The Man from Laramie (Widescreen/Full Screen)

The Man from Laramie aspires to an epic grandeur beyond its predecessors. It's the only one in CinemaScope, and Stewart's personal quest is subsumed in a larger drama--nothing less than a sagebrush version of King Lear, with a range baron on the verge of blindness (Donald Crisp), his weak and therefore vicious son (Alex Nicol), and another, apparently more solid "son," his Edmund-like foreman (Arthur Kennedy). There are a few too many subsidiary characters, and the reach for thematic complexity occasionally diminishes the impact. But no one will ever forget the scene on the salt flats between Nicol and Stewart--climaxing in the single most shocking act of violence in '50s cinema--or the final, mountaintop confrontation.

For decades, the film has been seen only in washed-out, pan-and-scan videos, with the characters playing visual hopscotch from one panel of the original composition to another. It's great to have this glorious DVD--razor-sharp, fully saturated (or as saturated as '50s Eastmancolor could be), and breathtaking in its CinemaScope sweep. --Richard T. Jameson

The DVD transfer is nothing but spectacular. I've never seen colors like this anywhere and there's plenty of scenery to "wow" at. Amazing actually but that's an Anthony Mann trademark. Just jumped into my top five all time list. 5 mules, still standing.


A Great Farewell to a Phenomenal Partnership   August 2, 2002
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

In the 1950's, James Stewart and director Anthony Mann made eight films together, including five westerns. The first was "Winchester '73", the last was "The Man From Laramie". Every film was a masterpiece. There was always a throughline of theme and plot, and Stewart's character was always a loner with a mean streak who is brought back from the brink by the love of a good woman...or something similar to that...but it didn't matter. These five movies are among the best of the western genre, and "The Man From Laramie" stands tall as one of Stewart's greatest performances.
Stewart comes to a small New Mexico town, ostensibly to deliver goods to the general store, but he's actually an undercover Cavalry officer in search of the man or men who sold the local Apache a load of rifles, which were then used to massacre a Cavalry platoon, among them Stewart's younger brother. His investigation brings him in contact with the town's patriarch and his psychotic son (see "King Lear" and the more recent "Road to Perdition"), and while it seems Stewart is getting sidetracked he's actually on the right road, heading inexorably toward the brutal truth and the vicious need for revenge in his own soul.
Anthony Mann was a major director, he gets great performances from all his actors and the scenery in his movies is always breathtaking. With a great actor like Stewart working (and working hard) for him, Mann could explore the darker aspects of the American western, he could go places the brilliant but "straight" John Ford never thought of going. And Stewart, in dire need to tarnish his All-American Boy routine which was growing old fast, dug into these roles with a gusto actors like DeNiro and Brando would have been afraid to muster. These films made up one of the great collaborations between director and star of all time; and they went out with a bang, a classic confrontation between hard men who know more about their guns and their horses than they'll ever know about themselves that must be on the short list of anybody who wants to swim in the deep and warm waters of the Western.


Sturdy Mann Western   December 5, 2001
James Stewart and Mann invented the " adult" western with films such as " Winchester 73" and others. This is also a fine film that benefits from a fine performances by Donald Crisp, Aline McMahon, Alex Nicol and one of the best ...Arthur Kennedy.

The plot of this film does resemble" Duel In the Sun" Two Brothers, Big Ranch...etc....Today..westerns are made to show off (fake) cowboy hats...and absurd macho entendres..with special effects of course...all this junk is needed you see because these "NEW" films have hackneyed screenplays..idiot directors who think they are the second coming of John Ford and A. Mann..0..and blaring high decibel film scores....

All this mayhen is needed today to cover up the fact that these NEW westerns...are pure junk..."The Man From Laramie" will be worth seeing decades from now...when todays westerns...have been relegated to Gilligan,s Island...