Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.5

The Man from Laramie Blu-ray Movie Review

Mann, what a western!

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 15, 2014

Seldom has a major film genre been so convincingly reinvigorated as in the case of the vaunted collaboration between director Anthony Mann and star James Stewart, which produced five fascinating westerns in the fifties (as well as such other differing genre stalwarts as The Glenn Miller Story, Thunder Bay and Strategic Air Command). Suddenly what had largely devolved over the years into “cowboys and Indians” popcorn fare found a new voice and a new conscience in the Mann-Stewart films. By the time Mann and Stewart had gotten to the fifth in their quintet of so-called “adult” westerns, they were obviously simpatico on an almost subliminal level, and this film, 1955’s The Man From Laramie, offers boldly baroque plot elements while never eschewing Mann’s love of complex, nuanced characters. Mann’s westerns with Stewart are almost uniformly black affairs, not afraid to peek at the sordid underbelly of the typically heroic cowboy ethos, and so it’s perhaps notable that The Man From Laramie’s titular hero, one Will Lockhart (James Stewart, of course), is a man of honorable intentions and generally friendly demeanor (as is declaimed in one of this era’s most unfortunate theme songs). In fact there’s absolutely no moral ambiguity to Lockhart at all, even when some of his actions verge on the obsessive as the film goes on. That leaves screenwriters Philip Yordan and Frank Burt to offer a veritable smorgasbord of Freudian dysfunctions affecting an extended family with whom Lockhart comes repeatedly into contact to provide a sense of volatility and menace. In some ways, this particular Mann-Stewart opus bears some of the same weighty psychological undertones of more overwrought westerns like Johnny Guitar, albeit commendably without any perceived sexual or political subtext. The film initially seems to be about one thing—Lockhart’s single minded quest to bring to justice whoever was responsible for his brother’s death— but soon reveals whole separate layers of relationships, so that ultimately much of what drives the film is actually the interplay between a ranch foreman named Vic Hansbro (Arthur Kennedy) and Alec Waggoman (Donald Crisp), an aging patriarch and land baron whom Vic sees as a surrogate father. Unfortunately for Vic, Alec has a son of his own, the ne’er-do-well Dave (Alex Nicol), whose vicious interactions with Lockhart set many of the film’s cascading plot developments into motion.

Lockhart and a grizzled older guy named Charley O’Leary (Wallace Ford) are leading a wagon train full of supplies toward a town called Coronado. Lockhart insists that they make camp at a location known as Dutch Creek, despite Charley’s insistence that they have more daylight left and should keep going. It slowly becomes evident that Lockhart had an ulterior motive for stopping at this particular place, a motive somehow linked to the burnt remains of another expedition, which are scattered in ruins around Dutch Creek.

When Lockhart, Charley and the rest of the hands make it to Coronado, Lockhart meets pretty general store owner Barbara Waggoman (Cathy O’Donnell), alerting her that supplies she has ordered and paid for have arrived. Barbara isn’t especially thrilled that the supplies have made it, hoping in a way they would have succumbed to an Apache attack on the way, and in fact she expresses surprise that Lockhart had no problem getting to Coronado from Laramie. Barbara wants out of Coronado, but a new shipment of supplies means she has no facile excuse to close up shop and move on. When Lockhart asks for her advice for any local freight he could carry on a return trip to make a few more bucks, she suggests he and his men go out to some nearby salt flats and load up on salt to take back to Laramie.

That suggestion turns out to have disastrous consequences when Dave Waggoman, Barbara's cousin, shows up at the flats, insisting that they’re on his family’s property, a huge ranch known as The Barb (whether this appellation has anything to do with Barbara’s name is never explained). First Lockhart is lassoed and dragged through a fire and then he is forced to watch in shock and horror as Dave and the Waggoman hands slaughter his mules and burn his wagons full of salt. Lockhart pays off his guys, sending them back to Laramie, but Charley wants to help Lockhart continue to hunt for the killer of Lockhart’s brother, who it turns out was a cavalry officer whose scouting party had been slaughtered by Apaches with repeating rifles. Lockhart has already discovered one of the repeating rifles in Barbara Waggoman’s general store, evidnetly left there as barter for goods by an Apache, and he wants to know how the Apaches ended up getting these prized possessions.

It’s at this point that Dave turns out to be the lynchpin on which two separate but interlocked plot points hinge. Dave’s conflict with Lockhart eventually involves Dave’s old man Alec, who actually turns out to be a generally decent, if somewhat ruthless, man. He offers to repay Lockhart the $600 Dave has cost him, but in an interesting turn of events, he threatens to charge Vic that amount, indicating that Vic should have been keeping better tabs on Dave. That in turn reveals the second plot strand, which has Vic vying for the attention of Alec, clearly thinking he’s the more able individual to take over The Barb once Alec, who is infirm, isn’t able to anymore. Alec of course feels that blood is thicker than water and that despite Dave's obvious immaturity and impulsiveness, The Barb must be passed on to him.

A somewhat underdeveloped subplot featuring the town drunk Chris Boldt (Jack Elam), a guy who initially seems to be following Lockhart and who later attacks Lockhart and soon thereafter ends up dead in an alleyway, leads to a brief detour which finds Lockhart in jail. There he’s visited by Alec who reveals a recurring dream the old man has been having about a strange interloper who shows up and kills his son. Alec of course is convinced that the dream is a premonition about Lockhart himself, especially since tensions between Dave and Lockhart have continued to escalate. Meanwhile, a feisty old woman rancher named Kate Canady (Aline MacMahon) shows up with a writ to get Lockhart sprung from stir, with one condition—Lockhart has to agree to work for her on her ranch, since she likes the cut of his jib and has a long, convoluted history with the Waggoman clan herself, sensing in Lockhart a kindred spirit.

All of these many disparate strands are finally woven together as the film moves toward its kind of interesting climax. Another dust up between Dave and Lockhart results in some unsettling developments, but finally the truth about the Apache gun sale is revealed—first to the audience, and only later to Lockhart—and in rather rapid succession various characters get their comeuppance or, in at least a couple of cases, a bit of salvation. Parts of The Man From Laramie’s screenplay are probably a bit too literary for such a down and dirty general ambience, and perhaps surprisingly, the actual denouement and resolution of the film just kinds of plops down out of nowhere like a cinematic Deus ex Machina as things wend toward their conclusion. But The Man From Laramie is a really compelling viewing experience, maybe even for those who don’t regularly count westerns among their favorite genres. Mann offers an almost John Fordian synthesis of character and location and The Man From Laramie remains an unexpectedly contemporary feeling viewing experience despite its setting in the wild and wooly west.

The Man from Laramie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Man From Laramie is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.55:1. According to materials accompanying this release, this was sourced off the original camera negative and granted a 4K scan, and the results are really gorgeous, with the exception of a couple of somewhat strange, probably inherent, issues. This slightly wider CinemaScope aspect ratio might initially seem to suggest that The Man From Laramie was shot in something akin to Fox's then brand spanking new CinemaScope 55 process, since this is a vintage 1955 film, though aspect ratio junkies will know that CinemaScope could project as wide as 2.66:1, even if the norm was usually around 2.35:1, depending on the type of soundtrack involved. Even earlier CinemaScope films like The Robe have appeared on Blu-ray in this somewhat less prevalent aspect ratio as well. What's really evident in this return to the film's original aspect ratio is the slightly "warped" appearance of the CinemaScope image when, for example, Mann and iconic cinematographer Charles Lang pan across the expansive vistas of the American southwest. Colors are very accurate looking and nicely saturated, and contrast is generally good, with only a couple of day for night shots looking just slightly undercooked. Grain structure, while fine, is natural looking. A couple of lap dissolves have weird anomalies that look kind of ragged for just a passing moment, and a couple of darker shots and one or two fades exhibit what almost looks like traditional ringing (watch the scene of Barbara's Native American helper climbing the ladder after Lockhart has been attacked by Boldt for a good example). These are but minor quibbles in what is another generally stellar looking high definition presentation from the auspices of Grover Crisp and Sony-Columbia.

The Man from Laramie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Man From Laramie's original four track stereo mix is nicely recreated via DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 on this Blu-ray, with excellent use of the surrounds to help establish the ambient environmental sounds of the prairie, as well as more forceful elements like gunfire and the thunder of horses' hooves. Despite being saddled with an almost laughable theme song (by Lester Lee and Ned Washington), George Duning's score is melodic and memorable and also spreads naturally through the surround channels. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is wide throughout this problem free track.

The Man from Laramie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Teaser (1080p; 00:58)


• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:16)


• Isolated Music and Effects Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

The Man from Laramie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Man From Laramie offers a stalwart James Stewart surrounded by a gaggle of emotionally desperate characters in a somewhat roiling stew of family dysfunction, range wars and a good old fashioned search for vengeance. If the film strays a time or two into hyperbolism, it's a small price to pay for such an invigorating viewing experience. This new Blu-ray looks and sounds great and comes Highly recommended.