RUBY GENTRY (1952) **1/2 Charlton Heston has broad shoulders and a social profile to match, but he's a weak man. Caught between his ambitions and his culture and any modicum of ideals, he just shrivels up. Jennifer Jones is too tough from the wrong side of the tracks, but barely strong enough to carry that chip on her shoulder, the one that's been handed to her by the pathetic townsfolk. Ah do believe that we've seen this caricature of the Deep South before, but that neither means that it's entirely accurate nor that it ain't true. Doesn't make it more convincing that there's not a credible southern accent coming off the screen. In launching their bombastic lines at each other, Jennifer's closer to Vivien Leigh than Charlton is to Clark Gable, but that's the intent anyway, and the mainer problem is that the writers didn't set the lines up well enough. They're pretty good lines, some of 'em. Enough is wrong with the production that it would have been much worse, but there are several very strong scenes and the leads catch enough of their characters to make it real, and their characters are such-well at least Jennifer is-that you do care what happens to 'em. Two problems beyond the film: (1) the Deep South is still like this in a lot of ways, (2) so is everyone else, which makes the lack of southern accents just a little bit appropriate.
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