The Far Country
Dir: Anthony Mann
1954
**
The Far Country is one of eight collaborations between James Stewart and director Anthony Mann and one of five westerns made together. In my opinion this is where the relationship started to stagnate somewhat. I don't feel that either's heart was in this picture and it is the supporting cast that are what's best rather than the lead and the direction. The story meanders on without any real excitement until the end and even then the conclusion comes to a predictable anticlimax. Maybe if they hadn't excelled together in previous westerns it would have seemed better but the truth is that The Far Country has only a fraction of the quality that Winchester '73 possessed. It's well known that they parted way after a disagreement but one has to wonder how long this disagreement had been going on for, I would hazard a guess at around the time this film was made.