The Man from Laramie

Will Lockhart (James Stewart) leaves his home in Laramie on a mission to find out who was responsible for selling repeating rifles to the Apaches who killed his brother. Landing in Coronado, New Mexico, he finds that most of the territory is owned and ruled by Alec Waggoman (Donald Crisp), a fierce patriarchal rancher with one loose cannon son, Dave (Alex Nicol) and another surrogate son, Vic Hansboro (Arthur Kennedy) running the Barb Ranch. As he digs deeper, Lockhart finds he is in the middle of two wars, one of which may eventually conclude his revenge fuelled mission.

The Man From Laramie is the last of the five Westerns that director Anthony Mann made with leading man James Stewart. The only one filmed in CinemaScope, it is a visually stylish picture that is full of brooding psychological themes and boasts great acting and a tight script. It's no secret that Mann, before his sad death, was looking to make a Western King Lear, The Man From Laramie serves as a delicious starter to what would have been the main course. With its family dilemmas and oedipal overtones, Mann's Western is very Shakespearian in tone. That its characters are sumptuously framed amongst a harsh dangerous landscape further fuels the psychological fire; with the landscapes (terrificly photographed by Charles Lang) providing a link to the characters emotional states. So many scenes linger long and hard in the memory (none of which I would dare to spoil for would be new viewers), so much so they each reward more upon subsequent revisits to the film. There's some minor quibbles down the pecking order; for instance Cathy O'Donnell as Barbara Waggoman is poor and contributes little to proceedings, but really it remains a quality piece of psychological work that barely gives us reason to scratch the itch.

Taut, tight and tragic is The Man From Laramie, brought to us courtesy from the dynamite partnership of Mann & Stewart. 9/10

On his way to a mixed-race village, a lone cowboy seems mysteriously fascinated by charred clothing he finds on the trail. Once in town he finds little more than conflict between himself and a rancher's family, including the crafty foreman and a belligerent son. So what's going on with the lone cowboy and his apparent mission.

If you've got a yearn for wide-open spaces, this is the western to catch. From desert flats to rocky cliffs, the screen's filled with Mother Nature at her most expansive. Happily most of the action takes place among these great sights. To me, the vistas are the movie's best feature among stiff competition. For example, it's also an exceptionally well-acted oater, though O'Donnell seems a little too delicately saccharine for a frontier gal. Nonetheless, Kennedy is in fine form as the crafty Vic, who's an excellent foil for Stewart as the lone cowboy Lockhart. And, of course, Stewart is Stewart, low-key, but determined.

All in all, for a western, the storyline's unusually complex featuring a number of subplots. But then, 1955 was a time when Hollywood went for big screen epics in its battle with front room TV's. So producers had to fill out the narratives to increase runtimes befitting more epic proportions and name casts. Here the subplots-- old lady MacMahon, sinister Elam, wacko Nicol-- are mostly agreeable, but don't tighten the impact, which is clearly Stewart's odd relationship with Kennedy. Speaking of impact, there're several memorable scenes that lift results. Maybe the most memorable is Stewart getting dragged through the smoking campfire that's excellently staged and photographed. No doubt that's due to director Mann who knew how to make viewers feel and not just see. Then too, the difficult father-son relation between father Crisp and substitute son Kennedy is both poignant and sensitively performed. No wonder Kennedy was cast in what amounts to a difficult good-guy bad-guy role.

All in all, it's an ace western, a little loose in construction, but with moments of memorable excellence.

Another solid western by a man who gave some of the best works of the whole genre (the naked spur, cimarron,etc).This is the story of a double search:Stewart is looking for the man who's responsible for his brother 's death.Crisp is afraid of a man who might possibly kill his son:he has a recurrent dream which frightens him .Little by little the two stories converge and make one in one of the most brilliant western screenplays of the fifties.The dreamlike touch gives a movie another dimension,which only great directors can conjure :Walsh,Ford ,Daves,or of course Mann.

The characters are more complex than we thought at first sight,and the cliché of the old wealthy man with a son -black-sheep-of-the-family and an almost- adoptive- son-good-boy is avoided.Alex Nicol and Arthur Kennedy give strong nervous tortured portrayals which almost outshine star Stewart.Crisp is equally effective in the part of a man who tries not to face the truth -which may be the meaning of his premonitory dream-,and will finally see it when he is blind.The lead female part is the weakest link of the movie ,but Aline MacMahon's colorful Kate more than makes up for Cathy O'Donnell's blandness.

I had seen this movie for the first time when I was 13.I saw it again yesterday.It has not aged a bit.

James Stewart rides the vengeance trail as he comes to a dusty New Mexico town in search of a gun runner whose wares were used by raiding Indians that led to his brother's death. Stewart is grim and determined in this beautifully filmed western to square matters with his unknown quarry and meets with hostility and indifference at every turn. The film has touches of extreme violence which was unusual for its time. The story is packed with suspense and tension as Stewart's Will Lockhart seeks his personal retribution. Along the way, Lockhart is befriended by a pretty girl and a strong-willed female rancher who are sympathetic to Lockhart's quest. Another sub plot has a cattle baron, his neurotic son, and a ranch foreman riding rough-shod over other ranchers and townspeople. Arthur Kennedy and Donald Crisp head a great cast of veteran western character actors, and a nod goes to Aline MacMahon for her portrayal of the plucky ranch woman.

From Columbia Pictures , produced by William Goetz and screenplay by prestigious Philip Yordan , a Western plenty of emotion , action and shootouts ; being the last and the best of James Stewart's classic Western collaborations with Anthony Mann. From a story by Thomas Flynn for the Saturday Evening Post and its subsequent novel with the same title . A cowboy named Lockhart (James Stewart) defies the local cattle baron (Donald Crisp) and his sadistic son (Alex Nicol) by working for one of his oldest rivals (Aline MacMahon) . The obsessed cow-herder going through hell and high water to track down the stranger who sold Indians weapons which led to the death of his brother ; then excitement increases until a surprising final .

This exciting Western contains tension-filled familial atmosphere , thrills , suspense and gun-play . Magnificent western from duo Anthony Mann/James Stewart and their final collaboration . Colour , music , scenarios , landscapes all marks well in this thrilling story about a cowboy who deals with a baron land who's going blind and worries which of his two sons he will leave the ranch to . The picture has been described as a western version of King Lear adding a tautly strung outdoor Wodunnit . It describes a family tragedy in which there are extreme characters combined with psychological observations and enriched by eventual ambiguity . By that time (1955) the picture was considered very strong , tough , surprisingly cruel and brutal ; today is deemed a classic film . And seems to be a great influence of wide range such as violence and scenarios , both of them influenced in Spaghetti Western as well as outdoors similar to Almeria landscapes . Filmed in Cinemascope with colorful cinematography by Charles Lang supported by assistant Henry Jaffa , Mann gets to take from nature the maximum impacts , as desert , river , mountains , being wonderfully photographed . Impressive background scenarios , dramatic close-up along with shading illuminations , all of them perfectly mingled with a tale full of violence , tension , intrigue and shoot'em up . The filming took place on location in New Mexico , there were built two ranch : Big Barb and Half Moon , next to Santa Fe . The technician and artist team was formed by numerous actors and 142 technicians . Producers hired 18 mules , 24 horses and 800 cows and building a great ranch of 32 miles length . Nedless to say , the main and secondary cast is first-class . Top-of-the-range acting by the great James Stewart as a lone avenger obsessed with hunting down the men who sold guns to the Indians that murdered his brother . There are top-notch acting from old-stagers as Donald Crisp playing an aging ranch baron and Aline MacMahon as an old spinster and special mention to Western usual secondary Jack Elam as a sinister gunslinger . Delicate Cathy O'Donnell (Ben Hur) was widely felt to be badly miscast as Barbara Waggoman and seems a little lost among the movie's many shots and brawls. Emotive as well as intriguing musical score by George Duning performed by Morris Stoloff , including a notorious theme tune .

This top-drawer Western was stunningly realized by the master Anthony Mann , including his characteristic use of landscape which is visually memorable . Mann established his forte with magnificent Western almost always with James Stewart . In his beginnings he made ambitious but short-lived quality low-budget surroundings of Eagle-Lion production as ¨T-men¨ , ¨They walked by night¨ , ¨Raw deal¨ , ¨Railroaded¨ and ¨Desperate¨ . Later on , he made various Western , remarkably good , masterpieces such as ¨The furies¨ , ¨Devil's doorway¨ and ¨Man of the West¨ and several with his habitual star , James Stewart, as ¨Winchester 73¨ , ¨Bend the river¨ , ¨The far country¨ , ¨Man of the West ¨. They are characterized by roles whose determination to stick to their guns would take them to the limits of their endurance . Others in this throughly enjoyable series include ¨Tin star ¨ that is probably one of the best Western in the fifties and sixties . After the mid-50 , Mann's successes came less frequently , though directed another good Western with Victor Mature titled ¨The last frontier¨. And of course ¨The man from Laramie ¨ that turns out to be stylish , fast paced , solid , meticulous , with enjoyable look , and most powerful and well-considered . This well acted movie is gripping every step of the way . It results to be a splendid western and remains consistently agreeable . Rating : Above average . Well worth watching and it will appeal to James Stewart fans .