Will Lockhart, a freighter from Laramie, comes to a New Mexico ranch town looking for the men who sold rifles to the Apaches — and for the man who killed his brother.
In The Man from Laramie (1955), directed by Anthony Mann, James Stewart plays Will Lockhart, who drives a freight wagon into Coronado, New Mexico, with a load of supplies. He is really searching for the person who sold repeating rifles to the Apaches, a trade that led to his brother’s death. His investigation brings him into conflict with the powerful Waggoman family, especially the reckless son Dave, played by Alex Nicol, and the family’s foreman, Vic Hansbro, played by Arthur Kennedy.
Stewart plays Lockhart with a quiet, watchful intensity. He is not looking for a fight, but he will not back down, and the film’s most famous scene, in which Dave shoots Lockhart’s hand, shows both the cruelty of the town and Lockhart’s refusal to be broken. Mann’s wide, harsh landscapes match the story’s mood.
The Man from Laramie is one of Stewart’s finest westerns with Mann, a story of revenge that never loses sight of its hero’s decency, even as it tests it to the limit.