Horizontes Desconocidos

The Far Horizons marked Fred MacMurray's return to the Paramount lot where he started his career to co-star with up and coming Charlton Heston in a story of the Lewis&Clark expedition. A landmark event in American history, the story itself strangely has been ignored by Hollywood except for this version. And it doesn't do the journey justice.

But we have to remember that the film is based on a fictional historical novel Sacajawea of the Shoshonis. So the romance between Donna Reed as Sacajawea and Heston as Clark just never happened. In real life she was the wife of Charbonneau the French trapper played by Alan Reed who did not behave as despicably as portrayed here.

Merieweather Lewis was in fact Thomas Jefferson's secretary and Jefferson sending him west to head the expedition was no less than having Tom's eyes and ears right there on the trail. Lewis was a most intense fellow and he would be a suicide in 1809, Clark outlived him by many years. But one thing he did not have was any romantic rivalry with William Clark over the character that Barbara Hale plays, a Virginia planter's daughter and neighbor of Jefferson at Monticello.

As this film would have it, Lewis was mad because Clark had two girls and he had none. The two faced a lot of problems on the trip, but jealousy over romance wasn't one of them.

The film was produced by William Pine and William Thomas who co-produced a whole bunch of B films for Paramount. Bill Pine learned his trade being an associate producer with Cecil B. DeMille. The film was shot on location and bears no small resemblance to some DeMille productions and even more so to King Vidor's classic Northwest Passage.

Still though I wish we just had a straight account of the trip without the phony romance.

"The Far Horizons", made in 1955, is based on the 1803 to 1806 Lewis and Clark expedition to discover a water route from St Louis to the Pacific ocean. It is a nice vehicle for the three stars of the movie.

Fred McMurray had already made 70 movies, and Donna Reed 35 movies, when they made this one. Charlton Heston had only made 13 prior, and a age 30, this one was made right before he became a giant star in the "biblical" series of movies.

Shortly after this movie, McMurray went on to star in the TV series "My Three Sons", and likewise Donna Reed in the "Donna Reed Show" TV series. In this movie, at age 34, she plays the teenage Sacajawea, and does it very well.

Recall that in the 50s most western movies played on the "savage Indian" theme and this one fits that description too. The writer and director took lots of "literary license" with the Lewis and Clark story so it is not to be considered historically accurate. Still, it gives a good, meaningful dramatization of a great historical event in the USA.

In addition, most of the journey filming was done at or near the original Lewis and Clark trail, and the movie contains great scenery of mountains and rivers.

Overall I found the movie very enjoyable, 7 of 10, and fun to watch such veteran actors in a movie almost 50 years ago. And especially since the USA just this year (2000) released the new one-dollar coin commemorating Sacajawea.

For what it is, an almost total fabrication of the events involved in the exploration of the Louisiana territory, the film is an enjoyable, beautifully shot adventure but for the real story look elsewhere. Donna Reed is ridiculously cast as Sacajawea, Katy Jurado who was actively working in Hollywood at the time would have been far more suitable. She gives an earnest reading of the part but if this is the best the studios could find for her after her Oscar win it's little wonder that she had moved over to TV within a few years. MacMurray although first billed actually disappears for several stretches of the film and Heston, who is ideal in this sort of picture, carries the bulk of the movie.

Following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, US President Thomas Jefferson (Herbert Heyes) enlists Capt. Meriwether Lewis (Fred MacMurray) and Lt. William Clark (Charlton Heston) to lead a surveying expedition of the new territory with hopes of finding a route to the Pacific ocean. Things get off to a rocky start when Clark unknowingly steals Lewis' girlfriend Julia Hancock (Barbara Hale). The expedition later recruits Shoshone woman Sacajawea (Donna Reed) to act as their guide into unknown territory, and wouldn't you know it, Clark starts making time with her, too!

Most Hollywood history lessons play fast and loose with the facts, but this movie earned the distinction of once being named by a group of historians as the most historically inaccurate Hollywood movie ever. I can't vouch for that, but a lot of this is pretty silly and unbelievable. Chief among the movie's problems is the awkward and unnecessary romantic triangle (Heston, Hale & Reed), which would be bad enough as a sub-plot, but which by the end seems to be the prime focus of the film. MacMurray's Lewis takes a back seat to things once the romance between Clark and Sacajawea starts, and he's reduced to supporting status. Reed isn't terrible as Sacajawea, it's just that...well, she's Donna Reed! On the movie's plus side, there is some spectacular scenery and location cinematography. That's what raises it to a 5/10.

And Paramount put THIS on DVD but not the excellent and seldom seen "All the Way Home" from 1963. Go figure.

Turbulent adventure set against the rich ,romantic tapestry of early Louisiana state . United States has just acquired Louisiana from France . As President Thomas Jefferson (Herbert Heyes) assigns a risked expedition led by U.S. Army Captain Meriwether Lewis (Fred MacMurray) and Lt. William Clark (Charlton Heston) as second in command and they join forces other mountain men to enter virgin trapping territory but must contend with resentful traitors , savage Indians (Larry Pennell , Eduardo Noriega) and several other things . The expeditionary group is sent to survey the territory and go where no white man has gone before . They have to overcome the dangerous land with the help of Sacajawea (Donna Reed) .

Pioneer epic with great stars , gorgeous cinematography by Daniel L. Fapp and majestic landscapes filmed in spectacular scenarios . The movie is partially based on real events , narrating the story about the far country discovery , some explorers came to find the precious land through the dangerous ways , large plentiful rivers , violence and ambition that came with them . This colorful film contains beautiful scenery , tempestuous Indian attacks , war , lawless raids , a love story , intrepid men and women ; at last , in all its wild , brave magnificence , the picture of valiant scouts . Well paced , elegiac Western , including marvelous landscapes from Grand Teton National Park, Moose, Wyoming . Interesting historical/drama/Western is slightly marred by the heavily relationship between Heston and Donna Reed . This poetic film focuses the insertion of human being into nature and with the "Native Americans" . This is a lyric Western about conquerors , it's a homage to integration between human being and Nature . The whole piece of adventure teems with emotion , thrills , exotic atmosphere and being pretty entertaining . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . Charlton Heston gives a good acting as a rugged scout who falls in love for an Indian woman , Heston along with Donna Reed form a memorable couple . However , the lead roles , Fred MacMurray and Charlton Heston , were originally offered to Gary Cooper and John Wayne, but Cooper vehemently rejected the offer . Sensitive as well as enjoyable musical score by Hans J. Salter . The motion picture was professionally directed by Rudolph Mate .

The real deeds were the followings : The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States, departing in May, 1804 from St. Louis on the Mississippi River, making their way westward through the continental divide to the Pacific coast. The expedition was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, consisting of a select group of U.S. Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. Their perilous journey lasted from May 1804 to September 1806. The primary objective was to explore and map the newly acquired territory, find a practical route across the Western half of the continent, and establish an American presence in this territory before Britain and other European powers tried to claim it. The campaign's secondary objectives were scientific and economic: to study the area's plants, animal life, and geography, and establish trade with local Indian tribes. With maps, sketches and journals in hand, the expedition returned to St. Louis to report their findings to Jefferson . Regarding Sacagawea character , she was a Shoshone Indian woman who arrived with her husband Toussaint Charbonneau on the expedition to the Pacific Ocean . Though she has been discussed in literature frequently, much of the information is exaggeration or fiction. Scholars say she did notice some geographical features, but "Sacagawea...was not the guide for the Expedition, she was important to them as an interpreter and in other ways. The sight of a woman and her infant son would have been reassuring to some indigenous nations, and she played an important role in diplomatic relations by talking to chiefs, easing tensions, and giving the impression of a peaceful mission.In his writings, Meriwether Lewis presented a somewhat negative view of her, though Clark had a higher regard for her, and provided some support for her children in subsequent years.