Drama

Western

The Man from Laramie

William Goetz Productions

Columbia Pictures

United States of America

English

James Stewart

Arthur Kennedy

Donald Crisp

Cathy O'Donnell

Alex Nicol

Aline MacMahon

Wallace Ford

Jack Elam

John War Eagle

James Millican

Gregg Barton

Boyd Stockman

Frank De Kova

Beulah Archuletta

Jack Carry

Bill Catching

Frank Cordell

Kay Koury

Frosty Royce

Eddy Waller

Anthony Mann

Philip Yordan

Frank Burt

George Duning

Charles Lang

William A. Lyon

Cary Odell

Thomas T. Flynn

Henri Jaffa

Morris Stoloff

Lester Lee

Ned Washington

James Crowe

William Holland

Clay Campbell

Helen Hunt

John P. Livadary

George Cooper

Arthur Morton

William Goetz

Harry Froboess

Ted Mapes

Chuck Roberson

Jack N. Young

You Scum!

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

**_Mid-50's Anthony Mann Western with Jimmy Stewart and Arthur Kennedy_**

Jimmy Stewart stars as the titular man who meets a storekeeper (Cathy O'Donnell) while delivering supplies to a Southwestern town in Apache territory. It doesn't take long for him to clash with the rash son of domineering rancher (Alex Nicol and Donald Crisp). Despite the mounting tensions, he stays in town perhaps because he's sweet on the woman, but so is the rancher's formidable foreman (Arthur Kennedy). More importantly, he's searching for the mystery man who's been selling rifles to the Apaches.

Disregarding the hopelessly hokey title song during the opening & ending credits,  Anthony Mann's "The Man from Laramie" (1955) is a winning mid-50's Western, the last of five Westerns Mann did with Stewart and easily the best of the latter four. The vast New Mexican landscapes in gorgeous color are magnificent. The compelling story is a little complicated, but not overly so. O'Donnell is winsome as the proverbial girl-next-door.

It runs 1 hour, 43 minutes, and was shot in Taos & Santa Fe, New Mexico.

GRADE: B+

James Stewart Brawls

Original Trailer

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The Man from Laramie

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Cast

James Stewart

Arthur Kennedy

Donald Crisp

Cathy O'Donnell

Alex Nicol

Aline MacMahon

Wallace Ford

Jack Elam

John War Eagle

James Millican

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