I due capitani

Following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, US President Thomas Jefferson (Herbert Heyes) enlists Capt. Meriwether Lewis (Fred MacMurray) and Lt. William Clark (Charlton Heston) to lead a surveying expedition of the new territory with hopes of finding a route to the Pacific ocean. Things get off to a rocky start when Clark unknowingly steals Lewis' girlfriend Julia Hancock (Barbara Hale). The expedition later recruits Shoshone woman Sacajawea (Donna Reed) to act as their guide into unknown territory, and wouldn't you know it, Clark starts making time with her, too!

Most Hollywood history lessons play fast and loose with the facts, but this movie earned the distinction of once being named by a group of historians as the most historically inaccurate Hollywood movie ever. I can't vouch for that, but a lot of this is pretty silly and unbelievable. Chief among the movie's problems is the awkward and unnecessary romantic triangle (Heston, Hale & Reed), which would be bad enough as a sub-plot, but which by the end seems to be the prime focus of the film. MacMurray's Lewis takes a back seat to things once the romance between Clark and Sacajawea starts, and he's reduced to supporting status. Reed isn't terrible as Sacajawea, it's just that...well, she's Donna Reed! On the movie's plus side, there is some spectacular scenery and location cinematography. That's what raises it to a 5/10.

And Paramount put THIS on DVD but not the excellent and seldom seen "All the Way Home" from 1963. Go figure.

This is not a movie that is accurate historically. The great thing is seeing a well known cast in color making the thing entertaining. While Barbara Hale is best known as Della Street, Perry Mason's Secretary, she is a second banana here in her role as Julia. She appears in the early part of the film and at the end.

What is interesting is that Donna Reed, Fred MacMurray, & Charlton Heston all get equal billing at a time when women's rights really had not started. In fact, Reed is so good that I didn't even realize it was here until I checked the cast list. This is not the typical 1950's film to be sure.

Trouble is that the film really has no chance to get to the true story of Lewis & Clark as it is too busy with fictional relationships to have time. William Demerest (Uncle Charlie on My Three Sons) joins Fred here as he would later on TV. Considering how much fishing Fred is known to have done, I bet he got some in on breaks on this river location shooting.

The movie is entertainment, just not a classic. Paramounts Vista Vision hasn't hurt the quality of the film photography over the years either.

For what it is, an almost total fabrication of the events involved in the exploration of the Louisiana territory, the film is an enjoyable, beautifully shot adventure but for the real story look elsewhere. Donna Reed is ridiculously cast as Sacajawea, Katy Jurado who was actively working in Hollywood at the time would have been far more suitable. She gives an earnest reading of the part but if this is the best the studios could find for her after her Oscar win it's little wonder that she had moved over to TV within a few years. MacMurray although first billed actually disappears for several stretches of the film and Heston, who is ideal in this sort of picture, carries the bulk of the movie.

Fred MacMurray and Charlton Heston portray Lewis and Clark, famed historians who explored the Louisianna Territory as per the instructions of President Thomas Jefferson. This plays very much like a cowboys and indians type of actioneer, but without actual cowboys. We also get a fabricated (so I've read) side love story between Clark (Heston) and lovely squaw Sacajawea (Donna Reed!!), the woman who helped lead the way during the discovery. In this story, MacMurray is the more laid back and serious leader while his partner Heston is - no surprise - rather cynical and the Wild Card of the two. Seems like Chuck played these parts constantly in the first half of this decade. It's always been odd for me to go backwards in time and see Fred MacMurray in straight films, as I grew up with him primarily as the dad from TV's sitcom MY THREE SONS. Here he shares screen time with William Demarest , who was also in the TV show as well. Demarest seemed miscast to me here though, cast as an 1800's sergeant. **1/2 out of ****

"The Far Horizons", made in 1955, is based on the 1803 to 1806 Lewis and Clark expedition to discover a water route from St Louis to the Pacific ocean. It is a nice vehicle for the three stars of the movie.

Fred McMurray had already made 70 movies, and Donna Reed 35 movies, when they made this one. Charlton Heston had only made 13 prior, and a age 30, this one was made right before he became a giant star in the "biblical" series of movies.

Shortly after this movie, McMurray went on to star in the TV series "My Three Sons", and likewise Donna Reed in the "Donna Reed Show" TV series. In this movie, at age 34, she plays the teenage Sacajawea, and does it very well.

Recall that in the 50s most western movies played on the "savage Indian" theme and this one fits that description too. The writer and director took lots of "literary license" with the Lewis and Clark story so it is not to be considered historically accurate. Still, it gives a good, meaningful dramatization of a great historical event in the USA.

In addition, most of the journey filming was done at or near the original Lewis and Clark trail, and the movie contains great scenery of mountains and rivers.

Overall I found the movie very enjoyable, 7 of 10, and fun to watch such veteran actors in a movie almost 50 years ago. And especially since the USA just this year (2000) released the new one-dollar coin commemorating Sacajawea.