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.
Review of Pursued
