It’s often been joked that if the title wasn’t already taken, most of Robert Mitchum’s movies could’ve been titled Out of the Past. That 1947 drama has become emblematic of the noir cycle popular in the 1940s and early-50s thanks to its moody cinematography, complex narrative, sardonic wit, and overall fatalism courtesy of Mitchum’s Jeff Bailey.

But noir couldn’t be contained by its urban locale or 20th-century setting, and just as the crime drama was finding footing in the asphalt jungles of New York City and Los Angeles, it expanded to the western and brought with it complex flashbacks, Freudian psychology, and Greek tragedy. All on display in Pursued—also starring Mitchum and also released in 1947.

Written by Niven Busch (who would pen 1950’s The Furies) and starring his then-wife Teresa Wright, Pursued revolves around Mitchum’s Jeb, a man haunted by a traumatic event from his childhood and fixated on Wright’s Thorley, who he grew up with like a sibling even though they are not related by blood.

Busch’s story shares a lot of similarities to 1939’s Blind Alley (and the 1948 remake, The Dark Past), but Pursued stands on its own thanks to New Mexico’s stunning rock walls and vistas (shot by ace cinematographer James Wong Howe), an overheated performance from Wright, a detached Mitchum, and plenty of accidental death.

Pursued (1947)
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Screenplay by Niven Busch
Produced by Milton Sperling
Starring: Teresa Wright, Robert Mitchum, Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger, John Rodney
Warner Bros., Not rated, Running time 101 minutes, Opened March 5, 1947

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