Far and Away

Far and Away
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ron Howard
Written by	Ron Howard Bob Dolman
Produced by	Ron Howard Brian Grazer Bob Dolman
Starring	Tom Cruise Nicole Kidman
Cinematography	Mikael Salomon
Edited by	Daniel P. Hanley Mike Hill
Music by	John Williams
Distributed by	Universal Pictures Imagine Entertainment
Release dates	May 22, 1992
Running time	Theatrical cut 140 min. TV cut 176 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$137,783,840

Far and Away is a 1992 adventure-drama-romance film directed by Ron Howard from a script by Howard and Bob Dolman, and stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. It was photographed in Panavision System 65 by Mikael Salomon, with a music score by John Williams.

Cruise and Kidman play Irish immigrants seeking their fortune in 1890s America, eventually taking part in the Land Run of 1893.

Plot

Joseph Donelly (Tom Cruise),a young Irishman facing property eviction after his father's death, decides to take revenge on his landlord, Daniel Christie (Robert Prosky). In his attempt to kill him however, he is discovered by Daniel's daughter, Shannon Christie (Nicole Kidman) and is injured by her when he tries to escape. While injured he continues his plans to kill his landlord, but his weapon malfunctions and blows up in his face. Held captive while they treat his wounds (planning to subsequently have him hanged for attempted murder), Joseph tries to escape the house and is caught by Stephen Chase (Thomas Gibson), Daniel's arrogant manager. Joseph spits on Stephen in anger and, disgraced, Stephen challenges Joseph to a duel of pistols at dawn. Meanwhile, Shannon, also Stephen's love interest, is growing dissatisfied with the traditional views of her parents' generation and longs to be modern, even going as far as to disgust her mother and their friends by playing American music on the piano. She makes plans to leave for America to claim land that's being given away for free, and with her help, Joseph is able to escape. Shannon pays for Joseph's passage and he pretends to be her servant. This way, a single young woman is able to travel without question, and Joseph, now aware of the reality of the free land, can reach America to claim land. Shannon mets and talks to a kindly man on the ship about the promise of land and her money issues. He informs her that to claim the free land, she must travel to Oklahoma and race for it along with others. Concerned with the expense of travel, she explains to him that she has no money, only expensive silver spoons. He tells her he will help her find a shop to whom she can sell her silver to. Upon arriving in Boston, the man who provided advice steals her spoons and is shot by men who seem to have previous trouble with him. The spoons are scattered in the street and stolen by passersby. Calling for help, Shannon is rescued by Joseph, who manages to save her bag and get her out of the streets. Taking charge of their situation, Joseph is led to the community of Irish living in the area and speaks to the man in charge. Through him, they find a room to live in and jobs in a chicken processing plant. Due to Shannon's wealthy background, which is hated by the lower class Irish they find themselves surrounded by, Joseph lies and tells everyone that she is in fact his sister, to save her from being exiled or hurt. Time passes and it becomes obvious that Joseph and Shannon have become attracted to each other, but both keep up a front of hostility. One night, after peeking at Shannon undress, Joseph finds himself sexually frustrated and rushes out and joins in a barehanded boxing match. Winning the match provides Joseph with newfound wealth and becomes somewhat of a local celebrity. Temporarily, Joseph seems to forget about his goals of obtaining land and spends his money on suits and hats, in a thinly veiled attempt to impress Shannon. Shannon however, continues her work at the plant and mocks Joseph's prized hats. At one point, the pair have a spat and it becomes obvious that Joseph is extremely upset that he's not managed to gain Shannon's approval or admiration. Shannon begins to question Joseph about his plans to get land and his lack of money the night before the largest fight of his career. He replies angrily that he easily earns money and will continue to do so. He spitefully tells her that he earns more money than she could ever dream to. She retorts that she could earn just as much and disappears into their room. Later, right before the big fight, Joseph searches for Shannon, but is unable to find her. He's directed to his fight, told by others that she is there. Rushing to the site, he discovers she has become a dancer at the social club, demeaning herself to earn more money. He attempts to ignore the men pushing him towards the ring and covers Shannon with his jacket, demanding that she stop dancing. Before he can finish with her, the men around plea with him to fight. The Irish men backing Joseph offer him a small fortune ($200) for this one last, great fight. Shannon, who previously scorned boxing, urges him to do it, since it would be enough money to fulfill his wish of traveling to get land. Joseph agrees and begins to fight a large Italian fighter. All goes well until Joseph witnesses one of his backers (the mayor of the town) forcing Shannon into his lap and groping her. Completely forgetting the fight, Joseph pushes his way through the crowd to free her. In the commotion, he is caught off guard and beaten by the opponent. Because of this, their money is taken away by the Irish backers and Joseph and Shannon are left to starve in the winter cold with no shelter or money. Joseph attempts to work for money or food, but is rejected due to being Irish. During a very cold night with no food, they become desperate enough to enter a seemingly abandoned house of luxury. Joseph shows signs of sadness at the beautiful things, knowing Shannon has suffered and deserves a better life than she currently has. He encourages her to pretend the house is hers, and offers to serve her. She's moved by this, but begs him to join her instead, and pretend with her, that they are married and the house is theirs. During the tender moment they declare that they 'pretend' to love each other and kiss. At that moment the owners of the house returns and chases them from the property, shooting Shannon in the process. Shannon's parents meanwhile, have been suffering as well. The unhappy farmers had burned their house to the ground and destroyed all of their priceless things. They decide to go to America to find their daughter, and is joined by Stephen who wished to find his love. Stephen has begun a (ridiculed) campaign to find her, but his efforts are proven to be unnecessary as Joseph brings Shannon to them for help after she is shot. Stephen continuously scolds him and ridicules the state Shannon is in. Deciding Shannon will be better cared for here, with her family and wealth, Joseph leaves Shannon with her family, despite his obvious feelings for her. He then heads west to work on the Trans-Continental Railroad, seemingly abandoning his dream of owning land. After many months, Joseph is confronted by his father in a dream, and is reminded of his desire to own land. Joseph decides to join the wagon trains and arrives in Oklahoma Territory just in time for the Land Run of 1893, which will enable him finally reach his goal. Through chance he discovers Shannon, now healthy and obviously well taken care of, has also arrived. Confronting her, he discovers she arrived on train, riding the very rails he built. She offers him luck, but is rather cold and Joseph leaves disheartened. Stephen, who witnesses the exchange, warns Joseph that he will kill him if he goes near Shannon. Arriving late to the event, Joseph is forced to buy the only available horse, an unbroken stallion. The unruly horse manages to get him ridiculed. Shannon attempts to give him advice, but is quicked ushered away. During the race, Joseph chases after Shannon and Stephen, knowing that Stephen has broken the law and already found a very rich spot of land to claim. During the race, Shannon falls off her horse and Joseph rushes to her aid. Angered by this, Stephen races back towards them, instead of his goal, the land, and attempts to shoot him. They have a brief fight but Joseph manages to knock the gun from him. Shannon encourages Joseph to continue the race. He races Stephen to the land but then Stephen comes along and they have another fight in which Joseph falls to the ground, hitting his head on a rock, mortally wounding him. Shannon rushes to his side and finally rejects Stephen when he questions her actions. Stephen leaves and Shannon is left to try and keep Joseph alive. As he dies, Joseph finally confesses that he loves her, and without her, the land that was so important to him means nothing. He dies, and Shannon mourns, crying over his body. She tells him that she always loved him, from the first moment she saw him. This suddenly revives him, similar to an earlier scene involving his father, and together they happily drive their flag through the ground and claim their prized land.

Cast

• Tom Cruise as Joseph Donelly
• Nicole Kidman as Shannon Christie
• Thomas Gibson as Stephen Chase
• Robert Prosky as Daniel Christie
• Barbara Babcock as Nora Christie
• Cyril Cusack as Danty Duff
• Eileen Pollock as Molly Kay
• Colm Meaney as Kelly
• Clint Howard as Flynn

Trivia

• Far and Away was one of the last feature films photographed entirely in the 65mm widescreen format.
• Director Ron Howard wasn't happy with Nicole Kidman's facial reaction during the shooting of the scene where her character lifts the bowl covering Joseph's (Tom Cruise's) crotch. Without telling Kidman, he asked Cruise to remove his underwear. Howard got the reaction he wanted, and it appears in the film.
• The dress that Shannon admires in the shop window in Boston is the same dress worn by Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen) in the last scene of Back to the Future Part III (1990).
• Three of 'Ron Howard' 's great-grandparents actually rode in the Great Land Rush of 1893, as depicted in the film.
• The recreation of the Great Land Rush involved 800 extras, 400 horses and 200 wagons. The extras were all recruited from a re-enactment society called The Re-enactors.
• Although he had over 17 years of experience in the business in 1992, this film marked the first time that dialect coach Tim Monich had to teach his cast to speak in an Irish accent. Technically, Nicole Kidman's accent is incorrect. As a well-to-do landowner's daughter in Ireland at the time, she would have spoken with a largely English accent, but, as this probably would have confused international audiences, she was taught to speak in an educated Dublin accent.
• Near the end of the credits, special thanks are given to, among others, Fungi the Dingle Dolphin.
• Network version adds over 35 minutes of footage not included in the theatrical version.
  • On the network version, when Joseph is working on the railroad, there is a problem with a stick of dynamite. Showing how depressed and careless he is at the time, Joseph volunteers to reset the dynamite. There is a moment of tension after the explosion as we wait for Joseph to come into view out of the cloud of dust.
  • Also in the network version: after they are thrown out in the street, it's raining; Joseph, looking for a job, jumps into a ditch and begins digging, a few seconds later, Shannon joins him stating they need the money.

Reaction

The movie received generally mixed reviews, but was received well by audiences. The movie, which cost US $30 million to make, earned roughly $13 million on its first weekend and made a total of $59 million domestically (it also fared solidly abroad, with almost $79 million). The film altogether made $166,694,840 for worldwide and home video rentals.

External links

• Far and Away at IMDb
• Far and Away at AllMovie
• Far and Away at Box Office Mojo
• Far and Away at Rotten Tomatoes