Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)

Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British drama film adapted from Thomas Hardys book of the same name. The film, starring Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Terence Stamp and Peter Finch, and directed by John Schlesinger, was Schlesingers fourth film and his third collaboration with Christie. It marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works exploring contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by Nicolas Roeg and the soundtrack was by Richard Rodney Bennett. He also used traditional folk songs in various scenes throughout the film.

Set in the rural West Country in Victorian England, the story features Bathsheba Everdene Julie Christie, a beautiful, headstrong, independently minded woman who inherits her uncles farm and decides to manage it herself. This engenders some disapproval from the local farming community. She employs a former neighbour, Gabriel Oak Alan Bates, to be her shepherd rejected by her as a suitor, Gabriel lost his own flock of sheep when one of his dogs drove them over a steep cliff. Ignoring Gabriels love, Bathsheba impulsively sends a valentine to William Boldwood Peter Finch, a nearby gentleman farmer. When he misinterprets her capriciousness and proposes to her, Bathsheba promises to consider his offer. But she becomes enamoured of Frank Troy Terence Stamp, a dashing cavalry sergeant.Troy was supposed to marry young Fanny Robin Prunella Ransome, a maidservant pregnant with his child, but she went to the wrong church on their wedding day and Troy was posted out of town. Bathsheba marries him after his return. Troy gambles away most of Bathshebas money and creates disharmony among the farmhands. He learns that Fanny has died in childbirth and is filled with remorse. He swears that he never loved Bathsheba, walks out on her, and his clothes are found at the edge of the ocean. ........

Source: Wikipedia