Pursued is a 1947 American Western film noir directed by Raoul Walsh with cinematography by James Wong Howe, written by Niven Busch, and starring Teresa Wright and Robert Mitchum.
The supporting cast features Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger, Alan Hale Sr., and Harry Carey Jr.
[4] Set in New Mexico around the turn of the 20th century and told in flashback, the film tells the story of Jeb Rand, whose entire family was slaughtered when he was a child.
Years later, Jeb, Adam and Thor are adults, and one day in 1898, law officials arrive to recruit volunteers to join the US Army.
He is injured in battle during the Spanish-American War, and while recuperating in hospital he again experiences the flashbacks to the night of his family's murder.
Jeb goes for a long horse ride in order to clear his head and stumbles upon an abandoned ranch which he suspects he has seen before.
When he returns home, his mother confirms that the ranch he came across is where he lived with his real parents as child, and where the murders occurred.
Grant Callum goads Prentice to defend Thor's honor and persuades him to make an attempt on Jeb's life.
Jeb steps out the back door into the alley in an attempt to avoid the situation, but Prentice is coming down the street.
Some time later Thor and Mrs Callum hatch a plan to gain revenge on Jeb for the pain he has caused them.
Jeb finally recalls the night that his father and siblings were murdered, realizing that it was Grant who killed them and that Mrs Callum was there too.
The film's writer Niven Busch and leading lady Theresa Wright were married for a decade beginning in 1942.
[8] Film critic Bosley Crowther wrote a mixed review, "... the strange and angry actions which occur through the tortuous wanderings of this drama seem decidedly bewildering and absurd.
... As we say, without the revelation which comes rather patly at the end, the urgency of these weighty questions is hard to grasp as the picture drones along.
Production makes use of natural outdoor backgrounds supplied by New Mexico scenery, lending air of authenticity that is fully captured by the camera.