The Man from Laramie (1955)
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048342/]
The Gist:
The Man From Laramie is a stark Western from Anthony Mann, featuring a post-war disillusioned Jimmy Stewart. Through the film, we see the archetypes of the lone figure in the West critiqued, emasculated, and literally dragged through the dirt. Honest, Stewart gets a rough deal in this film. He is spurred onward by a revenge plot that is largely impossible to satisfy, he gets drawn into a conflict where his wagons are burned and mules are killed for no real reason, he's forcibly held and shot in the hand just for defending himself against a large posse all opposing just him, just Jimmy, and on top of that he doesn't get the girl (though this last point happens a great deal with Westerns, to maintain the myth of the lone man). Anyway, Mann infuses the character with genuine frustration, symbolizing the disenchantment following the second world war, where films became increasingly dark and cynical.
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