The Big Land is a 1957 American Western film in Warnercolor directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Alan Ladd, Virginia Mayo and Edmond O'Brien.

Back home in Texas following the Civil War, former Confederate officer Chad Morgan (Alan Ladd) leads a cattle drive to Missouri, assuring fellow ranchers that their stock will bring $20 a head at auction.

Instead, ruthless cattle baron Brog (Anthony Caruso) has scared off all competition and offers a dollar and a half a head for the half-starved Longhorns, who had little good grazing along the trail.

He spends a night in a livery stable and meets town drunk Joe Jagger (Edmond O'Brien), who is nearly lynched for trying to steal whiskey.

On their journey, Chad finds out the rail line has been extended well into Kansas, much closer to Texas, and there is good grass land there to fatten the cattle up after the long trek, making them more valuable.

[1][2] The movie was meant to be the first in a revised four-year production deal between Jaguar and Warner Bros.[3] Frank Gruber himself was hired to write the script and Eleanor Parker and Robert Ryan were discussed as possible co-stars to Ladd.

[4] Eventually, Edmond O'Brien – who had just made A Cry in the Night for Jaguar – and Virginia Mayo – who was under contract to Warner Bros and who had acted opposite Ladd before – were cast.