“The Furies certainly resembles Mann’s noir efforts – in mood, theme, and lighting, if not setting – more than his later westerns would. In this sense, it might be described as atypical of a Mann western. Yet, those wonderful Mann signatures of psychological struggle and conflict, characters pushed to their violent breaking points, and loyalty amid isolation are all present and accounted for here, as are the pure, windswept vistas that position natural beauty against the quiet angst of deliberation.” (The Furies)

“All of the little consistencies within those five westerns might seem something like repetition, but, on the contrary, the better, more appropriate reading is that these films are all different variations on the same theme.” (from James Stewart: The Western Collection)

“The psychological undercurrent runs wide and deep here. Stewart’s McAdam is possessed, not by the desire to put his hands on the gun, but by the necessity of eliminating Dutch Henry. At some point, the viewer is required to question both McAdam’s motivation and his sanity.” (Winchester ’73)

“McLintock’s “I’ll be seein’ ya” soliloquy is chilling in its delivery, its conviction, and its effect. The audience wants this man to violently dispose of Cole. It’s not a matter of encouragement. We’re the raucous spectators at the Roman Colosseum. The final climax, as orchestrated by Mann and written by the unsung third wheel of these films Borden Chase, is filled with uneasy endings and morally troubling questions.” (Bend of the River)

“With these three characters, Mann has set up his damaged hero, an aggressive love interest, and the empowered villain of the piece. Yet, confrontation is kept to a minimum. The Far Country is a film that meanders along at its own pace, far less concerned with appeasing the audience than the other four Stewart westerns.” (The Far Country)

“…Mann presents the character as a very solitary figure. He does so using the confined spaces of that most cinematic of transportation – the train. The suspense isn’t on par with a Hitchcock picture, this being a 78-minute B-movie and all, and Mann doesn’t bleed that facet as much as, say, Richard Fleischer did in The Narrow Margin, but the few opportunities which arise are hardly wasted. A gun to Kennedy’s back while walking through the train reveals how adept Mann was at making the small seem large.” (The Tall Target)