Horizontes Desconocidos

Fred MacMurray and Charlton Heston portray Lewis and Clark, famed historians who explored the Louisianna Territory as per the instructions of President Thomas Jefferson. This plays very much like a cowboys and indians type of actioneer, but without actual cowboys. We also get a fabricated (so I've read) side love story between Clark (Heston) and lovely squaw Sacajawea (Donna Reed!!), the woman who helped lead the way during the discovery. In this story, MacMurray is the more laid back and serious leader while his partner Heston is - no surprise - rather cynical and the Wild Card of the two. Seems like Chuck played these parts constantly in the first half of this decade. It's always been odd for me to go backwards in time and see Fred MacMurray in straight films, as I grew up with him primarily as the dad from TV's sitcom MY THREE SONS. Here he shares screen time with William Demarest , who was also in the TV show as well. Demarest seemed miscast to me here though, cast as an 1800's sergeant. **1/2 out of ****

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.

This is the year of the bi-centennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, which (with the purchase of the Louisiana Territory) is the best recalled accomplishment of the Thomas Jefferson administrations. This is also the sole major film made about this first step into westward expansion. I suppose one should be grateful for any such film but one wishes it was closer to the truth and was a bit more detailed. Meriweather Lewis (Jefferson's nephew and secretary) and William Clark (half-brother of frontier legend George Rogers Clark)were chosen to leave from the formerly French settlement of St. Louis up the Missisippi and Missouri Rivers into what became Montana, Idaho, and Washington until they reached the Pacific Coast, and then returned by a southern route back to St. Louis again. Their expedition was assisted by Sacajawea, an Indian woman, who helped the two explorers communicate with the various Indian tribes on the trek. Remarkably only one man died (of a ruptured appendix) in the two year journey. They returned in 1806, and their final report and drawings were published in 1808.

Jefferson was keen on showing that his deal with Napoleon I of France was not ridiculous. After all, it had cost fifteen million dollars to buy the territory of Louisiana (originally Jefferson just wanted to buy the city of New Orleans). Napoleon's reasons were a combination of need (he could use the money) and rationalism in the face of disaster. Napoleon had wanted to reestablish France's overseas power, and hope to base it on the rich colony of Haiti. Unfortunately the former slaves of Haiti had been revolting for over a decade, led by a brilliant soldier and politician Toussaint L'Overture. Although L'Overture was captured and died in prison, his three associates (Jean Dessalines, Henri Christophe, and Jean Petion) were highly capable in keeping the French at bay. So was yellow fever and plague that decimated the French armies. Napoleon knew he could no longer build up his overseas empire, so he took the money for what was now a white elephant. Jefferson was the beneficiary of all this, but he was aware that many questioned if the country should have spent all the money it did for this land. Since Jefferson had been critical about military expenditures that the Federalists had practiced under Washington and Adams he really had to demonstrate the purchase was not a blunder.

The expedition did exactly that. It suggested the huge natural resources now under American control. It also countered claims from other European countries to the west coast of the U.S. (Russians in Alaskan and California, Spaniards in the Southwest, and England in Canada - especially after the exploration of MacKenzie in British Columbia). Therefore it can be said that Jefferson's deal was of critical importance to the future of the U.S.

The film concentrates of the expedition to the point of it reaching the Pacific, with MacMurray as Lewis and Heston as Clark, and Donna Reed as Sacajawea. A fictitious romance between Heston and Reed is created (actually a triangle, as she is married to French trapper Alan Reed). She eventually has to decide to stay with Clark, to the detriment of his career, or leave him. And in the end the only person who can help her is the President (Herbert Heyes).

As the sole film about this great undertaking it is a good film, not a great one. It ends with the successful return of the leaders to Washington. It does not follow the other events of the westward expansion of the period to be discussed: the controversy of the expedition of Zebulon Pike into what is now Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas in 1805 - 06, the Burr Conspiracy and treason trial (see "Magnificent Doll"), and the tragedy of Lewis. Lewis was appointed first governor of the territory, but had political problems from the first day. He was ordered to return to Washington in 1809 to answer questions, but he died violently on the trip at Grider's Mill, a spot on the desolate "Nachez Trace" of Tennessee. Either he committed suicide (most books say he did) or he was murdered by his enemies. Clark died in 1837.

The "river " movie-as opposed to road movie- was born with Huston (African queen,1950),then continued by Preminger's"River of no return"(1954)."The far horizons" is an entertaining adventure yarn,with a nice cinematography ,a good use of the cinemascope and a very fine cast.Donna Reed stands out,her portrayal of the Indian heroine is very modern,and the last sequence is totally unusual in this kind of movie.

The story is divided into a prologue ("civilization"),the main part (the expedition),and an epilogue (back to" civilization").The dialogue is wittier than in an average western.Some remarks about women's position in both societies are smart .

The "river movie" will reach its artistic peak during the seventies with Herzog's "Aguirre,der Zorn Gottes"(1972)(also an expedition!),the same year as John Boorman's "deliverance".In the nineties,it was still hip,as "the river wild" (1994)shows.

"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.