I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Good movie but grossly overrated

A Major Disappointment

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This being the northern I enjoyed most, it doesn't prompt me to analyze it (which remains a trustworthy criterion for an accomplished work, because its accomplishment and exquisiteness make needless the explanations and generalities, one doesn't analyze works this good). However, it requires thought; the 1st experience has been awesome. Made by the best director of westerns, written by B. Chase, a lavish work, lovingly and exquisitely crafted, it has a dependable cast: Brennan, Flippen, even Elam in a bit role (none of them as convincing as the less famous guy who plays the villain), and exquisite northern landscapes; it certainly is unfair to deem it a genre movie, but it's an adventure movie.The man from Wyoming's tale has the bitterness that the director accustomed us to, with life in the west, or north, being rough; and thus while some things allude to the crushing burden of life, others belong to the tropes of a conventional tale, with altruism and respect, though those characters die or succumb or drown. The unpredictability of Stewart's character comes not from his being mysterious, but on the contrary, from being ordinary, unglamorous; he's not written as a mysterious guy, but as an ordinary, shrewd and grumpy cowboy from Wyoming. But it also comes from Stewart's style, which allowed him to set a chilling undertone, and to give his '50s roles a chilling romanticism. Stewart's acting gets moments of eeriness, and others of lyrical emotion (as when discussing with the freckled girl); the result being an ordinary guy, played as a striking one, with a chilling, uncanny glamor, so that ordinary actions get a lyrical twist, reminding us of Hopkins' words about Brando playing a cowboy …. None of the characters is a hypocrite. Even the scary ones have a plainness and thoroughness.

This is sure not going to be on my list of my top 10 favorite westerns, but it has a lot going for it and it's a lot of fun to watch. It's a wonderful old-fashioned western done the way Hollywood used to do them. It has a great cast with so many of the wonderful character actors and actresses from the old days - Walter Brennan, John McIntyre, Jay Flippen, Connie Gilchrist, and others. As has been mentioned by other viewers the cinematography of the mountain vistas is spectacular, especially in the old, expensive, and therefore defunct Technicolor process. It's almost worth watching on that basis alone. The story line is interesting and keeps the viewer engaged with quite a few plot turns. My minor criticisms are in casting Jimmy Stewart as a "dark," cynical and self-interested character. Stewart is lodged too deeply in the hearts of the public as a nice guy to be able to play it that way. Another problem is the weak resolution. I remember having enjoyed watching the flick but damned if I can remember how it ended. However, that's not a big deal as the ride to the end was a lot of fun.

While I cannot honestly say it is among my favorites in Westerns, it is worth seeing, mainly because the Yukon is so beautiful, with all the mountains covered with thick snow. I do believe the scenery is breathtaking. Of course, the cast was well-assembled, the actors fitting their individual roles very well. John McIntyre was a crooked judge whom you were glad to hate. Robert Wilke, as he was in the earlier classic western "High Noon", was someone no one could like, to state it very mildly. Harry Morgan's personality was in a similar vein. Walter Brennan was his same fussy-yet-likable character, J.C. Flippen was laughable as the sorry drunk, and Ruth Roman was the best that Universal-International could find as the tempting lady who was on the crooked side. James Stewart went against type as a bitter, apathetic cowboy who was anxious to avenge the crooked judge and his crooked thugs for stealing horses, and he was willing to go all the way from Seattle to Dawson, Yukon to recover them and, again, settle a score with the crooked judge. Again, the extremely beautiful scenery was worth it all. See it.

Jimmy Stewart, soft-spoken, classically well-mannered and mild, with that inimitable drawl, was an unexpected choice to play a frontier anti-hero, and that's precisely why, unlike more conventional cowboy stars, his lanky figure and detached behavior gives Jeff Webster a vulnerability rarely seen in western protagonists, particularly his power to intermingle a sinister, fuming state with America's Everyman. Webster intractably insists he can survive best depending on and relating to no one but himself. He declines help to others in mortal danger, but doesn't expect it from them either. The story then becomes a contest between us and Mann over how long he can keep the theoretical hero from ultimately being heroic? The script hangs around holding its fire with perverse delight.Webster and his subordinate Walter Brennan constantly rub the law the wrong way while running cattle to Canada. Their key obstruction is Sheriff Gannon, the shameless boss of the corrupt border town of Skagway. Gannon administrates spontaneously without looking away from his poker hand, hanging men for inconsequential offenses. He impounds Webster's herd as "payment to the government." Gannon is a cheat who's not so much interested in confiscating Webster's cattle as he is his spirit.When Webster is enlisted to escort a cavalcade to a gold mining settlement in the Yukon by Ruth Roman's gorgeous but hardhearted saloon owner Ronda, he finds his opportunity to reclaim his livestock and flee Gannon's influence. The resulting ploy, which brings about an intrepid chase, has Webster smirking to himself, one rogue outwitting another, both taking pleasure in the game. The next scenes reveal Webster to be startlingly more callous than previously thought. And that's before his arrival in Dawson, where he lets tightfistedness prevail over propriety, selling his herd to Ronda rather than the deprived locals. She's the superstore running the small proprietorships out of business, reducing the town's livelihood to rubble. And they're defenseless to retaliate. Regardless, she's later usurped by Gannon.The plot is constantly priming Webster for redemption just for him to backpedal again. It concludes with a smidgen of doubt about the characters. Webster thinks the locals should deal with it or move camp if they don't want mortal consequences from Gannon's henchmen. Likewise, he's getting rich in the gold rush. The sooner he can turn his back, the better, and no reproach from trusty old Brennan, or the Dawson marshal, or the sweet, unselfish Renee can persuade him otherwise. Renee is the most level head in the movie, repeatedly urging Webster to take a stand while Ronda urges him to take advantage. The movie stages the tiresome love triangle device in a much more interesting way than usual, with both women smitten by our severe cowboy, but again Mann plays with us. Each time we applaud Renee, the script flings Ronda into Webster's gaze instead.It's a conundrum of the movie star figure. Because Stewart was long-established as a guileless average middle-class fellows innocently draw into conflict, it's a test of our trust in the studio-era tradition of typecasting. And if Mann understands that his audience feels that it's certain that he gets wise to heroism, he can imbue his movie with a concentrated emotional look at hostility.