Pursued (1947)

A generally well-regarded Robert Mitchum western about a boy who is adopted into a family, is resented by his adopted brother, falls in love with his adopted sister (Teresa Wright), and then as an adult finds himself hunted down by various relatives. It has a strong film-noir feel with lots of family melodrama.

Although it’s an enjoyable film, with good production values, it’s never been a favourite of mine. I think my main issue is that I don’t really believe the motivation of the characters a lot of the time. Some of the time they seem very easily manipulated by the villain for not terribly convincing reasons. Elsewhere their feelings and actions seem to arise from the need for dramatic tension rather than logic (at one point the Wright’s character has understandably decided she hates the hero because he killed her brother and then boyfriend, but is going to marry him anyway as a means of revenge(?) which she then can’t go through with because she loves him really).

Definitely one of the better examples of the noir Western, but one that never quite clicked for me.