The Far Country (1955)

The far country of the title is Alaska, where James Stewart, a cold-hearted cattleman, and his sidekick Walter Brennan, a garrulous old codger, drive a herd of cattle to cash in on the gold rush. Stewart is the ultimate loner, a point the film takes pains to paint as he watches helpless miners murdered by a gang of thugs without lifting a finger. John McIntyre plays his nemesis, a magnetic but corrupt Roy Bean-like judge and merchant who preys off the miners passing through his town and steals Stewart's cattle in the name of justice. Stewart, after signing on to lead saloon owner Ruth Roman's wagon train to the mining camp, steals back his herd and makes himself a respectful enemy: "I'm gonna like you. I'm gonna hang you, but I'm gonna like you," grins McIntyre. The rest of the film is a battle for Stewart's soul, between resolute individualism and community activism, between bad woman Roman and good girl Corinne Calvet (one of the film's weakest elements, admittedly, as the sparks between Stewart and Roman are far more exciting than Calvet's silly kewpie doll in flannel). The Far Country is largely shot on studio sets and pulls out familiar Western tropes not usually seen in his films, but Mann brings an edge to the drama with explosions of cold-blooded violence and a brilliant final shootout that plays out on a split-level plain. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com essential video

The Far Country

Another great DVD The Far Coubtry James Stewart and (Anthony Mann director). James Stewart is great once again, the scenery is superb, a good story about a rough town, gold happy claim jumpers and shoot outs.When things are out of controll Stewart takes charge in a hge shoot out. This completes my James Stewart collection,recomend this DVD.M.Innes Australia. June 20, 2008

Lady killer vs. man killer in Klondike

This is mostly a story about the growing relationship between cowboy Jeff Webster(Jimmy Stewart) and femme fatale Ronda Castle(Ruth Roman). She takes an instant liking to Jeff with just a brief encounter on the deck of the steamer to Skagway, and a longer look when he hides in her cabin while authorities look for him, charged with murder. They find out they have some important things in common, besides an animal attraction. Namely, neither dares to trust a member of the opposite sex, having apparently married to spouses who cheated on them. Gradually, they learn to trust each other, as they journey from Skagway to Dawson. But Ronda clearly has close dealings with corrupt Sheriff Gannon and engages in some shady practices in her Castle saloon in Skagway. She eventually is forced to decide between Gannon and Jeff. Meanwhile, a young naive French woman, Renee, also takes an immediate liking to Jeff, but only gets insulting brush offs in return. Clearly too young for him, he thinks. Yet, she sticks with him in his travels from Skagway to Dawson and his activities around Dawson. Along with Ronda, she nurses him back to health after he is left for dead by Gannon's gunslingers at his gold claim. Walter Brennan, as Ben, serves as Jeff's long time sidekick. He doesn't have a meaty role, but he does serve to soften Jeff's hard edges. His demise symbolically opens the door for a woman companion replacement for Jeff.
John McIntire, as sheriff Gannon, makes probably the most charismatic evil town boss you will ever see on film, oozing charm and humor to go along with his bullying. He makes a believable incarnation of the infamous Soapy Smith, who spent his last years in Skagway, as one of the premier con men of his era. Evidently, Gannon sees something of himself in Jeff, repeatedly declaring that he's going to like him(and kill him).
Jeff is the quintessential antihero, a loner(except for companion Ben) who doesn't want to stick his neck out for others, even when he knows he is the one right man for the job. In this respect, he closely resembles Burt Lancaster's character in "Vera Cruz", for example. Thus, Jeff not only turns down the job of marshall of Dawson, he is about to leave the Yukon after Gannon's gang moves in with clear intentions of taking over everyone's insufficiently legal mining claims, while disposing of some of the miners and suggesting that the rest make a hurried exit from the Yukon while they are still alive. Even Ronda suggests that she and Jeff best leave together quickly. Then, Jeff has a sudden change of heart, apparently still nursing a desire for revenge for the shooting of Ben and himself. He changes from antihero to hero in leading the expulsion of Gannon's gang from Dawson. In this respect, he differ's from Lancaster's character, who never reforms. But, is Jeff truly changed or just carrying out revenge for wrongs committed against his own interests, which happen to benefit the whole town? We'll never know.
The main problem I see with the plot is the 2 principle women. Clearly, Ronda is groomed as the right woman to tame Jeff. Although she is clearly characterized as a "bad" girl, Jeff has a checkered past himself, having shot at least 5 men within the past few months, and having stolen back his cattle from Gannon. Ironically, soon after Jeff transforms from an antihero into a hero, Ronda makes a similar change in running into the dark street to warn Jeff of Gannon's impending ambush. She dies as a result, and Jeff asks why she didn't just look out for herself(his supposedly just adandoned creed!).
It's clear that Corinne Calvet, as Renee, just doesn't make a credible substitute for the dead Ronda, in Jeff's mind. Yet, the clear suggestion of the parting scene is that they get together, even though they never visibly exchange a kiss or hug, just a hand on hand as a start. Her image as a "good" girl is somewhat compromised by her job in Ronda's saloon of bumping miners weighing their gold dust and pushing the spilled dust on the floor, which she later recovers. Also, I'm very unclear about her relationship with Rube Morris(Jay Flippen), a middle-aged miner, who follows her around and later works a claim with her.(He's not her father).
Another flaw is the amateurish handling of the terminal gunfight between Jeff and Gannon's gang. If Gannon had any skill at all with a pistol, he should have killed or seriously wounded Jeff under that boardwalk before Jeff did the same to him. And how did Jeff's badly shot up right hand suddenly become well enough to shoot a pistol with apparent ease? I also wonder what Jeff and friends did to help the victims of the avalanche. They were too far away to get there in time to pull them out alive from under the snow, even if they knew where they were! And why weren't most of Ronda's pack horses or mules also buried by the avalanche?
You will see a host of probably nameless but familiar faces among the miners around Dawson and among Gannon's gang. The sequences shot in the Canadian Rockies provide a breathtaking backdrop to the action. All-in- all, a very entertaining western, with most of the major flaws concentrated at the end. No doubt, great liberties with history and geography were taken, especially the parts taking place in the Canadian Yukon which was, in fact, much tamer than the US Skagway. No Jeff would have been required to quickly rid the Yukon of any Gannon-like badmen. May 13, 2008

The Far Country

Absolutely loved The Far Country. I was not disappointed it contained everything I had expected in Jimmy Stewart and the scenary was breathtaking. February 22, 2008

great western, great message

ok, we all know these westerns have a message in them somewhere. often it is a message the supports some aspect of the american way of life. the message of this movie is that life isn't worth living unless you are part of something larger than yourself. jimmy stewart's character, jeff, finds this out the hard way. after a number of years as a loner, he finally realizes that he should he others protect their community and their dreams. but this only happens after a fair measure of abuse at the hands of some bullying petty criminals. after he comes out of it the bad guys get gunned down in short order. overall, really good and enjoyable. get it. February 17, 2008

Another great Mann and Stewart Western, with a strong supporting cast and outstanding scenery.

The FAR COUNTRY (1954) Was the forth and penultimate Western from this director and star pairing of Anthony Mann and James Stewart and without doubt puts them second only to John Ford and John Wayne in making fine Western movies that have stood the test of time for over fifty years. Unlike Ford who almost exclusively returned time after time to Monument valley, Mann picked wonderful new locations for each of his Westerns, this time being the awesome landscape of Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

The story (as with previous outings) is from a Borden Chase script and has tough cattleman Jeff Webster (James Stewart) and his sidekick Ben Tatum (Walter Brennan) meeting up in 1896 Seattle, hearing of the gold rush Jeff decides to take his cattle to Dawson City en-route he falls foul of no-good Skagway judge, sheriff Gannon (John McItire). Webster finds himself jailed. Gannon releases him but confiscates Jeff's cattle. Jeff agrees to lead a party of eager prospectors up to Dawson with eager support from saloon owner Rhonda Castle (Ruth Roman) and young French Canadian girl Renee Vallon (Connie Calvet) as they near the Canadian border Jeff and Ben slip back one night and steal the cattle back, returning to the border with Gannon and his cronies in hot pursuit, Jeff manages to delay the pursuers long enough to allow everyone to cross the border into Canada.

Delivering the cattle to Dawson and selling them to Rhonda Castle following an auction. Rhonda sets up a saloon along with new arrival Gannon. Meanwhile Jeff and Ben set off to do a little gold mining of their own. Trouble brews as Gannon and his motley band cheat the miners one by one from their claims. The miners and good town folk try to elect Jeff as marshal, but he refuses so local man Rube Morris (J C Flippen) is elected. After a killing in Rhonda's saloon Rude is left facing one of Gannon's hired guns, Jeff suggesting that he backs down to save his life. Rube loses face and resigns, and then follows more claim jumping until only a few are left. Jeff and Ben receive their visit in due course and are ambushed when leaving camp, both are badly shot up and left for dead, Jeff somehow drags himself out of the river recovers Ben's body and heads for town. Renee takes Jeff in and tends his wounds as he vows to get those responsible. After a partial recovery Jeff sets out for the final showdown with Gannon and his men holed up in the saloon.

This Universal DVD release 94 minutes running time has no special extras apart from the original Trailer, which is a pity as all these Mann / Stewart Westerns deserve to be preserved in the best possible way, good value for little money though! Last but not least to look out for in this series is THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (1955).





October 7, 2007

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