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Griff Barnett, Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Charles Bickford, Joseph Cotten ... see more see more... , Sidney Blackmer , Lionel Barrymore , Harry Carey , Lillian Gish , Walter Huston , Herbert Marshall , Lane Chandler , Frank Cordell , Thomas P. Dillon , Charles Dingle , Steve Dunhill , Otto Kruger , Tilly Losch , Francis McDonald , Scott McKay , Bob McKenzie , Butterfly McQueen , Elizabeth Lloyd Shaw , Joan Tetzel , Dan White , Johnny Bond , Si Jenks , Victor Kilian , Lee Phelps , Bert Roach , Al Taylor , Guy Wilkerson , Hank Worden , Orson Welles , Rose Plummer , Harry Carey Sr.

In David O. Selznick's florid, overheated melodrama Duel in the Sun Jennifer Jones stars as half-Native American Pearl Chavez, who everyone has tagged as a "bad girl" foredoomed to an unhappy end. Her... read more read more... father is Scott Chavez (Herbert Marshall), an ill-fated fellow who kills his wife and her lover (Sidney Blackmer) and gets hung for it. Pearl is taken into the home of the greedy rancher McCanles (Lionel Barrymore) and his kindly wife Laura Belle (Lillian Gish), who'd once been Scott's sweetheart. McCanles's virtuous son Jesse (Joseph Cotten), befriends Pearl and ffeels some stirrings of attraction to her, though Jesse is far more taken by Helen Langford (Joan Tetzel), the daughter of a wealthy railroad tycoon (Otto Kruger). In the mean time, Pearl catches the eye of Jesse's evil brother, ne'er-do-well Lewt (Gregory Peck), who seduces her but refuses to marry her. Pearl falls for straw boss Sam Pierce (Charles Bickford), who proposes marriage, though the engagement is short-lived: Lewt learns of the couple's involvement and ends up killing Sam; then McCanles turns up and cautions Lewt to stay out of sight until things quiet down. Lewt indeed flees the premises and becomes an outlaw. Meanwhile, McCanles organizes his cattlemen into an enormous stand against Kruger and other railroad men; Jesse initially decides to aid his father but then switches sides at the last moment, and in response, McCanles disowns him. With this film, producer Selznick attempted to recreate the success of Gone with the Wind; it fell far short in terms of box office success, though Duel was critically acclaimed upon release. Many have often jokingly referred to the picture as 'Lust in the Dust,' which eventually became the actual title of a 1985 comedy western by Paul Bartel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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54% liked it

3,253 ratings

Critics

86% liked it

14 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 10 min.

Directed by: King Vidor

Release Date: December 31, 1946

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DVD Release Date: January 19, 1999

Stats: 154 reviews

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Joseph Cotten, Lillian Gish & Lionel Barrymore in Duel in the Sun Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun Duel in the Sun Duel in the Sun Lillian Gish in Duel in the Sun Cotten and Jones Poster Poster Duel in the Sun Poster Jones and Gish Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun Lillian Gish in Duel in the Sun
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Flixster Reviews (154)

  • moonrivers
    March 14, 2012
    moonrivers
    A Western soap opera played as if it were Cecil B. DeMille's Ten Commandments, with every iota of the accompanying self-importance and then some, but with only the barest bones of a plot and script. Unintentionally laugh worthy and yet hard not to watch, like a over emotional dr... read moreunk acquaintance crying over a breakup. "She ain't nor never was worth yer tears, friend."
  • FilmFanatik
    February 17, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    I should have liked this a bit more than I did. After all, it does have Joseph Cotten and Gregory Peck in it (two of my favorites), but I don't. I can't say the I enjoy seeing a weak woman being weak, and especially not gaining any strength. She almost seems like she's going t... read moreo be strong toward the end, but cops out. Another reason I feel this film fails is its length. It has 'Gone with the Wind' itis. Tries to be a big sweeping epic about a time and place and the people in it, when it's actually just a private character study trying to be something it's not, with a weak ending. A shame that, because it does have some good things going for it.
  • bottcorecords1
    August 23, 2010
    bottcorecords1
    With a lot of big name talent, the producer of "Gone With The Wind" brings us a would-be epic western that doesn't amount to very much. Really, the plot could be summarized as "a manipulative woman falls for an evil man and they spend the rest of their lives doing bad things to ... read morepeople". Producer David O. Selznick wrote this film as a star-making role for his then future wife, Jennifer Jones, but the film didn't do her, or anyone else involved with it any favors. Jones plays Pearl, the indian halfbreed who is sent to live with distant relatives when her father kills her libidinous mother in a fit of jealous rage. Her new family consists of a southern aunt (Lillian Gish), her husband, the crippled old senator (Lionel Barrymore) and their two sons, the good one Jesse (Joseph Cotten) and the bad one, "Lewt" (Gregory Peck). Lewt isn't a badboy, he's just kind of an a-hole whose hobbie include bullying and raping and murdering. Pearl wants to be a good girl, sort of, but manages to ruin her every opportunity by not being able to keep it in her pants. Yes, the movie is sexually charged, what with all the raping going on, but Pearl's hardly a victim. She manipulates the kindly old straw boss into marrying her just to make Lewt jealous, and basically gets the man killed for her own pride. So where do our sympathies lie? With Jessie, I suppose. He does the sensible thing, stands up to his domineering father and goes off and makes good. He even gets a good girl to marry. Good for him, I guess. King Vidor directs the film that in another era would recall a Benjamin Button or Forrest Gump, and while these are very acclaimed films, I find them both to be a little trite and obvious when it comes to their directing, sacrificing believability for the "perfect scene" scenes. Jennifer Jones' overacts something frightful, and the whole thing winds up being something I frankly don't give a damn about.
  • fb100000496792525
    May 12, 2011
    fb100000496792525
    Operatic and over-the-top at times but with great otherwordly photography and good acting.
  • crazydannielle16
    November 7, 2008
    crazydannielle16
    She seemed like such a nice girl. Why did she keep giving into lust and keep coming back to a man she hated who was so low down dirty? I guess it just goes to show that women are emotional, relational creatures and sometimes fiercely faithful to their abusive lovers.

    Duel in ... read morethe Sun had the essence of Gone With the Wind. It was passionate, beautifully photographed, and at times, overly dramatic. It's hard to hate the bad guy when he's played by Gregory Peck!!! (Disappointing ending though.)
  • PinkMinkPrincess
    July 18, 2011
    PinkMinkPrincess
    A bad Girl, Loves & Hates an even Badder Boy, until , literally the very end when they Kill & Love each other to death.Who knew Gregory Peck could go against type & play a really Cruel Sociopath? Jennifer Jones, in Dark Makeup to make her look like Half Indian is really beautiful... read more as her eyes Pop against the Skin Tone.But the only really memorable part of this Gone With the Wind Wannabe, is the Love/Murder Scene at the very end where Hate & Love find them killing each other on the Hillside, but realizing their Love as they Lay Dying.Very Memorable Passion there in the Dust to Dust Scene.
  • flashback275
    December 20, 2008
    flashback275
    the beganing and end were very interseting and romantic and some parts in the middle of the movie about war it was boaring!!!
  • thrusz
    July 15, 2008
    thrusz
    If it ended three minutes earlier, you would have had me.

    This is the second Western in a row that would have been awesome except for the cop-out happy-esque ending. I have to say that this is the first David O. Selznick movie that kind of let me down. You can tell that he's... read more just getting off the mentality of Gone With the Wind at the time because this movie desperately trying to be Gone with the Wind, only in the West. The big draw away from this movie is the even weaker depiction of Scarlett O'Hara in this one. I have always known Selznick to make seemingly weak women come about in a flip-flopping romance only to turn around at the end and become a strong independent woman of the world. Yeah, too bad that this movie got a lot of that flip-floppy, weak-woman stuff only to make me encouraged for the strong woman stuff ONLY TO BRING ON THE WEAK WOMAN AGAIN AT THE END.

    But Selznick can't do anything small or contained. Like all of his movies, this movie is really epic in scope. While the entire reason that the Hollywood Western was so popular at the time because they were so cheap to make, this movie does the exact opposite. This movie has hundreds of extras, all doing tricks on horses and sporting guns. I know that King Vidor got everything he wanted out of this movie because he couldn't have fit anything else on the screen. Honestly, Selznick just waited for problems to show up and he must have thrown money all over it. Although I did groan when I found out it was a Selznick movie. As much as I love his other films, the run-times on his movies are always way too long and this movie is no exception. The movie started with a prelude and then continued into an overture.

    The really enjoyable part of this movie, however, was Gregory Peck. Peck has always been some variation of Atticus Finch for me. He's always been that pillar of morality and to see him as a rough-and-tumble nogoodnik is just completely alienating for me. I kept expecting the character to have a change of heart and become the heart of the family. Instead, the character just became more and more dastardly. But Peck is great in this part, as he is with all parts. He takes that level of cruelty to new heights and just becomes one of the most exploitive main characters I've ever seen in a movie. There's absolutely nothing redeeming about the man. He is a racist ol' coot who is molded by his father. But that's where the story gets really interesting.

    The best story element comes in the form of the Senator / Father character. He is the reason that all these characters are in the mess they are in and is too racist and domineering to realize it is him. He has this great moment on the hill when one of his sons is dying that just sums up the character so perfectly. While I may plenty of qualms with the A-story, there's a lot of great things that are going on with the B-story that I really admire. It's stuff we've seen in movies before, let alone in Westerns, but this movie really has that character be truly despicable and hated.

    It's got good stuff going for it, but the movie as a whole is not all that great. I just found myself going "blah" having to sit through two-and-a-half hours of a woman not sticking up for herself. This wouldn't be such a problem if I didn't see a lot of these themes in Gone with the Wind. It might be worth a watch, but be ready for some real tedium in this movie.
  • GeorgeBailey88
    April 22, 2008
    GeorgeBailey88
    Fine example of a Selznick film that isn't Gone with the Wind. In fact, the two are similar and I got this vibe throughout the whole film which is a bit longer than it needs to be.

    Nonetheless, the cast makes up for it. Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, Lillian Gish, Lionel Barrym... read moreore are enough to consider watching this atleast once. This is a good Peck performance and the landscapes are magnificient. Other than the length, this is a damn good movie.
  • kimmason65
    February 14, 2007
    kimmason65
    David O Selznick's attempted rival to Gone With The Wind falls so short it bounces into a comedic category of cultish proportions. A wide-eyed Jennifer Jones dominates the screen as Pearl, the lusty half breed that falls prey to bad boy Lewt, the darker of two borthers in the ho... read moreusehold that takes her in. That is until one of the handful of all star players appears to steal the scene with an even more over the top performance. Memorable lines and a great climax make this an enjoyable film at every turn. If you have an appreciation for a velvet elvis painting you'll love Duel in the Sun!

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Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz
January 8, 2008
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A grand scale horse opera. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
March 31, 2007
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Many directors worked on this Western and it's impossible to tell whose signature it bears; the final, overheated shootout between the lovers (Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones), is preposterous but wor... Full Review

Jay Antani
January 5, 2005
Jay Antani, Los Angeles Alternative

Lurid, stupid fun

Pablo Villaca
July 25, 2003
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

O romance entre os personagens de Jones e Peck é fascinante, já que ambos possuem caráter dúbio - e o desfecho é fabuloso.

Ken Hanke
January 22, 2003
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

It's big, it's sprawling, it's overheated, it's colorful, but it's not very good.

Bob Bloom
December 19, 2002
Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

One big, overblown stinker. A pretentious B-Western not worthy of its all-star cast.

Tim Dirks
January 1, 2000
Tim Dirks, Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films

Duel in the Sun (1946) was branded "Lust in the Dust" at the time of its release, a classic epic western Full Review

October 20, 2008
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Bosley Crowther
March 25, 2006
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Susan Granger
February 10, 2006
Susan Granger, www.susangranger.com

No review available.

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  • Name the Movie: 007 is challenged to a duel by an elusive assassin. In the course of tracking this guy, Bond discovers a device used to harness the power of the sun to create huge amounts of energy.  Answer »
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