The Far Country (1954)

[SeanJoyce]

The Naked Spur reigns supreme for me and it's the one most in need of the HD treatment; all of the location shooting in the Colorado Rockies make it one of the most gorgeous movies ever made, period.

Winchester '73 is a close second for me...very intelligently-drawn screenplay, and Duryea kicks ass there.

After that it's sort of a mixed bag. The Man from Laramie was solid but I didn't like Man of the West and I can't recall if it was Bend of the River or The Far Country, but I thought it was pretty uneventful.

Happy to give them all second looks though.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

What exactly are you disagreeing with? You say it's one of their best collaborations. Well no one said it wasn't, they just stated it's not Winchester '73, or Naked Spur, which are considered to be among the best of their collaborations. So, are you disagreeing with that? Would you say The Far Country is better than Winchester?

Considering there were three previous posts placing it as a comparatively minor Mann western, I'd say it's pretty obvious. And yes, I do personally find it superior to Winchester and even Spur (both of which I like but find the latter somewhat undermined by Ryan's uncharacteristically weak performance : he's a favorite actor and he's exceptional in his other two Mann films, but he's so obvious in Spur I can never see the partners falling for his act). Sorry if that causes you such consternation.

[MifuneFan]

Using a term like comparatively minor to describe what they said is a gross exaggeration, but I'll just leave it at that.

[CinemaScope]

Bend Of The River & The Naked Spur are 3-strip Technicolor, so a restoration could be a long time a'coming (but they could look really great). I find The Man From Laramie a bit boring & James Stewart is a little bit too intense for me in The Naked Spur. My three must buys are, Winchester '73, Bend Of The River & The Far Country. If Criterion has Winchester '73, I hope it's not too long before they release it.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Using a term like comparatively minor to describe what they said is a gross exaggeration, but I'll just leave it at that.

Since you're clearly not leaving it, how else would you interpret -

Originally Posted by Gunsnroses092789

This is a good film, but certainly not Winchester, Naked or Bend good.

I have no problem with others holding that opinion, just as I have no problem with seanjoyce ranking The Naked Spur higher than me or CinemaScope liking Laramie less than me: the movies we like or love are purely subjective and I'm always happy to see people talking about Mann. I merely posted, without malice, my own more enthusiastic assessment and rating of the film at a point in the thread when it was regarded as a still welcome low ranker in the hierarchy (specifically fourth of five). Why this should be a cause of such confusion that it merited a call out post on a board where, among other things, posters offer their personal opinions of movies is beyond me, though you do seem determined to take umbrage.

[SGFfilmfan]

What's with this stupid American attitude that everything and his uncle has to be ranked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like all of the Mann/Stewart films. THE END!

[Thomas Veil]

Originally Posted by SGFfilmfan

What's with this stupid American attitude that everything and his uncle has to be ranked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like all of the Mann/Stewart films. THE END!

I rank your post around 17th or 18th

[gates70]

Mine!

[captainsolo]

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

The Far Country began filming on August 19, 1953. That was several months after U-I shut down all departments and switched to 100% widescreen production.

There is more information on this page of our website including primary source documents from the studio. http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/the-fir...-of-widescreen

This makes sense with the film coming after the changeover date. I do think the problem with the DVD is that the framing wasn't applied very well in every instance (they seem to have just applied a 1.85 mask to the pre-existing 1.33 transfer on the DVD) and I'm sure the upcoming Arrow release will do a much better job. Most of the film visually seems to indicate widescreen composition anyway-I was just surprised at how well it still worked in 1.33.

The pre-orders are now up and as usual it seems the UK version will cost roughly half the USA release once you remove VAT and convert GBP to USD. So I think it will be UK for me unless there's a situation as happened on RONIN where the US version suddenly dropped in price to match the identical UK disc.

[EVERYONE LIES]

I’m glad this is getting a 4K restoration but it would have been nice if Arrow was able to secure all the Universal Jimmy Stewart movies instead of some of the lackluster companies that got their hands on some of the others.

[captainsolo]

I’m hoping this will sell well enough that they will be able to do more. Winchester 73 and Naked Spur are still without major BD releases and no one has done Bend of the River in the U.K.
It would be amazing if they could do a full run of Mann titles including the lesser known Westerns like The Last Frontier. I’ve almost imported some of the French and German BDs which are mostly from dvd era masters.

[amputd]

Originally Posted by SGFfilmfan

What's with this stupid American attitude that everything and his uncle has to be ranked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE END!

Actually that’s a myth. A new survey that found Americans rank relatively low in their need to rank things. (There is no definitive data on how they feel about their uncles, however).

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

I’m hoping this will sell well enough that they will be able to do more. Winchester 73 and Naked Spur are still without major BD releases and no one has done Bend of the River in the U.K.
It would be amazing if they could do a full run of Mann titles including the lesser known Westerns like The Last Frontier. I’ve almost imported some of the French and German BDs which are mostly from dvd era masters.

Naked Spur is with WB and I ask them every year about a release. So far, no luck. It’s definitely better and more important than some of the Warner Archive westerns they’ve been churning out.

[Spirit07]

Originally Posted by amputd

Actually that’s a myth. A new survey that found Americans rank relatively low in their need to rank things. (There is no definitive data on how they feel about their uncles, however).

All my Uncles are dead, so they are all pretty rank now!

[captainsolo]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Naked Spur is with WB and I ask them every year about a release. So far, no luck. It’s definitely better and more important than some of the Warner Archive westerns they’ve been churning out.

I think there’s a problem finding good elements. The dvd was the first home release and has this odd unfocused look. I finally saw a print at a Western festival-and Mann films almost never play in rep theaters-and it was the exact same unfocused look as the dvd. I don’t know if thats the only print they have or if it’s an inherent issue.
WAC has been doing Westerns at a great pace and some have needed a lot of work so I figure they’ve got Naked Spur on their list.

[cannon1]

I like Walter Brennan supporting Stewart in this one. I always felt Millard Mitchell and Wallace Ford were somewhat miscast in Spur and Laramie, not up to the level of Stewart.

[SGFfilmfan]

Mitchell and Ford were perfect! My God!

[cannon1]

I understand everyone has different ideas. I enjoy Mann's westerns, however the secondary characters and their casting often contributed to a definite 'B' flavor to me. 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence' would be closer to my own idea of perfection.

[CinemaScope]

I always enjoy seeing Jay C. Flippen in James Stewart films, he's in three westerns, Winchester '73, Bend Of The River & The Far Country.

[SGFfilmfan]

Shipping notice for Nov. 18-19th.