Roseanna McCoy is a 1949 American drama film directed by Irving Reis

Irving Reis

Irving Reis, born May 7, 1906, in New York City – died July 3, 1953, in Woodland Hills, California, was a radio program producer & director, and a film director.Reis was the creator of the experimental anthology program on the radio, Columbia Workshop...

. The screenplay by John Collier

John Collier (writer)

John Henry Noyes Collier was a British-born author and screenplay writer best known for his short stories, many of which appeared in The New Yorker from the 1930s to the 1950s. They were collected in a 1951 volume, Fancies and Goodnights, which won the International Fantasy Award and remains in...

, based on the 1947 novel of the same title by Alberta Hannum, is a romanticized and semi-fictionalized account of the Hatfield-McCoy feud

Hatfield-McCoy feud

The Hatfield–McCoy feud involved two families of the West Virginia–Kentucky back country along the Tug Fork, off the Big Sandy River. The Hatfields of West Virginia were led by William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield while the McCoys of Kentucky under the leadership of Randolph "Ole Ran'l" McCoy....

.

Plot

Set in the late 19th century, the story focuses on the forbidden romance between the title character and Johnse Hatfield, whose families have been feuding for many years. The two meet when she is stung by a hornet while picking flowers for a picnic table at the local fair and he comes to her aid. When she discovers his identity, she angrily accuses his clan of having shot and injured her mother in the distant past. Johnse protests that Mounts, who was responsible for the accident, was innocent by reason of insanity, but Roseanna wants no part of him.

Later that evening, Johnse takes Roseanna aside and kisses her, unaware they are being observed by her brother Little Randall. She is enchanted by his advances and, when shopkeeper Thad Wilkins proposes marriage to her several days later, she rejects him. Johnse takes her from her home in Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 across the Big Sandy River

Big Sandy River (Ohio River)

The Big Sandy River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in western West Virginia and northeastern Kentucky in the United States. The river forms part of the boundary between the two states along its entire course...

 to his home in West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, where he introduces her to his parents, Devil Anse and Levisa, as his future bride.

Anse uses the engagement as a reason to renew hostilities with the McCoys, and he and his sons Ellison and Cap prepare for battle. While Johnse seeks a preacher to perform the wedding ceremony, Roseanna and Levisa begin to bond. Cap is injured in an accident, and while his parents tend to his wounds, the psychotic Mounts arrives at the Hatfield cabin and threatens Roseanna, who is rescued by Anse.

While fetching water, Roseanna is approached by Little Randall, and she agrees to return home. She bids Johnse farewell and asks him to call on her father Old Randall the following evening. While en route to the McCoys, Johnse stops at Thad's store and meets Tolbert, Phamer, and Little Randall McCoy. Mounts enters and starts a brawl, and the melee escalates into a gunfight.

Thad carries the wounded Tolbert to the McCoy house, where Roseanna and her father are awaiting Johnse's arrival, and reports Little Randall is injured and trapped in the store with the Hatfields. After ordering his relatives to hold their fire, Johnse admits Roseanna, Old Randall, and Thad to the store. Mounts uses Roseanna, Johnse, and Little Randall as shields to escape, and Old Randall declares war against the Hatfields.

During the fighting, Johnse and Roseanna secretly meet, and Johnse shoots and injures Mounts before he can shoot them. As they flee on horseback, Mounts takes aim at them and is killed by Anse. The two clans lay down their weapons and watch Johnse and Roseanna ride off in search of a preacher and future happiness.

Production

Samuel Goldwyn

Samuel Goldwyn

Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...

 originally had commissioned screenwriter John Collier to develop the project for Farley Granger

Farley Granger

Farley Earle Granger was an American actor. In a career spanning several decades, he was perhaps best known for his two collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951.-Early life:...

 and Cathy O'Donnell

Cathy O'Donnell

Cathy O'Donnell was an American actress, best known for her many roles in film-noir movies.-Early life:She was born Ann Steely in Siluria, Alabama...

, but when O'Donnell married William Wyler

William Wyler

William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...

's older brother, the producer - still resenting the fact Wyler had left The Samuel Goldwyn Company

The Samuel Goldwyn Company

The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1979.-Background:...

 to form his own production company - felt betrayed and replaced her with newcomer Joan Evans

Joan Evans (actress)

Joan Evans is an American film actress who appeared in three movies with actor Farley Granger. Her first film with him was as the title role in Roseanna McCoy , based on the real-life romance between two members of the Hatfield-McCoy feud. She gained the role after producer Samuel Goldwyn...

. Unbeknownst to him, the girl's parents had added two years to her age and she was only fourteen when filming began.

Granger was pleased with the initial draft of the script, which had enhanced the story with undercurrents of witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

 and superstition

Superstition

Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....

, and he was anxious for filming to begin. When he arrived at the studio on the first day of filming and discovered director Irving Reis was helming the project, his interest immediately waned. Reis had directed the actor in the unsuccessful Enchantment, and Granger felt he was "highly neurotic and lackluster." No one in the cast had received a shooting script, and it was not until they were on a train en route to a small town in the Sierra Madre Mountains

Sierra Madre Mountains (California)

The Sierra Madre Mountains are a mountain range in northern Santa Barbara County, California, USA. They are a portion of the Inner South Coast Ranges, representing the southernmost part, which are themselves part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America. The Sierra Madre Mountains...

 that would serve as the set that Reis admitted the screenplay still was being written. For two weeks Ries filmed mostly establishing shots while awaiting the arrival of the script. The cast and crew finally returned to Hollywood and went on hiatus for a week.

Highly regarded script doctor

Script doctor

A script doctor, also called script consultant, is a highly-skilled screenwriter, hired by a film or television production, to rewrite or polish specific aspects of an existing screenplay, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, theme, and other elements...

 Philip Yordan

Philip Yordan

Philip Yordan was an American screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s who also produced several films.He was also known as a highly regarded script doctor...

 had been hired to work on the screenplay, and pages of dialogue began to arrive on the set. The cast found themselves filming partial scenes or having to deal with different pages of dialogue for the same scene. Frank Loesser

Frank Loesser

Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...

 wrote "More I Cannot Wish You" for Granger to sing to Evans, but after the sequence was filmed Goldwyn decided he hated the song and requested the composer write a title song instead. Loesser later recycled the tune and included it in the score of Guys and Dolls.

After two months of chaotic filming, the production shut down. The cast and crew was reassembled several weeks later and discovered Ries had been replaced by Nicholas Ray

Nicholas Ray

Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....

 without explanation. On the first night of shooting, it began to rain, and it continued to rain for the next two weeks, making exterior filming impossible. Everyone returned to Hollywood, and a week later they were called back when the weather finally cleared. Ultimately, there was little Ray could do to salvage the film, and Reis alone received screen credit as director.

Cast

• Farley Granger
  Farley Granger
  Farley Earle Granger was an American actor. In a career spanning several decades, he was perhaps best known for his two collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951.-Early life:...
  
   ..... Johnse Hatfield
• Joan Evans
  Joan Evans (actress)
  Joan Evans is an American film actress who appeared in three movies with actor Farley Granger. Her first film with him was as the title role in Roseanna McCoy , based on the real-life romance between two members of the Hatfield-McCoy feud. She gained the role after producer Samuel Goldwyn...
  
   ..... Roseanna McCoy
• Charles Bickford
  Charles Bickford
  Charles Bickford was an American actor best known for his supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for The Song of Bernadette , The Farmer's Daughter , and Johnny Belinda...
  
   ..... Devil Anse Hatfield
• Raymond Massey
  Raymond Massey
  Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
  
   ..... Old Randall McCoy
• Richard Basehart
  Richard Basehart
  John Richard Basehart was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.-Career:...
  
   ..... Mounts Hatfield
• Marshall Thompson
  Marshall Thompson
  Marshall Thompson was an American film and television actor.He was born James Marshall Thompson in Peoria, Illinois. In 1943 Thompson, known for his boy-next-door good looks, was signed by Universal Pictures...
  
   ..... Tolbert McCoy
• Lloyd Gough
  Lloyd Gough
  Lloyd Gough was an American theater, film, and television actor.Born Michael Gough in New York City, he was a noted character actor...
  
   ..... Phamer McCoy
• Peter Miles ..... Little Randall McCoy
• Arthur Franz
  Arthur Franz
  Arthur Franz was a B-movie actor whose most notable role was as Lieutenant, Junior Grade H. Paynter, Jr. in The Caine Mutiny. He also appeared in Roseanna McCoy , Invaders from Mars , Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man and The Unholy Wife , among others...
  
   ..... Thad Wilkins
• Hope Emerson
  Hope Emerson
  -Early life:Emerson was born in Hawarden, Iowa. Following her graduation from West High School in Des Moines in 1916, she moved to New York City where she performed in vaudeville.-Career:...
  
   ..... Levisa Hatfield
• Gigi Perreau
  Gigi Perreau
  Gigi Perreau, , is an American actress.-Biography:She achieved success as a child actress in a number of films. She played the daughter of Claude Rains and Bette Davis's characters in the 1944 film Mr. Skeffington. In Shadow on the Wall , she starred as the sole witness to a murder...
  
   ..... Allifair McCoy
• Aline MacMahon
  Aline MacMahon
  Aline MacMahon was an American actress. Her career began on stage in 1921. She worked extensively in film and television until her retirement in 1975. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dragon Seed .-Early life:Aline Laveen MacMahon was born...
  
   ..... Sarie McCoy
• Frank Ferguson
  Frank Ferguson
  Frank Ferguson was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Perhaps his best known role was as the ranch handyman, Gus Broeberg, on the CBS television series, My Friend Flicka, based on a novel of the same name...
  
   ..... Ellison Hatfield
• Elisabeth Fraser
  Elisabeth Fraser
  Elisabeth Fraser , was a television, film and stage actress, best known for playing brassy blondes.Born as Elisabeth Fraser Jonker in Brooklyn, New York, Fraser began her acting career six weeks after graduating high school; she was cast as the ingenue in the Broadway production of There Shall Be...
  
   ..... Bess McCoy

Critical reception

The reviewer for the New York Times observed, "There is much feudin', fussin' and lovin' in this pictorially handsome recreation of the fabulous enmity between the Hatfields and the McCoys, but the characters lack the stature of true persons. The famous mountain families have been satirized and distorted in jokes and comic strips for so many years now that it is difficult to take them seriously. This is a handicap the picture does not entirely overcome . . . Roseanna McCoy, as adapted by John Collier, does not have as much heart or narrative integrity as did the Alberta Hannum novel on which the film is based. There was a Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

quality to the written romance that does not come through on the screen. The director has pointed all his action toward the inevitable gun clash between the clans . . . It is a lively, noisy battle, but somehow its effect is anticlimatic and, in this spectator's opinion, heightens the feeling that Roseanna McCoy is not a valid dramatic achievement. That the producer strove to recreate an authentic picture of early American superstitions and ignorance is quite evident, but, like the Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...

, the opposition apparently was too much for him this time."