The Far Horizons

The Far Horizons
1955 theatrical poster
Directed by	Rudolph Maté
Written by	Winston Miller Edmund H. North Della Gould Emmons (novel)
Produced by	William H. Pine
Starring	Fred MacMurray Charlton Heston Donna Reed Barbara Hale
Cinematography	Daniel L. Fapp
Edited by	Frank Bracht
Music by	Hans J. Salter
Production company	Pine-Thomas Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	May 20, 1955 (1955-05-20)[1]
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.6 million (US)[2]

The Far Horizons is a 1955 American historical Western film directed by Rudolph Maté about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It is based on 1943 novel Sacajawea of the Shoshones by Della Gould Emmons and stars Fred MacMurray, Charlton Heston, Donna Reed and Barbara Hale.

Although the film is the only major American motion picture about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, many details are fictional and historically inaccurate. It was rereleased in 1962 by Citation Films as Untamed West in a double feature with Jungle Attack.

In 1803, the United States Congress approves the Louisiana Purchase from France. Meriwether Lewis is summoned to the White House by President Thomas Jefferson, who asks Lewis to lead an expedition to explore beyond the newly claimed land to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis reluctantly agrees and requests that his friend William Clark accompany him at equal rank. However, upon returning to Virginia to inform his love interest Julia Hancock, Lewis is surprised to learn that Clark has proposed to Julia, which causes tension between the men.

At Wood River, Lewis and Clark meet Sergeant Gass and the volunteers before departing in a keelboat. Clark learns that he has not been officially promoted to the rank of captain as promised, but Lewis insists that he is. After months of traveling north on the Missouri River, the expedition encounters the Minnataree tribe and negotiates a peace offering. Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman kidnapped by the Minnataree, requests to accompany Lewis and Clark as a guide and return to her people. Meanwhile, Charbonneau, a French man living in the tribe, joins the expedition, but he secretly plans with the Minnataree to betray the group in exchange for Sacagawea.

Sacagawea learns of the Minnatarees' plans to attack and escapes on horseback to warn Lewis and Clark. Her mission is a success and the impressed captains invite her to join the expedition. At a fork in the river, Lewis and Clark separate the men with plans to reunite upstream. Sacagawea accompanies Clark's team and later rescues his journal from falling in the river. After helping Clark overcome a fever, Sacagawea and Clark begin to fall in love, and Clark renames Sacagawea as Janey.

The expedition reunites and Sacagawea finds her brother, Cameahwait. Lewis believes that Clark's feelings toward Sacagawea are placing the expedition at risk and, against Clark's wishes, insists that Sacagawea leave the expedition and stay with her people. However, she chases the expedition along the river and is rejoined with Clark. Upset over Sacagawea's return, Lewis plans to have Clark court-martialed when they return home.

After the deaths of some crewmen, Gass informs the captains that the crew is aware of the tension between Lewis and Clark and that that they have ventured far past the Louisiana territory, with the men wishing to journey back. Lewis states that his mission is to reach the Pacific Ocean and the crew decides to continue forward. Upon reaching the ocean, Clark tells Lewis that he is taking Sacagawea with him to Washington. Lewis retaliates by disclosing that he has already logged Clark's insubordination in his journal for Jefferson.

In 1807, Lewis and Clark return to the White House and are congratulated by Jefferson. Clark introduces Sacagawea to the president, who thanks her for contributions for the expedition. Sacagawea is escorted away by Julia and the two women learn of each other's feelings for Clark. Lewis decides not to punish Clark and removes the final pages of his journal before submitting it to Jefferson. At a gala, Clark learns from Julia that Sacagawea has left a goodbye letter for him stating that she is returning to her people.

• Fred MacMurray as Captain Meriwether Lewis
• Charlton Heston as Lt. William Clark
• Donna Reed as Sacagawea / "Janey"
• Barbara Hale as Julia Hancock
• William Demarest as Sgt. Gass
• Alan Reed as Charbonneau
• Eduardo Noriega as Cameahwait
• Larry Pennell as Wild Eagle
• Julia Montoya as Crow woman
• Ralph Moody as Le Borgne
• Herbert Heyes as President Thomas Jefferson
• Lester Matthews as Mr. Hancock
• Helen Wallace as Mrs. Marsha Hancock
• Walter Reed as Cruzatte (helmsman)

The film was known during production as The Blue Horizon. It was shot at Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.^{[citation needed]}

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson called The Far Horizons "a surprisingly dull account" and wrote: "[T]his slow and unimaginative safari seldom suggests either history or life. In some respects it is absurd. .. Rudolph Mate's direction could hardly be more fumbling and erratic. As for Paramount's idea of what Lewis and Clark did, was this trip necessary? Shucks, no."^[1]

In 2011, Time Magazine ranked The Far Horizons among the top ten most historically misleading films because of its casting of Donna Reed as Shoshone Sacagawea and the romantic subplot between Sacagawea and William Clark, as Sacagawea's husband, French-Canadian trader Toussaint Charbonneau, was in real life also a member of the expedition. She also did not speak English and never visited Washington, D.C. The film also depicts the death of several expedition members, but in reality, only Sgt. Gass died during the expedition.^[3]

• List of American films of 1955

• The Far Horizons at IMDb
• The Far Horizons at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Far Horizons at the TCM Movie Database