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63 reviews in total

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66 out of 73 people found the following review useful:
This contains my favourite scene in cinema history, 22 April 2000
Author: simon-118 from London

I have never read a good word about this film in any movie guide, which frankly baffles me. I think it's a masterpiece, and despite Hardy being one of my favourite authors, I think this is actually better than the novel. It also contains two absolutely perfect moments. But first some general comments. The photography is gorgeous, actually looking more realistic than idyllic, beautiful but sometimes cold and forboding, brooding over the tragic proceedings. Secondly, the remarkable soundtrack by Richard Rodney Bennett lends the movie a good deal of its emotiveness. The use of English folk songs to comment on the proceedings is ingenious, sometimes impressively reflective of the situations, and at points extremely unsettling.

Julie Christie is beautiful and I found her Bathsheba the precise mixture of headstrong independence and vulnerability. Terence Stamp's repulsive Troy is a triumph of casting and Alan Bates is wonderful as the simpliest of her suitors. The film is stolen for me though by Peter Finch, who begins a hat trick of devastating performances, here, in The Trials of Oscar Wilde and Sunday Bloody Sunday. His Boldwood is a remarkable creation, so eligible, so tragic, so lost and helpless. His scene with Bathsheba when she suggests Christmas to be a time when she will make a decision on their future is heartbreaking. "Christmas," he smiles. "I'm happier now." But the scene that should surely secure this movie a place in film history is that in the graveyard. Without spoling the plot for those who have yet to see it, the gargoyle spewing rainwater over the graves as the sound of "The Bold Grenadier" plays is as affecting an image as one is ever likely to see on screen. The Boldwood plot has a darker outcome here than in the book, which I'm sure Hardy would have approved of. This is a beautiful and disturbing movie that does not shy away from Hardy's bleak view of existence, and adds to the mix a strong sense of gritty 60s honesty. Beautiful, devastating and unforgettable.

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34 out of 41 people found the following review useful:
Never had Wessex been so beautifully filmed !!, 28 September 2004
Author: Nicholas Rhodes from Ile-de-France / Paris Region, France

I have watched this film many tens of times and never tire of its beauty. Each viewing has me finding it even more beautiful than on the previous occasion – it may seem slow to first-time viewers but they should make the effort to watch the thing a few more times !!!

This film is without any doubt that which perfectly renders the atmosphere of Thomas Hardy's Wessex ! The careful filming, lighting and attention to the changing moods of the Dorset countryside is absolutely PERFECT, and the music is perfectly suited to the atmosphere ! This Film has just been issued on DVD in the UK but I was very disappointed to find that little or no remastering of the picture had been carried out and that, although the picture quality is reasonable for the time, I had been expecting the full treatment for a work of art such as this to get rid of remaining compression artefacts, spots, grain etc.! Also there are no subtitles for the deaf, and no subtitles or languages for foreign viewers (inadmissible !!) nor special features which you would expect for such a great work of art as this. Other films of Thomas Hardy country, such as Tess and others, pale into insignificance beside this one though it must be said that Tess, although taking place in Dorset was actually filmed in Normandy ( Cherbourg Peninsula) which would explain why the atmosphere wasn't the same.

Each scene of this film has remained indelible in my mind, the sheep being pushed over the cliff by the mad sheepdog, the corn market ( actually filmed in Devizes, Wiltshire ), the water flowing down Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset where poor young Fanny Robbins painfully seeking to mount during her last few hours on earth, the cock-fight, the beautiful views of the Dorset Coast with Durdle Door and the chalk cliffs, the romantic dalliance of Troy and Bathsheba doubtlessly filmed in one of those prehistoric burial mounds so common in Wiltshire. Truly, 'tis one of the most beautiful areas on earth. When I was at university in Bath, Avon, U.K. during the seventies, I made a point of visiting the Thomas Hardy country, and in particular the sites used in this film, as it was not too far away. I found a sense of timelessness there and the area has to be visited to 'feel' the atmosphere that the film exudes !

Above and beyond the magnificent sets and music, we have the actors' performance, which I seem to appreciate even more on each successive viewing of the film. Each character is very well developed and the performances are masterly even those of the minor characters. There is also a significant number of traditional songs of the day which are sung most convincingly by the actors. There is something quintessentially English about this film not to be found anywhere else, for this reason alone it should not be missed. I can only hope that one it will be remastered for picture and soundtrack and will then be truly appreciated on a home cinema.

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31 out of 39 people found the following review useful:
Boring? NO WAY!, 14 April 2001

Author: artzau from Sacramento, CA

Like another reviewer, I'm continuously amazed at detractors to this fine adaptation of Thomas Hardy's strongest novel. The reviewer who whines about it being "boring" should tune into a good TV sit-com and let the good cinema go-- it will always be "boring." Those reviewers, and there are several, who read Hardy can appreciate this fine film which builds on directly on Hardy's novel. One reviewer noted that Hardy "...gets into the heads of his characters..." Quite true, but unless you're goofy like the Coen Brothers or Terry Gilliam, you can't always do that in the cinema. So, Schlesinger does the next best thing in developing the characters with an excellent cast including Christie, Finch, Stamp and Bates. This is an excellent film and captures much of the rural English lifeways that Hardy wrote about in this and Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Return of the Native and others. Check it out.

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27 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
intelligent and underrated, 27 August 2004

Author: Eph612

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.

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14 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Alan Bates is just fantastic, 19 July 2005

Author: Florence Lawrence from The New Forest

What a treat to see an adaption of this marvellous but hard going book, of course it's always worth the effort to read Hardy, but it takes getting into, you have to be in the right mind frame, so dramatisations of his wonderfully rich characters are always wonderful to watch, and open up his work to a wider audience I should imagine.

This film in particular was pretty true to the script, if a little condensed, in places. I felt Alan Bates was just fantastic on screen, but probably had the right amount of charm and screen magnetism for the box office, but a little too much to be a true Farmer Oak as described by Hardy, what women in her right mind would ever turn him down,being so sweet and looking like that, I must watch more of his films.

Everyone else was just brilliant as well, and it was lovely to see the beautiful Dorset I visit often so on the big screen and note it really hasn't changed that much at all since the filming in the 60's.

An excellent film, don't miss it !!!

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13 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Under-rated version of the Hardy classic., 25 December 2001

Author: Carl Halling from United Kingdom

For many the casting of sixties beauty Julie Christie as the vulnerable heartbreaker Bathsheba Everdene was erroneous, but Christie does a fine job, and makes the role her own. Schlesinger remains faithful to the romantic spirit of Hardy, drenching the magnificent cinematography in the exquisite pastoral music of Richard Rodney Bennett, who clearly wrote under the influence of Vaughan Williams and Delius, while interpreting the story for the cinema very much in his own way. The film is long; but craftmanlike, and characterised by superb performances, with Peter Finch as the tormented Boldwood, and Alan Bates as Gabriel, who is the moral force within the story, particularly excellent. The film's climax is one of the most hauntingly poignant in sixties cinema.

I like to see it as an oblique commentary on the essentially tragical (and doomed) nature of selfish or sensual or possessive love; and the innate nobility of the marriage state buttressed by genuine mutual respect, with Gabriel as the agent of reason and decency amid so much unbridled passionateness....

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11 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
A handsome, intelligent widescreen gem., 18 August 2004
Author: david-greene5 from North Huntingdon, PA, U.S.A.

"Far from the Madding Crowd" is one of a handful of elegantly produced, intelligent wide screen masterpieces which have sadly been neglected by those responsible for DVD. Fortunately, by early in 2009, Warner Brothers finally released it on a handsomely remastered standard DVD edition. There is no news of a Blu Ray version. It is richly scenic in an unusually stark, atmospheric way. Its cast is made up of some of the finest actors working at the time it was made. All of them handle their parts in this well-written, literate script, extremely well. Peter Finch, who seldom turned in a weak performance, is a standout in this film.

The great works of literary giants like Thomas Hardy invariably inspire strong opinions about film adaptations. It is no surprise to me that some reviewers were very critical of Far From the Madding Crowd, based on their feelings that it distorted aspects of the original novel. Despite such interpretive choices, or modifications as may be at play in this dramatization, the rewards of its many great strengths, in my opinion, make it a glorious viewing experience.

If you are a home theater buff with the technology needed to view this film on a fairly large screen, you will delight in its evocative wide screen splendor. It draws you into the very unique environment that was always so important in Thomas Hardy's writing. I am thrilled that such thoughtful epics as "Tess" and "Lord Jim" are all, at last, available in DVD release. "Far from the Madding Crowd" and David Lean's "Ryan's Daughter" are among those long awaited widescreen home entertainment selections which constitute the sublime highlights of any film library. They are visual masterpieces that cry out to be seen in such a high-resolution format as the DVD provides.

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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Underrated, 2 August 2009

Author: kenjha

In this sprawling adaptation of the Hardy novel, a beautiful woman in 19th century English countryside must select a suitor among three men. It has become fashionable to bash this film but it is quite an impressive production. Although she may not be exactly what Hardy had in mind, Christie is radiant as the heroine. The men pursuing her are well played by Finch as a rich landowner, Stamp as a cad, and especially Bates as a poor sheep farmer. Schlesinger's direction is leisurely and meticulous but he sustains interest despite the nearly three-hour length. The cinematography by Roeg is breathtaking and Bennett's score adds a haunting quality to the film.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Far from the Crowded Theaters, 9 August 2010

Author: wes-connors from Earth

In rural Victorian England, vain and beautiful Julie Christie (as Bathsheba Everdene) attracts three handsome marriage prospects - poor sheep herder Alan Bates (as Gabriel Oak), wealthy older Peter Finch (as William Boldwood), and sexy sergeant Terence Stamp (as Francis "Frank" Troy). Director John Schlesinger's "Far from the Madding Crowd" may be your finest way to see the English countryside, as it is expertly photographed by Nicholas Roeg. This is picturesque beauty at its finest, with an excellent cast.

Scenes are staged as if D.W. Griffith were filming a British "Gone with the Wind" (Ms. Christie doing "Scarlett O'Hara"). But, there is too little story. It takes a long time for something exciting to happen - the startling performance by Mr. Stamp as he shows Ms. Christie how he wields his sword - this livens the film up considerably. Another high point is the strong performance delivered by beautiful newcomer Prunella Ransome (as Fanny Robin). But, apart from Stamp's phallic symbolizing, the story seems castrated.

****** Far from the Madding Crowd (10/16/67) John Schlesinger ~ Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, Peter Finch, Alan Bates

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
A visually beautiful film that encapsulates the good features of the book, 25 July 2009

Author: marian-hone1 from United Kingdom

I loved this film when I saw it in 1967 and still do love it. It is a feast for the eyes, and encapsulates the enjoyable features of the book very well. The local characters are so well played that they seem like real people at times, rather than actors. The humour and tragedy are well portrayed. There is some lovely singing too. It makes you just want to drop into that landscape, or feel that you are already there. Wonderful performances from Alan Bates, Peter Finch, Julie Christie, Terrence Stamp and many others. Let it wash over you and enjoy it. It's not a Hollywood type film and maybe that's why it's not as well known or lauded as it should be. Epic!

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