Throughout their connection and marriage of a lot more than 10 years, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman famously co-starred in 3 films. Having met and initial worked with each other on Tony Scott‘s Days of Thunder, the Hollywood energy couple would conclude their experienced partnership nine years later with Stanley Kubrick‘s Eyes Wide Shut, a film that some speculate may well have even played a element in the dissolution of their marriage. Between producing these really divergent films, even so, the co-stars-turned-spouses embarked on a unique sort of venture with 1992’s Far and Away.

Once described by director Ron Howard as Cruise and Kidman’s “honeymoon project,” the epic Western romance transports audiences back to the turn of the century as immigrants from about the globe traveled to America in search of chance. Classical and old-fashioned in its sensibilities, it also remains Cruise’s sole venture into the Western genre. Although Far and Away does not actually delve into Western territory till its final act, it delivers one particular of the most grand and thrilling finales in its director and stars’ respective bodies of perform. Weaving his characters via a historical tapestry of adventure and romance, Howard caps the film off with a bang and delivers a glimpse into a formative era of collective aspiration and person ambition.

Far and Away

A young Irish couple flee to the States, but subsequently struggle to acquire land and prosper freely.

Release Date

May 22, 1992

Runtime

140 Minutes

Main Genre

Drama

Studio

Universal Pictures

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What Is ‘Far and Away’ About?

Far and Away tells a tale of Irish lovers from extensively divergent social backgrounds. A farmhand in search of to avenge his father and the destruction of his property, Joseph Donnelly (Tom Cruise) embarks on a mission to kill Daniel Christie (Robert Prosky), a greedy landowner enriching himself via unjustly higher rents on tenants. When his pursuit of Christie backfires (actually), Joseph crosses paths with the landowner’s daughter, Shannon (Nicole Kidman), an impetuous and stubborn young lady hunting to dissociate from her privileged atmosphere. Enticed by one particular one more and the prospect of securing land in the Oklahoma Territory, they set sail across the Atlantic and settle in Boston.

Arriving in America, Joseph and Shannon pass themselves off as brother and sister, with the former discovering neighborhood celebrity as an amateur bare-knuckle boxer and the latter relegated to factory labor and burlesque. In the meantime, Shannon’s wealthy parents are driven from their ivory tower by angry tenants, eventually fleeing Ireland for America in search of their daughter. After a series of misfortunes, Joseph and Shannon are torn apart and head West with hopes of securing land. Reunited by mere likelihood in Oklahoma, they participate in the historic Cherokee Outlet Land Run of 1893 and eventually claim their spot in a new globe.

Is ‘Far and Away’ Based On a True Story?

Historically primarily based but fictional in nature, Ron Howard’s film stemmed from an original story he conceived along with writer/producer Bob Dolman. As one particular of his only writing credits inside a prolific profession, Howard took inspiration from exploring his personal heritage to dramatize the multifaceted practical experience of immigration to America at the turn of the century. In a retrospective discussion for the film’s 30th anniversary, he revealed to Yahoo! Entertainment that “Far and Away really began probably when I was 6 years old, maybe 7, and I visited my great-grandmother in Kansas. And she pulled out of her drawer this newspaper, and it was from the 1890s, and it was a photo for the Oklahoma land rush starting line. And she thought that her future husband was in the lead on a horse.”

In drawing from a sweeping bit of American history, Howard and co-writer Dolman supply viewers a glimpse into a raucous time period in which cultures clashed like oil and water, with immigrants from all walks of life clamoring to hold themselves afloat amid a swiftly transforming and increasing society. Regarding Far and Away‘s romance, which derives from largely one particular-dimensional lead characters and usually verges on a thing out of a teenage really like story, Cruise and Kidman nonetheless show undeniable chemistry that transcends the film’s narrative and tonal shortcomings. Spending a lot of their time squabbling more than petty grievances, exchanging digs and jabs like two youngsters refusing to acknowledge they are crushing on every single other, Joseph and Shannon’s connection harkens back to the screwball Hollywood romances of old. And when Howard and Dolman’s screenplay does not shy away from superficial stereotypes, its occasional observations on societal hierarchies land with resonance. But for all of its historicity on a tangential level, it really is the film’s finale that drops audiences smack dab in the middle of a lesser-identified corner of American history.

‘Far and Away’s Western-Based Final Act Is Its Best

At midday on September 16, 1893, roughly 100,000 eagerly awaited their likelihood to claim land in present-day northwestern Oklahoma. Dubbed the Cherokee Outlet, the location comprised roughly 40,000 parcels and was but one more chunk of territory getting carved up by the U.S. government following generations of inhabitancy by Native Americans. It would be the fourth and biggest of 5 land rushes in the location more than numerous years. After a beginning gun sounded at noon, persons on horseback, in wagons, and on foot stormed the frontier hoping to score a piece of the restricted true estate. In Far and Away‘s final half-hour, Joseph and Shannon obtain themselves front and center at the beginning line of the Cherokee Outlet Land Rush, and it really is in this ambitious recreation of American history that Ron Howard’s film actually soars with spectacle, excitement, and a superior old-fashioned sense of adventure.

Years prior to CGI became the norm for staging such sequences, evermore incentivizing filmmakers to rely on increasingly stale technologies to populate their epic frames, Howard had no option but to employ hundreds of stunt performers, extras, animals, and period-genuine props to bring the occasion to the screen. Of shooting the sequence, Howard remembers, “We had 750 people and horses lined up. We had 13 cameras, two in the air, cameras dug in everywhere.” And numerous of these cameras had been loaded with wide, higher-resolution film, expanding on the scene’s massive-scale sense of grandeur and scope. According to Variety, Far and Away was “notable as the first narrative, non-effects-oriented Hollywood feature in more than two decades to have been shot on 65mm stock (with Panavision’s new Super 70 equipment) and released in 70 mm.”

As the film’s major characters lastly converge at this historic moment, Far and Away earns its spurs as an physical exercise in Western filmmaking, with a game Cruise and Kidman deftly weaving via Howard’s frame on horseback as the filmmaker’s cameras sweep above and via the action. An Oklahoma native, Howard orchestrates one particular of the most logistically complicated and thrilling sequences of his decades-lengthy profession behind the camera, and although Far and Away would come and go with a lukewarm reception from audiences and critics in 1992, it nonetheless remains an enduring and underrated work on the element of its director and lead performers.

Tom Cruise Should Do Another Western

For an actor whose profession has spanned a lot more than 40 films more than a lot more than 4 decades, Tom Cruise has managed to make waves by playing a properly-rounded range of characters across genres. Before becoming a bona fide action star, and returning to that realm time and time once again, by means of Top Gun and the Mission: Impossible films, Cruise’s profession trajectory was a lot more heavily characterized by an insatiable drive to experiment and discover in techniques that challenged his abilities and sensibilities as a performer. More than thirty years later, Far and Away, as a period drama that eventually delves into the Western genre, endures as one particular of the actor’s a lot more notable outliers concerning character and genre when also proving that Cruise is proper at property donning a cowboy hat on horseback.

Far and Away is also a function that fans of Cruise ought to take into account adding to their watchlist, as the historical epic shows a side of the actor hardly ever noticed on screen — innocent, hopeful, and to an extent, a tiny naïve. With a profession constructed on getting the swift-witted, speedy-acting hero of the story, seeing Cruise without having answers or a program is a thing of a novelty for audiences. While he is not leaping off the world’s tallest buildings or jumping out of planes, Far and Away nevertheless presents an thrilling adventure for the actor. This is bolstered even additional by his palpable, though usually comical, chemistry with Kidman. Considering how far Kidman and Cruise have come in their respective careers, it is very exciting to see each stars tackle such demanding roles fairly early in their careers.

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With Western-themed tv and filmmaking seeing a resurgence in recognition in current years by means of big hits like Yellowstone, this present era of entertainment seems to be presenting a ripe chance for writers, directors, and actors to throw their hats into the ring of a seemingly bygone genre. Though Cruise has but to return to the Western genre, Far and Away‘s inclusion in his comprehensive filmography showcases his willingness to be adaptable and versatile. This is echoed in roles like American Made, Rock of Ages, and even Tropic Thunder, which all show Cruise stepping away from his familiar onscreen persona to give viewers a thing new. Cruise is as busy and in-demand as any star of his or any generation, with ambitious and thrilling projects lined up, but one particular can not aid but speculate as to if and when he may well seize on an chance to attempt his hand at one more Western. A complete-blown foray into the genre would not only be a initial for the actor, but present an chance for a character study, a sweeping spectacle full with death-defying stunts and action, or a thing combining the most effective of each these worlds. While Cruise shows no indicators of slowing down, it really is anyone’s guess as to what he has in shop for audiences. It’s protected to assume, even so, that moviegoers will show up in droves ought to he ever choose to get back in the saddle.

Far and Away is out there to rent or invest in on Prime Video in the U.S.

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