Set in the rural West Country in Victorian England, the story features Bathsheba Everdene, a beautiful, headstrong, independently-minded woman who inherits her uncle's farm and decides to manage it herself. This engenders some disapproval from the local farming community. She employs a former neighbour, Gabriel Oak, as a shepherd; rejected by her earlier as a suitor, Gabriel lost his own flock after one of his dogs drove them off a cliff. Bathsheba impulsively sends a valentine to William Boldwood, a nearby gentleman farmer. Misinterpreting her capriciousness, he falls passionately in love with her and proposes; Bathsheba promises to consider his offer. However, she soon meets and becomes enamoured of Frank Troy, a dashing cavalry sergeant. Troy was to marry young Fanny Robin, a maidservant pregnant with his child, but she went to the wrong church on their wedding day; Troy, unreasonably insulted and humiliated, refuses to go through with the ceremony. He was then posted to a different town. Bathsheba marries Troy but soon regrets her impulsive decision. Troy gambles away much of Bathsheba's money and creates disharmony among the farmhands. He is filled with remorse upon learning that Fanny has died in childbirth and swears he never loved Bathsheba. He leaves her and his clothes are later found by the ocean where he has presumably drowned. Boldwood coerces Bathsheba to marry him once Troy is declared legally dead. However, the sergeant reappears at their engagement party to reclaim his wife; Boldwood shoots and kills him. Boldwood is last seen in a prison cell, awaiting execution. Gabriel tells Bathsheba that he is emigrating to America. Realising how much she needs his quiet strength and unselfish devotion, Bathsheba persuades Gabriel to remain in Weatherbury, and they marry.
The film keeps close to the book. The budget was $3 million, 80% of which was provided by MGM, 20% by Anglo-Amalgamated. The film was shot largely on location in Dorset and Wiltshire.
The film is memorable for the subtly erotic scene between Sgt. Troy and Bathsheba in which he flaunts his expert skills as a swordsman in a private fencing display in a prehistoric earthwork. An enthralled Bathsheba stands immobile before him. Roger Ebert found the scenes of the rural area and rural life to be "splendid". His strongest criticism is that the film missed the point of the small society of rural life:
Thomas Hardy's novel told of a 19th century rural England in which class distinctions and unyielding social codes surrounded his characters. They were far from the madding crowd whether they liked it or not, and got tangled in each other's problems because there was nowhere else to turn. It's not simply that Bathsheba was courted by the three men in her life, but that she was courted by ALL three men in her life.
The film performed well at the box office in the UK but was a commercial failure in the US. Far from the Madding Crowd received mixed to positive reviews from critics, as the film holds a 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 27 reviews.
