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The Kentuckian

The Kentuckian

Western · 1955

A frontiersman and his son fight to build a new home in Texas.

Movie details

The Kentuckian

“Hunter...Frontiersman...Adventurer!”

1955 Western 1h 44m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.2 / 10

3.2K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

14 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

41 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

5.8 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A frontiersman and his son fight to build a new home in Texas.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Kentuckian?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Western · 1958

A powerful rancher always protects his wild adult son by paying for damages and bribing witnesses, until his crimes become too serious to rectify.

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Boss Nigger

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Burt Lancaster

Written by

A.B. Guthrie Jr.

Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster

Elias Wakefield

Dianne Foster

Dianne Foster

Hannah Bolen

Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau

Stan Bodine

Diana Lynn

Diana Lynn

Susie Spann

D

Donald MacDonald

Little Eli Wakefield

John McIntire

John McIntire

Zack Wakefield

Una Merkel

Una Merkel

Sophie Wakefield

Court is in session

Put The Kentuckian on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Patience is part of the point.”

Duration becomes texture. The film asks you to inhabit its world instead of merely processing its plot.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“A test of endurance, your honour.”

Stillness keeps submitting itself as meaning. At some point, contemplation needs something worth contemplating.