The Far Country (1954)
A decent yet another western from Anthony Mann with James Stewart, but I found it uneven in places. It starts off in a slightly light and slightly silly tone, which had me thinking this was going to a bit more of a casual humorous movie compared to the other westerns with those two. The stakes get more serious and Stewart’s character has an interesting development going from a “every man for himself” kind of guy, to standing up for the community in the end.
Stewart as always plays his role well and Brennan is really likeable as the happy sidekick. I did feel the rest of the cast became too much wooden caricatures of themselves, adding to the tonal confusion of what the movie is trying to be. Nothing can take away from the novelty of seeing a western taking place in Alaska. Not that the elements come so much into play for the story, but it is a nice change of scenery none the less.
Rating: 3.5