My take:

At the start of the film, I said to myself, self, Troy Donahue is not a very good actor, which he’s not, but he grew on me slightly. He’s a ladies man and that’s what the studio was after when they cast him, and the guy was already lip locked with two of the main stars thirty minutes into the film. There was a lot of sexual tension and family drama afoot in this one. The film was attempting to be epic, ALA Giant, but never quite pulled it off. And once Troy’s character shows up in James Dean’s classic red jacket from Rebel Without a Cause, it lost a few points with me.

What I liked:

Karl Malden. He’s a badass! I really enjoyed him in “Streets of San Francisco” growing up, but I never watched many of his films. The guy has a motor that will not stop.

The women were great, from an older, but very capable Claudette Colbert to both Diane McBain and Sharon Hugueny (who has quite a tragic real life story you should check out).

What I didn’t like:

The score jumped around too much and was too predictable.

What I learned:

All about tobacco farming - from wireworms to blue moss to tobacco poisoning.