Lucy Gallant

1955 "A story with the force and power of an explosive gusher"
6.3| 1h44m| en
Details

Director Robert Parrish's 1955 drama, spanning many years, stars Jane Wyman as a spirited western shopkeeper who watches as her small store flourishes and grows into a hugely profitable business empire. The cast also includes Charlton Heston, Claire Trevor, Thelma Ritter, William Demarest and Wallace Ford.

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
vincentlynch-moonoi I watched this film...all the way through...but I didn't like it. It seems to me that if there were ever a man and a woman that didn't belong together it was the two main characters in this film, played by Wyman and Heston. Aside from that, and I admit I can't put my finger on it, this film just feels off-target to me. Like when I play pool and every shot is about one inch off the mark. And although I'm a man, it appeared to me that Charlton Heston wouldn't have been a good kisser at all.The basic story line...at least for a while...seems okay. Wyman is traveling by train through Texas and gets laid over in a cow town that is becoming an oil town. She gets the idea to go into a store for ladies fashions and makes a hit of it. Meanwhile she falls in love with a ranch owner who eventually becomes an oil man. But, oil and water don't mix and Wyman and Heston always seem at odds. And frankly, I have to align with Wyman's character here. Heston plays a mild bully. In the end, she -- unfortunately -- bows to his idea of what a wife should be. What a shame.Interestingly, Texas Governor Allan Shivers and fashion designer Edith Head both appear as themselves near the end of the film.There's nothing wrong with the performance of Jane Wyman here. It's the film that's off. But despite Wyman's strength as an actress, I'd have no desire to wade through this again.Charlton Heston apparently disliked his performance here...and I concur. To be frank, I was never impressed with Heston in romantic films. Despite being in several of the great films of the era, (and "Ben-Hur" is in my top 5), I'm not sure Heston's acting ability was very broad.Claire Trevor is here, and I liked her in her role. There just should have been much more of her! The wonderful Thelma Ritter is here...basically playing Thelma Ritter...and she's as fascinating to watch here as in any other film! William Demarest, usually an interesting character actor, doesn't fit here. And Wallace Ford (as her husband) has little to do beyond drinking whiskey.I don't know that I've ever seen a Jane Wyman film that I felt quite this negative about. Not bad though...a single miss in her most productive years.
jjnxn-1 Sudsy drama is dated in it's attitudes but still an entertaining ride. Jane Wyman plays a youngish woman who after being spurned has got a fire in her belly and won't let anything stand in the way of her achieving her goal. That would include a young and towering Charlton Heston, it would be harder to understand her resistance if Heston's character wasn't such a macho jerk for much of the film. He's the right actor for the role since his clinched jaw delivery matches much of the blow-hard dialog he's given to speak. What makes this more than a standard soaper is the talent of the assembled cast. The film is fortunate to have not just one but two of the best character actress Hollywood ever produced, Thelma Ritter and Claire Trevor. Both play roles they could have performed in their sleep but each give them their customary snap and for the latter part of the film Thelma is dolled up in the height of fashion. For fans of high class melodrama spiked here and there with humor and filled with sumptuous trappings this is a gold mine, although be warned the ending with prove frustrating steeped as it is in a 50's mentality.
lcw33 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.
irpworks First saw this movie on AMC over a decade ago, taped it, and love it. It's actually a good conglomeration of events during the Texas oil boom. The scenes of the hotels being so full and nothing for people to buy in the boom towns is very accurate. The development of the great department store is really telling the story of famed Texas department stores such as Neiman-Marcus, Joske's, Hemphill-Wells and others that brought world-class shopping to the oil and ranching areas of Texas. Heston's performance is great and he really pegs the personality of many older rancher friends I know. And, any lover of Texas politics will love seeing Governor Shivers play himself. Other folks are right, we need this on a good quality DVD - it just has too much good history of the oil boom and post WWII development in Texas to keep locked away.