The Far Country (1954)

Director:

Anthony Mann

Writers:

Borden Chase (story)
Borden Chase (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 February 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Western

Tagline:

HE CHALLENGED THE GOLD-RICH GLORY THAT WAS THE YUKON! white with snow...scarlet with sin...yellow with the dust...that lured him on!

Plot:

A self-minded adventurer (Jeff Webster) locks horns with a crooked lawman (Mr. Gannon) while driving cattle to Dawson.

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | Scarred Face | Paddlewheel Boat | Hired Gun | River Boat

Cast

James Stewart	...	Jeff Webster
Ruth Roman	...	Ronda Castle (owner, Skagway Castle & Dawson Castle saloons)
Corinne Calvet	...	Renee Vallon
Walter Brennan	...	Ben Tatum (Jeff's partner)
John McIntire	...	Skagway Sheriff Gannon
Jay C. Flippen	...	Dawson Marshal Rube Morris
Harry Morgan	...	Ketchum (Castle driver / miner) (as Henry Morgan)
Steve Brodie	...	Ives (Castle driver / miner)
Connie Gilchrist	...	Hominy (co-owner, Dawson Hash House)
Robert J. Wilke	...	Madden (Gannon gunman) (as Robert Wilke)
Chubby Johnson	...	Dusty (Dawson miner)
Royal Dano	...	Luke (Dawson miner)
Jack Elam	...	Frank Newberry (Gannon's deputy)
Kathleen Freeman	...	Grits (co-owner, Dawson Hash House)
Connie Van	...	Molasses (co-owner, Dawson Hash House)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | UK:U | West Germany:12 (nf) | South Korea:12 | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #18975) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Goofs:

Factual errors: The film takes place in 1896. Ronda Castle contracts Jeff Webster to drive her caravan until Dawson, Canada. Nevertheless, that Canadian miner town-site was named Dawson only in January 1897.

Quotes:

[Jeff accidentally drives his cattle through a crowd attending a hanging]
Skagway Sheriff Gannon: What's going on here? You there!
Jeff Webster: They got a little out of hand. I'm sorry!
Skagway Sheriff Gannon: You're sorry? You just busted up a function of the law, that's what you did. The people of Skagway don't like lawbreakers. They go to a lot trouble and expense to prove it! New gallows, new rope, thirteen steps all counted out right and proper, with each step costin' not less than twelve dollars per each and you drive a herd of cattle through the population. You busted up everything, that's what you did. And you're sorry!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Anglaise et le duc, L' (2001)

Soundtrack:

PRETTY LITTLE PRIMROSE

Holy Cows!

Mann photographs the Alberta Rocky Mountains in a superb fashion, and Jimmy Stewart and Walter Brennan give enjoyable performances as they always seem to do.

But come on Hollywood - a Mountie telling the people of Dawson City, Yukon to elect themselves a marshal (yes a marshal!) and to enforce the law themselves, then gunfighters battling it out on the streets for control of the town?

Nothing even remotely resembling that happened on the Canadian side of the border during the Klondike gold rush. Mr. Mann and company appear to have mistaken Dawson City for Deadwood, the Canadian North for the American Wild West.

Canadian viewers be prepared for a Reefer Madness type of enjoyable howl with this ludicrous plot, or, to shake your head in disgust.