good movie it was well worth the price we paid for it, movie was in good condition
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart deliver the goods
Added 5/10/2009
In 1950, film noir director Anthony Mann and acting legend Jimmy Stewart teamed up to form one of the most creative, legendary and lucrative collaborations of all time, rivaling the classic duo of Ford and Wayne. Winchester 73 was the first in five movies the two legends would make together. The last of the five was...
The Man From Laramie (1955)
Stewart plays an ex army captain seeking revenge for the death of his brother. His search leads him to Coronado, a town owned by iron fisted rancher Alec Waggoman played by the always enjoyable Donald Crisp.
Stewart ends up in the middle of Waggoman family politics while he deals with his own feelings of loss, anger and pain. Mann movies always seem to have hints of King Lear in them and this movie is no exception. There is Waggomans spoiled and psychotic son Dave played by Alex Nicol and the seemingly more level headed ranch foreman Vic played by Arthur Kennedy, both of whom are vying to be Crisps successor.
The movie also features an enjoyable performance by Aline MacMahon as the last rancher who's land Crisp hasn't gobbled up yet and who seeks Stewarts aid in dealing with an escalating ranch war. She is wonderfully sassy and her and Stewart play well off each other.
There is an amazing scene where an angry Nicol, stinging from a humiliating defeat by Stewart, shoots Stewart in the hand point blank. It is an intense, violent, almost violating act and Stewart plays it brilliantly. The act is so violent that even Nicols men seem shocked. They, rather gently, help Stewart put his gun belt back on, and help him on his horse.
A slumped and beaten Stewart slowly rides off.
It is probably one of the most memorable scenes in movie western history. The finale is pure Mann.
Seeing this restored technicolor gem in its original aspect was a real treat. I don't think that Stewart would have been as convincing as "Ransom Stoddard" in MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962) if it had not been for his tenure with Mann.
Stewarts work in the films of Anthony Mann informs his performance in "Liberty Valance". Sergio Leone commented that "Valance" was his favorite Ford film because he felt Ford seemed to have discovered "pessimism". Perhaps Ford was influenced by Mann as much as Mann was by Ford. At any rate, a truly great film.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
"This is the most unfriendly country I've ever been in."
Added 5/7/2009
The last of the collaborations between James Stewart and director Anthony Mann, The Man From Laramie is the most ambitious even if it isn't always completely successful. On one level it's a standard revenge Western, with Stewart looking for the gunrunners who caused his brother's death, but his hunt takes in rancher Donald Crisp's powerful but dysfunctional dynasty and its divisions as well, and its through them that the film moves into almost mythically tragic territory. With foreman and almost adopted son Arthur Kennedy devotedly but thanklessly running the ranch for him and constantly trying to protect the old man from the feckless stupidity and sadism of his natural son Alex Nicol it soon becomes clear that not all the bad guys are that bad. Indeed, everything Kennedy does wrong is done out of the best motives that are constantly thwarted, turning what could easily have been a stereotypical villain into a genuinely tragic figure as he realises the man he regards as a second father sees him only as a mere employee (interestingly, James Gray used this same character arc for Joaquin Phoenix's character in The Yards). Even Crisp's autocrat is tormented by recurring dreams of a stranger riding in to destroy his family as he slowly goes blind, believing Stewart to be a virtual horseman of the apocalypse.
Along with the tormented and frustrated characters it's also surprisingly violent for its day. While it wasn't unusual for Stewart's characters to carry their own stigmata in Mann's Westerns (in Bend of the River he even hides a scar on his neck from a botched lynching), here he really suffers as he's beaten up, dragged across salt flats and through a fire and then shot in the hand in one scene alone, all of which only serves to fuel his hatred more until the affable character we met at the film's beginning has become a distant memory. In many ways it reverses the usual journey Mann put Stewart through in their Westerns: rather than going from bitterness to reluctant hero, here he starts out `nice to everybody' (as the very out-of-keeping title song puts it) to end the film all but consumed by rage.
As usual, there's admirable economy in the writing - there's a lot of plot and several key characters but it manages bring them all over and incorporate an almost mystical sense of tragic destiny without seeming rushed or contrived, offering a satisfying Western with some substance. . It's also the closest Mann ever got to his long cherished Western version of King Lear that he was finally preparing when he died during the shooting of A Dandy in Aspic. The only one of the Mann-Stewart films together to be shot in Scope, Mann uses it superbly, and not just in the mountain location shots. Check out the beautiful establishing shot of the town on Sunday evening, the Mexicans and Indians heading for church on one side of the frame while on the other the white townsfolk drink and gamble. Thankfully that's preserved in Columbia's widescreen DVD, though the only extra is a clumsily cropped trailer introduced by Stewart on the film's set.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
A western about a man from Laramie who travels to a small New Mexico town in the mid 1800's seeking to revenge the death of his brother. Excellent price and delivery time. Good quality DVD.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Mann-Stewart Combo Does It Again!
Added 3/17/2009
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.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
good movie it was well worth the price we paid for it, movie was in good condition
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart deliver the goods
Added 5/10/2009
In 1950, film noir director Anthony Mann and acting legend Jimmy Stewart teamed up to form one of the most creative, legendary and lucrative collaborations of all time, rivaling the classic duo of Ford and Wayne. Winchester 73 was the first in five movies the two legends would make together. The last of the five was...
The Man From Laramie (1955)
Stewart plays an ex army captain seeking revenge for the death of his brother. His search leads him to Coronado, a town owned by iron fisted rancher Alec Waggoman played by the always enjoyable Donald Crisp.
Stewart ends up in the middle of Waggoman family politics while he deals with his own feelings of loss, anger and pain. Mann movies always seem to have hints of King Lear in them and this movie is no exception. There is Waggomans spoiled and psychotic son Dave played by Alex Nicol and the seemingly more level headed ranch foreman Vic played by Arthur Kennedy, both of whom are vying to be Crisps successor.
The movie also features an enjoyable performance by Aline MacMahon as the last rancher who's land Crisp hasn't gobbled up yet and who seeks Stewarts aid in dealing with an escalating ranch war. She is wonderfully sassy and her and Stewart play well off each other.
There is an amazing scene where an angry Nicol, stinging from a humiliating defeat by Stewart, shoots Stewart in the hand point blank. It is an intense, violent, almost violating act and Stewart plays it brilliantly. The act is so violent that even Nicols men seem shocked. They, rather gently, help Stewart put his gun belt back on, and help him on his horse.
A slumped and beaten Stewart slowly rides off.
It is probably one of the most memorable scenes in movie western history. The finale is pure Mann.
Seeing this restored technicolor gem in its original aspect was a real treat. I don't think that Stewart would have been as convincing as "Ransom Stoddard" in MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962) if it had not been for his tenure with Mann.
Stewarts work in the films of Anthony Mann informs his performance in "Liberty Valance". Sergio Leone commented that "Valance" was his favorite Ford film because he felt Ford seemed to have discovered "pessimism". Perhaps Ford was influenced by Mann as much as Mann was by Ford. At any rate, a truly great film.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
"This is the most unfriendly country I've ever been in."
Added 5/7/2009
The last of the collaborations between James Stewart and director Anthony Mann, The Man From Laramie is the most ambitious even if it isn't always completely successful. On one level it's a standard revenge Western, with Stewart looking for the gunrunners who caused his brother's death, but his hunt takes in rancher Donald Crisp's powerful but dysfunctional dynasty and its divisions as well, and its through them that the film moves into almost mythically tragic territory. With foreman and almost adopted son Arthur Kennedy devotedly but thanklessly running the ranch for him and constantly trying to protect the old man from the feckless stupidity and sadism of his natural son Alex Nicol it soon becomes clear that not all the bad guys are that bad. Indeed, everything Kennedy does wrong is done out of the best motives that are constantly thwarted, turning what could easily have been a stereotypical villain into a genuinely tragic figure as he realises the man he regards as a second father sees him only as a mere employee (interestingly, James Gray used this same character arc for Joaquin Phoenix's character in The Yards). Even Crisp's autocrat is tormented by recurring dreams of a stranger riding in to destroy his family as he slowly goes blind, believing Stewart to be a virtual horseman of the apocalypse.
Along with the tormented and frustrated characters it's also surprisingly violent for its day. While it wasn't unusual for Stewart's characters to carry their own stigmata in Mann's Westerns (in Bend of the River he even hides a scar on his neck from a botched lynching), here he really suffers as he's beaten up, dragged across salt flats and through a fire and then shot in the hand in one scene alone, all of which only serves to fuel his hatred more until the affable character we met at the film's beginning has become a distant memory. In many ways it reverses the usual journey Mann put Stewart through in their Westerns: rather than going from bitterness to reluctant hero, here he starts out `nice to everybody' (as the very out-of-keeping title song puts it) to end the film all but consumed by rage.
As usual, there's admirable economy in the writing - there's a lot of plot and several key characters but it manages bring them all over and incorporate an almost mystical sense of tragic destiny without seeming rushed or contrived, offering a satisfying Western with some substance. . It's also the closest Mann ever got to his long cherished Western version of King Lear that he was finally preparing when he died during the shooting of A Dandy in Aspic. The only one of the Mann-Stewart films together to be shot in Scope, Mann uses it superbly, and not just in the mountain location shots. Check out the beautiful establishing shot of the town on Sunday evening, the Mexicans and Indians heading for church on one side of the frame while on the other the white townsfolk drink and gamble. Thankfully that's preserved in Columbia's widescreen DVD, though the only extra is a clumsily cropped trailer introduced by Stewart on the film's set.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
