"Far from the Madding Crowd" is a very long movie. Not only does it clock in at nearly three hours, but its slow, deliberate pace makes it seem longer. Now this might sound like I disliked the movie....well, I didn't. But I am warning you, as not everyone is like me and willing to watch something this long.

The story is from a Thomas Hardy novel, his first successful one at that. But unlike most films based on novels, I was shocked to read a summary of Hardy's story...and it's pretty much the film! And, I really do appreciate that the filmmakers didn't change the plot or tack on a happy ending or the like!

The story is about a most unusual woman for the 1860s. Bathsheba (Julie Christie) is a single woman who has inherited a large farm in England. Back then, women just didn't run large farms...they either hired a man to do it or, more likely, they married a guy so he can run the place. But Bathsheba has unusual notions for the time...such as not wanting to marry anyone who she didn't love first. This means that she did have suitors but instead of trying to date her and get to know her and win her heart, two of them (Alan Bates and Peter Finch) just asked her to marry her without any sort of prelude! Seen back then, this wouldn't have been so unusual...but you can understand a pretty young lady being taken aback from proposals that lacked any sort of romance! Unfortunately, the only man who actively tried to woo her during the film was a complete ne'er do well (Terence Stamp)...a man completely unworthy of her love. Where does all this go and how does the story end? See the film...and be prepared for a few surprises!

The film is simply gorgeous. The cinematography is lovely and appropriately gray, the music is terrific and the acting far better than I expected. Overall, one of Christie's best, if not her best. Despite her winning an Oscar for "Darling" and the fame of her film "Dr. Zhivago", I think here she is at her best.

So, if you see this one...give it a chance. Yes, it's slow...but it's also Hardy's vision and a sad yet enjoyable story as well....with a somewhat happy ending as well.

The cast and the fact that I love the book(possibly my personal favourite of Thomas Hardy's work) were what drove me into seeing this Far From the Madding Crowd. And I personally really liked it, though I can see why people might not. It does have a couple of cliché moments and the film is overlong. On the other hand, the film looks gorgeous, the scenery is evocative and the cinematography positively shimmers. The music is hauntingly beautiful, the script is literate and thoughtful and the complex story unfolds slowly and deliberately, is faithful in detail and spirit to the book(in the film's favour rather than against it) and several scenes such as the scene in the graveyard have their impact. The direction from John Schlesinger is fine, I can see where some are coming from when they say his personality doesn't come through as it does in his other work but considering how different the story and his directing style is that's understandable, while the characters still have credibility and complexity if even more so in the book. Julie Christie is an affecting and spirited Bathsheba, Terence Stamp is appropriately soldierly and crusty, Alan Bates does down-to-earth very effectively and Peter Finch devastates as the tragic Boldwood. In conclusion, maybe not for everybody but I really liked it for mainly the cast, visuals and music. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Far From The Madding Crowd takes place in the central English countryside of Wessex, the ancient kingdom of Alfred the Great, in the Dorset area. Author Thomas Hardy grew up there, set his stories there and created his characters with love and care. A man who definitely believed in writing about what you know.

Two years after winning the Oscar for Darling as Diana Scott, the amoral model who hopped from bed to bed in a rise to power, Julie plays a similar kind of flirt here. In fact Hardy drives the point home by naming her Bathsheba, a woman from the Bible who got at least one guy's hormones in overdrive.

Three men are panting after her big time. Forty something landowner Peter Finch, rakish infantry sergeant Terence Stamp, and poor, but honest shepherd Alan Bates.

Bathsheba chooses badly, but all becomes right in the end for her when she winds up with the right man. Now I'm not going to say who's who because that's the whole point of the film.

You won't be disappointed when you watch it. John Schlesinger did a fabulous job in recreating life in mid 19th century rural England. He shot the film in the Dorset area and you really do think you've gone back in time to that area.

The film does drag in spots, but it's still a tale well told and speaking of telling the tale, I racked my brains trying to figure out where I'd seen this plot before as I watched my VHS tape.

It hit me that this was the plot for the Ginger Rogers comedy, Tom, Dick, and Harry where she had to choose between George Murphy, Burgess Meredith, and Alan Marshal. If you know who Ginger took than you'll know what happens in Far From the Madding Crowd.

But see the film anyway.