The Far Horizons (1955) on Netflix
Thomas Jefferson sends Meriwether Lewis west to explore the land bought from France. Lewis takes William Clark as an equal partner, and the Shoshone woman Sacajawea joins as a guide.
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Trailer
Plot summary
In 1803, after Congress approves the purchase of Louisiana from France, President Thomas Jefferson asks Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition past the new territory to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis agrees and asks that his friend William Clark come along at equal rank. In Virginia, Lewis finds that Clark has proposed to Julia Hancock, the woman he loves, which puts the two men at odds. At Wood River the party gathers Sergeant Gass and volunteers and sets off in a keelboat, where Clark learns he was not made captain as promised, though Lewis insists the rank stands. Months up the Missouri River, the expedition meets the Minnataree and accepts a peace offering, and Sacajawea, a Shoshone woman held by the tribe, asks to join as a guide to her people.
Cast
- Julia Montoyaas Crow woman
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Far Horizons (1955)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The dramatic rivalry between Lewis and Clark is fictional, and the ages are reversed: historically Clark was four years older than Lewis, and while Heston was cast close to Clark's age, MacMurray was 46 during production when Lewis was 29 at the beginning of the journey.
- In reality Sacagawea was 16 years old when she joined the expedition and was married to the French-Canadian trader Toussaint Charbonneau; she also did not speak English and never visited Washington, D.C.
- While the film depicts the death of several expedition members, the only real casualty was Sgt. Charles Floyd, who died from an internal disease during the very early months of the expedition.
- Sacagawea and Charbonneau's newborn son, Jean Baptiste, is entirely omitted from the film, as are famous members of the expedition like Sgt. John Ordway, Clark's enslaved companion York and Lewis's Newfoundland dog Seaman.
