14: Far and Away

This week, the movie that’s often considered the first flop of Cruise’s career: Ron Howard’s Far and Away! Is the movie — or are the accents — as bad as we thought? How can a movie work at the highest and lowest levels, but kind of miss the middle? How do we make our peace with the big political choice that Howard makes?

Content warning: indigenous erasure, colonialism, physical violence, sex work, harm to animals

Unanswered Questions:

  • Was it the right decision to avoid the issue of native populations entirely?
  • Can we understand the Christie storyline as being that of an Englishman coming under the romantic spell of America?
  • Given the Irish immigrant story and the talk of destiny, why is there so little religion in this film?

Further reading:

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next time as we finally find out if Tom Cruise can handle the truth in Rob Reiner’s 1992 drama A Few Good Men!


The Last Star In Hollywood is an independent podcast produced by Elizabeth Rae and Alastair Stephens.

Copyright © 2023 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.