The Far Horizons

1955
6.1| 1h48m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 04 July 1955 Released
Producted By: Paramount
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Virginia, 1803. After the United States of America acquires the inmense Louisiana territory from France, a great expedition, led by William Lewis and Meriwether Clark, is sent to survey the new lands and go where no white man has gone before.

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Director

Rudolph Maté

Production Companies

Paramount

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The Far Horizons Audience Reviews

GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
dan-lach I thought it was appropriate to reflect on the following issue, "Is historical accuracy relevant to the quality of a film?" If it is manufactured to provide a true representation of history, maybe so. But if it as manufactured as an entertainment vehicle, maybe not.As a piece of fiction, I believe this film to be one of the finest works of western lore ever recorded. It appeals to both men and women. It promotes ethical values. And it fills the viewer with the full range of emotions that it is expected to.I won't waste your time with the details of the plot, you can find that by the ton here. All I can tell you is that I believe that anyone who is willing to invest the time will absolutely love this.
James Hitchcock In 1803, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were ordered by President Thomas Jefferson to lead an expedition surveying the territory that the United States had recently acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. Their expedition, which lasted several years, played an important role in increasing Americans' knowledge of the continent on which they lived and in opening it up to white settlement, but "The Far Horizons" is to date the only film on the subject.Although it is based upon a real-life event, many of the details are heavily fictionalised. A fictional love-triangle is introduced with Lewis and Clark in love with the same woman, Julia Hancock. (Julia was a real person who became Clark's first wife). The triangle becomes a quadrangle when Clark falls in love with an Indian maiden named Sacagawea, even though he is engaged to Julia. Sacagawea was also a real person, who acted as a guide to the expedition, although the love between her and Clark was an invention of the scriptwriters for which there is no historical evidence, just as there is no evidence for Lewis's love for Julia. Their relationship becomes the main focus of the film, which means that the first part of the journey, across the Great Plains, is ignored in favour of the later part through the Pacific Northwest. (Sacagawea was from the Shoshone tribe, who lived in what is today Idaho).I felt that the film would have been better, in a dramatic sense, if it had followed its own dramatic logic and ended with the marriage of Clark and Sacagawea, leaving Julia free to marry Lewis who has always loved her faithfully. (I know that would have made it even more historically inaccurate than it already is, but historical accuracy was clearly not the film-makers' priority). Instead, it ends with Sacagawea leaving Clark to return to her own people, even though she is in love with him, and him marrying Julia. It has been suggested that this ending was dictated by a Production Code which tolerated interracial love but not interracial marriages, but this cannot be correct as in "Broken Arrow", made five years earlier, the white Tom Jeffords and the Apache maiden Sonseeahray become husband and wife.Of the male leads Charlton Heston as Clark is the better, although this is far from his best performance. Fred MacMurray, who impressed me in some of his other films such as "Double Indemnity" and "The Caine Mutiny", seems particularly stiff and wooden as Lewis, so much so that I wondered whether the director had deliberately instructed him to play the role in that manner, perhaps to explain why Julia was so uninterested in him despite his devotion to her.Sacagawea is played by the white actress Donna Reed, something which has given rise to adverse comment in recent years, even though in the fifties it was certainly common for white actors to play characters of different ethnicities, generally with the help of appropriate make-up. The reason in this case was probably financial- the producers needed a well-known leading lady to act as a box-office draw, and in 1955 nearly all famous Hollywood actresses were Caucasian- but it is also possible that this particular piece of casting might have helped overcome any prejudices the audience might have felt about a mixed-race love affair. (Sonseeahray was played by another white actress, Debra Paget). Today, however, the casting of Reed seems unfortunate. Leaving questions of political correctness aside, she looks about as convincing as a Native American as the Black and White Minstrels did as black people, even with the assistance of what looks like dark brown boot-polish smeared all over her face.Sacagawea may be depicted as a sympathetic character, but the film's depiction of the Indians, portrayed as violent and treacherous, is a generally negative one. This was by no means unusual in the fifties, but even then some films such as "Broken Arrow" took a more liberal view of racial issues. The film certainly does nothing to challenge the nineteenth-century concept of America's "manifest destiny" - the idea that the West was virgin territory inhabited only by "savages" and therefore ripe for colonisation by white Americans- and this view of history can make for uneasy viewing today. The film has its virtues; it can be a rousing adventure with some decent action sequences set against the magnificent scenery of the Northwest. Its attitudes, however, mark it out as very much a product of its time. 6/10A goof. We are informed that in 1803 all the land lying west of the Rocky Mountains was "unknown territory", and it is even marked as such on a map. In fact, the Spaniards had been colonising California since the 1770s and New Mexico since the 1590s, so this land was hardly "unknown" even to Europeans. I will, however, let the film-makers off as regards the White House. Admittedly, the first written reference to the Presidential Mansion as the "White House" dates from 1811, a few years after the years during which the action takes place, but it is within the bounds of possibility that the term could have been used colloquially prior to this date.
ma-cortes Turbulent adventure set against the rich ,romantic tapestry of early Louisiana state . United States has just acquired Louisiana from France . As President Thomas Jefferson (Herbert Heyes) assigns a risked expedition led by U.S. Army Captain Meriwether Lewis (Fred MacMurray) and Lt. William Clark (Charlton Heston) as second in command and they join forces other mountain men to enter virgin trapping territory but must contend with resentful traitors , savage Indians (Larry Pennell , Eduardo Noriega) and several other things . The expeditionary group is sent to survey the territory and go where no white man has gone before . They have to overcome the dangerous land with the help of Sacajawea (Donna Reed) . Pioneer epic with great stars , gorgeous cinematography by Daniel L. Fapp and majestic landscapes filmed in spectacular scenarios . The movie is partially based on real events , narrating the story about the far country discovery , some explorers came to find the precious land through the dangerous ways , large plentiful rivers , violence and ambition that came with them . This colorful film contains beautiful scenery , tempestuous Indian attacks , war , lawless raids , a love story , intrepid men and women ; at last , in all its wild , brave magnificence , the picture of valiant scouts . Well paced , elegiac Western , including marvelous landscapes from Grand Teton National Park, Moose, Wyoming . Interesting historical/drama/Western is slightly marred by the heavily relationship between Heston and Donna Reed . This poetic film focuses the insertion of human being into nature and with the "Native Americans" . This is a lyric Western about conquerors , it's a homage to integration between human being and Nature . The whole piece of adventure teems with emotion , thrills , exotic atmosphere and being pretty entertaining . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . Charlton Heston gives a good acting as a rugged scout who falls in love for an Indian woman , Heston along with Donna Reed form a memorable couple . However , the lead roles , Fred MacMurray and Charlton Heston , were originally offered to Gary Cooper and John Wayne, but Cooper vehemently rejected the offer . Sensitive as well as enjoyable musical score by Hans J. Salter . The motion picture was professionally directed by Rudolph Mate .The real deeds were the followings : The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States, departing in May, 1804 from St. Louis on the Mississippi River, making their way westward through the continental divide to the Pacific coast. The expedition was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, consisting of a select group of U.S. Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. Their perilous journey lasted from May 1804 to September 1806. The primary objective was to explore and map the newly acquired territory, find a practical route across the Western half of the continent, and establish an American presence in this territory before Britain and other European powers tried to claim it. The campaign's secondary objectives were scientific and economic: to study the area's plants, animal life, and geography, and establish trade with local Indian tribes. With maps, sketches and journals in hand, the expedition returned to St. Louis to report their findings to Jefferson . Regarding Sacagawea character , she was a Shoshone Indian woman who arrived with her husband Toussaint Charbonneau on the expedition to the Pacific Ocean . Though she has been discussed in literature frequently, much of the information is exaggeration or fiction. Scholars say she did notice some geographical features, but "Sacagawea...was not the guide for the Expedition, she was important to them as an interpreter and in other ways. The sight of a woman and her infant son would have been reassuring to some indigenous nations, and she played an important role in diplomatic relations by talking to chiefs, easing tensions, and giving the impression of a peaceful mission.In his writings, Meriwether Lewis presented a somewhat negative view of her, though Clark had a higher regard for her, and provided some support for her children in subsequent years.
kterryl Many reviewers on this site, and the daytime host of Turner Classic Movies have said, this is the only Hollywood movie that has been made about the Lewis and Clark expedition. They have all been misinformed. This film is so lacking in historical accuracy that I am surprised the heirs of Lewis and Clark (perhaps there aren't any) have not sued the producers for slander. Nothing except the heroism of Sacajawea and the general route of the expedition are portrayed even remotely realistically. Many reviewers have pointed out errors; I will just add a few more: No one in Washington knew there were mountains between the source of the Missouri River and rivers flowing to the Pacific (Jefferson thought an all water route could be developed), the only serious Indian difficulties were met with the Blackfeet, Birchbark canoes were strictly a Chippewa product and western tribes mostly used the much more rugged dugout canoes as they had a ready supply of very large tree trunks for raw material (Idaho, between the Missouri and Columbia Rivers is still a lumber supplying country today), very few Americans knew what a buffalo was in 1806, Judith, not Julia, had her name immortalized in Montana natural features, the explorers were sending back to Jefferson reports and specimens along the way as they proceeded west but it took some time to get a finished narrative to him and some of the crewmen got their reports published before Clark's (Lewis never did finish his). And of course, most notably, Sacajawea was firmly in the familial arms of her French fur trader husband (who was a skunk) for all or most of the trip, even having a son by him on the trail; and it was very unlikely that William Clark had any romantic interest in her. She was a teen ager at the time, and I thought the 34 year old Donna Reed did a good job of playing a teen aged Indian girl, even if no one else did. Also, there actually was an incident when a boat (actually 2 boats) was pulled up around a portage on rollers on track. So we are still waiting for the movie, but there has been some non-fiction work done that is pretty good, entertaining and worth watching.