The Far Country

Directed by ANTHONY MANN

Starring JAMES STEWART RUTH ROMAN WALTER BRENNAN

1954

Released 11 NOV

Blu-ray

nthony Mann was already a great director, and James Stewart was already in 1950, kicking off a collaboration that would see them make eight pictures, five of which were westerns, two of which were non-westerns that were still pretty good, and one of which was the story of Glenn Miller. was made towards the end of that run; it’s the least of their westerns and, serendipitously, it preceded their greatest, . With a story and script by Borden Chase, is a little clouded over by a nagging sense of once-more-around-the-block, or, dare I say it, a touch of Mann…ui. (Factually, it’s Borden Boredom.) From the opening minutes, its strategy and imagery feels a little recycled and a little presumptuous, lacking the sting and surprise of the previous year’s piss-and-vinegar, Technicolor noir-western, .