Lucy Gallant (1955)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

One of my favorite Saturday Night at the Movies movie from childhood. Even as a ten-year-old though, I hated Casey Cole, Charlton Heston's character - horribly misogynist, manipulative and macho to a degree rarely seen out of other Charlton Heston movies. He makes every effort to pull the smart, beautiful, passionate and ambitious Lucy away from her successful business and into his idea of the perfect little woman - barefoot and pregnant and waiting for the Lord and Master at the front door at the end of the day. Lucy loves him but is determined to be herself and not an empty shell to be filled with just him. I watch it now with happy dread - I have to see again just what a pig Casey Cole is while also seeing the awesome Jane Wyman glow and grow through every minute of her screen time.Absolutely worth the watch. My favorite character actresses Clair Trevor and Thelma Ritter are Casey fans but reliably good as well.

My approval of The Lucy Gallant Story may be slightly tilted as I am a distant cousin to Gov. Allan Shivers and was only 2 years old when he took the Governor's seat. Beside the thrill of seeing a branch of the family tree in the movie, this is an excellent old film and I wanted a copy in my library. My search led me to: http://www.lovingtheclassics.com/Lucy-Gallant-1955/prod_1590.html The copy I received is of good quality and reasonably priced. This post is for those of you that mentioned a desire to own a good copy and your 20 year old VHS recording of the show is wearing out. Sincerely, Shelton R. Shivers

Have heard of this film for quite some time and finally got the chance to view it on tape (probably from AMC). I think the film captures the boomtown feel very well-instant population with lack of lodging or goods =business opportunities. While the film undoubtedly contains many truthful elements concerning the oil boom in Texas ( and even Governor Shivers playing himself ), it does seem just a bit stagy, although Jane Wyman's performance is actually quite good. I found it very intriguing that for the time period when the film was made, a woman was portrayed as virtually building her own business from the ground up without any real help from the man (or men) in her life. The real reason I had heard about the film previously is the "high fashion comes to Texas" bit, with Edith Head behind the creations. As usual, Edith does not disappoint. The designs, especially during the fashion show sequence, are amazing. It's no wonder that Edith Head was so sought after in Hollywood as a costumer for films (most notably for Alfred Hitchcock). She was a real talent. I am in total agreement that this film needs to be released on DVD, as I don't believe that it has ever even been on VHS at any point.

Lucy Gallant is one of my all-time favorite movies. I love the story of the strong, driven, successful woman, Lucy Gallant. She so reminds me of the woman I always aspired to be. It was such a perfect match between Jane Wyman and Charlton Heston. They really complimented each other. I originally taped this movie off the TV probably twenty-plus years ago, obviously on VHS. I still have it, but it's an incredibly poor recording, very old and worn from so much playing. I also have to fast-forward through the commercials, that were left in when it was originally taped, though after twenty years or more, they are pretty interesting. It's always been one of my favorite movies to watch over and over. I would love to find a good copy on DVD.