Claudio Carvalho In Braddock, North Caroline, the free-spirited and poor Ruby Corey (Jennifer Jones) is a sexy woman in love with Boake Tackman (Charlton Heston), who belongs to a former wealthy family that lost their land that is flooded. Ruby has lived during high-school with the wealthy businessman Jim Gentry (Karl Malden) and his wife Letitia Gentry (Josephine Hutchinson) that had unsuccessfully tried to teach etiquette to Ruby. Later she returned to the house of her father Jud Corey (Tom Tully) and her pious brother Jewel Corey (James Anderson) in the swamps. When Boake decides to marry the rich Tracy McAuliffe (Phyllis Avery), Ruby is courted by Dr. Saul Manfred (Bernard Phillips) but accepts to marry Jim that has recently widowed. The population of Braddock does not accept the marriage of Ruby and Jim. Then, Ruby dances with Boake in a club and Jim has a fistfight with Boake and calls Ruby a tramp. On the next morning, Jim apologizes with Ruby and they go sailing. However there is an accident and Jim drowns in the sea. Ruby is accused by the population of murdering Jim and she decides to revenge, using the money she inherited from Jim and foreclosing on the debts of the hometowns. But Ruby is still in love with Boake and her behavior will lead them to a tragedy."Ruby Gentry" is a melodramatic romance directed by King Vidor, the master of this genre. The melodrama is excessive, with a wild young woman in love with a popular young man in a conservative town. Her revenge against those that blame her is great but the conclusion is silly. Rubby working as a skipper of a fishing boat does not make sense for a woman with her strong personality (and money). My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Fúria do Desejo" ("The Fury of the Desire")

edwagreen She came from the wrong side of the track. That remark described Jennifer Jones as Ruby Gentry in this 1952 mediocre film.The doctor part could have been better developed. How convenient for Josephine Hutchinson, as Karl Malden's wife, to be ailing for 8 1/2 years and suddenly go after being injected and the good doctor telling Malden that she is dying and will be gone in 2 weeks or so. Her demise allows for Malden to quickly gobble up young Ruby who has stayed with the family.Ruby's got a brother whose religious fervor has drawn him to insanity and this craziness will bring tragedy to Rudy and her real lover, Charlton Heston, in the end. There is a love/hate relationship between the two and during the hate part, Ruby marries the Malden character.This is real soap opera nonsense. Yes, we understand social status differences and a snobby town. Jennifer Jones has a twang in that southern accent, but notice that when she marries Malden, she sounds like a northerner. Note how Heston takes her around. He did it in the same way to Anne Baxter, 4 years later in the superb "The Ten Commandments."

beyondtheforest It's no big surprise that RUBY GENTRY receives such mixed reviews, because the theme of the film will not appeal to small-town America. Ruby is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, as the narrator at the beginning of the film states. What this is code for in classic Hollywood is not necessarily straight translation. In other words, we are in the realm of a lost art form: the romantic film, or the melodrama. King Vidor was a master of this craft.Ruby, then, was different. She was a free spirit, an unconventional thinker, and a seductive beauty. This is a lethal combination in the small, conservative town Ruby grows up in. She falls in love, of course, with the 'popular' boy, the rich kid, who the most well-bred society girls are after. Of course none of them have anything except their money against Ruby, and Boake (Charlton Heston) knows it! So there is an essential conflict between what Boake wants (Ruby) and what he is expected to have. He, unlike Ruby, is rather weak, and afraid. Deep down he loves her, but he lacks her spirit and wisdom. He won't go after someone looked down on by the town. He has to be 'respectable.' He cares what others think. Ruby does not, so she is willing to fight for him, but at the same time she does not want to be taken for granted. She wants her love to be fulfilled through marriage; he only wants her as a sex object.I think it is important to note that Ruby Gentry is not necessarily a femme fatale, nor does she necessarily sin. She simply follows her heart. However, a series of accidents, including the death of her wealthy husband, occur, and Ruby is involved in scandal after scandal. The people always choose to believe the worst of her because she represents what they despise: an independent woman with beauty and natural intelligence, and class mobility.RUBY GENTRY is a masterpiece. King vidor, my favorite director, is at the top of his form. Jennifer Jones, a talented and underrated actress, makes Ruby both sympathetic and believable. Charlton Heston is extremely effective as a complex character--one who on the surface seems shallow, but beneath the surface you can still feel his love for Ruby (which he struggles to hide, or deny).Boake and his family feel they are above Ruby. Even Ruby's brother is judgmental and calls her a 'sinner,' based on assumptions. The final event in the film is a tragedy, but noteworthy because it was not the fault of Ruby or Boake, but a judgmental, hypocritical, and merciless society, imposing religious and social institutions which hinder us all.The film is not dated. If anything, it proves melodrama is more effective than realism sometimes, where larger-than-life human emotions are concerned. People who call a movie like RUBY GENTRY 'trash' are actually in denial that the theme, and the emotions, are as vividly real and relevant now as ever. Anyone who thinks social class, sex appeal, and money do not count for everything in today's world, just as then, hasn't a clue. These are timeless themes, and the relationships in the film, and how they were negatively affected by the prejudice and snobbery around them, can be compared to any number of contemporary homosexual or interracial relationships, among others. How's that for relevance? Sometimes the bigger emotions, the tragedies, are more appropriately told in melodramatic terms--because they are serious and heartbreaking and should not be reduced to cinematic language that conveys anything less!

ludger-wirooks "Ruby Gentry" strongly reminds me of the fantastic "Duel in the Sun", but sadly it is photographed in black and white. Normally I prefer Black and White - like in the most Film noirs - but in this case color would have made the whole film better. It has a very good dramatic plot - a "Southern drama" with all the typical story elements (poor girl, rich guy, unfulfilled love, class consciousness, pride, the poor girl marrying a nice and rich old man instead of the desired guy, bad fate with the good old man dying in an accident, revenge and so on). It really could have been a fantastic picture especially with the very good cast - but something is missing. I guess it's the epic camera shots like in "Duel in the sun". In "Ruby Gentry" you don't see much of the landscape - just a few shots in the Everglades. I think the movie is clearly too short - I miss scenes which show some important motives of the main characters visualized instead of only spoken in the dialog. To better understand why Charlton leaves his girl alone and marries another one I'd have preferred seeing a scene showing him on a dune watching over his land and showing his sparkling eyes or something like that. But although the movie is worth watching it.