This film comes from late in the Golden Age of the Western. It still presents a heroic drama, but it also hints of changes the genre was about to undergo. How does The Man From Laramie compare to other Westerns we have seen in class? How does it present, or reconfigure, such motifs as the vision of the open frontier, the contrast between open land and the domestic sphere, or between independence and the demands of family, and conflicts over justice and authority?
Consider the ambiguities in the film's presentation of character. What do we make of the motivations of James Stewart's hero? To what degree do we sympathize with Arthur Kennedy's Vic, even though he is ultimately the villain? How do we regard Donald Crisp's old patriarch, whose increasing physical blindness echoes his metaphorical blindness towards his own son? What sort of drama is played out this father figure and his actual and metaphorical sons?
Consider the film's visual style. How does it make use of the wide screen? How do the characters relate to the landscape? And how direct is the film'sd depiction of violence?