A young Irish couple flee to the States, but subsequently struggle to obtain land and prosper freely.A young Irish couple flee to the States, but subsequently struggle to obtain land and prosper freely.A young Irish couple flee to the States, but subsequently struggle to obtain land and prosper freely.
- Awards
- 3 nominations
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe 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.
- GoofsWhen Joseph and Shannon step off the ship in America, vendors are selling American flags with 50 stars.
- Quotes
[about Grace]
Shannon Christie: She's got an awfully large chest to be goin' to church.
Joseph Donnelly: Shannon, all chests are equal in the eyes of the Lord.
- Crazy creditsNear the end of the credits, special thanks are given to, among others,
Fungi the Dingle Dolphin (although the correct spelling of the dolphin's name is Fungie).
- Alternate versionsHere's a detailed description of all the additional scenes in the Extended Version, Part 1 :
- When Joseph's dad dies, there is some added material where the dad says, "I've given you nothing, you boys. A small mold cottage on a bit of rock that isn't even ours, full of hollow labor." Also, there is a bit where the priest there looks at the dying dad curiously as he says his last words.
-When Joseph is getting his gun, there are some extra shots of the beach and more dialogue as Danty tries to be encouraging as Joseph mentions he doesn't know the landlord.
-Extra shots during Joseph's journey as he drags the donkey along with him. There's a moment when he stops to see someone riding a horse and claims he will get one someday.
-Extra bits in the bar scene as Daniel mentions how "love is the outcome of doom." Also, we actually see him leave the bar and fail on getting on his horse because of his drunken state. This explains why he walks his horse in the woods later. Also included is footage of Joseph preparing his gun and following close.
-More footage is included of Joseph stalking Daniel in the woods as he sings. There's also a short shot before the mansion showing Joseph walking through the hedge entrance.
-Before we see Joseph sleeping in the stable, we get a brief shot of Shannon riding her horse at dawn.
-As Joseph spies on Shannon in the stable, we see extra shots of her removing her coat and unbuttoning the collar of her shirt.
-The infamous bowl scene is slightly censored with the shot of Shannon looking underneath it removed along with the leg wound. The scene is slightly extended to have Shannon's mother ask her if there is "any sign of revival."
-A new scene is added where some police show up on horses and talk to Daniel near the hedges. It's revealed Daniel hides liquor in the garden as he takes a sip from one of the hidden bottles.
-More dialogue between Stephen and Shannon as he asks if she is "enjoying the peacocks." Shannon expresses how she feels "trapped in this stuffy house." Before Stephen insists she plays on the piano, Shannon tells her mother, "I'm not in a musical mood."
-The scene where Shannon tells Joseph America is offering free land is extended. Before we see Joseph hobbling around in his room, we see an exterior of the mansion at night. During their talk, Joseph tells her "You'll never get to America. Look at you, you're nothing but ribbons." She replies, "It wasn't a ribbon that stabbed you in the leg."
-When they are on the boat, Joseph complains how the ocean feels like a jail. Shannon tells him it's "a highway to the future."
-Before the arrival in America, we a get a lengthy scene were Stephen is having a hard time writing letters to Shannon. Daniel tries to comfort him, but he keeps asking where she is. We also see Shannon has been secretly writing to Daniel as he reads on her letters privately.
-When being hired, there is extra dialogue of Kelley introducing his "doomsday book" to Joseph. He explains those who get written in are his property. This explains a later deleted scene in Part II and why Joseph can't get work.
-A new scene takes place before Kelley takes them to their apartment. Joseph discusses his previous boxing history and they witness a bunch of folks chasing after some Italians. Kelley remarks how "Boston is an Irish town."
-After they get the apartment in the brothel, the scene extends as Joseph tries to calm Shannon down by mentioning that him and his brothers used to sleep in a barn. This doesn't comfort her as she heads out to a bathroom where she gets surprised by a customer in one of the bathtubs.
-Before Daniel reveals the letters, there is added lines where he asks his wife what she is knitting. She replies, "I'm just passing the time until somebody cuts my throat."
-After Shannon tells her boss off, a new scene takes place where Joseph tells her "You haven't the dimmest idea of how the world is run." Shannon doesn't care as she mentions how nice it would be to quit her job. They pass by some folks putting up electrical poles as a man on a horse passes by. To prove his point about how important her work is, Joseph mentions how hard it would have been to earn that horse. The man on the horse replies he actually stole it much to the surprise of Joseph.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siskel & Ebert: Sister Act/Encino Man/Alien³/Far and Away (1992)
- SoundtracksBook of Days
Music Composed and Performed by Enya
Lyrics by Roma Ryan
Produced by Nicky Ryan
Courtesy of Warner Music (U.K.), Ltd.
Featured review
The Frontier Thesis
Back in Gone With the Wind Gerald O'Hara tried to tell Katie Scarlett the importance of the land, a lesson she took the entire film to learn. For Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman it's the land, their own bit of land to work as they please and answer to no one.
The story of Far and Away takes place in a very specific time period in the history of both Ireland and America. In Ireland the home rule movement had been dealt a stunning blow with the fall of Charles Stuart Parnell in scandal. Independence had been set back and the landlords were riding high, though not without opposition.
Opposition in this case comes in the form of Tom Cruise and his family who are Irish tenant farmers about to be tossed off their land because they can't pay the exorbitant rents. Turns out the landlord's got a most fetching daughter in Nicole Kidman who's got her eye on the peasant lad.
Far and Away is first and foremost a romance, the rich girl and the poor boy, two beautiful young people we all wish we were. Of course the real affair of Tom and Nicole and their eventual marriage is fairy tale storybook stuff on its own. It sure didn't hurt the film.
They've got a rough road ahead though. In Boston they get exploited by their own people as badly as the English are doing in the old country. Of course their eventual salvation is the Oklahoma land rush where Tom can get his own land to work.
Frederick Jackson Turner was a famous American historian who put forth the thesis that the reason America escaped the class struggles and revolutions of Europe was our frontier. It didn't work out so well for those Indians already there, but the proletarian masses instead of becoming a mob that agitators could stir to revolution just went west and made opportunities. Turner's thesis is still a widely respected paradigm in the study of American history and I think if he could have seen Far and Away, he'd say Ron Howard proved his point.
Speaking of Ron Howard, it's pretty obvious he was influenced by both versions of the Oklahoma land rush previously made in the two films of Edna Ferber's classic Cimarron. He doesn't do badly in recreating Boston of the Gay Nineties and Ireland of the same period.
And Tom and Nicole certainly look beautiful even when she's working in a factory and Tom's getting clobbered in a bare knuckle prize fight. Look for nice performances by Robert Prosky as Nicole's father, Thomas Gibson as Tom's rival for Nicole and Colm Meaney as the Irish political boss in Boston.
Maybe the world needs a frontier to solve its problems.
The story of Far and Away takes place in a very specific time period in the history of both Ireland and America. In Ireland the home rule movement had been dealt a stunning blow with the fall of Charles Stuart Parnell in scandal. Independence had been set back and the landlords were riding high, though not without opposition.
Opposition in this case comes in the form of Tom Cruise and his family who are Irish tenant farmers about to be tossed off their land because they can't pay the exorbitant rents. Turns out the landlord's got a most fetching daughter in Nicole Kidman who's got her eye on the peasant lad.
Far and Away is first and foremost a romance, the rich girl and the poor boy, two beautiful young people we all wish we were. Of course the real affair of Tom and Nicole and their eventual marriage is fairy tale storybook stuff on its own. It sure didn't hurt the film.
They've got a rough road ahead though. In Boston they get exploited by their own people as badly as the English are doing in the old country. Of course their eventual salvation is the Oklahoma land rush where Tom can get his own land to work.
Frederick Jackson Turner was a famous American historian who put forth the thesis that the reason America escaped the class struggles and revolutions of Europe was our frontier. It didn't work out so well for those Indians already there, but the proletarian masses instead of becoming a mob that agitators could stir to revolution just went west and made opportunities. Turner's thesis is still a widely respected paradigm in the study of American history and I think if he could have seen Far and Away, he'd say Ron Howard proved his point.
Speaking of Ron Howard, it's pretty obvious he was influenced by both versions of the Oklahoma land rush previously made in the two films of Edna Ferber's classic Cimarron. He doesn't do badly in recreating Boston of the Gay Nineties and Ireland of the same period.
And Tom and Nicole certainly look beautiful even when she's working in a factory and Tom's getting clobbered in a bare knuckle prize fight. Look for nice performances by Robert Prosky as Nicole's father, Thomas Gibson as Tom's rival for Nicole and Colm Meaney as the Irish political boss in Boston.
Maybe the world needs a frontier to solve its problems.
helpful•239
- bkoganbing
- Aug 10, 2007
- How long is Far and Away?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Un horizonte lejano
- Filming locations
- Billings, Montana, USA(Oklahoma land rush)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $60,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $58,883,840
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $10,194,520
- May 24, 1992
- Gross worldwide
- $137,783,840
- Runtime2 hours 20 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content