The film""s screenplay was adapted by Frank S.Nugent (director Ford""s son-in-law) from Alan Le May""s 1954 novel of the same name, that was first serialized as a short story in late fall 1954 issues of theSaturday Evening Post, and first titledThe Avenging Texans.]And pianist Sam""s role (portrayed by "Dooley" Wilson - who was actually a drummer) was originally to be taken by a female (either Hazel Scott, Lena Horne, or Ella Fitzgerald).Are you a man of such eminence then?" Pittsburgh-raised in a steel town, Sean assures her that his idealized intentions are pure - Innisfree has been his equivalent of "heaven," his Shangri-La salvation from the "hell" of Pittsburgh, his paradise, his idealized vision of his mother""s memories:Look, Mrs.When compared to the first anti-war film of the talkie era,All Quiet on the Western Front (1930),The Big Paradeis more a film of escapist entertainment rather than an anti-war treatise, although its powerful battle scenes and staging undoubtedly influenced director Lewis Milestone""s later film.As he rides on his horse and approaches Rock Ridge, the music swells - he passes by the Count Basie band on the dusty plains (Count Basie has an uncredited cameo as he plays "April in Paris" on a white piano with his jazz band).