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The Far Country
The Far Country
	Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	Anthony Mann
Written by	Borden Chase
Produced by	Aaron Rosenberg
Starring	James Stewart; Ruth Roman; Corinne Calvet; Walter Brennan
Cinematography	William H. Daniels
Edited by	Russell F. Schoengarth
Production; company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	22 July 1954 (London) February 12, 1955 (New York City);
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2.5 million (US)

The Far Country is a 1954 American Technicolor Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Walter Brennan, John McIntire and Corinne Calvet. Written by Borden Chase, the film is about a self-minded adventurer who locks horns with an evil, corrupt judge while driving cattle to Dawson, Yukon Territory. It is one of the few Westerns to be set in Alaska — others include The Spoilers (1955) and North to Alaska (1960) — although it was not filmed there.^[4] This was the fourth Western film collaboration between Anthony Mann and James Stewart. The supporting cast features Jay C. Flippen, Harry Morgan, Steve Brodie, Robert J. Wilke, Chubby Johnson, Royal Dano and Jack Elam.

Plot

In 1896, Jeff Webster hears of the Klondike Gold Rush and he and friend Ben Tatem decide to drive a herd of cattle to Dawson City, Yukon. On the way, he annoys self-appointed Judge Gannon by interrupting a hanging in Skagway, so Gannon unilaterally confiscates his herd. After signing on to assist in taking supplies to Dawson, Jeff and Ben return to town to take the animals back to make them a part of the caravan, and they take off with Gannon and his men in hot pursuit. After crossing the border into Canada, Jeff uses a few well-placed warning shots to persuade Gannon's gang to give up the chase, but the judge promises to hang Jeff when he returns through Skagway.

When Jeff gets to Dawson, he finds a widespread benign lawlessness, and ignores it as none of his business. He auctions off his herd for $2 per pound on the hoof ($70/lb today) to new arrival Ronda Castle who had hired him, a saloon owner and one of Gannon's business associates, when she outbids Hominy, Grits and Molasses, co-owners of the local hash house. Both Ronda and French-Canadian gamine Renee Vallon are strongly attracted to Jeff. Now looking for their next adventure, Jeff and Ben use $40,000 ($1.5 million today) of their proceeds to buy an existing gold claim, soon doubling their money.

Ronda sets up a saloon in partnership with Gannon, who begins cheating the miners out of their claims. Gannon and his gunmen show up to grab their share (and then some), making Dawson much more dangerous. Jeff stays out of it, instead planning to sneak out by river while Gannon is otherwise occupied. However, Gannon is tipped off when Ben buys extra coffee for the long trip; his men kill Ben and wound Jeff, finally forcing him to take sides.

Jeff calls Gannon out to settle the dispute man to man, but the villain arranges an ambush. Ronda rushes out to warn Jeff and is fatally shot in the back. Jeff kills Gannon in the ensuing gunfight and the rest of his gang agree to leave town, rather than fight all the fed-up longtime residents, who have finally found their courage and have armed themselves to directly face and resist the gang.

Cast

James Stewart as Jeff Webster
Ruth Roman as Ronda Castle
Corinne Calvet as Renee Vallon
Walter Brennan as Ben Tatem
John McIntire as Judge Gannon
Jay C. Flippen as Marshal Rube Morris
Harry Morgan as Ketchum
Steve Brodie as Ives
Connie Gilchrist as Hominy
Robert J. Wilke as Madden
Chubby Johnson as Dusty
Royal Dano as Luke
Eugene Borden as Dr Vallon
Jack Elam as Newberry
Eddy Waller as Yukon Sam
Kathleen Freeman as Grits
Connie Van as Molasses^[5]

Historical background

The character of Gannon may be loosely based on that of Soapy Smith, a confidence artist and gang leader who ran the town of Skagway during the Alaska Gold Rush. He was killed in a gunfight, although not as shown in the movie. The cattle were driven to Seattle, shipped to Skagway, and then driven further to Dawson, to total about 1,500 miles driven distance.

Production

Filming locations

Athabasca Glacier, Alberta, Canada
Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada^[6]

James Stewart had developed such a rapport with his horse "Pie" that he rode in 17 films including this. He was able to get the horse to do something at liberty all by himself when the trainer was not around. Shooting on this location, the horse needed to walk from one end of a street to another with no ropes on him or anything. Stewart went up to him and whispered in Pie's ear telling him what he needed him to do. And 'Pie' did it.^[7]

Reception

The film was first released in the summer of 1954 throughout the UK,^[1] and was released in the US in February 1955.^[2] Stewart took a percentage of the profits. In 1955, William Goetz estimated that Stewart had earned $300,000 from the film.^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b British Newspaper Archive
^ ^a ^b AFI
^ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956
^ "The Far Country". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
^ "Full cast and crew for The Bend of the River". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
^ "Filming locations for The Bend of the River". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
^ "Hollywood Hoofbeats". Archived from the original on August 22, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
^ Scheuer, Philip K. (July 24, 1955). "A TOWN CALLED HOLLYWOOD: Top Stars Now Share in Profits of Major Pictures". Los Angeles Times. p. d2.