Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The first must-see film of the year.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Not a fried chicken in sight in this film, and Burt Lancaster and son attempt to get to Texas in the early 19th century. They're hunters by trade, and love a good sing along too... so earplugs at the ready. Both are mercilessly picked on by nasty townsfolk as they attempt to raise enough money for the trip, and soon Lancaster finds himself in a love triangle with two women. Is he going to pick the one who seek to domesticate him away from his wild'n'free lifestyle, or will he opt for the gal who seeks the rolling plains of the lone star state? The answer may surprise you... (No it won't).Lancaster and his kid are so moral and upstanding compared to the other residents of this sleepy nook they find themselves in temporarily, it's easy to root for them as they beat the bullies while aspiring to their promising future. There's some fistfights, a bit of shooting and lots and lots of fake looking facial hair in this commendable sort-of Western, which is perfect for a Sunday afternoon in. Sergio Leone it ain't, but it does what it sets out to do... And has the added bonus of not ending a moment too soon. 6/10

Although "The Kentuckian" is sometimes described as a Western, it is set several decades earlier and a long way further east than most films in the genre. It may seem obvious that first the East and then the Midwest had to be won before Americans could make a start on winning the West, but in fact there are relatively few films about frontier life in the early nineteenth century compared with the thousands set in the West during the second half of that century. The explanation I have heard is that the Hollywood studios had on their doorstep the California deserts which could easily represent Texas, or Nevada, or any one of several other Western states without too many people noticing, but nowhere that could convincingly stand in for the deciduous forests of the eastern USA in the same way.The action can be dated (by references to the Presidency of James Monroe) to the period 1817-25, and takes place in Kentucky. (This does not necessarily follow from the title. "The Virginian", after all, did not take place in Virginia). The main character is Elias "Big Eli" Wakefield, a widowed frontiersman who is considering leaving the state and moving to Texas. His reason for leaving, apparently, is that Kentucky is becoming "too crowded", even though in 1820 the state only had about half a million people spread over its 40,000 square miles. One thing that is never mentioned in the film is that at this period Texas would have been ruled by either Spain or Mexico; perhaps it would have been considered unpatriotic to have stated explicitly that Wakefield is considering emigrating from the USA to a foreign land.Urging Big Eli to leave is his son "Little Eli", who is looking forward to a life of adventure in Texas. Urging him to stay is his elder brother Zack, who hopes that Eli will settle down in Kentucky and join him in his business. A further complication is that two women take a liking to Big Eli, indentured servant Hannah who wants to go to Texas to escape from her villainous master Stan Bodine and schoolteacher Susie who wants to stay in Kentucky.Burt Lancaster, who also directed, also stars as Big Eli, but this is not one of his better performances. Indeed, most of the acting is not very good. Dianne Foster as Hannah and Diana Lynn as Susie are both dull, and Donald MacDonald as Little Eli, with his whiny voice and perpetually sulky expression, must rank as one of the least appealing screen youngsters ever. Probably the best is Walter Matthau (in his first feature film) as Bodine, played as an American version, complete with moustache and bullwhip, of the villainous Squire Jasper from a Victorian melodrama.This film was Burt Lancaster's first experience of directing; indeed, it was the only film on which he acted as sole director. (He was also credited as joint director of "The Midnight Man", made nearly twenty years later). I have often wondered what attracted him to this story. In his later career he was often drawn to complex, socially significant movies, often ones with a message in line with his own left-wing convictions. There is nothing, however, complex or significant about "The Kentuckian", a film with a turgid plot taken from an obscure novel. The gist of the story is Big Eli's indecision about whether he should move house or stay put, and even the most experienced and gifted of directors would have struggled to make that particular plot line interesting. There is very little apart from its setting to distinguish this film from dozens of standard Western B-movies. The one good about the film is that the experience clearly persuaded Lancaster that his future in the film industry lay in the field of acting rather than directing, and as a result we were not deprived of all the wonderful performances he was to give over the next three decades. 4/10

I agree with one of the persons who commented on this movie that this is a good period piece. This movie is true in showing the speech, habits, attitudes, clothing, and just life in general, in the backwoods of the Kentucky/Indiana area of the 1820's. I should know. My family moved across the Ohio River into Indiana from Kentucky, near where this movie was filmed, during this same time period of the 1820's, and I have family correspondence showing the life of this areas people of the 1820's.I love this movie, but then, I might be prejudice. It was made in 1954 just before my 12 birthday, and my family and I were in it. My brother and I played school kids, my dad was a farmer, and my mother was one of the ladies on the river boat. I loved being on the set in the Lincoln Village in Rockport, Indiana and watching Burt striding around in his period costume. He always acted as if he knew exactly what he was doing. Everybody give Walter lots of room while he got lessons from Lash LaRue, an expert bullwhipper from old Hollywood westerns, on how to use the bullwhip. He learned some but, it was Lash who did the big scenes. Miss Lynn was kind and sweet to all of us kids when we did the schoolroom scenes. John Caradine was always golly and cheerful and seemed to love everybody, and what he was doing.I could go on, and on. I have tons of behind the scene pictures my dad took, a lovely picture of my lovely mother in a beautiful period costume on the boat, and a copy of "Gabriel's Horn," the book from which the movie was taken, as well as a copy of the movie.As an adult 53 years later, I look at this movie and see a decent, true, period movie, with lessons to be learned, that anyone of the 1950's would have enjoyed. Some of the parts could have been cast better, but, do not judge it by today's standards. Lancaster, et al, worked hard and stayed true to the times they were portraying, and credit is due.

This film is unusual and interesting, it shows the life in a small town before the time of the westerns we are used to see, when you still had to sock powder into the rifle before shooting. When Lancaster and his son which are used to live in the woods come to town, people make fun of them, it is surprising how cruel they are. During the film both are going to change, the son will grow up and Lancaster will become a wiser man. There are two women, Diane Foster and Diana Lynn, both are charming and it is going to be a hard choice for Lancaster. Walther Matthau is an expert with the whip and his fight with Lancaster is the high point of the film. "The Kentuckian" did not age and Lancaster came out very well as a director. To see the people, their habits, their way of talking, their music, combined with a good story makes this film worth seeing.