Far From the Madding Crowd

PG

Released Oct 18, 1967

2 hr. 49 min.

Romance

Drama

List

64%

28 Reviews

Tomatometer

77%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Based on Thomas Hardy's renowned novel, this British drama focuses on Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie), a beautiful young woman who inherits a picturesque farm from her uncle and is determined to run it herself. Three very different suitors -- Francis Troy (Terence Stamp), an intense soldier; William Boldwood (Peter Finch), a middle-aged farmer; and Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates), a shepherd of modest means -- all contend for Bathsheba's hand, and conflict is inevitable.

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Leaburn O

A decent telling of the Thomas Hardy classic. Another from the BFI Top 100. Not much to say as it's just a standard Victorian era romance drama, with few surprises but a nice enough pace given its lengthy runtime. I bought this one on DVD as couldn't stream or watch on TV in the UK.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is a timeless and terrific movie but millennials and younger may not think much of it. I am an elderly literature major so I have always loved this movie, having first seen it when it came out in the theater in 1967. Bathsheba finally finds out what love is but she pays a dear price for her capriciousness.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

william paul s

This film is superb. 55 year after its release it looks better than ever and is far superior to the television adaptations and the awful 2015 film that followed it. Julie Christie must surely be one of the most beautiful women ever born, if not the most beautiful, and she is a mesmerising actress in this film. Peter Finch, Alan Bates and Terence Stamp complete a perfect set of leading characters, but the supporting cast is also excellent. The music is marvellous, the costumes superb, the settings and landscapes sublime. It has been criticised for not reflecting Hardy's intention of depicting the effects of the narrowness of small rural communities in the 1860s on human beings, but I think it is very true to the book, which is one of Hardy's greatest. One of my dozen favourite films.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

georgan g

This was better than I thought it would be. Despite the characters not doing what I thought was likely, they made foolish choices. Still, I enjoyed this melodrama.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I enjoyed the 2015 remake more.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/04/21

Full Review

William L

Far From the Madding Crowd is an example of an idea that looks good on paper, but doesn't translate to the screen. The film is a three-hour melodrama masquerading as a character study, which has only four major characters but somehow only really adds complexity to one of them, Troy's Stamp, who maintains colorful character, emotional intensity, and conflicting passions. In contrast, Christie's Bathsheba is simply "the independently-minded woman", Finch's Boldwood is "the repressed gentleman", and Bates' Gabriel is "the honest, patient farmer" who eventually wins out by doing virtually nothing and simply outlasting the other two. The film goes off on long tangents where it often forgets that certain characters exist, but does compensate somewhat with on-location shooting and quality costumes. If you like excessively long romantic period films that exist more to satisfy a passion for drama than to create a sense of sincerity, this may still satisfy your craving for a while, but to me this is a lesser attempt in the sea of midcentury epics. (2.5/5)

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

12/04/20

Full Review

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John Schlesinger

Director

Julie Christie

Bathsheba

Peter Finch

William Boldwood

Alan Bates

Gabriel Oak

Terence Stamp

Sergeant Troy

Prunella Ransome

Fanny

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Patrick Gibbs

Daily Telegraph (UK)

With the emphasis on plot rather than character only Julie Christie finds a part she can turn round in, suggesting convincingly Bathsheba's curious combination of coquetry with integrity.

May 12, 2015

Full Review

Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

Splendidly lusty fare, its feet deep in the mud of the English countryside, its head in the lens-flared glare of a dreamy tragi-romantic sky.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 15, 2015

Full Review

Charlotte O'Sullivan

London Evening Standard

Mostly this is a triumph ...

Rated: 4/5

Mar 13, 2015

Full Review

Robert Kotlowitz

Harper's Magazine

There is so little authentic feeling in Far From the Madding Crowd.

Aug 4, 2020

Full Review

Judith Crist

Vogue

I expected a movie to make me stand up and cheer or at least sit up and take notice. Instead it's curl-up and doze-fitfully time.

Feb 26, 2020

Full Review

Gene Youngblood

Los Angeles Free Press

I haven't walked out on a film in years; it was a depressing experience.

Feb 3, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

Based on Thomas Hardy's renowned novel, this British drama focuses on Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie), a beautiful young woman who inherits a picturesque farm from her uncle and is determined to run it herself. Three very different suitors -- Francis Troy (Terence Stamp), an intense soldier; William Boldwood (Peter Finch), a middle-aged farmer; and Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates), a shepherd of modest means -- all contend for Bathsheba's hand, and conflict is inevitable.

Director: John Schlesinger
Screenwriter: Frederic Raphael
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 18, 1967, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 1, 2012

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