THE FAR COUNTRY (1954)

When the film opens we find Stewart as a rough outdoorsman who's been running some cattle up to Alaska.  The law don't take too kindly to the fact that he had to kill two of his men who tried to run off with the cows.  Stuff happens and next thing you know Stewart and his partners (Walter Brennan and Jay C. Flippen) are in a remote gold mining town where the local crooked sheriff (John McIntire) ain't above just straight up killing people in cold blood in order to steal their gold.

Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart's fourth western collaboration might have had a great cast, but I didn't care too much for the story.  Stewart's character is too much of an asshole to root for and the action moved around too much.  One minute we're fighting the law, then the next digging gold, then there's an avalanche, then stealing some cows, shoot out in a bar, shoot out in the street.  Sounds exciting, but it was all too jumbled up for me.  Worth a watch since it's still a good movie, but not one that I'm going to be revisiting any time soon.

Mann - Stewart westerns:

WINCHESTER '73
BEND OF THE RIVER
THE NAKED SPUR
THE MAN FROM LARAMIE

THE GLENN MILLER STORY (1954)

Did you know the 1941 Glenn Miller song "Chattanooga Choo Choo" was originally called "Chattanooga Fuck You"?

I know absolutely nothing about Glenn Miller and from watching this film...I still don't know much!  But I did really enjoy Jimmy Stewart's performance.  And since he was the main reason I watched the movie I walked away satisfied.

The film opens with a young man, Glenn, down on his luck. He's traveling around, playing in various bands, but they just don't have "the sound" that he likes. Things continue on this way for about an hour, until finally he gets his big break with a song he composed called "Paraplegic Pussy Pounder"...whoops!  Sorry that was Sexcrement, not Glenn Miller. Sorry. I meant to say "Moonlight Serenade". And, maybe I'm showing my ignorance here, but it sounded a whole lot like the stuff he was poo-pooing earlier. I guess it had a bigger sound and was more polished, but that was the only noticeable difference I heard.

I would complain about the story being too quick and lightweight, but I think the intention of the filmmakers was to make a movie about the music, not a movie about the man. And in that respect it did a good job. So good in fact that I've been listening to the Sirius "40's on 4" nonstop for like two days! I'm actually really digging this stuff. Which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise since I've always enjoyed the music Woody Allen uses in his films.

Back to the film...it's lightweight, but enjoyable and Jimmy does an excellent job, as always. I can't say the same about June Allyson. Whether you watch it or not really depends on your interest in the subject matter or, like me, your interest in James Stewart. That said (now that I've done some reading about Glenn online) I would actually enjoy seeing a more serious film about his life and mysterious death.

THUNDER BAY (1953)

Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart followed up their collaboration on the excellent THE NAKED SPUR with THUNDER BAY. Stewart is a hardworking man determined to find oil in the Gulf no matter what, even if it fucking kills him! His financial backer (Jay C. Flippen) is just as determined and has invested all of his money into this project. If it fails they're fooked, but things aren't just as easy as setting up a rig and pumping the oil out. No siree Bob, the local shrimp fishermen believe the oilers are gonna kill all of the shrimp, so they'll stop at nothing to get these assholes out of here...even if they have to blow up the entire oil rig!

On a technical level, the film is fine and looks great. Also the acting is good, especially Stewart who carries the entire thing with his portrayal of a man-possessed. The thing that pulls the movie down is the script. It's passable, but I wish that it had been grittier and never included the second romantic subplot between Stewart and Joanne Dru. The Dan Duryea / Marcia Henderson romance actually added to the film, but the Stewart / Dru one made no sense and it was a distraction from the exciting oil drilling story. And speaking of oil drilling, I wish there had been a little introduction to off shore drilling earlier on in the film (maybe in a meeting with the towns folk). I don't know shit about off shore drilling, so when they started yelling about air pockets and water spurting up through the hole I had no fucking clue what was going one except that it seemed pretty important.

Overall, an entertaining picture, but it's pretty dated, simplified and overly melodramatic. A must-watch for Stewart fans though.