Major Terrill and his daughter

I agree. At first I was fooled into thinking the Hennessey clan were the villains of the film, when in fact, I wound up having great disdain for Major Terrill and his spoiled brat of a daughter, and a good deal of respect for Rufus Hennessey. True, Buck Hennessey was a backstabbing trouble-maker, but his father obviously didn't care for his methods. Buck was the only true villain of the Hennessey bunch. But yeah, I found myself rooting for the Hennessey clan, and I wanted to see Rufus blow away that elitist old fool, Major Terrill.

**SPOILER*

I would've loved to have seen his daughter's reaction after hearing of his demise.

Leech would have known if there had been incest, and that would have destroyed his own idolization of the Major, so no I don't think it was that ... although my skin crawls too during that scene.

I know a girl who is quite like Pat. She is/was a farm girl from farming country who had lost her father at a young age. After marrying, she was unhappy in her husband's town and moved back to her home locale. The husband followed for his son to have his father.

Suddenly, the hushand could do no right. He's not especially mechanical, and that was just one of the complaints. Her family told him he is kind. She is NOT and is instead quite stupid and insensitive and downright mean - note the correlation.

McKay and Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) *are* VERY intelligent and sensitive and nice ... and immediately like each other.

In two ways McKay is out of his element. He is a long way from the sea, and he comes to a place of bitter, internecine competition.

But he *is* above the strife, and yes he's condescending, because he soon realizes that it's not just the Hennesseys who are the savages, and he's repelled. In fact, old Rufus shows greater gentility and humanity than The Major.

Burl Ives performance is one of the most vivid and memorable in film history. He fully earned his Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

And Chuck Connors played his part well too ... to the point I am surprised it didn't destroy his career. He portrayed a fine father himself on TV in The Rifleman.

Jim and Julie--have a future together, and that Pat will ultimately find consolation in her father's surrogate son, Steve Leech (gadzooks, more hints of incest!) who nonetheless has evolved into a more reasonable man than his employer.

I always said Steve should give her a good spanking. (She'd probably love him after that. He is her father's boy, after all.)

__________
We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. - Bertha Calloway

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In my opinion Pat and the Major's enmeshed relationship is meant to demonstrate that th men and women may equally responsible for violence, regardless of who actually pulls the triggers. The women cannot fight because of propriety but they gain vicarious pleasure and thrill by spurning their menfolk into violence. The men encourage this mentality in the women by fighting for the sake of "their" women. The violence cannot occur without input from both parties.
In my opinion Pat is no less responsible for the bloodshed than Leech or the Major. I see her as more than an immature brat - she is essentially the feminine version of her father, the enabler of violence.

Why does every close family relationship in a movie have to be seen as something dark and dirty like incest? I am assuming that the mother died many years ago so naturally father and daughter would draw close, but I didn't see any evidence of incest. Julie did NOT say, "get her away from her father", she said, "get Pat away from her father's influence". Which is true enough, daddy spoiled her and besides that he is really the main male figure she has ever known, and not a very good one.

As for the major and Rufus, I see them both as being a couple of old stubborn fools and could have settled their differences peacefully if they had so choosen, but they were to full of hate and silly grudges to do that, and neither one of them were very good parents.

As for Stever Leech, I saw him as a good man, he just looked up to the guy who took him in and raised him, but the major could not rid Leech of a sense of right and wrong that Leech had in him, he did not approve of many of the things the major did and finally just stood up with him out of loyalty.

In closing I must say that this is one of my favorite westerns, it is long but I never notice the time because it flows smoothly from one scene to another, the music and acting are all first class and I love the look that passes between Leech and McKay, one of mutual respect.