The Far Country

Not having done a post on a western for a couple of weeks, I decided to sit down with my box set of James Stewart westerns and watch The Far Country.

Stewart plays Jeff Webster, a man who in 1896 is leading a cattle drive to Seattle. It's the start of the Yukon gold rush, so his idea is to take the cattle from Seattle to Skagway, the disembarcation point for anybody going to Dawson in the Yukon, and then from there to Yukon to sell them and make a big profit with his partners Ben Tatum (Walter Brennan) and Rube (Jay C. Flippen). Of course, it's not going to be so simple.

Just as the boat to Skagway is taking off, Jeff's two trail hands try to get the captain to stop it, claiming that Jeff is a murderer. The boat can't well turn around in harbor, so Jeff is able to hide in the cabin of lovely Ronda (Ruth Roman), who is going up to Dawson to start a saloon to serve the miners. So Jeff is safe for a while, at least.

In Skagway, the law catches up with him, mostly because his cattle accidentally disrupt a public hanging. When the law in town, "Judge" Gannon (John McIntire) arrests Jeff, he finds out about the murder accusation, which Jeff is able to get off of because he points out he killed to trail hands who were trying to rustle his cattle. But, there's still the disturbing the peace thing in Skagway, and the corrupt judge fines Jeff and his partners one herd of cattle.

With no money and no cattle, Jeff has to take on as a trail hand with Ronda and her crew, with one other member being young Renee (Corinne Calvet), a Quebecker making her way to Dawson, which after all is in Canada. But first Jeff has to liberate his cattle and get them to Canada before Gannon can stop him. After some difficulty, everybody makes it to Dawson.

Jeff sells his cattle, and with the money decides he's going to try panning for gold himself and getting a claim. That's all well and good, but who should show up but Gannon and his henchmen. They start jumping other people's claims and even shooting those who resist! It's up to Jeff to make things right....

The Far Country is another collaboration between Stewart and director Anthony Mann, who made a series of pretty darn good westerns in the early to mid 1950s. This one is more than entertaining enough, although some would probably say it bears no resemblance to the real gold rush. It has everything you could ask for in an action western, including the action, a bit of romance, redemption and some lovely vistas courtesy of Canada's Jasper National Park. Unfortunately, the print on the DVD looked a bit grainy at times. (For the price, that was probably to be expected.)

Still, if you want to sit back with a western that's going to entertain you, The Far Country will be a definite hit in that regard.