35mm

The Wonderful Country

Robert Parrish
Part of

55th New York Film Festival

September 29 - October 15, 2017

In this elegiac and exquisitely shot Technicolor western, Mitchum richly incarnates an expat mercenary hired by a Mexican governor to carry out an arms deal that takes him to Texas, where he soon finds himself in conflict with a U.S. Army major—and at a moral crossroads.

DIRECTOR
Robert Parrish
YEAR
1959
COUNTRY
USA
RUNTIME
98 minutes
FORMAT
35mm

Introduction by critic Imogen Sara Smith

This Technicolor western adapted from a novel by Tom Lea stars Robert Mitchum as an expat mercenary who fled to Mexico at age 14 after avenging his father’s murder. He’s hired by a cruel Mexican governor (Pedro Armendáriz) to carry out an arms deal that takes him to Texas, where his refusal to help hunt Apaches puts him in conflict with a U.S. Army major (Gary Merrill)—and into the orbit of the major’s unhappy wife (Julie London). Mitchum’s layered performance as a reluctantly violent man at a moral crossroads, and caught between two national identities, is the heart of Parrish’s elegiac, cerebral western, exquisitely shot by Alex Phillips and Floyd Crosby.

The Wonderful Country
The Wonderful Country

Read More

Videos

On the latest episode of FLC Luminaries, our video series that spotlights talent at all levels of the filmmaking process who uplift the art and craft of cinema, Our Land (Nuestra Tierra) director Lucrecia Martel discusses her expansive and enlightening first feature documentary.

Post

This week we’re excited to present a conversation from the 63rd New York Film Festival with Romería director Carla Simón, moderated by NYFF Main Slate selection committee member Florence Almozini.

Announcements

The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) and Film at Lincoln Center today unveil the second wave of programming for its landmark 25th edition, adding more than 40 films to an already wide-ranging lineup, with very special final titles still to come.