Owen Wister, himself, is fascinating to me. The movie version of his book doesn't include the rather excellent banter between the schoolmarm and the hero, nor does it include the evidence of growth and maturity in the early antics of the hero and his friend, Lin. What great fun they had before falling for the schoolmarm. You have to read to get that.
Molly appears a bit ditsy in the '46 version and a bit underdeveloped in the book. Thank goodness for the remake with Bill Pullman and Diane Lane. Molly seems to have more depth with Lane playing the role.
The '46 version is great, the '99 version is great, but I hope you get to see both to fill in the gaps each seems to have.
Its a great plot, fabulous development of romance, and the ending is intense (more so in the '99 version though).
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