A Kentucky widower (Burt Lancaster) bound for 1820s Texas with his young son (Donald MacDonald) is thwarted in his efforts by a corrupt constable (Rhys Williams), a long-standing family feud, and a beautiful indentured servant (Dianne Foster).Big Eli has to deal with the villainous Stan Bodine (Walter Matthau), who cracks a bullwhip. This is crucial in retrospect because it marked the film debut of Matthau, who is probably more familiar to audiences today (2017) than Lancaster is. Obviously Lancaster is the bigger star in the grand scheme of things, but that is not how time and fame works.Also of note, the movie also features an appearance by the famed sternwheel riverboat Gordon C. Greene, the same steamboat used in "Gone with the Wind" and "Steamboat Round the Bend".

The Kentuckian is directed by, and stars, Burt Lancaster. It's adapted to screenplay by A.B. Guthrie Junior from the novel The Gabriel Horn written by Felix Holt. Also starring with Lancaster are Dianne Foster, Diana Lynn, John McIntire, Donald MacDonald, Walter Matthau and John Carradine. A Technicolor/CinemaScope production filmed on location at Kentucky sites, with cinematography by Ernest Laszlo and music scored by Bernard Herrmann. Lancaster plays a Elias Wakefield, a Kentuckian pioneer and widower bound for 1820's Texas with his young son (MacDonald). But ill education, romance and mean townsfolk stunt his progress. Burt Lancaster had great designs to be a director, even planning to give up acting as early as 1955 to make directing his sole career. Foolishly thinking, and proclaiming, it to be an easy job, his experiences on making The Kentuckian would halt him in his tracks and the film would remain his only sole directing credit for the rest of his life. Unfortunately the film shows that the film world hasn't missed a great director in the making. It's a decent film, more because it is an interesting misfire than any great dramatic thrust. There's very good period flavours here, the photography is often gorgeous, Herrmann's score (used better in Jason and the Argonauts 8 years later) is appealingly tone setting and a few scenes really do hit the mark, but the pace is stop-start and Lancaster isn't sure how to direct himself, with the big man turning in a performance that sits somewhere between camp and aww shucks machismo. He handles his other cast members well, where it's good to see two female characters properly impact on the storyline, but the screenplay sometimes falls flat and scene skipping cheapens the production (one moment Lancaster is in jail, we see a hand lift a key out a coat pocket and the next shot he and his son are relaxing out in the wilderness with Diana Lynn!). Another major problem is the ludicrous nature of the main villain, Walter Matthau's whip-wielding Stan Bodine, the daftness of such Matthau (in his first big screen role) himself would decry later in his career at how ridiculous the role was. Yet the character features in the best scene in the film, as Bodine and Wakefield are pitched in a fight, man with whip against man with only brawn on his side. This oddness (stupid character features in best scene) that says volumes about The Kentuckian's variable quality. Other strong scenes flit in and out, such as a riverboat gambling sequence, while the finale that sees Lancaster run full pelt across a river to take down a foe, is hugely entertaining. But once the end credit flashes up you may find yourself scratching your head and pondering just what you had just sat through?Entertaingly messy! 6/10

I had to see this movie which I thoroughly enjoyed but more so for the scene that would be in there. A very brief scene of what is known locally as sky bridge. It is a natural rock formation of short span (a bridge) not too far from Natural Bridge State Park. At this site you walk beyond the bridge to a trail, take a right to trail two; another right and twenty five yards or so you are under sky bridge. From the first short trail to the second there is a drop of about 4-5 feet. At that point the second trail isn't all that wide and you have to be somewhat careful. Beyond the edge of the trail you see tops of trees. Tall trees. While helping my girlfriend down, I saw this guy approaching wearing sweat pants and sweater, dark sunglasses, and a smile. He had a mop of unruly hair. We continued on toward the bridge and I looked back. He didn't pause at the trail junction, he just jumped. Like a cat. As he approached after that athletic move and with a big grin and square jaw I knew; I just knew. I told my girlfriend who that was following us and as he passed she asked him..."are you Burt Lancaster?" He said "yes I am", and ambled on by. She swooned. He and two other Hollywood types did some thumbs together, form a square, "panning", looking at the sky at times. An interesting day out.

This film is unusual and interesting, it shows the life in a small town before the time of the westerns we are used to see, when you still had to sock powder into the rifle before shooting. When Lancaster and his son which are used to live in the woods come to town, people make fun of them, it is surprising how cruel they are. During the film both are going to change, the son will grow up and Lancaster will become a wiser man. There are two women, Diane Foster and Diana Lynn, both are charming and it is going to be a hard choice for Lancaster. Walther Matthau is an expert with the whip and his fight with Lancaster is the high point of the film. "The Kentuckian" did not age and Lancaster came out very well as a director. To see the people, their habits, their way of talking, their music, combined with a good story makes this film worth seeing.