Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

cruhl32 At age 12, I saw this picture in a theater when it was first released. It impressed me mainly because of the way the Basque fought -- making huge leaps between boulders, so when I saw it was on TV, I recorded & watched it again. Today, it looks like a very silly story. There are no acting performances or cinematography that redeem this picture. The Basque who have made other reviews on this site needn't be offended -- Hollywood rarely, if ever, depicts American history correctly -- let alone other cultures. The synopsis says this is a western set in the 1850's & that makes sense for Basque immigration (as near as I can tell), but Lon tells the Basque that he fought with Washington (who's last battle was in 1781)while the Basque tell him they fought with Napoleon, which I can date to prox. 1809, maybe earlier. Also, it made no sense to attack the Indians when the wagon train had guns & the Indians only bows & arrows. Women would not have been wearing pants, even riding pants in the mid 1800's. Hayward has many find performances that have stood the test of time & Chandler might have, if he'd lived. This movie is just a curiosity.

bkoganbing The filming of Thunder In The Sun probably had its start years before they were movie stars with two grade school kids named Edythe Marrenner and Ira Grossel who both went to Hollywood and became Susan Hayward and Jeff Chandler. These two were really good friends going back to their childhoods in Brooklyn. So when Susan Hayward reached the top of her career with her Oscar for I Want To Live, I'm sure she wanted to make a film with Chandler. It's a pity these two couldn't have found a better one.It's an unusual subject for a western, a wagon train of Basque immigrants from the French Pyrennees who are going to California to start their own wineries. Their most precious cargo is the vines carrying the grape seeds that have to be watered. Of course on the desert, man and animals also have to be watered. That leads to the usual situations in westerns like these.Chandler is not your usual western hero either. He takes his pleasures where he finds them be it women or drink. Hayward has been wed to Carl Esmond the leader of the group and when he's killed by an overanxious sentry, the younger brother Jacques Bergerac is ready to take his place. And Hayward is also guarded by her formidable mother-in-law, Blanche Yurka.Though the folks have unusual clothing for wagon train travelers, the story does have the usual wagon train situations found in westerns, climaxed by a nicely staged fight with Indians. As Bergerac says, the Indians have never faced Basques before and these people are born mountain fighters.In two years Jeff Chandler would be gone and he never did to make another film with his good childhood friend Susan Hayward. That's a pity.

dbdumonteil ....or how History repeats itself.At the end of the 8th century,the Basques beat Charlemagne in Roncevaux in the Pyrénées mountains !When Bergerac evokes his ancestors' feat,he was historically accurate;later the chanson de geste "la chanson de Roland " (which enhanced Charlemagne's so-called nephew count Roland) forgot the Basques and turned them into Sarrazins. ....so the end of the movie is a second "Roncevaux" ,the Indians replacing good old Carolus Magnus and his fair knights.For the rest of the movie,as I do not know anything about the basques traditions,I will not argue with the precedent users who complain about the lack of knowledge of basque culture of the writers.The director used a lot of French actors -Heyward and Chandler are like Martians in such a company- ,all virtually unknown in their native country,even the lead Bergerac.This is a rather short film,mainly if we consider that the beginning consists of singing and dancing (Heyward 's flamenco,more Spanish than Basque,being one of the highlights of a fairly tepid story).Sometimes the Basques speak French,most of the time English,even between them,which makes the story unconvincing.Susan Heyward,as gorgeous as ever,contents herself with a few words .

artzau I had heard from friends that this was a film about Basques. Since the film had been gone off the circuit, I was eager to see it when it reappeared on TV. Being an anthropologist and ethnic Basque, I was most interested in how Hollywood would treat this subject. Well, after my initial disappointment and shock at not only a limp-witted story and a mediocre performance by Susan Hayward, my real dismay was at the presence of the French Basque, Jacques Bergerac for going along with a misinformed and misinforming depicition my (i.e., our) people. The Basque traditions depicted in the film were totally fictious and laughable. How Bergerac picked up his paycheck with no feeling of shame is a mystery to me. Hayward was always beautiful and exciting. But seeing her dance a Flamenco (not ever a Basque tradition) and hearing her make a bad attempt at a French accent, was disheartening. Chandler emoted as usual, no surprise...but the only thunder in Thunder in the Sun, were my groans of complaint and disgust at this bad parody of the culture of my ancestors.