Simple answer: When you go out over night tell your hosts.
Come on now, didn't he care if they were worried about him being out overnight in a desert he had never been in before?
shareI think McKay expected them to worry for a little bit, but I also think he expected them tp believe Ramon when he told them McKay was going to be fine and he had a compass, which probably saved his life back in his days as a ship captain. And remember that he wanted buying Big Muddy to be a surprise wedding gift for Pat, so he couldn't say why he was going out if he told them. So he probably figured they'd be mad at him for a bit until he told them why he was out.
shareYep you could see how much respect Terrill had for Ramon when he doesn't believe him and then calls him an idiot. Compare that to how McKay treated Ramon (and family)- with politeness and dignity. Did you see how Ramon's face lit up when McKay greeted him in Spanish? I got the feeling he was usually treated like a second-class person on the ranch. Seeing how Julie Maragon was familiar and pleasant to him I got the feeling Ramon may have worked for Julie's father in the past.
shareI think they did mention in a line or two when McKay goes to buy Big Muddy from Julie that Ramon did used to work for her grandfather! Which reminds me how I like to believe that after the events of the movie, Ramon takes his family and a lot of other ranch workers from Terrill's ranch and works at Big Muddy again.
shareYes after the two heads of families killed each other off there undoubtedly was a reshuffling of folks in the big country.
shareI really wish there was a sequel to TBC - I'd have killed to see how all the character relationships played out and what happened to both the Terrill and Hannassey ranches, plus Big Muddy.
shareI dunno about wishes like that- jeez let's get real, life expectancy back then was shorter, influenza epidemics and other assorted illnesses, Indian attacks, buffalo stampedes, ACCIDENTS like drowning, snakebites, thrown from a horse, a stagecoach breaks an axle and wrecks, etc. I'm not sure I would want to see any of this unromantic stuff that undoubtedly occurred all the time in that world! (-:
shareBetter yet, it's too bad a TV series spinoff didn't come out of this.
Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!
Ahhh a TV series would have been marvelous! Although I doubt they could have gotten Peck, Simmons, or Heston since all were such big stars and were mainly focused on film.
shareOf course, with different actors, al`a the "Shane" TV series with David Carradine taking Alan Ladd's mantle in the title role.
Okay folks, show' over, nothing to see here!
I don't think he set out with the intention of buying big muddy because he couldn't have known that Julie would be there. I think he went to explore the country and was fully confident that with the aid of his compass he would not get lost. Also, it was not a desert, it was cattle country. I guess his mistake was not telling anyone the Terrils would listen to.
sharehuwdj, yes I think you're right about his intention when heading out into the big country being to explore the land. Then when he ran into Julie and her property and found out that she owned it and how it was situated so centrally on the Big Muddy in that area's range war he made up his mind on the spot to buy it. He reckoned his purchase of it might very well help quell the ongoing Terrel/Hannesey feud and make a perfect wedding gift for Pat.
shareRe: Simple answer,
Yes, most definitely.
I think he specially went to inspect Big Muddy. He didn't expect Julie to be there, buy it was his intention all along to buy it. He was giving that place a thorough once over before he realized he wasn't there alone and he knew what house it was.
shareI think he specially went to inspect Big Muddy. He didn't expect Julie to be there, buy it was his intention all along to buy it. He was giving that place a thorough once over before he realized he wasn't there alone and he knew what house it was.
I agree thoroughly. McKay couldn't have expected that owner Julie would happen to be there when he arrived, but his entire purpose in setting out on horseback MUST have been to have a look at the Big Muddy for himself. The audience doesn't know it yet, but eventually it becomes clear that McKay had developed his idea of how he might end the Terrill-Hannassey feud after witnessing the party confrontation the night before.
He didn't discuss his scheme in advance with Pat (since we learn he wanted to surprise her with the purchase) or the Major, yet he believed that the assurance left with Ramon was consideration enough to his hosts. But McKay had overestimated the Terrills' confidence in a sea captain's navigational abilities, just as they underestimate him in multiple respects throughout the story.
Most great films deserve a more appreciative audience than they get. share