Product Details

• Actors: Fred MacMurray, Charlton Heston, Donna Reed, Barbara Hale, William Demarest
• Directors: Rudolph Maté
• Writers: Della Gould Emmons, Edmund H. North, Winston Miller
• Producers: William C. Thomas, William H. Pine
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: June 7, 2005
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007Y08UG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,256 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Far Horizons" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

THE UNITED STATES HAS JUST ACQUIRED LOUISIANA FROM FRANCE. AN EXPEDITION LED BY LEWIS & CLARK IS SENT TO SURVEY THE TERRITORY & GO WHERE NO WHITE MAN HAS GONE BEFORE. ARE THEY ABLE TO OVERCOME THE DANGERS WITH THE HELP OF SACAJAWEA?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Colourful Historical Adventure, June 30, 2005

By 

peterfromkanata (Kanata, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Far Horizons (DVD)

Released theatrically in 1954, "The Far Horizons" is an entertaining film about the Lewis and Clark expedition at the turn of the ninteenth century, a pivotal event in the history of the United States. I suspect that historians will roll their eyes at the "Hollywood" version of this famously long, arduous but important expedition that ultimately ensured that America would reach from "sea to sea". Personally I have no problem with actual events being "enhanced" for the entertainment, as well as the enlightenment, of an audience.

President Thomas Jefferson (avuncular Herbert Heyes) has just completed the massive Louisiana Purchase deal with Napoleon, greatly expanding the territory of the United States. However, this vast area now needs to be explored and mapped. The President decides that his loyal secretary, Meriwether Lewis (steadfast Fred MacMurray), is the man for the job, along with a soldier experienced in fighting Indians, William Clark (a driven, intense Charlton Heston). The Lewis/Clark partnership gets off to a rocky start since both men are in love with the same woman, Washington socialite, Julia Hancock (long-suffering Barbara Hale--Della Street on TV's "Perry Mason").

Fortunately, these necessary but rather dull opening scenes soon give way to the expedition itself, at which point the film remains consistently engrossing. Of course, this new territory is by no means uninhabited--many Native American tribes have long established themselves, and regard the coming of the "white man" with great suspicion, even outright hostility.
Clark, a veteran of various "Indian wars", has little patience or sympathy for these people. It is Lewis who must use all of his diplomatic skills to gain their trust, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. They meet the Shoshone maid, Sacajawea (lovely Donna Reed), a prisoner/slave of an enemy tribe. After a few "hurdles" are overcome, she agrees to serve as their guide--as it turns out, the trip would not have been successful, and they would not have survived without her. Her intelligence and beauty soon melt Clark's hard heart, and Lewis finds that he has the distraction of a romance on his hands, as well as more hostile tribes and natural disasters to contend with.

There are many scenes in this film which are gorgeous--the natural beauty of America's plains, rushing rivers, lush forests and snow-capped mountains more than compensate for the hardships that our intrepid explorers must endure.

The DVD is presented in widescreen format with outstanding colour--the sound is mono--don't look for extras.

"The Far Horizons" is a rousing adventure that the whole family can enjoy. Mr. MacMurray, Mr. Heston and Ms. Reed are all highly watchable stars, and kudos to Paramount for releasing this lovely disc.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Memories, July 29, 2008

By 

vikingdatter - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Far Horizons (DVD)

Enjoyed seeing the movie "Far Horizons" again. Watched part of it filming in Jackson Hole country back in 1954. Nice to have it on DVD.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculous, March 19, 2011

By 

C. Manhoff (Alpharetta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Far Horizons (DVD)

This movie is not worth your time. If you are hoping for an accurate portrayal of the amazing Lewis and Clark expedition and the courageous young Sacagawea, this is not for you. If you want to see Hollywood revisionism at its worst, then it is. To list some of the inaccuracies:

1) There was never any romantic love triangle between Lewis and Clark with Sacagewea. While they truly respected her and her help was invaluable, Sacagawea was a)married to the trapper Charbonneau b)pregnant when they met her and with a baby the rest of the trip and c) an actual Indian (Shoshone -- at least they got that right), not a blue-eyed Donna Reed in grease paint. Lewis and Clark were best friends before, during and after the expedition. There is no record of them ever even arguing with each other during this difficult trip.
2) The Indian ambush portrayed in the middle of the movie by the Mandan and the Hidatsa never happened. In fact, there were only two hostile actions from Indians during the trip. The first was a narrowly averted battle with the Teton Sioux who were known to demand tribute for travelers on the Missouri. The second was a brief clash with a group of Blackfoot Indians where two Blackfeet were killed. In fact only one American man was lost during the expedition and that was due to natural causes.
3) Charbonneau was not scheming with the Indians. He was a fairly well-liked cook and received a hefty payment of $500 when the expedition was over with. Sacagewea stayed with him for the rest of her life (most accounts place her death in 1812 although there is a legend that she lived to be 100 years old.) At Sacagawea's request, Clark did take and raise her son after the expedition but never had contact with her again that we know of.
4) Sacagawea did not speak English.
5) Sacagawea made no trip to the White House and never would have called it the "White House."

Why the writers felt they had to embroider this truly extraordinary trip is beyond me. Add this to a particularly dull plot and wooden acting by a cast of otherwise fine actors (even Charlton Heston couldn't save this one) and you have no reason at all to wast time or money on this dud.