The Far Country
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Canada
Movie Reviews of The Far Country
Movie Review: Interesting, unusual western
Summary: 4 Stars
Stewart is fine in a relatively unsympathetic part. Probably one of the baddest good guys ever. Supporting cast very good including Walter Brennen. Has action, suspense, scenery, an engaging bad guy and female character that is corrupt with yen for our star, Stewart. A good film to spend a couple of hours with.Movie Review: Solid Jimmy Stewart movie...in Canada!
Summary: 4 Stars
I'd like to give this movie 5 stars, but it's a solid 4. Set during the Alaska gold rush and spilling into Dawson Creek, Canada, Jimmy walks the tightwire between civics and solitude as the story comes to a tightly balanced conclusion. Beautiful secenery in Jasper National park. The Canadian Western!Movie Review: Sturdy star Western with good production values!
Summary: 3 Stars
In "The Far Country", James Stewart and Anthony Mann are off on yet another popular Western storyline, their 4th together...
The traditional plot, situation, and dialog are compensated somewhat by the wonderful scenery of the Canadian Northwest, evocatively captured by Mann's camera...
Stewart's familiar supporting cast (Jay C. Flippen and Harry Morgan) made their presence with Walter Brennan, the most decorated character actor in American Movies with 3 Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor to his name... Brennan contributes his usual well known portrayal as an eccentric old companion of good spirit and intentions...
Stewart is a Wyoming cattleman who wants to make enough money to buy a ranch, so he drives his herd clear to Alaska and on to Dawson, in Canadian territory, where he sells them...
Along the trail he meets the baddie who runs the town behind a corrupt sheriff John McIntire... They try to steal him his cattle... Later, in Dawson, McIntire and his gang reappear, this time interfering with Stewart's gold claim...
In the film, Stewart has two leading ladies to contend with: Ruth Roman, a bit too precious to qualify convincingly as a tough sweet gale weathering the worst vicissitudes of the territory and the more gentle, the French Canadian girl Corinne Calvet who does create a nice portrait of a decent girl with good instincts... In conventional fashion, Stewart is torn between the flamboyant lady-gambler and the wife-candidate...
Anthony Mann's heroes are often thoughtful men forced into hysterical violence by their need to avenge a wrong or shameful past... They are neurotic and cynical - which is hardly surprising giving the amount of rough handling they have to suffer... In "The Man From Laramie" Stewart is dragged through a fire and has his hand shot through; in "The Far Country" he is shot up and thrown into a river...
Mann's villains are among the most corrupt, unbalanced and memorable to be found in any Western before or since, with Alex Nicol in "The Man From Laramie"; Robert Ryan in "The Naked Spur"; Dan Duryea in "Winchester'73" and the depraved, grandiosely evil Doc Tobin of Lee J. Cobb in "Man of the West" taking the highest honors...
If one ever needed convincing that Westerns are a genre to be taken seriously, the work of Anthony Mann would be evidence enough..
Movie Review: Mr. Mann and Mr. Stewart...
Summary: 3 Stars
Jimmy heads to Alaska with Walter Brennan and a slew of cattle, looking to establish a ranch and finally hang his hat, but a self-proclaimed `lawman' named Gannon (McIntyre) imparts his own style of justice after Stewart inadverdantly disrupts a hanging, and confiscates his herd. Jimmy Stewart plays a sharpshooting straight talker who just plain doesn't want to be bothered with other peoples' worries. When he sees two men being robbed and murdered, he doesn't pick one off his horse to hamper his escape, but `because he shot at me.' As Gannon's atrocities branch out to a neighboring peaceful Yukon town, the town turns to him...and is rejected.
This is the story of a man finding himself drawn into a role which he wants no part of - that of protector. In fact, for three fourths of the movie there is a grudging admiration shared by Gannon and Stewart's character, till Gannon goes too far...and in The Far Country, that's a long way.
This is a great story with some fine performances -particularly by the satellite cast...Connie Calvet as a French girl who hustles panners out of gold dust yet persists in telling Stewart to do the right thing (she is admittedly a less likely love interest than Ruth Roman's fiery frontier femme - sort of like a lighter version of Marlene Dietrich in Destry Rides Again) is good, Jay C. Flippen is fine as a well meaning panner, and those three gals that run the hash house (which serves nothing but bear meat) -love their names - Hominy, Grits, and Molasses - are great!
Maybe not as involving as Winchester 73 or some of the other Mann/Stewart collaborations, but well worth it nonetheless. Great final shootout.
The best line is when Gannon gets the drop on Jimmy and motions to his hand, asking him if he was going to pull that pistol...
"Naw," says Jimmy, grinning, as he hand it over butt-first. "I was just showin' you were it is."
Movie Review: Miss Castle Owns Everything
Summary: 3 Stars
This is another excellent western directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart. Stewart and Brennan are cattle-drivers planning to sell their herd in the Yukon territory. An accusation of murder brings Stewart into contact with Miss Dawson, also on her way to the Yukon. Arriving in Skagway, Stewart has a run in with the town marshall - Gannon: he seizes Stewart's herd as compensation. Stewart and Brennan are then employed by Miss Castle to drive a supply wagon into the Yukon to the town of Dawson. Stewart takes the chance to steal back his herd and drive them on to Dawson. As the Yukon is outside of Gannon's jurisdiction it looks as if Stewart and Brennan are free to pan for gold in Dawson. Not everyone likes Miss Castle though as it seems she owns a lot of the property in Dawson. When Gannon arrives on the scene, Stewart must seek another way out.An excellent story, Stewart portrays a man who is generally a loner, he wants to mind his own business. In the town of Dawson he is ultimately faced with going it alone or standing by the people of Dawson.
While I rate the film 4 stars, the DVD only warrants 2 giving an average of 3 stars. Once again, Universal have chosen to use the laserdisc print for this film. Overall the transfer is fine but the print could do with some restoration work - there is a noticeable jump in one scene. The picture quality is generally good, better than VHS but it could be a lot better. There is some noise on the soundtrack, not distracting but don't expect crystal clear quality.
The only extra is a trailer. If you enjoy the Stewart/Mann films then it is worth buying but lets hope that Universal release a better print in the future.