Herb Meadows wrote the original story "The Calico Pony" that this movie was based on, and this was its shooting title.<br /><br />Van Heflin was great as Luke Fargo, Joanne Woodward in her film debut is okay, but a bit tiresome and "Methody" in her performance. She does a nice job but is not as appealing as a Debbie Reynolds-Tammy backwoods type.<br /><br />The supporting cast including Raymond Burr, Jean Willes, and Kathryn Givney are terrific. Best of all is Allison Hayes as the rich girl gone bad. Her performance is amazing and seems slightly truncated so that she could get NO audience sympathy. Some of her dialog is delivered over closeups of Woodward. No other female character is allowed to be sympathetic at all, even Nancy Kulp as made shrewish and mean to Woodward's benefit.<br /><br />This makes the story suffer - but Heflin, Burr, and Hayes make it a very interesting nearly-forgotten movie.