The Man from Laramie (1955)

(On Cable TV, July 2021) While it’s interesting to see Jimmy Stewart take on darker roles in 1950s western, there’s a feeling that once you’ve seen two or three of them, you’ve seen almost all of them. Oh, I wouldn’t necessarily call The Man from Laramie generic or uninteresting — it’s got plenty of plotting going on in-between its protagonist, warring ranchers, weapon deals and superb landscapes. But Stewart isn’t nearly as interesting here as in similar 1950s westerns — he’s closer to his all-American likable persona, and you don’t sense his character having the kind of big flaws that drove much of the other movies. What’s left is a serviceable western — well-directed by Anthony Mann in early CinemaScope, but generic in theme and tone. It’s not a bad movie, but you may have trouble recalling what The Man from Laramie is about shortly after seeing it, doubly so when compared to the other Mann/Stewart films or the era.