Zandy's Bride (1974)

A cattle rancher (Gene Hackman) on the Monterey coast of California sends away for a mail order bride (Liv Ullmann). He's a crude, unfeeling brute who wants someone to help work the ranch and "comfort" his bed at night. She's looking for a home. But his brutality (he rapes her on the wedding night) places a wedge in their future ..... if there is one. After the success of THE EMIGRANTS and THE NEW LAND in the U.S., Hollywood made overtures to the director Jan Troell and this was his first American film. Its simplicity and directness is carried over from his two Swedish films but as cinema, it feels uneven. It seems to be searching for its tone but never quite finds it. Ullmann seems born to her role but Hackman seems uncomfortable, as if resisting the coarseness of his character instead of inhabiting it. The real "star" of the film however is the gorgeous Big Sur coast line so lovingly photographed by Jordan Cronenweth. I could have done without the insistent banjo underscore by Michael Franks. Based on the novel THE STRANGER by Lillian Bos Ross. With Eileen Heckart, Susan Tyrell, Harry Dean Stanton, Sam Bottoms and Frank Cady.