relative to stop the family feud and forget Jeb. Years later, Grant is a prosecutor and presses Jeb (Robert Mitchum) to fight in the war against the Spanish.
"Pursued" is a great western by Raoul Walsh that blends western and film-noir creating an unforgettable film about a family feud with a revengeful man.
It plays and looks more like a film noir than a western, but there is nothing wrong with that.
It plays and looks more like a film noir than a western, but there is nothing wrong with that.
However, Mitchum, Teresa Wright, Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger and company all acted well, and I appreciated their talents..
Robert Mitchum {excellent} is Jeb Rand, who is constantly pursued by assailants all his life.
Upon learning that there was indeed a survivor, the killers set about erasing Jeb from the planet, thus Jeb spends all his life trying to find out what the hell is going on, and just why did his adoptive mother raise him in the first place?An oddity of sorts because Pursued is thinly embracing a number of genres, stretching the elements of each strand to create a film that once viewed, leaves one very intrigued as to its purpose.........
Moody film noir from director Raoul Walsh has young boy left orphaned by a bloodthirsty band of killers, who dog the boy's trail even after he grows up into Robert Mitchum (seems to me that's the point where they might have given up stalking him).
Lackluster film co-starring Teresa Wright and Dean Jagger just doesn't hold much interest, despite good cinematography by James Wong Howe and an atmospheric score by Max Steiner, top talents all around.
Oh well, I guess I can trade this at the used DVD store for films that show Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright and Dame Judith Anderson in better roles.
If you like film noir and these stars, I highly recommend Night of the Hunter - 1955 (Mitchum), The Little Foxes - 1941 (Wright), and Rebecca - 1940 (Anderson)..
I think it's more of a psychological western in which Robert Mitchum works out his own salvation rather than get the help of a doctor like Ingrid Bergman who wouldn't have been available back then because Dr. Freud was just starting to develop his theories around the time this was made.Mitchum's earliest recollections and something he dreams constantly was him being in a cellar and peering from a trap door as a lad and seeing and hearing a gunfight.
Jagger hates Mitchum boy and man and the reason for that hate is not revealed until almost the end of the film.
It's a lot to do with the family name.Niven Busch wrote the script for this unusual western and he was married to Teresa Wright at the time so apparently Warner Brothers bought them as a package.
As for him, he was lent from RKO where in fact he had worked with a Niven Busch screenplay and got great acclaim for it in Till The End Of Time.The film bills John Rodney who plays Wright's brother as introducing John Rodney.
Carey plays a luckless storekeeper influenced by the cunning Jagger to go after Mitchum and does well with the part.Raoul Walsh known primarily for more straight forward action films does all right with his cast in what had to be unfamiliar territory for him.
The film begins with a young boy (Jeb Rand) being rescued from a house destroyed.He becomes part of the family, sort of headed by Ma Callum (wonderfully maternal by the skilled Judith Anderson).
Everyone has twisted emotions except Jeb (Robert Michum), who has problems, which he never denies, nor does he easily relate his problems.After two very ugly killings, Thor (Teresa Wright) hatches a plot.
The second part has to do with the Callum gang (headed by Grant  played by an amazingly sinister Dean Jagger) that tries to kill Michum on his wedding night at the old Rand ranch.The rest of the movie is all gun shooting and melodrama, which I won't reveal more about.The photography is astonishing with its shadows and light, which is like choreography.
Unlike more typical director Raoul Walsh fare this western is far less about rollicking action than psychological drama and is thus a refreshing change from the norm.That said, Robert Mitchum's about the last person you'd think of being traumatised by childhood nightmares that dog him into adulthood, but elsewhere we get all his usual "ics" - laconic, sardonic, ironic and of course ultimately iconic.
The story probably has too many twists and turns for its own good, with Bob's on-off again romance with Teresa Wright, she less convincing in her star-crossed lover role, hard to believe at the best of times.
I also couldn't quite swallow badman Cullan's all-powering motive to wipe out every member of Mitchum's family, himself being the last survivor, while the reveal-all conclusion is over and done with too quickly and doesn't really deserve its build up.I've always been a sucker, mind you, for the then in-vogue use of dollar-book Freud stuff as Orson Welles once described it and other noir conventions like the use of flashback sequences and the persistence of fate are present and correct enhanced by a moodily effective Max Steiner score.
Best of all though is James Wong Howe's marvellous photography with wonderful deep perspective interiors and some exceptional night work, particularly the scene where Mitchum is drawn into the fatal gun-fight with his "brother".There's much to savour then, even if the weakest element is probably the story itself which is really just a typical noir plot backdated to the turn of the century..
Robert Mitchum stars as Jeb Rand, a young man whom mysterious people have always been trying to kill.
The daughter is played by winsome Theresa Wright, but unlike most of her 'good girl' parts, she is permitted a huge acting range in this film and goes through extreme character changes very convincingly indeed.
The film also has a powerful continuing love story, namely the love between Mitchum and his adoptive sister Theresa Wright, whom he wishes to marry.
I would watch this film merely to revel in the lush black and white cinematography of James Wong Howe, who captures the splendor of the Western landscape as well as the dark shadows that haunt the childhood home of the main character when he, as a child, is traumatized by marauders; this film was made about the same time film noir began to assert itself, about the same time Western characters were no longer just good or bad people, but individuals with deeper lives and more complex problems.
Indeed, it doesn't take a stretch to see major Oedipal issues here between Robert Mitchum's troubled adult and his stepmother, played by theatre actress Judith Anderson, who had been Oscar nominated for her turn as the evil Mrs. Danvers in Hitchcock's Rebecca You can just enjoy this as a traditional suspense Western, or if you wish, find deeper levels of enjoyment--underscored by the lush harmonics music of Max Steiner's masterful music..
Young Robert Mitchum, looking very much the leading man with his dimpled chin and enigmatic smile, plays a troubled, nightmare-plagued orphan raised from early childhood on the secluded ranch of a stern but loving widow.
There were really only 2 things that this decidedly misguided Western Chick Flick had going for it that prevented me from giving it an even lower rating than 5 stars.One of Pursued's only notable assets was the casting of one of Hollywood's best cowboy/tough guys of the late 1940s, Robert Mitchum, as Jeb Rand (although I've seen Mitchum better cast in other films).And Pursued's other worthwhile bonus was the absolutely wonderful camera-work done by ace-cinematographer, James Wong Howe.
Believe me, some of the dazzling shots that were taken of New Mexico's rugged, wide-open country (as well as other shots) improved this maudlin, melodramatic, little soap opera significantly and made it well worth watching right through to its painfully predictable ending.On the other hand, one of this Western's biggest and most damaging deficits was that its story was given over, far too often, to being nothing but a corny Chick Flick that dwelt on a really brain-dead romance that had literally been going on between Thorley Callum and her adopted brother, Jeb, for near 20 years now.
The truth is she was just way too plain and mousy-looking (and sans any sexual appeal, whatsoever) to be at all convincing as the sort of woman whom a man (in his right mind, of course) would be willing to die for.And, besides the above complaint - The other aspect of Pursued that lost it some considerable points was the "big secret" behind Grant Callum's senseless, 20-year pursuit of Jeb Rand.
When everyone grows up, Teresa Wright and her adopted brother Robert Mitchum fall in love, and her real brother Dean Jagger is resentful of the attention Bob takes.
The start of the movie features Robert Mitchum, wounded and bleeding, trying to tell Teresa Wright an important story before he gets found and taken away.
Since all these stars have done great work elsewhere I guess the blame lies with the director and the script.Just give this movie a pass and go watch ANY other Mitchum film..
Although this film was directed by the great Raoul Walsh, the story by Niven Busch is the main factor in this western.
Robert Mitchum is Jeb Rand and it all begins with the star and Thor Callum (Teresa Wright) at an abandoned house in a desolate part of New Mexico.
With a multi-layered story and an elliptical plot, you must watch and listen carefully as Jeb Rand (Mitchum), in the opening sequence, narrates, in real-time or voice over, the circumstances which have caused him and his bride-to-be, Thor Callum (Wright), to be corralled by killers in an abandoned house in the boonies - the very homestead where Jeb was born and lived when he was only a toddler.This is a story of survival and growing up as Jeb is adopted into the family of Mrs Callum (Anderson) and her own children, Thor and Adam (John Rodney).
But it is a well-constructed and entertaining drama which uses boyhood trauma as psychological underpinning to generate mystery and suspense for the viewer - all centering on: who killed Jeb's parents and why is Jeb being pursued?As Jeb, Mitchum gives a truly muted, sensitive performance, barely raising his voice even when fighting with Adam (Rodney) over property and money; or even when staring at death from the barrel of a gun.
Newcomer (in 1947), John Rodney, plays brother Adam as Big Brother - domineering, confident, and aggressive when he chooses.Overshadowing all of them - even veteran Judith Anderson - is Dean Jagger as Grant Callum - a quietly and insidiously maniacal man on a mission of retribution, as he sees it; others would call it simply premeditated murder.
Warners however intended to cast their own John Garfield as the star in PURSUED except the leading lady Teresa Wright, who at the time was married to screenwriter Busch, wanted Mitchum to play the lead opposite her.
Stunningly photographed in Black & White by genius cameraman James Wong Howe and brilliantly scored by Max Steiner PURSUED was stylishly directed with great flair by Raoul Walsh.Mitchum plays Jeb Rand who is haunted by disturbing childhood memories of seeing his father being shot down by the avenging Grant Callum (Dean Jagger) because of his having an illicit affair with his brother's wife and now vows to kill young Jeb as well no matter how long it takes.
When his father was killed Jeb was taken in and raised by Mrs. Callum (Judith Anderson) along with her children Thor (Teresa Wright) and Adam (John Rodney).
Also notable in PURSUED is a surprising vocal rendition of the traditional Irish ballad "Londonderry Air" laudably sung by Mitchum and John Rodney.Despite a sometimes confusing narrative (It's never made very clear why Grant Callum is so obsessed for years with killing Jeb) PURSUED remains a splendid example of the noir western and looks as fresh today as it did sixty five years ago..
To properly appreciate the cinematic grandeur, you need to see PURSUED on the big screen, where the vast empty landscapes, looming walls of rock, and enormous close-ups provide the right context for this melodrama flavored with Greek tragedy.Freud was trendy in the 1940s, and Hollywood turned out a number of overwrought yet simple-minded movies about characters whose twisted psyches can be explained by a single event in their childhoods (SPELLBOUND, THE LOCKET, etc.) The first thing you have to accept in PURSUED is that the hero, Jeb Rand (Robert Mitchum), has been scarred all his life by a traumatic childhood experience of violence that he can't clearly recall.
From the beginning it's told mostly in flashback, as Robert Mitchum recounts what he can remember of his turbulent and violent childhood to his new bride and foster sister (Teresa Wright).
One of the most bizarre plot twists in the film occurs when Wright decides that she will marry Mitchum and then kill him on their wedding night because he shot her brother (in self defense, even though that doesn't seem to matter to her).
Set in New Mexico at the turn of the century, Jeb Rand, as a young boy (later played by Robert Mitchum) witnesses his father's brutal murder at the hands of an angry mob by the name of Callum, spurred by the brother of Rand's father's lover's husband, Grant Callum (Dean Jagger).
She has a son and daughter of her own as well, and a long strangely twisting love affair begins between Jeb and Mrs Callum's daughter Thorley (played by Theresa Wright) over the next 20+ years.
Released in the same year as the seminal double whammy of "Crossfire" and "Out Of The Past", Mitchum cemented his burgeoning reputation with his tortured performance in this brooding psychological western directed by Raoul Walsh.
Judith Anderson and Teresa Wright both match him in their key scenes too whilst the ever-watchable Dean Jagger is on fine form; playing it mean to the bone throughout.
Fascinating film noir western about a man's confusion about a past he wasn't a part of..
That's just one of the questions this brilliant film noir with a western setting asks as the brooding Robert Mitchum recounts his story to his foster sister (Teresa Wright) while waiting for his enemies to attack.
Years ago, the young Mitchum was found by Wright's mother (a mesmerizing Judith Anderson) and brought into her family.
Rodney finds out the truth about Mitchum's heritage and vows revenge, resulting in tragedy that threatens to keep Wright and Mitchum from being together.Only a western because of its early 1900's New Mexico setting, "Pursued" is a brilliant example of how writers could cross film genres to make a powerful statement.
In addition to Mitchum (who's always great), I liked Dean Jagger--he played a despicable guy very well.