The Man from Laramie

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 .

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

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.

...with this Technicolor tale examining vengeance, moral culpability, and familial loyalty. Stewart plays Will Lockhart, whose brother was killed in a cavalry ambush. The ambush was carried out by the Apaches. The question Lockhart wants answered is who provided the Apaches with the rifles used in the attack. His journey takes him to a sprawling ranch in New Mexico, lorded over by Alec Waggoman (Donald Crisp), a man who may have lived by the ethos of rugged individualism, but now, in his twilight, develops a belated sense of right and wrong.

The film also stars Arthur Kennedy as the faithful ranch employee who simmers with resentment over not being appreciated; Alex Nicol as Waggoman's hotheaded son, a character with a violent streak; and Cathy O'Donnell as Alec's niece and Lockhart's love interest.

Some of the best Westerns of the fifties were those directed by Anthony Mann and John Ford, straightforward and unpretentious, but each with an interesting approach to the requirements of the genre... Mann's films were the more prestigious, usually featuring James Stewart who, with John Wayne, was the fifties' biggest box-office draw... "The Man From Laramie" best known because of the Frankie Laine theme strong which accompanied it, is notable for (among other things) Alex Nicol's extraordinary projection of sadism, an element which dominated the best of Mann's movies... The motion picture was to be the last of the Mann-Stewart Westerns...

Stewart is cast as a wagon handler from Laramie, Wyoming, but is, really, an army officer out to avenge the death of his younger brother, a U.S. Cavalryman, massacred by the Apaches who were buying guns from unknown persons... It is these persons that Stewart is looking for..

Soon Stewart gets involved in an area of New Mexico which is ruled by the iron hand of a cattle baron Donald Crisp, a strong authoritarian "who can't live with a lie"... Crisp's one weakness is his love and care for his spoiled son, Alex Nicol...

Wild but feeble, yet vicious, Nicol - with extraordinary projection of sadism - accosts Stewart in several confrontations in which (among other outrages) Stewart is dragged through fire by horses, and has his hand held tight while Alex puts a bullet through it... Mann proceeds in this mood throughout the movie, growing even more sadistic...

Arthur Kennedy, a hard-working heavy, plays the adopted son of Crisp... He is a son in disguise, jealous of Alex, pretending to be his brother's ally and protector...

A lot of good supporting actors are cast including Cathy O'Donnell, the fragile beauty who has little to do but await patiently for an opportunity; Aline MacMahon, the fine 'ugly' woman who never leaves the old man, and Jack Elam who tries to knife James Stewart in the back...

Anthony Mann adopted an altogether tougher approach to Western mythology than John Ford... His obsessive, neurotic characters and his emphasis on violence foretell the work of Peckinpah, Leone and Eastwood...

Filmed in Technicolor, "The Man From Laramie" is a Western with new touches of brutality touching off the wide screen spectacle...