Far from the Madding Crowd

Director John Schlesinger had the cream of 1960s British acting talent at his disposal for this beautifully realised adaptation of Thomas Hardy's windswept Wessex romance. Julie Christie (still basking in the glow of her best actress Oscar for another Schlesinger film, Darling) stars as Bathsheba Everdene, the headstrong country girl made good after inheriting her uncle's estate, who captivates devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates), lonely landowner Boldwood (Peter Finch) and dashing soldier Sergeant Troy (Terence Stamp). When the film was released in 1967, some critics thought Christie more Swinging Sixties than 1860s, but she remains a fascinating presence and it's easy to see why her trio of suitors could fall under her spell. The male stars are rather good, too: Stamp is all cheek and charm (his sword-wielding seduction of Bathsheba is a standout), Finch exhibits pain and passion almost in the same breath and Bates is charismatic despite playing a virtual bystander to the trials and tragedies occurring around him. It won't be to every Hardy fan's taste but Nicolas Roeg's masterful photography acts like another member of the cast, convincingly creating a grimy, weather-beaten pastoral landscape that's brilliantly underscored by Richard Rodney Bennett's wistful and evocative music.