Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)

Director:

John Schlesinger

Writers:

Thomas Hardy (novel)
Frederic Raphael (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 October 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Her romance with three men becomes a bold adventure [UK theatrical]

Plot:

Bathsheba Everdine, a willful, flirtatious, young woman, unexpectedly inherits a large farm and becomes romantically involved with three widely divergent men.

Plot Keywords:

Sergeant | Farm | Sheep | Love | 19th Century

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Julie Christie	...	Bathsheba Everdene
Terence Stamp	...	Sgt. Francis 'Frank' Troy
Peter Finch	...	William Boldwood
Alan Bates	...	Gabriel Oak
Fiona Walker	...	Liddy
Prunella Ransome	...	Fanny Robin
Alison Leggatt	...	Mrs. Hurst
Paul Dawkins	...	Henery Fray
Julian Somers	...	Jan Coggan
John Barrett	...	Joseph Poorgrass
Freddie Jones	...	Cainy Ball
Andrew Robertson	...	Andrew Randle
Brian Rawlinson	...	Matthew Moon
Vincent Harding	...	Mark Clark
Victor Stone	...	Billy Smallbury

Runtime:

168 min | Finland:170 min (uncut) | Finland:157 min (cut)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) (1968) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1988) | UK:U (cut) | USA:TV-14 | France:U | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Abbotsbury, Dorset, England, UK

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Future Fairport Convention band member David Swarbrick can be seen playing a fiddle during the barn dance scene.

Quotes:

Sgt. Francis 'Frank' Troy: [Tp Bathsheba] A woman like you does more damage than she can conceivably imagine.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Watching the Alien (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Bold Grenadier

intelligent and underrated

One of my favorite books of all time became one of my favorite films of the '60's. Yes, it's long and deliberately paced, but beautifully filmed (by future director Nicolas Roeg) and unusually intelligent. Julie Christie, fresh from her Oscar for "Darling," never quite gets a handle on the character of Bathsheba Everdene, but she is so beautiful and magnetic an actress that it hardly matters. Her three leading men, however, are all superb--Terence Stamp as the caddish Troy, Peter Finch as the lonely neighbor whose love for Bathsheba yields tragic results, and (especially) the late, great Alan Bates, who projects a wonderful and down-to-earth masculinity as farmer Oak. Director John Schlesinger crafted a film that evokes a time and a place as few other films ever have. Special mention also to Richard Rodney Bennett's beautiful musical score--sadly (and unbelievably) the only Oscar nomination this film received.