The Man From Laramie

The obvious question that arises when watching this flick: what the hell is wrong with Laramie? James Stewart’s character supposedly comes out of there, and he starts off the movie as a surly poke…and pretty much stays that way throughout the running time. Not that he’s alone in that mood; pretty much every character in this story is about as cuddly as sandpaper. Yeah, it’s a revenge flick, so some amount of that is warranted--but you have to have a rooting interest for at least one of the characters, don’t you? Add into all that orneriness a dash of nonsensical motivations--including one major plot point that doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense--and you are reminded that not all the Westerns of days of yore were cinematic masterpieces. There’s enough oater entertainment here to make watching through the feature length manageable, but that’s not really a spittoon-ringing endorsement. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the hilariously bad theme song: It’s downright ridiculous, musically corny, and seems lyrically to have absolutely to do with the actual movie. You have to wonder who the hell thought the song was a good idea. All in all…be careful when you’re roaming the wide open range--sometimes there are "cow pies" you might step in. This may be one of them.