Review of The Man from Laramie (1955) by Tomas T — 20 Jan 2011

Post WWII westerns are numerous, The Man From Laramie however stands out from the mass by having a much more psychological side attached to it compared to, for example, many of the more superficially acted John Wayne westerns.

The story is typical enough for a western, an army captain seeks revenge for his recently killed brother and ends up in a border town of Coronado near Apache lands. The brother was recently slain in the area by a group of indians posessing western automatic rifles, thus the suplier of these weapons is indirectly responsible for the death of the captain's brother. The simple search turns more complex when the captain is pulled in the middle of power struggle between two local ranchers.

As said the story is nothing that extraordinary but what makes the movie shine is the acting, the non-typical situations and the character variety not often seen in westerns. The depth of each main character is worth extra mention as I have not seen a Western before which could match the depth of characters found in The Man From Laramie. As far as the acting goes, it is top notch, J.Stewart as the captain pulls an impressive role and the side actors fare not much worse. All these factors contribute to the outcome, the Man From Laramie is excelent Western, one worth recommending.