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.

Director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart combined to make several westerns and they were all very good. Make that "excellent." This is one of them and it gets high marks for an involving story.

It also features what I call "realistic dialog," along with interesting characters and a film noir feel to it. That's no surprise since Mann directed a few film noirs. Along that noir theme, be warned this is not an upbeat story, a feel-good Jimmy Stewart film that most people remember him by. In here, he's a vengeful guy here (but, yeah, still a good man at heart). Donald Crisp also demonstrates an overt double-edged sword, so to speak, being a very gruff but fair land owner.

Some of the best lines in the movie are delivered by Ailine MacMahon, an older woman friend who helps Stewart. Cathy O'Donnell plays the female romantic lead but is a bit on the bland side, frankly.

Good story.....solid western.....deserves to be better known. Buy the DVD. It''s cheap. You won't be sorry.