Ruby Gentry
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''Ruby Gentry'' is a 1952 film directed by
King Vidor King Wallis Vidor ( ; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, ...
, and starring
Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental-health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned more than five decades, she was nomin ...
,
Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor. He gained stardom for his leading man roles in numerous Cinema of the United States, Hollywood films including biblical epics, science-fiction f ...
, and
Karl Malden Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American stage, movie and television actor who first achieved acclaim in the original Broadway productions of Arthur Miller's '' All My Sons'' and Tennessee Will ...
. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career. In 1960, the movie and the title character were the inspiration for Roberta Lee Streeter to sing under the name
Bobbie Gentry Bobbie Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter; July 27, 1942) is an American retired singer-songwriter. She was one of the first female artists in the United States to compose and produce her own material. Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 ...
.


Plot

Ruby Corey, a poor backwoods girl living in the small North Carolina town of Braddock, is still in love with Boake Tackman. During high school, Ruby had rebuffed his aggressive advances, and was taken in for a couple of years by a kind wealthy businessman and his wife, who protected her and taught her the skills a lady would need. She moved back home when her father needed her help. Boake's family used to be wealthy, but after generations of profligacy all he has left is the land he drained and farmed. He starts a relationship with her but plans to marry a local woman with a rich family. When she hears the news, Ruby marries her widowed, former benefactor, Mr. Jim Gentry, despite not loving him. Her background keeps her from being accepted by most of Jim's peers, most of whom decline to attend their after-wedding party. While at another party, Jim gets into a fistfight with Boake after witnessing him dancing with Ruby. Jim calls Ruby a tramp who looks like a lady but doesn't behave like one. She leaves in tears, and later that night, he apologizes. The next day Jim and Ruby go sailing, where he tells her he "doesn't mind being second best" and she admits she really does love him. A loose rope results in Jim being knocked overboard by the boom, leaving Ruby widowed and distraught. The local paper reports that foul play cannot be ruled out, in other words that she may have murdered Jim for his fortune, and mentions the fistfight between Jim and Boake. Jim's friends renounce her and she receives accusatory phone calls and harassment from the townspeople. Ruby uses Jim's money to begin a campaign against everyone who slighted her, calling in debts to close down people's businesses as well as the newspaper that slandered her. Her brother comes to beg her for leniency, but she throws him out, warning she is just getting started. When Boake visits, she gives him the promissory-note he had signed and which was acquired by Gentry, and offers to run off with him, but he rejects her, saying that for all her money she can't buy her way out of the swamp, and she can't buy him. Ruby has Boake's land flooded, ruining the crops. After seeing her fury, he goes back to her. Boake and Ruby go to her father's annual duck-hunting party where she goes back to her country roots and Boake drinks away his resentment before visiting her room late at night. While hunting the next day, Boake turns on Ruby in retaliation for her actions but she apologizes. Just then, her estranged brother Jewel Corey begins to shoot at the couple while quoting Bible verses about the wickedness of women and sinners who must be struck down. They try to hide in the swamp but Jewel shoots Boake in the abdomen, killing him; Ruby goes after Jewel and guns him down. Cradling Boake in her arms, Ruby laments her decisions. Ruby later becomes the skipper of a fishing boat, forever looked down upon by the townspeople.


Cast


Theme song

The film's theme song, "Ruby", was composed by Heinz Eric Roemheld. At the time of the film's release, the theme enjoyed much popularity in orchestral recordings by Les Baxter, with harmonica solo by Danny Welton., Victor Young And His Singing Strings with George Fields on harmonica (Columbia DO-70040, Australia), Richard Hayman And His Orchestra with Richard Hayman on harmonica, and Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats. It has subsequently become a jazz and pop standard, both as an instrumental and with lyrics by
Mitchell Parish Mitchell Parish (born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky; July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist, notably as a writer of songs for stage and screen. Biography Parish was born to a Jewish family in Lithuania, Russian Empire in July 190 ...
, recorded by such artists as
Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
and
Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...
, Les Welch & His Orchestra, with vocals by Richard Gray (Festival-Manhattan FM75, a shellac 78 in Australia), and
Vic Damone Vic Damone (born Vito Rocco Farinola; June 12, 1928 – February 11, 2018) was an American traditional pop music, pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My ...
, on his 1962 Capitol album The Lively Ones (Capitol T1748).


Reception

On the
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds a rating of 63% based on 8 reviews with an average rating of 6.7/10.


References


External links

* * * * * {{King Vidor 1952 films 1952 drama films 20th Century Fox films American drama films American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films Films about social class Films directed by King Vidor Films scored by Heinz Roemheld Films set in North Carolina Southern Gothic films 1950s American films English-language drama films