Must See: The Man from Laramie (1955)

The best of the classic westerns are the most complex, while also keeping their clear good vs. evil themes. If, when someone says cowboy, you just think John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, make room for one of the best actors to play the type, Jimmy Stewart. Here Stewart plays an undercover cavalry officer out for revenge, but first he has to discover the identity of the gunrunner who sold the guns to the Apaches that murdered his brother.

Director Anthony Mann was good at bringing crime themes and noir styles to the western genre, then further raising those movies to epic levels by throwing in some Shakespearean, mythological or Biblical themes and structure. Laramie stands out among the eight movies Mann made with Jimmy Stewart, and is one of the most interesting, powerful and beautifully shot westerns ever made.

There's a tough old rancher named Waggoman, who's going blind and whose real son is a fully grown spoiled brat with a talent for dispensing brutal violence. The foreman, their future in law, acts more like a son; he's a decent fellow who cares more about the family and land than the biological heir, but sees he will probably be left out when the patriarch dies. Though the violent scenes will be seared into your memory, such as Stewart getting dragged through a campfire, or his agony at having his hand shot, the most haunting might be Waggoman's nagging premonition that a tall man will come one day to kill his son. Realizing Stewart is that avenging figure, Waggoman is desperate to get rid of him. He has good reason to be afraid; Stewart may seem meek, but you wouldn’t want to see him when he’s angry.

Jimmy Stewart was a fantastic actor, still a little underrated; the western is a genre as wide and varied as the setting is sweeping; they don’t make them like this anymore: this movie is your proof of all those claims. And just try to get the theme song out of your head. Watch if you're a western fan, and recommend it to that friend who says they don't like the genre.

See it Sunday, October 21 at 6:00 PM on TCM.

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