Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

My Granny and I never missed watching "The Big Valley" during its prime-time run on ABC during the 1960s. She was a major Barbara Stanwyck fan from back in the day when Miss Stanwyck was the Queen of Hollywood. I of course had no way of knowing this and I simply loved the bravado, sass and spunk with which Miss Stanwyck instilled her character Victoria Barkley. Loren Greene's Ben Cartwright is a well-meaning dud in comparison. I liked her sons better than the Cartwright boys too, especially Nick! Watching it now, I can spot a lot of inconsistencies, such as the Orlon carpeting on the staircase of the Barkley manse and the overabundance of that God awful pool cue chalk blue eye shadow so popular in the 1960s. I mean it's like Victoria and Audra had an account with an Avon lady on the prairie. Still, Miss Stanwyck is a treat and I still love to watch her in reruns. Since my Granny hipped me to her at such a young age, I made sure to catch her act from her Hollywood heyday. I think "Double Indemnity" is my favorite. My Granny's other favorites from back in the day were Bette Davis and Irene Dunne. Too bad those two ladies couldn't have had guest appearances on "The Big Valley". That would have been a hoot, maybe an episode where Bette gets to menace Joan Crawford or one where Miss Dunne out sasses Miss Stanwyck.

This show was a good western, and perhaps more serious, if not as fun, as Bonanza and other shows. Nick was always taking on 30 people in a bar fight, and ready to rumble in every situation, even stupid ones.Heath was the bastard son who had actually had to earn his keep and find his place in the world. The lady's man, yet rugged, with a hidden past.Jared was the stuffy lawyer, available for whatever trials and tribulations the family faced. He always looked like he had been in a tanning bed for 50 hrs. and could almost match George Hamilton.Audra was a stunning blonde beauty. Why the hell did she get plastic surgery? She was ruined after that. Really made me sick to see her looks wasted like this.Victoria was still a good-looking woman, and a Hollywood royalty actress, who played her part well enough.I think Eugene, the little brother, actually left the show to serve in Vietnam or something, so we never developed him much.Good show overall, and never got as ridiculous and long-winded as some of its counterparts.

Barbara Stanwyck, a great actress and a true Star, was the matriarch of the Barkeley family in this series. While Ms. Stanwyck's peers Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Ann Sothern, Olivia De Havilland, etc kept busy in movie horror films to stay in the public eye,Barbara Stanwyck wisely went the route of hit TV show.The Big Valley was produced at Four Star which was an independent firm that produced among other shows The Rogues, Wanted Dead or Alive, The Rifleman, Burke's Law, etc was was co- owned by David Niven, Charles Boyer and Dick Powell who ran the studio and brought it to great success. During Powell's tenure stars such as Steve McQueen, Irene Dunne, Paul Muni, etc either top lined or guest star in Four Star TV series. Four Star and its competitor across town Desilu were independent studios creating some of the more iconic TV shows of the era. This is a great TV show shot at Repbublic Studios now known as CBS Studios with its great western Street a favorite location for Ms. Stanwyck.Richard Long, Peter Breck, Lee Majors and lovely Linda Evans free lancing after leaving MGM played Stanwyck's children, all Stars Four. Guest stars were Van Williams, and other stars comfortable as cowboys such as Brad Dillman, Bruce Dern, etc.The Big Valley with its great music score is a classic TV show from a classic studio, Four Star

I loved TBV as child. We got our first color TV right before it premiered and I was astounded by the vibrant colors that were everywhere.Now that Encore Westerns shows the episodes uncut and without commercials, it is even better. An an adult now, I can see what a high quality production it is and how hard the cast and crew must have worked to bring it to the viewing audience.I have always enjoyed Barbara Stanwyck, especially in The Violent Men. It was a western with Glenn Ford and Edward G. Robinson. She played the matriarch of a ranch, but the complete opposite of Victoria Barkley.