now and admittedly and i be no ardent student of the genre . a a matter of fact and i have tend always to shy away from western because and in spite of all their critical cachet a america primal story ( or whatever ) and they seem to me to forever devolve into tiresome retread of either shoot up the injun and the big gunfight and or hey and let form a posse . in other word and it always seem to me a genre so root in and tie to convention and that it leave precious little room for surprise or originality . ( and yes and i have see at least some of the so called great and and unapologetically lump them into this negative assessment include stagecoach and rio bravo and my darling clementine and and of course the infamous [ but profoundly dull ] clint eastwood sergio leone teamups in the 60 . ) but when i saw this movie on tv a part of a commemorative jimmy stewart weekend upon his death i finally get it represent i understood and at least in theory and what the western mythos have to offer a a serious thematic preoccupation ( aside from just action and thrill ) . it be the push pull between lawlessness and order while the american west represent freedom and but also the prospect of the wild and the untamed . respectable folk could get hurt out there . which and of course and meant that perhaps just perhaps it wasn not mean for respectable folk and and that the only resident should be the amoral and the shifty and those who dispense justice strictly from the barrel of their revolver and and where kill or be kill would ever be the law of the land . in such an environment and of course and the true hero be the one who be ornery and free spirit enough to be out there in the first place ( and so reject society and at least a it manifest itself on the eastern seaboard ) and and yet have enough sense of justice to believe that a society base on chaos and fear just be not right . catch and examine that disparity between law and disorder in the main character himself be and i believe ( after see this movie ) and the high and true goal of any western . sadly and it be so often not the case and a the white hat be completely white and the black one completely black ( and let not even get start talk about the indian and ok ) and there be precious little shade of gray in between . not in this one . jimmy stewart play a blatant fortune hunter who follow the trail of miner before him into the alaskan wilderness to prospect for gold . he be join in this by his lifelong buddy and play by walter brennan ( perhaps the western cliché character to end them all but nevertheless enjoyable here and a always ) and no one else . pointedly and they be out for themselves and and while stewart display his patented charm ( come on and we could never really dislike the guy and now could we . ) and we be leave with little doubt that his be basically a self center and self interested character represent none of his gosh or oh golly gee humanism be allow to come through . or and rather and it have to be earn and by the end of the picture and in the way i describe above . he must confront the lawlessness in himself and and weigh it against the need for order and justice which be so blatantly lack in the border town which serve a the miner start point on their gold dust trail . this town be rule tightly by it wicked sheriff and mr. gannon and play by john mcintire in one of the best bad guy performance i have ever see . he come on with so much charm and humor and and have such a relaxed and interesting rapport with stewart and that it actually take awhile to recognize that he be the bad guy so that when it finally sink in and it do so with double force . far and by establish a type of breezy ( if necessarily guard ) camaraderie between mcintire and stewart and the film play up the notion of how close in temperament they really be and so how far a moral distance stewart must walk by the end of the film . i would not go through all the twist and turn the plot take see those for yourself ( as well a the rugged and gorgeous alaskan scenery film on location and mind you and not cheap paint still that the studio make up ) . what key here be how much this story focus upon character and with great dialogue and character interaction substitute for gunplay much of the time although the film have just enough action and adventure to prevent it from ever be static ( read represent talky ) . definitely one of the great performance i have see from stewart and showing he could play the renegade and the man man just as convincingly a the decent and upright guy next door . if anything and in fact and his everyman quality lend great strength to his characterization and make him seem less mythic or overblown like and say and eastwood or john wayne and more a three dimensional personage . his relationship with brennan be well played represent understated and but nevertheless touching ( with a faint suggestion of george and lenny from of mouse and men an altogether different type of western ) . i certainly have more western to see and but this be for now my favorite and and the yardstick by which i will necessarily judge all the others . it deserve to be much good know and appreciate than it be .