Watch The Man from Laramie For Free

Absolutely Fantastic

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is one pretty good western drama. The stranger comes to a small town. He begins to question citizens about the murder of a group of soldiers by Apaches. In the meantime, he clashes with the son of a powerful rancher....The life of the main character is uncertain and tense. This situation has been caused by his mysterious motivations. The story and themes are typical for westerns of that period. A lone hero bravely confronts the powerful tyrant in a small town. Standing conflicts and unknown past of the main character makes this film lively and interesting. This movie is actually a search for the main villain. Frankly, I am pleased that the Apaches are not presented in an extremely negative way, they are a kind of a "cruel court" at the end of the film.The story is quite tense, but predictable in certain segments. The scenery is quite impressive. Mr. Mann has, creating nature in which the story takes place, painted the individual characters.James Stewart as Will Lockhart is again (as always) dominant. The actor who gives a different dimension to the heroic roles. His character has a direct impact on the atmosphere in the film. His performance is always complemented by a strong and sympathetic female character.

THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is a pretty decent western teaming Jimmy Stewart with Anthony Mann for the last of their western collaborations throughout the 1950s. I've always loved Jimmy Stewart and he doesn't disappoint here either, playing a thoroughly likable trader who becomes involved with some dastardly landowners and stands alone against them through steadfast stubbornness.Stewart always brought a lightness of touch and warmth to his characters even when they weren't written as such and that's the case here. The plot is a typical one for a western but enlivened by some truly vicious scenes, particularly the early assault by Dave and his men which comes out of nowhere and is easily as gruelling as anything the modern-day likes of THE WALKING DEAD can care to throw at us.The film is well shot and pretty lively with always something of interest to keep you watching. Mann brings the isolated desert landscapes to life with decent cinematography and fills the screen with interesting performers including Arthur Kennedy playing a much more rounded character than you'd expect and Donald Crisp as the hard-headed patriarch. Mann even finds time to include Jack Elam in a small but memorable performance. THE MAN FROM LARAMIE isn't one of the best westerns out there but it's certainly an enjoyable one that ticks all of the right boxes.

This final Mann-Stewart western seemed to be a kind of pastiche of elements from their previous ones - including (just off the top of my head) the grizzled old sidekick (Wallace Ford instead of Walter Brennan or Millard Mitchell), the violent psycho (Alex Nicol instead of Dan Duryea), Stewart being physically abused, and Arthur Kennedy co-starring again (Bend Of the River).On the other hand, it's very different. Mann-Stewart westerns usually don't include the "rich landowner" type of storyline, and usually don't take place in town (or, not for long). The "big ranch" western and the "town" western are hardly ever as interesting to me as the ones that take you on an adventure across open country. Maybe because the former type tend to be dramas, rather than action-adventures.I think this is the only Mann-Stewart western where you'll see characters drinking their coffee out of china cups and saucers (or was I imagining that?). And, though there's the usual shocking violence, it somehow seems tacked on for effect, rather than organic.The cast and direction are really great - I guess I'm not as crazy about the situations or the setting.

The Man from Laramie (1955)You have a right to expect a movie starring James Stewart, directed by Anthony Mann, and photographed by Charles Lang to be spectacular. And it is. This is one of the first full wide screen Technicolor movies, and it's one drawback might be that it is trying to apply a new format to an old and slightly tired genre. The fact it rises above its familiarity is to Stewart's credit and Mann's. Lang (who photographed an extraordinary number of great black and white films) trades stately perfect color and design for pure drama and intensity, which are very different things, but it gives a full backdrop to the high drama here.This is a beautiful movie, for sure, in its restrained way. (The fact that it's restrained when the whole world is gaping for surging new big color movies is a small miracle in itself.) Mann did a number of westerns, for which he's most known, and a few other genre pics, but first made his name as a film minor film noir director. He seems to carry over enough of the edginess and cruelty of those noirs to make his Westerns exciting rather than epic, which is a good thing. He and Stewart worked together on five westerns, and they have taken on a life of their own, and a feeling of their own that's impressive once you click into it. One of the best noir elements to the story (which was not written by Mann) is the feeling of the lone man against the world, a great theme.The key woman lead is a cliché, the widow hanging on against the odds in town. In this case she is a charming but slightly miscast Cathy O'Donnell, a favorite of mine who takes demur and innocent to the heights. You see from the outset that this widow and Stewart's good, hard working character are destined for some kind of meeting of destinies. And there are inevitable clichés, too, that you might get used to--the stoic Indians, the older woman as tough as nails (and a gem of a role), a patriarch with a thoughtful wise look that shows counteracting wisdom, and fistfights in the dust. It's all great stuff, in the Western mold. (One fight is right in the middle of a mooing herd of cattle, and it's pretty fun.) You do wonder sometime at the possibility of a super nice guy sticking it out against all these obstacles, and I mean obstacles. The domineering (and sometimes evil) family led by Donald Crisp, with the always impressive Arthur Kennedy as the chief hand, seems like more than a man could handle. But the conflict is real, and the movie makes it pertinent beyond being "just" a western. And beautifully done. Even if you don't like westerns, this will grab you anyway.