Lack of good storyline.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Robert Mitchum is Jeb Rand and it all begins with the star and Thor Callum (Teresa Wright) at an abandoned house in a desolate part of New Mexico. A flashback to Jeb as a small boy hiding in a basement as he witnesses his father's death at a shootout. He is taken in by Thor's mother and the two grow close. A mysterious man shows up and he seeks revenge on Jeb for some wrong he has suffered at Jeb's father's hands. The plot unfolds slowly and it is a good one. Jeb and Thor fall in love but face obstacles in the form of skeletons from the past. It becomes a sort of Hatfield and McCoy type situation and Mitchum is his usual laid back self and Wright is pretty and self assured as his love interest. Although the film is from 1947, it holds up well. Raoul Walsh's direction is filled with shadows and silhouettes, much like Welle's Citizen Kane. Pursued is definitely one of Mitchum's best.

There were really only 2 things that this decidedly misguided Western Chick Flick had going for it that prevented me from giving it an even lower rating than 5 stars.One of Pursued's only notable assets was the casting of one of Hollywood's best cowboy/tough guys of the late 1940s, Robert Mitchum, as Jeb Rand (although I've seen Mitchum better cast in other films).And Pursued's other worthwhile bonus was the absolutely wonderful camera-work done by ace-cinematographer, James Wong Howe. Believe me, some of the dazzling shots that were taken of New Mexico's rugged, wide-open country (as well as other shots) improved this maudlin, melodramatic, little soap opera significantly and made it well worth watching right through to its painfully predictable ending.On the other hand, one of this Western's biggest and most damaging deficits was that its story was given over, far too often, to being nothing but a corny Chick Flick that dwelt on a really brain-dead romance that had literally been going on between Thorley Callum and her adopted brother, Jeb, for near 20 years now. (Spare me!) I found that one of the principal problems with this less-than-fiery love affair was the blatant miscasting of Teresa Wright as the now-grown woman, Thorley Callum.Now, I'm not saying that Wright was in any way a terrible actress. That's not the case here.It was Wright's looks that were all wrong. The truth is she was just way too plain and mousy-looking (and sans any sexual appeal, whatsoever) to be at all convincing as the sort of woman whom a man (in his right mind, of course) would be willing to die for.And, besides the above complaint - The other aspect of Pursued that lost it some considerable points was the "big secret" behind Grant Callum's senseless, 20-year pursuit of Jeb Rand. This apparent revelation comes as no surprise at all to the viewer which causes its intended impact to fall flat on its face at the big climatic showdown when all of the facts are finally brought to light.All-in-all - I would never recommend this disappointing Western to anyone who, like myself, is a staunch fan of 1940's cowboy flicks. Regardless of its obvious big budget, when it comes to worthwhile "Old West" drama, there are certainly plenty of very entertaining B-Westerns out there that surpass Pursued by a literal country mile.

A man has been pursued all his life but does not know why. The film opens with Mitchum's pursuers closing in on him and Wright coming to his side. He relates the story of his life to her, seen in flashbacks. It is strange that he tells her the story because she has been a part of his life since childhood. This bizarre film is unlike any other Western, and is really not a Western in the traditional sense. Mitchum and Wright are OK but the characters are not well developed and their motivations are unclear. Walsh enlivens the action scenes but can't rise above the disjointed script, not helped by the awkward storytelling structure.

Moody film noir from director Raoul Walsh has young boy left orphaned by a bloodthirsty band of killers, who dog the boy's trail even after he grows up into Robert Mitchum (seems to me that's the point where they might have given up stalking him). Mitchum smolders, as usual, though his character here is just a thumbnail sketch, and the melodrama inherent in this scenario is far beneath him. Judith Anderson fares a bit better playing the boy's elderly but wise guardian (a clichéd part, but invested with a salty kick by the actress). Lackluster film co-starring Teresa Wright and Dean Jagger just doesn't hold much interest, despite good cinematography by James Wong Howe and an atmospheric score by Max Steiner, top talents all around. *1/2 from ****