Wind Across the Everglades (1958)
Directed by Nicholas Ray, Budd Schulberg

Film Review

Wind Across the Everglades should have been Nicholas Ray's masterpiece.  There are some who even consider it as such but the majority opinion is, whilst Ray's distinctive imprint is felt in almost every frame, it is one of the director's lesser works, a great film that was botched in its final stages of production after Ray fell out with the film's writer and co-producer Budd Schulberg.  Flawed as the film is, it has an enchanting raw beauty about it, a work that resonates with a love of the natural world and the unfathomable nature of the human spirit.  With its strident conservationist theme it was many years ahead of its time but what the film is really about is the mysterious quality that human beings have for forming relationships in the most unlikely of situations.

It was at Ray's insistence that all the film's exteriors (which make up the bulk of the film's runtime) be shot on location in Florida.  This presented an enormous challenge for the cast and production team, and the resulting stresses were certainly a contributing factor in the breakdown of the relationship between Ray and his producers.  With most of the location filming in the can, Ray was physically and emotionally in no condition to complete the shooting and so Schulberg took over, having dismissed the director.  The change in style of direction is painfully evident in the final sequences of the film, but what perhaps most hurts the film is the Schulbergs' decision to exclude Ray from the editing.  Scenes that Ray particularly cherished were inexplicably excised, with the result that Wind Across the Everglades feels jarringly paced, a succession of brilliantly crafted set-pieces that fail to meld into a satisfying hole.

What holds the film together and makes it so memorable is the extraordinary rapport between its two lead actors, Christopher Plummer (in his first leading role) and Burl Ives.  Plummer's naive and idealistic game warden is worlds apart from Ives' cunning and treacherous poacher, and yet both characters appeal to us and clearly have a profound mutual admiration, if not liking, for one another.  The forging of a bond between opposites is to be found in many of Ray's films but here it is particularly striking, a perverse friendship that springs from the most unlikely of circumstances, revealing in Ray a remarkable awareness of the complexity of human relationships.  It is a feature of his films that the characters are as contradictory and unpredictable as they are in real life.  People never behave like they do in the movies. 

Another curious aspect of the film is its downright eccentric cast, which includes the renowned circus clown Emmett Kelly, stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, boxer Tony Galento and journalist/writer MacKinlay Kantor.  Peter Falk also shows up in his first film appearance, exactly one decade before he made his debut in his most famous role as Lieutenant Columbo.  It is a colourful ensemble that adds to the film's weird sense of authenticity, which is most keenly felt in the unforgettable sequence in which the high-minded hero (Plummer) and resolute villain (Ives) set aside their differences and embark on a wild drinking binge in which they become bosom pals.  It has to be seen to be believed.

Imperfect as it is, Wind Across the Everglades stands as one of Nicholas Ray's most spiritual and visually compelling films.  The stunning panoramic shots of the Everglades would not be out of place in a first class wildlife documentary and endow the film with a beauty that both enchants the eye and touches the heart.  It is hard to think of another American film of this era that has such an intense involvement with the natural world, nor one in which the humanity of its director is as keenly felt.  And, in a strange way, its shortcomings add to its charm, robbing it of that hideous synthetic veneer that clings to most Hollywood films of this time and makes them appear, to varying degrees, phoney and contrived.  Whatever else it may be, Wind Across the Everglades certainly isn't phoney.

Film Synopsis

In the early 1900s, an idealistic young schoolteacher named Walt Murdock arrives in Miami, Florida, to take up a new post.  Moments after his arrival he picks a fight with the locals when he rails against a woman for wearing a bird's feather in her hat.  No one wants to hear Murdock's appeal that the latest fashion for wearing feathers is driving certain species of bird to extinction.  He loses his job but ends up being hired as a game warden, his main task being to prevent the illegal killing of birds for their plumage.  Murdock soon runs into the most fearsome of poachers in the Everglades, Cottonmouth, an outcast from society who has absolutely no intention of giving up his way of life...