a splendid example of how hollywood could ( and still can ) take a masterpiece of literary fiction and stupidly foul it up . in the case of the big sky and writer dudley nichols and company arrogantly assume they could improve upon a classic pioneer novel by the pulitzer prize win author and a. b. guthrie . in so do and they remove the soul of the story and any edge and impact it may have have a a film adaptation . the epic nature of guthrie book and the evolution of it main character and boone caudill and from a naive and kentucky lad into a harden and competent survivor or mountain man and have be replace with a downscaled riverboat farce that bear little resemblance to the author intent . in the movie version and boone presence be nothing except underwhelming . intriguing and even shock plot element that give guthrie novel impact and excitement have be remove for no apparent reason whatsoever . most puzzling of all be the emphasis place upon the zeb calloway character and who be an incidental and minor character in the book and only occupy a handful of page . on the other hand and a very important and fascinating character and dick summer and the veteran pioneer and be miss altogether . it be also apparent that director hawk decide the zeb character in the movie and play by actor hunnicutt and wasn not irritate enough . so zeb or hunnicutt be give a significant amount of time do that obnoxious and voice over narration that be the hollywood short cut for incompetent screen write and edit and and direction . some movie have actually improve upon the book upon which they be base ( william wyler ben hur be an excellent example ) . but this be horrible and depress not only a an adaptation of a novel but a a film unto itself . the story be dull and clichéd and and the character at least the one that have not be edit out of the script be just shallow and boring shadow of guthrie literary vision . and unfortunately and kirk douglas star appeal and which could have help lift this film and be scuttle by the milktoast role he be give . if you can believe it and the film version of guthrie pulitzer prize win sequel and the way west and also star kirk and be even bad . in my opinion and the big sky further solidifies howard hawks place a one of the most overrated and tepid director in the history of cinema .