Over the top western funfest
Lush, beautiful, grand and outrageous, Duel in the Sun feels like one of those huge budget costume melodramas like 'Gone With the Wind', with 3 scenery chewing costars that read like a who's who of Old Hollywood royalty. Barrymore, Gish, Huston, and we haven't even gotten to the big names yet. Gregory Peck has fun in an unusual 'bad guy' role, and Joseph Cotton is stuck yet again in the 'nice guy who doesn't get the girl' role that he was so great at, with those sad hound dog eyes and wounded 'aw shucks' tone of voice. Not quite the ending I was expecting, which made it all the more fun, as the two 'bad' (sinful) characters get what's coming to them, yet still manage to leave the audience with a satisfactory romantic ending.