Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Tweekums As this film opens protagonist Will Lockhart is on his way to the town of Coronado to deliver supplies to Waggoman's Store; on the way he stops briefly at the site of a battle where a cavalry unit had clearly been massacred. Once he has delivered the goods he asks store owner Barbara Waggoman if there is anything he can take back to Laramie so he isn't just taking wagons; she says that there is plenty of salt that he could take from the local salt pan so long as he keeps his eyes open for Apaches. It turns out it isn't the Apaches he needed to worry about; he is attacked by Barbara's cousin Dave; a hothead who doesn't want anybody on their land even if they are just taking salt. He destroys Lockhart's wagons and kills several of his mules. Paying off his men Lockhart stays in Coronado... he doesn't just want restitution for the wagons and mules; he has a far more personal reason to be there; his brother was one of the cavalry men killed and he is intent on finding out just who sold repeating rifles to the Apaches. Before he can find out who is responsible he will get caught in a long running feud between the Waggomans and rival rancher Kate Canady and have more than one further run in with Dave.This is a great western; largely due to the central performance from James Stewart as Lockhart; while his character is softly spoken and always polite there is always the sense that if pushed he will fight back hard. Other notable performances come from Arthur Kennedy who played Waggoman's foreman Vic Hansbro; Barbara's fiancé and the man Alec Waggoman trusts to keep his wayward son under control and Donald Crisp who plays Alec; a severe man who knows that his son isn't fit to inherit the business but loves him despite his faults. There isn't a huge amount of action but what there is is tense and in some cases quite shocking. There is a nice twist towards the end but I won't spoil it by giving any details. Filmed on location in New Mexico the scenery looked great and made a nice change from the Southern California scenery that seems to double for anywhere in America in some westerns!

Robert J. Maxwell This tale of revenge and family dynamics in the Southwest is lifted above the routine by a couple of elements. The location shooting in New Mexico is nicely done. There are a couple of stand-out scenes. And most of the important performances are splendidly executed.Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart made a number of Westerns in the post-war period that were unusual in that they revealed a sort of neurotic rage in Jimmy Stewart, previously best known for being a simple nice guy on the screen. A startling intensity began showing through his performances beginning with "It's A Wonderful Life (1946)." Whether his experiences during the war had anything to do with it or whether he was making a career move to break out of stereotyped roles, we don't know. Maybe both.In any case Anthony Mann's direction seemed to provide a channel for Stewart's rage. This is a brutal movie. More than that, it was shocking at the time of its release. It was unnerving to see someone shoot a dozen mules on the screen, for instance, and Stewart's reaction to the slaughter underlines the horror. Later there is a prolonged and graphic fist fight between Stewart on the one hand and Alex Nicol and Arthur Kennedy on the other. And, most terrible of all, a scene in which Nicol deliberately and at close range shoots a hole through captive Stewart's outstretched palm. With each outrage, Stewart is as adept at registering pain as fury.I'm going to skip over the family dynamics because they're a little complicated, though accessible to adults, and a little overdrawn. There are some women involved but they're dispensable. Everyone gets what's more or less coming to him.Alex Nicol does a fine job as the spoiled, power-hungry, narcissistic son of Donald Crisp, the old rancher who "owns this country." The problem with Nicol's role is that it's one dimensional. He has no redeeming qualities whatever, and we know from the moment he plugs Stewart's hand that he's dead meat, no matter what else happens.The same can't be said for Arthur Kennedy as the devoted surrogate "son" whose position as heir to the ranch is very fragile. But Kennedy's forte is projecting indignation -- as in "Why are you DOING this to me?", and he does it superbly, better than anyone else active on the screen during this period. And he makes his filial loyalty, his love, for Old Man Crisp believable, even touching in its abjectness.This was the last film Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart made together. Stewart opted out partly because he felt he was moving from one stereotype (the nice guy) into another (the neurotic cowboy). He made another movie along similar lines, "Night Passage" (1957), but it seemed an imitation of what Mann and Stewart had been doing together earlier.

Petri Pelkonen Will Lockhart- a mysterious man who delivers supplies to storekeeper Barbara Waggoman at Coronado.It's a town in Apache country.We learn that his brother has died, and he wants to revenge his death.He got killed in an Apache attack, and he wants to know who was selling rifles to them.He finds trouble with the Waggomans, not Barbara, though.The Waggomans is a ranching family.Vic Hansbro is the ranch foreman who's engaged to Barbara.Things turn out ugly pretty soon.When you put two greats together- Anthony Mann and James Stewart-you could never fail.They made many memorable westerns together, movies you can call classics today.The Man from Laramie (1955) is their fifth and last western collaboration.Jimmy gives most convincing performance as Will, as he always did.He has a very fine supporting cast as well.Arthur Kennedy plays Vic Hansbro.Donald Crisp is Alec Waggoman.Cathy O'Donnell portrays Barbara Waggoman.Alex Nicol is Dave Waggoman.Jack Elam plays Chris Boldt.In this movie there's a lot that's good.The way it depicts the relationship between Will and Barbara is something special.There's something sensitive, something beautiful.It's a rather haunting scene where Dave starts shooting Will's mules.In the Mann movies the landscape played a big part.It sure is a joy to the eye to watch the western view.

secondtake 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.