tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68168222287117772022024-03-18T22:47:11.375-07:00Westerns on the BlogA blog dedicated to western movies Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-54915489913944099552023-03-12T03:22:00.001-07:002023-06-28T00:18:15.364-07:00The Last of the Mohicans (1992)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwK27TxvQCS7Nuf6_AZw5HnIwp2pkHNnBG-p5yduU_JWpJ6gQym3janfEls3RV7RpiFgzipza0U7RJFp1SctWNV7cFRDWgqGFtA_SYDXM0zZW4BluSQuVyOZ4YpGPq-nZbT8ULfM_3NPQnt9KGcp1nqXffD18MliWCU5lfY2xehnifmgenhsiiuBl4Q/s1267/LastMohican.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="1267" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwK27TxvQCS7Nuf6_AZw5HnIwp2pkHNnBG-p5yduU_JWpJ6gQym3janfEls3RV7RpiFgzipza0U7RJFp1SctWNV7cFRDWgqGFtA_SYDXM0zZW4BluSQuVyOZ4YpGPq-nZbT8ULfM_3NPQnt9KGcp1nqXffD18MliWCU5lfY2xehnifmgenhsiiuBl4Q/w618-h262/LastMohican.jpg" width="618" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #783f04; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It’s often
said that James Fenimore Cooper’s <i>The Last of the Mohicans </i>is a <b>tale</b> many are familiar with, but a <b>novel</b> only few have read.
Significantly the script for Michael Mann’s 1992 screen adaptation owes more to
the screenplay of the 1936 film adaptation starring Randolph Scott than to the
source novel. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #783f04;">For those who do not know: The Last of the Mohicans is set
during the so-called <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/french-and-indian-war" target="_blank">French and Indian war</a> (1754-1963) when France and Britain battled
for the control of the vast North American colonies. Both sides were supported
by various native tribes (hence the name ‘Indian war’). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #783f04;">The Last of the Mohicans is above all the story of Natty Bumppo, knicknamed <b>Hawkeye</b>, a white boy who was raised by Natives. He is unwilling
to choose sides, but is drawn into the conflict when he saves the lives of two young
women, Cora and Alice Munro, the daughters of the British officer responsible
for the defence of Fort William Henry. After the successful siege of the fort
by the French army, the Brits get a safe conduct, but Magua, the war chief of
the of the Hurons, ambushes the column because he has sworn to kill the Munro
sisters, because the Brits have raided his village and murdered his relatives.
In the meantime Hawkey and Cora have fallen in love, while Chingachgook’s
biological son Uncas starts developing feelings for Cora’s younger sister
Alice. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #783f04;">Was there any need for a new version? Over the years we have become more tolerant towards screen
violence and this offered director Mann the possibility of a more realistic
approach of the source material. Most adaptations presented the story as an
adventure movie with some action and romance, but The Last of the Mohicans is a
period <i><b>war</b> </i>movie and Mann’s version offers some of the bloodiest battle scenes
ever put on film: attentive viewers will even spot the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> scalpin</span>g of a British soldier. Mann used
thousands of extras, among them 900 natives to give his film a more authentic
look; Chingachgook is played by Russell Means, an Indian Rughts activist, while Uncas is played by Eric Schweig, a Canadian actor of Inuit desent. Furthermore Daniel Day-Lewis lived like a 18th Century trapper for weeks to prepare
for the role of Hawkeye: he learned how to built canoes and skin deer. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-TIHIyfFlgqUaz5gHkgGDmz39GSvkt3VWcgX7OVIe2rnjO1AH-D7-Wqse0ynFvZjHNAdNpq2hZC8OPGVgHRvPAwbhVBB8hGIi_Vl900ZkH_2HUcLmXxTGn8W3mZH4OlTMx5LQTJyeXC4Y27fAl3R8egAKoG0sHAagiGci7xv6cGScGUVDazhlhlGKA/s1280/mohican3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="1280" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-TIHIyfFlgqUaz5gHkgGDmz39GSvkt3VWcgX7OVIe2rnjO1AH-D7-Wqse0ynFvZjHNAdNpq2hZC8OPGVgHRvPAwbhVBB8hGIi_Vl900ZkH_2HUcLmXxTGn8W3mZH4OlTMx5LQTJyeXC4Y27fAl3R8egAKoG0sHAagiGci7xv6cGScGUVDazhlhlGKA/w548-h226/mohican3.jpg" width="548" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #783f04;">All these shots at realism and authenticity have resulted
in a breathtakingly beautiful movie. The battle scenes are furious, the camera spiraling its way between the warring factions, creating a thrilling idea of immediacy; the attack on the British army on its way to the safety of
Ford Edward is a true awe-inspiring spectacle. And yet there’s something missing: Cooper’s
source tale is rather generic and in spite of his efforts to become a
believable 18th Century trapper, Daniel Day-Lewis' Hawkeye is no more than a figure
running through the woods, long-haired, bare-chested - an admirable achievement, but the character has no
depth. At the same time his physical presence is so dominant that his
companions, his foster father Chincachgook and foster brother Uncas remain
almost anonymous. Some of the supporting characters actually work better than the leads: <b>Wes Studi</b> is awfully convincing as the
traitorous and bloodthirsty Magua and <b>Johdi May</b> has a remarkably insightful
scene during the finale, high on a cliff, after the death of her love interest
Uncas, when she looks the murderer Magua in the eye and prefers a self-chosen
death over a life as a sex slave of the Huron warrior.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpdUO5RyZdzWF-Wraltg5VSrSSDVFtOJj1RIHSiaR5iofaAL7lURk6yEEq3VyGf_ootIJWzTG3KFaVmA8-P_FV0_XKWsYFJikwGp8Eoy_raPfTIsYHYSBs6jajlGova5RRcEDCKLRFG41WQfNGQurQyiC_V58OxDUvN6Ncpu4-rxALU6-pL2MTYm9iXQ/s1011/Star_rating_3.5_of_5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="1011" height="37" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpdUO5RyZdzWF-Wraltg5VSrSSDVFtOJj1RIHSiaR5iofaAL7lURk6yEEq3VyGf_ootIJWzTG3KFaVmA8-P_FV0_XKWsYFJikwGp8Eoy_raPfTIsYHYSBs6jajlGova5RRcEDCKLRFG41WQfNGQurQyiC_V58OxDUvN6Ncpu4-rxALU6-pL2MTYm9iXQ/w176-h37/Star_rating_3.5_of_5.png" width="176" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><b>Director:</b>
Michael Mann, <b>Cast:</b> Daniel Day-Lewis (Hawkeye), Madeleine Stowe (Cora), Johdi
May (Alice), Russell Means (Chingachgook), Eric Schweig (Uncas), Steven
Waddington (Major Heyward), Wes Studi (Magua), Maurice Roëves (Colonel Munro),
Patrice Chéreau (General Montcalm), <b>Cinematography:</b> Dante Spinotti, <b>Screenplay:</b>
Michael Mann, Christopher Crowe, <b>Music: </b>Randy Edelman, Trevor Jones<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3r7vWOCVdcquB8TMnGstNs61M8JRN_02fJOmE2XdqHIwtq-iYs4d-0HUeqmLCXafbzGIRWQNDEhLu5rsFGE93RSlZsllcqDXMO39NdHYMc7kCT6kD4pkpnNr9QiREmgzFJfgwtecf0LbhK-6co1ee2kaErsh8gM_gTF_x70se20mUZ0VGSTgf8iQvQ/s1920/alicelom.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="1920" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3r7vWOCVdcquB8TMnGstNs61M8JRN_02fJOmE2XdqHIwtq-iYs4d-0HUeqmLCXafbzGIRWQNDEhLu5rsFGE93RSlZsllcqDXMO39NdHYMc7kCT6kD4pkpnNr9QiREmgzFJfgwtecf0LbhK-6co1ee2kaErsh8gM_gTF_x70se20mUZ0VGSTgf8iQvQ/w400-h156/alicelom.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7wuZpy_V-Vqj1hVBlnKtnD11X__3rh5h_z5xc6dXszheucHg-h21PgVRIW7ZKtfEpiBtbGpyf5ndsnrJKFmFm3I7_HXIJYAs4GTUHYgGB6mMc0_jdu77GS-b2ERZG246j-s3hQA2uFcaIe2xmp_cQFI-TgtDmk7n7jaAAG18aBGJqdzh9Fj9QfXyXTA/s1280/loM1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="1280" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7wuZpy_V-Vqj1hVBlnKtnD11X__3rh5h_z5xc6dXszheucHg-h21PgVRIW7ZKtfEpiBtbGpyf5ndsnrJKFmFm3I7_HXIJYAs4GTUHYgGB6mMc0_jdu77GS-b2ERZG246j-s3hQA2uFcaIe2xmp_cQFI-TgtDmk7n7jaAAG18aBGJqdzh9Fj9QfXyXTA/w400-h165/loM1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-90154398094473287562022-06-14T03:59:00.073-07:002023-06-28T00:20:41.919-07:00Nevada Smith (1966)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0RJTzY4raAeClCIkkMixWdVH5nLH52nySh79tea_W5ZWyHy-vIelaErsanySn80svE8j7sBhNtwi-CP23TEJAKvKrSTXXxRQd_D8eorSkb_aFWCOot_h0PzJJ2D1AYcb-en0yg-Svs36snig42JxRfnce9waMWo_syHuOL4TbUdHn5dOsKmV_7ZR0Sg=s1024" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="1024" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0RJTzY4raAeClCIkkMixWdVH5nLH52nySh79tea_W5ZWyHy-vIelaErsanySn80svE8j7sBhNtwi-CP23TEJAKvKrSTXXxRQd_D8eorSkb_aFWCOot_h0PzJJ2D1AYcb-en0yg-Svs36snig42JxRfnce9waMWo_syHuOL4TbUdHn5dOsKmV_7ZR0Sg=w628-h265" width="628" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span lang="EN-GB">In Nevada Smith
Steve McQueen is a half-breed, born out of an Indian (sorry: Native American)
mother and a white father. Blue-eyed and fair-haired McQueen may seem an odd
choice to play a half-breed, but note that we’re in the Sixties when white
actors were often asked to impersonate biracial characters: Paul Newman would
play one in <i>Hombre</i> (1967), Elvis Presley had played one
in </span><span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6816822228711777202/9015439809447328756"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Flaming
Star </span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB">(1960).</span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span lang="EN-GB">The film tells
the background story of a character, Max Sand, created by Harold Robbins in his
novel <i>The Carpetbeggers</i> (*1). Sand is a young man who vows
revenge on the three men who have murdered his parents in gruesome fashion:
we’re told (luckily not shown) that his mother - a ‘squaw’ - was skinned
alive). A travelling gunsmith (Brian Keith) teaches him how to use a gun, but
also warns him that the desire for vengeance may ruin a man’s life. Max
disregards all good advice and sets out to track the three murderers down, one
by one. The villains have gone separate ways and Max even follows one of them
into a Louisiana prison camp to get even with the piece of vermin. </span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span lang="EN-GB">Keith's warnings are a first indication that the
film wants to say something about vigilantism, but its message is rather
obscure. In <i>The Bravados</i> (1958, Henry King) Gregory Peck
discovers that he has tracked down and killed the wrong man. In the Italian
western </span><span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6816822228711777202/9015439809447328756"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Da
Uomo a Uomo</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"> (Death Rides a Horse, Giulio Petroni, 1967) the
juvenile avenger discovers that his mentor was present at the scene of the
crime (albeit not as one of the killers). In both cases the discovery sheds a
new light on the avenger and his obsessions. In <i>Nevada Smith</i> all
pleadings to give up his quest and lead a normal life (not only by his mentor,
but also by a priest and a girl who has developed feelings for him) seem to
have little or no effect, but then, all of a sudden, when he’s about to kill
the last murderer he concludes that the man ‘isn’t worth it’. <i>Isn’t
worth what?</i> Max has shot the man both the arms and legs and he is most
probably bleeding to death. It’s a rather sadistic scene and the effect is
opposite to the redemptive effect the film makers most probably had in mind.</span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><i><span lang="EN-GB">Nevada Smith</span></i><span lang="EN-GB"> (*2) was popular among
moviegoers but critical reactions were mixed. At the age of 36, Steve
McQueen is too old to play a teenager at the beginning of the movie and the
evolution of the central character from a young inexperienced boy into a hardened
killer isn’t very convincing. Instead of being epic, the film feels
episodic, with some episodes working better than others. But it remains a
fairly exciting revenge western and McQueen’s screen presence is so strong that
we are (almost) willing to accept all these complications caused by his
casting: he was not called ‘Mr. Cool’ without reason. And the supporting cast
is very fine, notably Brian Keith as his mentor and Karl Malden as the most
vicious of the murderers. </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjptqbQ4tltk0g3HhlL1qgHSh2ksQ03oiLhnmBbGr10YxKyV4pvuz19fmcZFF39xZ7YxqfOqNz8oW-uULRy_h8vmw6yWIwboiC2oN3lTFR26sSBl6bdjU0-BogpvNtO0O0ph3cNA0qgaGyT4KXEdi_j5HTKCGV8FRvGzD2i9FGxGpOT4YxgWIs3MWcQ/s1011/Star_rating_3.5_of_5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="1011" height="43" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjptqbQ4tltk0g3HhlL1qgHSh2ksQ03oiLhnmBbGr10YxKyV4pvuz19fmcZFF39xZ7YxqfOqNz8oW-uULRy_h8vmw6yWIwboiC2oN3lTFR26sSBl6bdjU0-BogpvNtO0O0ph3cNA0qgaGyT4KXEdi_j5HTKCGV8FRvGzD2i9FGxGpOT4YxgWIs3MWcQ/w200-h43/Star_rating_3.5_of_5.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #0f243e; text-align: left;"><b></b></i></div></span><p></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <i style="color: #0f243e;"><b>Dir: </b>Henry Hathaway - <b>Cast:</b> Steve McQueen (Max Sand/Nevada Smith), Karl Malden (Tom Fitch), Brian Keith (Jonas Cord), Suzanne Pleshette (Pilar), Arthur Kennedy (Bill Bowdre), Martin Landau (Jesse Coe), Raf Vallone (Father Zaccardi), Janet Margolin (Neesa), Pat Hingle (Big Foot), Paul Fix (Sheriff Bonnell) - <b>Cinematography:</b> Lucien Ballard - <b>Music:</b> Alfred Newman</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><b>Notes:</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">*1) The film describes Max Sands’ first
encounter with another character from the novel, Jonas Cord, but the story and
script were originally written for the movie. In the 1964 screen adaptation of
Robbins’ novel the characters of Max Sands and Jonas Cord were played by Alan
Ladd and George Peppard respectively.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">*2 Max 'adopts' the name Nevada Smith relatively late into the movie.<o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_4wdgfR7sXfS09_EdcxLkT0clHr7NS97QifQqqXKC_FRBgRUFEsjXOYHS0Oh2WrLXx9PO8YVNag6SfNpYENefMYkHJSTIzT2lxiAkCzcAfCYPxG7iBiowr9-lNCPElF_WBoqMNcncOuVcZbyrev4Ao9T_WKCP--bAMsLlAugjMmw9IK2lQ_60dkH3Sg=s1021" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="1021" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_4wdgfR7sXfS09_EdcxLkT0clHr7NS97QifQqqXKC_FRBgRUFEsjXOYHS0Oh2WrLXx9PO8YVNag6SfNpYENefMYkHJSTIzT2lxiAkCzcAfCYPxG7iBiowr9-lNCPElF_WBoqMNcncOuVcZbyrev4Ao9T_WKCP--bAMsLlAugjMmw9IK2lQ_60dkH3Sg=w640-h272" width="640" /></a></span></span></div><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7mxm_bsaXWjCvRIVHgJyI7EUfYn7-sXkP529y6P66cERbeGwa8pBC1h69nC8FVpwgImV7A5qrA82G25b8p0LwNNwnGZzF7SYN1iCNI-T9d_hZ-SGNE9Oe7Q5sRaoOaJzsaSspWcvkx4M_BwDH0xZySLl0jgjaktkAOAqBrKL46t2ztmcZZpGI0oaiPQ=s1024" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="434" data-original-width="1024" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7mxm_bsaXWjCvRIVHgJyI7EUfYn7-sXkP529y6P66cERbeGwa8pBC1h69nC8FVpwgImV7A5qrA82G25b8p0LwNNwnGZzF7SYN1iCNI-T9d_hZ-SGNE9Oe7Q5sRaoOaJzsaSspWcvkx4M_BwDH0xZySLl0jgjaktkAOAqBrKL46t2ztmcZZpGI0oaiPQ=w640-h272" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span><p></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidPUhpl9U2BNqCFrG7IY097EGwBWZYcGDnBbd9dpqit_M9WQR56y6VuDpXC5kH1eQE_4Jf30SUzSokrG0frCyohlD-Kf4T3HWjRA1He-t5XMcDHQNUuChpSbd3tFnso4URx-75x6slZdfUxJnlJITx2jh3NkrJjsCypRUdCZVALGinpamijZHeERvqTQ=s1024" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="434" data-original-width="1024" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidPUhpl9U2BNqCFrG7IY097EGwBWZYcGDnBbd9dpqit_M9WQR56y6VuDpXC5kH1eQE_4Jf30SUzSokrG0frCyohlD-Kf4T3HWjRA1He-t5XMcDHQNUuChpSbd3tFnso4URx-75x6slZdfUxJnlJITx2jh3NkrJjsCypRUdCZVALGinpamijZHeERvqTQ=w640-h272" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-61637476261214530732020-09-22T02:28:00.000-07:002020-09-22T02:28:11.718-07:00Man of the West (1958)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzghHiaQC1VcXWJpma2Slg1sU9zw5CGQ0omGjJD3qyH7gu_Xeg3HGrvJP0NXvw1nyti1vFnqPcBfxBw3UhE-cKwOkUXsjJE9w0tQ3DSvm08WwLs4PCL5GfjnewPkIo2qENKTyMi5sSfYBw/s981/coopermanwest1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="981" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzghHiaQC1VcXWJpma2Slg1sU9zw5CGQ0omGjJD3qyH7gu_Xeg3HGrvJP0NXvw1nyti1vFnqPcBfxBw3UhE-cKwOkUXsjJE9w0tQ3DSvm08WwLs4PCL5GfjnewPkIo2qENKTyMi5sSfYBw/w640-h326/coopermanwest1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; text-align: left;">In 1958 this movie was panned by critics for its melodramatic overtones
while fans of the director weren’t happy by Mann’s decision to replace his
regular collaborator Jimmy Stewart by Gary Cooper. Today many think this is Anthony
Mann’s best western.</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Gary Cooper is a seemingly respectable citizen who is stranded in the
middle of nowhere after a train robbery, along with two other passengers, a
cardsharp and a dance hall girl. He takes them to a ramshackle
farmhouse, the only shelter he knows for miles and miles around, but the
train robbers have taken the same place as their hide-out ... <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We had already noticed that Cooper was secretive about his identity, and
now discover why: his real name is Link and he has a shady past as a member of
a vicious gang of outlaws. The gang was led by his criminal uncle, a man called
Dock Tobin, who told him everything about stealing and killing - the only
things he knew as a kid, and the farmhouse was the very place where he grew up.
And of course the train robbers who have taken the place as their hide-out, are
no other than Dock Tobin and his criminal sons ...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">With a subtext of sexual desire, jealousy and rivalry among relatives, we
seem to have arrived in a typical Mann universe, but unlike the Mann-Stewart collaborations
this is not a tale about a man seeking revenge or redemption. The hero from
this movie, has already redeemed himself as a citizen of a town called New
Hope: his fellow citizens have trusted him with their money and asked him to go looking for a school teacher.
But the focus is not on the hero, <i>but rather on the villain</i>: it’s Cobb’s demented
patriarch who’s at the centre of events. Dock Tobin is a person who
virtually lives in the past: He thinks Link has returned to join the gang and
therefore wants to rob the bank of the prospering town of Lassoo, a plan
he had given up long ago, but of course it’s too late, the once prospering town
has become a ghost town ...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Cobb was in his mid-forties and eleven years <i>younger</i> than
Cooper. Lots of make-up were used to turn Cobb into an old man, but the effect
is a little grotesque. I wasn't too fond of Cobb's performance, but Mann uses the contrast between Cobb's theatrical, and Cooper's more restrained acting style to great effect. The movie also has a very good supporting cast, including John Dehner, Jack Lord (as Cooper’s haywire
cousin) and Julie London (as the dance hall girl). Lord and London are involved in the
movie’s best remembered (and most intense) scene, with Lord holding a knife to
Cooper’s throat and ordering Billie to take off her clothes. Because Cooper is
the only one who can protect her, London has no choice but to give in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang="" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang=""><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Mann of the West is the director's darkest vision on the West: a
fistfight between Cooper and Lord is unusually gruesome and people who are hit
by bullets don’t just die, but slowly bleed to
death, suffering terribly pains. It’s also Mann’s darkest vision on the human
condition: None of the characters will ever have what he or she wanted: Link was
the son Dock Tobin never had, even if he raised him; his own sons stayed with
him, not because they loved him, but because they were afraid to leave him.
Even Billie, the dance hall girl who is coveted by all, is a lonely person: she
feels attracted to Link, the first man who respects her as a woman, but she
knows that Link is not able to return her affection because he is a respectable
man and he has told her that he’s the father of two children.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span lang=""><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="">⭐⭐⭐⭐<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>out of 5</span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCOTKtfMdBWm_azlSc72vWg4rfudAlC2AvWF2ov2u_8maP31Q91D8awZL01urUL9Sg7S8OYoXq-KyjbiA1BfRrgGp0Qm1kniftiq6sI5IkknDZEwjtmmw3uNsbFxlyEwXaBpSopymzDoQ7/s1600/vlcsnap-2019-10-15-10h47m50s058.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCOTKtfMdBWm_azlSc72vWg4rfudAlC2AvWF2ov2u_8maP31Q91D8awZL01urUL9Sg7S8OYoXq-KyjbiA1BfRrgGp0Qm1kniftiq6sI5IkknDZEwjtmmw3uNsbFxlyEwXaBpSopymzDoQ7/w512-h213/vlcsnap-2019-10-15-10h47m50s058.png" width="512" /></a></div>
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1958 - <b>Director</b>: Anthony Mann - <b>Cast</b>: Gary Cooper (Link), Julie London (Billie Ellis), Lee J. Cobb (Dock Tobin), Jack Lord (Coaley), Arthur O'Connell (Sam), John Dehner (Claude) - <b>Screenplay</b>: Reginald Rose (based on the novel <i>The Border Jumpers</i> by Will C. Brown) <div><br /></div>Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-7096539465282068582020-05-01T01:18:00.005-07:002020-09-09T13:29:29.079-07:00The Homesman (2015)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_rvulBOg9jBUQXpIRGTM72BiicNgEIL3C4HBHQFiC1-fPBssIwuMcdhAwblk8LC6aQM4VH7psOWgORm0eKZDEbLzolVFdLsmumBFe1WJ6Ehl6W4sMD7fix2iaHpJt-GudJnEZhOTS1D-/s1600/HomesmanJonesSwank.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="912" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_rvulBOg9jBUQXpIRGTM72BiicNgEIL3C4HBHQFiC1-fPBssIwuMcdhAwblk8LC6aQM4VH7psOWgORm0eKZDEbLzolVFdLsmumBFe1WJ6Ehl6W4sMD7fix2iaHpJt-GudJnEZhOTS1D-/w640-h308/HomesmanJonesSwank.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="" style="font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A western
unlike most others; it is based on a novel by <b>Glendon Swarthout</b>, a name that
might ring a bell: he also wrote <i>The Shootist</i>, the novel that formed the base
of John Wayne's last hurrah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hilary
Swank is Mary Bee, a 31-year old frontierswoman and a spinster; she owns a
piece of land, but can't find a husband because she is homely looking - at least she thinks that is the reason (others rather think she's too "bossy"). To take her mind off things, Mary Bee accepts
the job of escorting three women who were driven mad by the harsh frontier life
to a safe home in the East (</span>This was a job that was usually done by a man, who was therefore called a <b>homesman</b>). The journey is expected to be harsh and
perilous, therefore Mary Bee saves a low-life (director Tommy Lee himself) from
the noose and employs him as her bodyguard and traveling companion.</span></div>
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<span lang="" style="font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
Homesman is Tommy Lee's second feature film as a director; like his first
effort, <i>The three Burials of Melquiades Estrada</i>, it is a literate, flashback-driven movie.
The flashbacks illustrate the plight of the three women and some of scenes are
both shocking and heartbreaking, but their insertion into the narrative seems a bit arbitrary and they often works more confusing than illuminating. The
storyline involves villains and even Indians, but there's hardly any western
action, the movie is a period drama rather than a western. </span><i style="text-align: center;">(text continues under the pic)</i></span><br />
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<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyG2M3C-PXMVVa7K6VmBitKsVc594fVu2LWVpnSDd6AGzmSc_2Y3a_5sIszyjQbperMykLyJ1GjkDMCzZbKMrms4ACWZk7qBUNGataASap3a3DbugZEa-HMDIAhhyphenhyphenunBpJyCq-aAIUpfdc/s1600/vlcsnap-2020-04-23-12h10m21s132.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="1024" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyG2M3C-PXMVVa7K6VmBitKsVc594fVu2LWVpnSDd6AGzmSc_2Y3a_5sIszyjQbperMykLyJ1GjkDMCzZbKMrms4ACWZk7qBUNGataASap3a3DbugZEa-HMDIAhhyphenhyphenunBpJyCq-aAIUpfdc/w512-h208/vlcsnap-2020-04-23-12h10m21s132.png" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Vermeer in the West</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="" style="font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This doesn't
mean that the film is without merit. The director once said that he loved the
art of the Dutch and Flemish masters of the Golden Age and in one scene (a
lonely woman in a shadowy interior, the light coming from the left) is a clear
reference to <b>Vermeer</b>'s paintings. The darkened, stale interiors offer a sharp
contrast to the bleached skies over the plains that reflect the harshness of
life on the frontier. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="" style="font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Visually
The Homesman is stunning, but these type of westerns, in which not too much happens,
need strong characters and in spite of the presence of two of the best actors
around, I felt little or no connection to either Hilary Swanks or Tommy Lee's
character. </span>The three unlucky women (played by Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja
Richter) have no dialogue and most of what the two lead characters have to say
to each other, remains unsaid. </span></div>
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<span lang="" style="font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And then
there's this bizarre plot-twist, two thirds into the movie. I won't say
what<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it implies exactly - you need to
find out yourself - but like some have said, it turns a movie that tries to show the harshness of
life for women on the frontier, into a showcase for a male actor. </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">⭐⭐⭐</span></div>
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<b>Miscellaneous:</b></div>
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<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">* Grace Gummer,
who plays one of the unlucky women, is <b>Meryl Streep's daughter</b>. Streep has a
cameo near the end of the movie as the reverend's wife<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-13661298846131961832019-10-07T01:22:00.001-07:002020-09-23T03:11:12.407-07:00Damsel <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuoBJHjgmf5EeDncvzWHZjFijx1mK5pMD9sU3gL41frd7Ylwl0ELs7wkaobXgVq5NRhObpy13CDFrK8_EFoGb-e6dvbkSHY6tq_wLaZAE7QczgoE0VGEakJwA7M352vGPz5JTNlGtUCpp-/s1600/damselposter+-+kopie+%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="855" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuoBJHjgmf5EeDncvzWHZjFijx1mK5pMD9sU3gL41frd7Ylwl0ELs7wkaobXgVq5NRhObpy13CDFrK8_EFoGb-e6dvbkSHY6tq_wLaZAE7QczgoE0VGEakJwA7M352vGPz5JTNlGtUCpp-/s640/damselposter+-+kopie+%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Damsel</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>A low-key,
eccentric approach to the western genre, about a damsel, not in distress</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Damsel is
set in the West, anno 1870, and can therefore be called a western, but there
are no gunslingers and no shootouts in dusty town streets; there's a damsel,
but she's not in distress, and there's even an Indian - sorry: a Native
American - but he's different from any other red man you may have met in cinema
thus far. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Like a few
other 'different'<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>western movies in
recent memory (<i>The Homesman</i>, <i>Meek's Cutoff</i>, <i>The Sisters Brothers</i>), Damsel is a
movie about a journey. It is undertaken by a young man called Samuel Alabaster (wonderfully
played by Robert Pattinson), who ventures West in the company of a mini-horse
called Butterscotch and a parson. The horse is a wedding gift for a young girl
who's supposed to be waiting for him out there at the frontier, and he picked
up the parson in a frontier town because he needs a man of the cloth to officiate
the marriage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The opening
scene has told us that the parson is a fake: he received his clothes and bible from an old
preacher who wanted to make a new start in life. Soon we also
start having doubts about Samuel and his girlfriend: Samuel holds a picture of the girl in a locket, but is she really
waiting for him, out there in the wilderness? How on earth did she get there?
When the priest utters his doubts, Samuel tells him that the girl is held
captive by two settlers, a brute and his mentally retarded brother ...</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>(text continues under the pic)</i></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is the
first of a series of twists; the second - and most radical one - takes place at
the half-way point, when Samuel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the
priest reach the cabin where this girl named Penelope (Mia Wasikowska in
another excellent performance) is supposed to be held captive. Samuel and
Penelope have shared a few happy moments in the past, but it becomes clear that
the experience had a completely different effect on them, and all hopes for a
happy future are blown away in a couple of moments of unexpected violence. The
halfway point of this movie is an <b>about face</b> you hardly ever experience in
cinema, worth an entrance ticket alone. Telling more about it, would spoil the
fun, or the shock. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In their
relatively young career, the Zellner brothers, David and Nathan, have developed
a preference for oddball - yet warm - characters and unpredictable storylines.
Damsel is all this. It's a comedy, but the comedy is of a deadpan nature and the atmosphere is rather bleak, eventually almost depressing. I found the movie quite likable, but some western fans will
no doubt complain about the slow pace and the lack of authenticity (even most
of the conversations have a contemporary ring). And if both Pattinson and
Wasikowska are terrific - and perfectly cast - Nathan Zellner miscast himself
as the preacher, a character that becomes increasingly unbelievable and pathetic
as the story progresses. Maybe the brothers should have asked Robert Forster –
who appears in this truly wonderful opening scene, and in this opening scene
only - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for this role. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">⭐⭐⭐</span></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">2018
– Directed by David & Nathan Zellner - Robert Pattinson (Samuel Alabaster),
Mia Wasikowska (Penelope), David Zellner (Parson Henry), Robert Forster (Old
Preacher), Nathan Zellner (Rufus Cornell), Joseph Billingiere (Zacharia Running
Bear), Morgan Lund, Gary Brookins, Gabe Casdorph – Music: The Octopus Project</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-8193830098825912292019-09-17T02:01:00.002-07:002020-09-23T03:22:23.657-07:00Silverado<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3YlLLZFZretUs6B77GOw1WSUeeEVZtpDPk9L-KARuP3TvMGhSxox6U4A3d_a-NCHu-awvicHgTSk0ttMo9E2ExZD8t84_DLUJB_epHnBF1GlAIEnPvdiU8zyiBYm6EZ1km375UUoaXIgw/s1600/vlcsnap-2019-09-12-12h25m48s097.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="784" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3YlLLZFZretUs6B77GOw1WSUeeEVZtpDPk9L-KARuP3TvMGhSxox6U4A3d_a-NCHu-awvicHgTSk0ttMo9E2ExZD8t84_DLUJB_epHnBF1GlAIEnPvdiU8zyiBYm6EZ1km375UUoaXIgw/s640/vlcsnap-2019-09-12-12h25m48s097.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Along with
Clint Eastwood’s <strong><i>Pale Rider</i></strong>,
Lawrence Kasdan’s Silverado was supposed to breathe new life into the western
genre in the mid-80s. It failed to do so. Reviews were positive, but moviegoers where
underwhelmed. It did a lot better when released on videocasette and was one of
those movies that drew Hollywood's attention to this new market.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The film’s
story is classic western stuff: A cowboy named <b>Emmett</b> saves a man called <b>Paden</b>,
who was left behind in the desert by bandits who had stolen all his
possessions, including his horse and (worst of all) <i>his hat</i>. Emmett and
Paden head for the town of Silverado, were Emmett was born. En route they pick
up Emmett’s younger brother <b>Jake</b>, a womanizer and gunslinger, who invariably
gets into trouble by courting the ladies and shooting their lovers (in
self-defense, of course). They are joined by a fourth man, <b>Mal</b>, a former slave
turned farmer, who is looking for the murderers of his father. The town of Silverado
is dominated by the McKendriks clan, long-time enemies of Emmett’s and Jake’s
family. The sheriff is one of Paden’s old ‘pals’, a guy with a very dubious
background, and Mal also thinks the men he’s looking for are hiding out in the
town of Silverado …</span></span><br /></span>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Silverado is a lot of fun to watch. The mosaic
script may cause some
confusion, but there's plenty of action and in
spite of a running time of more than two hours the movie is over before you know it. But
if a movie aspires to revive a moribund genre, it must shed a new
light on traditional genre elements, and this is exactly what Silverado fails
to do. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Like I have
stated before, movies reflect as much the time <i>in which they were made</i> as the
time <i>in which they are set</i>. If Sam Peckinpah’s </span><strong><i>The Wild Bunch</i></strong><strong> </strong><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">was the prototypical American
western of the late sixties, Silverado is the prototypical American western of
the mid-eighties. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The Sixties
were a period of change and turmoil, and the best westerns from the late
Sixties, early Seventies, were preoccupied with themes such as the closing of the frontier
and the transition to a new era (<i>The Wild Bunch</i>, <i>Monte Walsh</i>), the outlaw as a
folk hero (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, <a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-great-northfield-minnesota-raid-1971.html" target="_blank">The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid</a>) or the plight of the red man (<i>Soldier Blue</i>, <i>Little Big Man</i>, <i>Ulzana's
Raid</i>). The excessive violence in some of these movies was often interpreted as
a reaction to the Vietnam war. It's significant that several movies from the
period featured juvenile character who were exposed to dangerous situations
(<a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-culpepper-cattle-co-1972.html" target="_blank">The Culpepper Cattle Company</a>, Bad Company).<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Those
movies weren't all masterpieces, but they were thought-provoking, and dared to
be dirty and violent. The American society was re-inventing itself, and so was that American genre par excellence, the western. The
eighties were a decade characterized by a new national (nationalist) awareness. It also was a typical
‘bourgeois’ decade, hostile to true art. Like <b>Roland Barthes</b> stipulated in his classic study </span><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51715.Mythologies" target="_blank">Mythologies</a></i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">,
bourgeois society has two ways of dealing with art that challenges its nature: it either denies it, or tries to convert it. Silverado
is very much a conversion, bourgeois style, of what the western had been in the
previous decades. Instead of challenging and thought-provoking, Silverado is
reassuring; it’s crammed with action, but it’s never dirty or nasty, it’s all
clean fun for the entire family. People who usually do not love westerns, tend
to love it more that fans of the genre. </span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The four leads are fine, but their
motivations and actions are purely rhetorical. No wonder some of the supporting
actors steal the show: Jeff Goldblume is well-cast as a perfidious card player
and Brian Dennehy is a true delight as the corrupt sheriff of Silverado. There
are also a nice cameo appearances by Linda Hunt and especially John Cleese as a
sheriff who’s definitely </span><i>not from these parts</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">.</span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">⭐⭐⭐<span style="font-size: large;">½</span></span></div>
</div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">(1985 – Dir: Lawrence Kasdan – Cast: Kevin Kline
(Paden), Scott Glenn (Emmett), Kevin Costner (Jake), Danny Glover (Mal), John
Cleese, Jeff Goldblume, Rosanna Arquette, Brian Dennehy, Linda Hunt)</span></span></i><br />
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></i>
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b>Note:</b></span></span></i><br />
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></i>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">* (1)<i> </i></span></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Don't get this wrong: Art has no specific political color, it can be either left-wing or right-wing, but it is by definition </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">challenging, thought-provoking</i><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">.</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span></span>
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<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span>Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-32599655353421504922019-03-03T07:27:00.002-08:002020-09-23T03:36:30.690-07:00Texas Across the River (1966) <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDOfeKaeo5ZEE87IReQviyLB0wH-YdXevpKT5J2uncvl9mYdRmzB1r6fmFKfWLrsM1qpal5vF2Sq8EVrB0-ny5hU2MLa3vbWJkSJ_qa8OGYA9FPTKAdKgsq-4T1gw1qXmC_nQPy-YxTBp/s1600/texasposter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="808" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDOfeKaeo5ZEE87IReQviyLB0wH-YdXevpKT5J2uncvl9mYdRmzB1r6fmFKfWLrsM1qpal5vF2Sq8EVrB0-ny5hU2MLa3vbWJkSJ_qa8OGYA9FPTKAdKgsq-4T1gw1qXmC_nQPy-YxTBp/s640/texasposter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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When relatively
unknown American actors went to Europe to appear in cheaply
made spaghetti westerns (and in some cases became superstars), major European actors
took the plane in the opposite direction to appear in lush Hollywood productions.
With his appearance in <i>Texas Across the River</i> (1966), French superstar Alain
Delon tried to establish his name across the ocean; for the occasion he was
cast as a <i>Latin Lover</i> and paired with that other Latin Lover - the one from
Hollywood - Dean Martin.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Delon is a
Spanish nobleman, <i>Don Andrea Baldazar, El Duce de la Casala</i>, who is about to
marry a Southern Belle, Phoebe (Rosemary Forsyth). It turns out that she was
promised to another man, a cavalrist from the US army who takes his entire
regiment to the wedding to claim his bride. When his rival is accidently killed
during an incident, Don Andrea is unjustifiably accused of murder and must therefore
flee across the border to Texas (not yet an U.S. state). He is joined by a
gunrunner (Dino) who is crossing the same border in order to sell guns to a
group of settlers who have created a very unsafe haven in the Texan wilderness
...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Delon had
been working very hard to remove the distinctive French inclinations from his
speech, so he would be able to play all kind of European nationalities in
Hollywood productions, but he still sounds French, not Spanish. It doesn't
really matter. The film is a <b>spoof </b>and his character a joke. Dino is top-billed
and has a couple of funny repartees (especially in a raunchy scene in and
around a pool with Rosemary Forsyth: Rosemary: "<i>I can't come out of the water, I
lost my clothes!</i>" Dino: <i>"Close your eyes!"</i>), but it's really Delon's movie: In
Texas Don Andrea tames a buffalo in the style of a torero, saves the life of a
beautiful squaw, fights with Dino over Phoebe, and clears his name by saving
the settlement from being raided by marauding Comanches. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Texas across
the River is as entertaining as it is forgettable. The jokes come so fast that
you really don't mind that a least half of them are graceless and unfunny. Just
sit down and relax, enjoy what's enjoyable and forget the rest. Some will no
doubt call it sexist and racist but since all sexes and ethnic groups are
targeted the humor feels rather innocuous. All people involved seem to have a
good time.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐<span style="font-size: large;">½</span></div></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjhZ-biWjHHJ4hXZZN8L3D5yfdj8Ctsd2hHWJNxuFYN5bkRY9OblDmRLu-ZG7P7pABNNZC8PGngeGCWmgR7utJ91n_vcvJfwLAnvV_grFv3VdCx933YzmsChflGaJ0nVFCmvmuxE1DSTB/s1600/Texas+Across+the+River+%25281966%2529_Dean+Martin%252CAlain+Delon.avi_003169800.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="527" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjhZ-biWjHHJ4hXZZN8L3D5yfdj8Ctsd2hHWJNxuFYN5bkRY9OblDmRLu-ZG7P7pABNNZC8PGngeGCWmgR7utJ91n_vcvJfwLAnvV_grFv3VdCx933YzmsChflGaJ0nVFCmvmuxE1DSTB/w400-h189/Texas+Across+the+River+%25281966%2529_Dean+Martin%252CAlain+Delon.avi_003169800.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1966 - <b>Director</b>:
Michael Gordon - <b>Cast</b>: Dean Martin (Sam Hollis), Alain Delon (Don Andrea), Rosemary
Forsyth (Phoebe), <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joey Bishop (Kronk), Tina
Aumont <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Lonetta), Peter Graves (Cpt. Stimpson,
Michael Ansara (Comanche Chief), Linden Chiles (Comanche Chief's son), Andrew
Prine (Lt. Sibley), Stuart Anderson (Yancy Cottle), Richard Farnsworth
(Medicine Man)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-87073297517672429332018-05-23T04:33:00.001-07:002020-09-07T02:21:10.301-07:00More Dead than Alive <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIwHkmGspAbaGIe1vZWnWihpzHXpFHSZqXkpZ2BplYKHFb0L2EovLaN49P0UK-qOhC845ZbMr3SKVmkXzrSRRJzcn2PO3gX9QLtdrMN3X8XERoZKAq2G0pix8yRl0NnpSit5zRik876wl/s1600/moredead2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="797" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIwHkmGspAbaGIe1vZWnWihpzHXpFHSZqXkpZ2BplYKHFb0L2EovLaN49P0UK-qOhC845ZbMr3SKVmkXzrSRRJzcn2PO3gX9QLtdrMN3X8XERoZKAq2G0pix8yRl0NnpSit5zRik876wl/w512-h282/moredead2.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The title
and the poster of the movie may give you the impression that this is a
<i>spaghetti western</i>, but no, <i>More Dead than Alive</i> is an American movie. It stars
Clint Walker as a former gunslinger - known as 'Killer Cain' - who has spent 18
years in jail and discovers that it's hard to leave his past behind. </span><br />
<br />
The film
opens with protracted (and remarkably bloody) sequence of a jailbreak that ends in
carnage. Cain refuses to help the jail breakers because he wants to serve his sentence and start a new life, but when he is finally released from
jail, the world he once knew has disappered and he himself has become a living
anachronism. The only person willing to offer him a job, is a showman named Ruffalo,
who asks Cain to perform as a sharpshooter in a
traveling sideshow. Also working for Ruffalo is a young man named Billy Valance, who soon starts challenging Cain to a duel, in order to prove himself
as a gunslinger ... <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The name
Billy Valance is no doubt a reference to John Ford's, <a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.be/2013/03/the-man-who-shot-liberty-valance-1962.html" target="_blank">The man Who Shot LibertyValance</a>, the movie that (along with Peckinpah's <a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.be/2013/03/ride-high-country-1962_25.html" target="_blank">Ride the High Country</a>) had
established<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the <b>End of the West </b>as a
dominant theme of American westerns from the decade. <i>More Dead than Alive</i> is
set in a West that is no longer Wild, but the story device of the famous
gunfighter who is repeatedly challenged by a younger man, is closer to Henry
King's <i>The Gunfighter</i>, a western from Hollywood's glory years. The surprise
ending (I won't give it away) also brings <i>The Gunfighter</i> to mind, but what
worked marvelously in King's movie, is strangely ineffective here, leaving us
with a feeling of malaise. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>(Text continues under the pic)</i></span><br />
<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i><br /></i></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXuO_xNMh_uwa5ljcM8lp5lR5pSw5w5_rduPy4fUAAyHaI7Gw_JyInpX8C5DAZLqy7CiN-jGZdSFc8ts1f8WmTTfGImEh0Vf-Y57IxFncJKVuQ_NSflTwP9TDnmpMpWK3wyUTB8TMmpDsq/s1600/Clint_Walker_as_Cain_in_More_Dead_Than_Alive.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="660" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXuO_xNMh_uwa5ljcM8lp5lR5pSw5w5_rduPy4fUAAyHaI7Gw_JyInpX8C5DAZLqy7CiN-jGZdSFc8ts1f8WmTTfGImEh0Vf-Y57IxFncJKVuQ_NSflTwP9TDnmpMpWK3wyUTB8TMmpDsq/s400/Clint_Walker_as_Cain_in_More_Dead_Than_Alive.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Director Robert Sparr mainly worked for television and it shows. This is a routine movie, but it's easy to enjoy. Walker and
Francis (as the woman who helps him forget the past) are a nice, physically
contrasting couple and Vincent Price is as flamboyant as ever as the sideshow
barker. Singer/actor Paul Hampton<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>overacts as the immature,
psychologically unstable Billy, but the role seems to ask for it. The bloody opening sequence almost feels completely detached from the rest of the movie. In the previous year <i>Bonnie and Clyde</i> had a set a trend and in 1969 we saw various western with excessive bloodletting and a tragic ending in which the 'heroes' were shot to pieces. But movies like <a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.be/2013/10/butch-cassidy-and-sundance-kid-1969.html" target="_blank">Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid</a> and <i>The Wild Bunch</i> were movies about people who had chosen a violent lifestyle; in the case of More Dead than Alive
the gory killings seem to undermine the anti-violence message of the movie. But those were the days, and in 1969 cowboys died in bloody fashion.<br />
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⭐⭐⭐</div>
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<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Director: Robert Sparr - Cast: Clint Walker (Cain), Anne Francis (Monica), Vincent Price (Ruffalo), Paul Hampton (Billy) - Written by George Schenk - Produced by Aubrey Schenk and Hal Klein - Music by Philip Springer<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">R.I.P. Clint Walker, Gentle Giant</span></div>
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<br />Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-91849621158941929062018-04-26T14:58:00.009-07:002023-07-19T03:15:11.769-07:00The Undefeated<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwLkNquVrOocsIIJtlWE7HtkKQXRi6gPgmhcv7wa7PW3WWUop9rHRU4KXTG9t6_gxk3ZmD7ef3ToARejxfTMAx8OTdWY28LRO5ybqzjuPQ2_XAV15AjR7G6_HCF3dK2ZtceFETsAWih4Zp_24rONGAa8k_ysnrkJgYxMrEdoZH43MXeQClu0HgXmP5g/s900/the-undefeated-1969--album.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="900" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwLkNquVrOocsIIJtlWE7HtkKQXRi6gPgmhcv7wa7PW3WWUop9rHRU4KXTG9t6_gxk3ZmD7ef3ToARejxfTMAx8OTdWY28LRO5ybqzjuPQ2_XAV15AjR7G6_HCF3dK2ZtceFETsAWih4Zp_24rONGAa8k_ysnrkJgYxMrEdoZH43MXeQClu0HgXmP5g/w551-h410/the-undefeated-1969--album.jpg" width="551" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; text-align: left;">A routine
western with patriotic overtones that is presented as a homage to John Ford. It was overshadowed by the immensely successful <i>True Grit</i>, released earlier the same year. The story </span><span style="text-align: left;">is set in the immediate
aftermath of the Civil War and the movie offers a real plethora of familiar
western faces such as Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Dub Taylor and others. And
of course it also stars the Duke, for the occasion paired with Rock Hudson.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The film
opens with a remarkably violent and bloody charge, led by Yankee Colonel John
Henry Thomas (John Wayne) against a confederate regiment. Overlooking the
tragic results of the carnage, the news is brought to the Colonel that the war
is over, that the surrender terms were actually signed three days earlier. Thomas
is the type of man who will always do his duty, but cannot understand why anybody
would keep on fighting when the war is over. Hudson's Confederate officer
Langdon is almost his direct opposite: he is stubborn and self-righteous, not
willing to give up the fight and therefore rather torches his ranch than leave it
to Northern carpetbaggers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Shortly
after, both men cross the Rio Grande, Thomas to sell horses to Emperor
Maximilian, Langdon to join the Emperor's forces with the survivors of his
regiment and their families (*1). Their paths cross on different occasions: together
they fight off a gang of Mexican bandits, they relive the hostilities during a drunken
brawl at a 4th of July party, there's an interracial love story (involving Thomas' adopted Cherookee son and Langdon's daughter) and eventually they all decide that it's time to go 'home'. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The film's patiotism may feel a bit simplistic today, but in 1969 the country was entangled in anti-war and anti-imperialist demonstrations and Wayne and McLaglen clearly wanted to make a statement. The ending is a bit of an anti-climax, but the theme of reconciliation is well-handled and the large-scale action scenes are quite good, if not always believable: Mexican bandits would of course not attack entrenched Americans in 'Indian' style, but such an attack offers ideal material to fill the widescreen and </span>William Clothier's widescreen cinematography is breathtakingly beautiful. This is not a great movie, but it's entertaining enough and t</span>he natural charm of the actors will give you the idea that you're
back in the good old days, when heroes were tall in the
saddle and solid as a rock. The Duke seems to have a great time, but in reality filming was a
difficult, painful experience: he broke
three ribs when he fell off a horse and later tore a ligament in his shoulder </span><span style="font-size: large; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbChcwybRZVIhmqVdDQzuv1PuThmnlHswXolDovnr3crhlW567Qnvsv9ONkFNLWgZmp4pdt2jyz6QcaS1Pi7G3QzEif3NBIHaMN5fhZdc8-ZjmJHLeth79dgxObUuLy9C8um3eQjA04j5/s1600/The+Undefeated+1969+1080p+John+Wayne++HD.mp4_003197461.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="1280" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbChcwybRZVIhmqVdDQzuv1PuThmnlHswXolDovnr3crhlW567Qnvsv9ONkFNLWgZmp4pdt2jyz6QcaS1Pi7G3QzEif3NBIHaMN5fhZdc8-ZjmJHLeth79dgxObUuLy9C8um3eQjA04j5/w512-h214/The+Undefeated+1969+1080p+John+Wayne++HD.mp4_003197461.png" width="512" /></a></div>
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<br />
⭐⭐⭐</div>
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<b><br /></b>
<b>Note:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
* The charactor of Col. Langdon was most probably based on the historic Confederate officer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_O._Shelby" target="_blank">Joseph Shelby</a>, who crossed the border with around 1,000 of his men after the end of the war to seek asylum in Mexico. For their unwillingness to surrender, they were called 'the undefeated'</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Dir: Andrew
V. McLaglen, John Wayne (uncredited) - Cast: John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Roman
Gabriel, Ben Johnson, Lee Meriwether, Antonio Aguilar, Dub Taylor, Bruce Cabot,
Harry Carey Jr, John Agar, Marianne McCargo, Merlin Olsen, Jan-Michel Vincent</i></div>
</div>
<br />Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-76479575874616894832018-04-04T12:47:00.004-07:002020-09-22T04:18:18.191-07:00The Duel at Silver Creek (1952)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpxn77q59sR7FzDY8OGST2Yh8goDd80xXP5rOzfmz5t639j6BtCElzt9ACnXfrdnJb4NsQFWM9rcQTBybPT35mmlsQbft_eZsu9TCmDJkulpV28Pd8hVF_AkLf0c1Ymfyfq_w8JOrUs8A/s1600/silvercreekfond+-+kopie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="820" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpxn77q59sR7FzDY8OGST2Yh8goDd80xXP5rOzfmz5t639j6BtCElzt9ACnXfrdnJb4NsQFWM9rcQTBybPT35mmlsQbft_eZsu9TCmDJkulpV28Pd8hVF_AkLf0c1Ymfyfq_w8JOrUs8A/s640/silvercreekfond+-+kopie.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">The Duel at Silver Creek</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">This was Don
Siegel's first foray into the western genre. The script combines two archetypes
of western stories: the <b>town under terror</b> type and the <b>revenge </b>western. </span>The father
of a young man, Luke Cromwell (Murphy) is killed by <i><b>claim jumpers</b></i>, bandits stealing
the claims of small time minors. While looking for the murderers, Luke becomes a gambler and a gunslinger, but the
local sheriff appoints him as his deputy: he's in need of a
quick drawing assistant after he has been hit by a bullet and is no longer able
to squeeze the trigger. The two fall out when Luke discovers that the sheriff's
sweetheart is in league with the claim jumpers and the older man won't believe
him. Luke wants to leave town but is then told that the sheriff is about to face
a young man called Johnny Sombrero in a duel ...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">Most
characters are referred to by funny names like <i>The Silver Kid</i>, <i>Lightning Tyrone</i> or <i>Johnny Sombrero</i> and the story isn't exactly waterproof. The jumpers are openly
selling the stolen claims and yet nobody can figure out who they are? But </span>Murphy is
perfectly believable as the hot-headed young man who is a lot smarter
than the old fox mentoring him. He looks great in his black leather suit, almost as if he changed his Electra Glide for a horse at the Studio door. Faith
Domergue is deliciously wicked as the she-devil in disguise; in one scene she even strangles a wounded man so that he can't give away any secrets, a scene that must have shocked viewers in those days. Lee Marvin makes a cameo appearance as one of the
frequenters of the local saloon. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">With too much happening in a running time of a mere 77 minutes, the movie feels a little hectic. It's also quite
uneven; Siegel was a late bloomer and had not yet reached full artistic maturity when he was offered this movie (at the age of forty), but his talent was undeniable; with his typical no-nonsense approach he makes the best of the mediocre story material and the <b>triangular shootout </b>in the town street - involving Luke,
the sheriff and Johnny Sombrero - is a great scene, both Peckinpah and Leone must have studied it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="text-align: center;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="text-align: center;">1952 - Dir:
Don Siegel - Cast: Audie Murphy (Luke 'Silver Kid' Cromwell), Faith Domergue (Opal
'Brown Eyes' Lacy), Stephen McNally (Marshall 'Lightning' Tyrone), Susan Cabot
(Jane 'Dusty' Fargo), Eugene Iglesias (Johnny Sombrero), Gerald Mohr (Rod
Lacy), James Anderson ('Rat Face' Blake), Lee Marvin ('Tinhorn' Burgess) </i><br />
<i style="text-align: center;"><br /></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-60093239413487034182018-04-04T08:58:00.001-07:002020-09-25T12:58:13.415-07:00Jory <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHCrZwM3V8EYo510E_-QVRqtKl9zFIzxRH9_TSGZ5zBaDidxuKNW0jVyMiVbkF5Qy_82RW2JNOy3d-ZzmaKcIl48yfhzBloHZ4Dcdzo0D4Vf4iTs1iJEOGvxHzESCSdjmd9mlWjD6WLeM/s1600/joryposter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="824" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHCrZwM3V8EYo510E_-QVRqtKl9zFIzxRH9_TSGZ5zBaDidxuKNW0jVyMiVbkF5Qy_82RW2JNOy3d-ZzmaKcIl48yfhzBloHZ4Dcdzo0D4Vf4iTs1iJEOGvxHzESCSdjmd9mlWjD6WLeM/s640/joryposter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
Jory is a
coming-of-age western, telling a story about the initiation of a teenager into
the realities of frontier life. It's a bit similar to Dick Richards' <i>The
Culpepper Cattle Company</i>, released around the same time. Jory (Robby Benson) is a
15-year old boy who is orphaned after his alcoholic father is killed in a
barroom incident. He joins a cattle drive and befriends the trail boss (John
Marley), a philosophical old timer who takes the kid under his wing. But Jory is not only instructed in the cowboy trade, but also taught how to draw a gun
quickly by a likable cowhand, a young man named Jocko, who actually holds
himself for a formidable gunslinger, but has never shot a man in a duel ...<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jory is an
interesting, but uneven movie. The first half is intriguing, the second
half messed up with clichés. The good first half is helped enormously by the
presence of the popular country singer <b>B.J. Thomas</b>* as the would-be gunslinger
Jocko. It is suggested that Jocko, like Jory, was 'adopted' by the trail bos,
and the friendship between the two foster brothers provides the movie with a few touching moments, among them the sene in which Jocko is provoked to
a duel and is unable to point his gun at another human being, not even in self
defense ... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jocko's
violent death is avenged by Jory - who is definitely not afraid to point his
gun at another human being - but the problem is that the movie makes all the wrong choices after this emotionally wrenching scene. Jory has now become a 15 year old gunslinger, a sort of <i>Jory the Kid</i>, ready to show his shooting skills in any situation, but nobody seems worried about this development. Quite on the contrary: his mentor thinks he has proved himself on the cattle drive and recommends him to a friend, who is looking for somebody to guard his blossoming daughter. H</span>ire a
15-year old to guard your 14-year old daughter? Who would ever do that? Of course the two start soft-soaping each other and Jory isn't much of a protector either: he is kidnapped (along with his sweetheart) but his foster father sacrifices himself
to save the kid. It all ends with Jory - now sick of violence and death -
hanging up his guns and leaving the region (and the movie) to go looking for 'a
place with his name on it' - whatever that means.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">⭐⭐<span style="font-size: large;">½</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Dir: Jorge Fons - Cast: Robby Benson (Jory), John Marley (Roy Starr), B.J. Thomas(Jocko), Linda Purl (Amy Barron) Claudio Brook (Ethan Walden), Patricia Aspíllaga (Carmelita Starr), Brad Dexter (Jack), Todd Martin (John Barron), Anne Lockhart (Dora) - Screenplay by Gerald Herman & Robert Irving, based on a novel by Milton R. Bass</i></div>
</div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><b>Note:</b></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">* <b>B.J.
Thomas</b> sold more than 70 million records but is - like many other country
singers - virtually unknown in Europe. And yet most people will know his voice:
his version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song <i>Raindrops keep fallin' on my
head</i> was part of the soundtrack for the immensely popular Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">B.J. Thomas singing <b>Raindrops keep fallin' on my head</b>: </span></div>
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<br />Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-22733612847859340262018-02-18T11:45:00.000-08:002018-06-02T08:55:51.585-07:00Madron (1970)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvdgU86l7VjWbWwHlmU02x6NZwPN1QDVlwcp1kHbuSMYWS3LGms6y4TZ-HnVtWj9gqeWAoHZCxRhbOs0YKC4hboN49YA7AS5XxYEtz28O_8PQ3aZfOCTQs5SC06YnP5EyDqkaFptZBTew/s1600/madronfr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="821" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvdgU86l7VjWbWwHlmU02x6NZwPN1QDVlwcp1kHbuSMYWS3LGms6y4TZ-HnVtWj9gqeWAoHZCxRhbOs0YKC4hboN49YA7AS5XxYEtz28O_8PQ3aZfOCTQs5SC06YnP5EyDqkaFptZBTew/s640/madronfr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">An obscure
western, an American-Israeli production, shot in Israel, the Negev substituting the American Deep South. Madron was one of the first movies produced by GBC Edric Isracine and the first Israeli movie set in a non-Israeli location. It was co-produced by Chicago based Zev Braun productions (*1). The movie was released a few month after - and almost completely eclipsed
by - Don Siegel's <i>Two Mules for Sister Sarah</i>, which told a similar story about
a mercenary and a nun and their journey through the desert. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Leslie
Caron is Sister Mary, a French-Canadian nurse and the only survivor of an
Apache attack on a wagon train (*2). She is picked up, in the middle of the
nowhere, by a drifter called Madron, a primitive man who has survived so far by
following his instincts. He promises to bring her to safety, but the two must
fight off Mexican bandits and marauding Indians. The journey is long and
grueling, and poor old Madron also has to deal with a smooth-talking woman who
starts discussing all his decisions ...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Madron was made
in the slipstream of Ralph Nelson's infamous <i>Soldier Blue</i>; it has the same
narrative structure and some of that movie's brutalities, but few of its
concerns. Sister Mary
repeatedly states that all people have a soul and are therefore God's children,
but the Indians are presented as cruel and superstitious. The Mexicans
come off a little better: one of them is a good catholic who is first saved by
Sister Mary (when Madron wants to execute and bury him) and later sacrifices
himself to save her from being raped and killed by the Apaches. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Apparently
the movie was made for television but released theatrically when it was judged
too violent for the small screen. Few people bought a ticket, but the song <i>Till
Love touches your Life</i> was nominated by Academy in the category Best Original
song. It refers to the tender feelings the two travelers develop for each
other, and that may, or may not have resulted in <i>you-know-what </i>(the script is
oddly uncommunicative at this point). Boone and Caron play their roles with brio
and are in fact far better than this mildly entertaining, but otherwise modest
production deserves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>Notes:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">* (1) <b>Zev Braun</b> was Jewish and so was famed Italian composer <b>Riz Ortolani</b>. <b>Richard Boone</b> assisted the Israeli film industry in the 1960s and the 1970s and received a special award from Yitzhak Rabin in 1979 for his 'contribution to Israeli cinema' </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">* (2) Caron
was born in France. For this reason it is suggested in the movie that she is
French-Canadian, but her accent does not sound Canadian at all<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
_________<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1970 - Dir: Jerry Hopper - Cast: Richard Boone, Leslie Caron, Gabi Amrani, Paul L. Smith, Aharon Ipalé, Mosko Alkalai, Haim Banai - Music: Riz Ortolani - Song <i>Till love touches your life</i>, composed by Riz Ortolani, lyrics by Arthur Hamilton</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-81096300175328918452018-01-14T10:09:00.001-08:002020-09-26T02:36:48.153-07:00Sam Whiskey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>"Sam
Whiskey was way ahead of its time. I was playing light comedy and nobody
cared." </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
- Burt
Reynolds</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">Most American
westerns released in the late Sixties, early Seventies interpreted the genre in
revisionist terms. Even the seemingly light-hearted <a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.be/2013/10/butch-cassidy-and-sundance-kid-1969.html" target="_blank">Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid</a> was essentially a thoughtful, pessimistic
movie. <i>Sam Whiskey</i> anticipates Burt Reynolds' comedic roles in movies like
<i>Smokey and the Bandit</i>, and in that sense it was ahead of its time, but it's by
no means a revolutionary effort. It is labeled as a western but often plays more
like a heist movie with a twist. </span>In a
genuine heist movie the protagonists - usually a trio of friends or partners - develop an intricate plan to lay their hands on a
treasure. In Sam Whiskey the trio is trying to locate a stash of
gold stolen from an army mint <i>and bring it back to where it came from</i>. In other words: they're <i>not performing</i> a
crime, but trying to <i>cover one up</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">Angie Dickenson is Laura Breckenridge, a woman who recently became a widow and will use everything - including sex (well, mainly sex) - to get things going her way. She 's</span>educes' Sam Whiskey (Burt Reynolds) into retrieving
$250,000 in gold bars stolen from the US army. The bars were stolen by her late
husband and Mrs. Breckenridge wants to preserve her family's reputation by undoing the
theft. Sam enlists two partners, Jed Hooker, a blacksmith he only met shortly
before (played by Ossie Davis) and O.W. Cooper, an old army pal turned inventor
(played by the gentle giant Clint Walker). The three are trailed by a
bespectacled villain (Rick Davis) and his men, who wonder what the three are up
to, and monitored by the widow, who's afraid that Sam and his friend will try
to run off with gold and keep it for themselves.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">Sam Whiskey
was a much maligned movie by contemporary critics, but some recent comments were
more positive. I was pleasantly surprised after all the bad things I
had heard about it. It's far from great, but it's an amiable
little movie, mildly funny, easy to enjoy. </span>There's some real chemistry between
Burt and Ossie Davis and their remarks and repartees are often witty. Angie Dickinson has an incredibly sexy seduction scene
early on, but unfortunately she has very little to do in the remainder of the
movie, other than waiting outside the army mint while the boys are doing their
job inside. Western action is sparse (and unspectacular) but the protracted
finale, with the execution of the daring scheme to put the gold back in its
place, is very well handled, occasionally even exciting.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>Miscellaneous:</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reportedly
this was the first movie to have a scene cut under the new MPAA rating
(introduced in November 1968). To avoid an R-rating director Laven removed a
bare-from-the-waist shot of Angie Dickinson (according to some sources he
replaced it by a 'closer shot', from the shoulders up). It's said that the
scene has been re-inserted in recent releases. The version I saw was quite
revealing but contained no such scene</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiELejibm33tR-YUd0Lv3FachymabhmxbGXKTmbMlDuAJjgDoZrtu1dVSj1LWpHl-D-5AXr3BhY_E-IHKIlq7DrzJgEaizSqzFMQHEQVk49KRx7GJRwqF07g6LXseZua0_hhhC0Bm8eOQYI/s1600/samWprscr.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="539" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiELejibm33tR-YUd0Lv3FachymabhmxbGXKTmbMlDuAJjgDoZrtu1dVSj1LWpHl-D-5AXr3BhY_E-IHKIlq7DrzJgEaizSqzFMQHEQVk49KRx7GJRwqF07g6LXseZua0_hhhC0Bm8eOQYI/s320/samWprscr.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>1969</i> -
<b>Director</b>: Arnold Laven - <b>Cast</b>: Burt Reynolds (Sam Whiskey), Angie Dickinson (Laura
Breckinridge), Clint Walker (O. W. Bandy),
Ossie Davis (Jedidiah Hooker), William Schallert (Mr. Perkins), Rick Davis (Henry
Hobson), Woodrow Parfrey (Thornton Bromley), Ayllene Gibbons (Big Annie) - <b>Screenplay</b>:
William N. Norton </div>
Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-23836778473098805662017-09-08T03:29:00.001-07:002018-08-22T05:21:40.129-07:00Invitation to a Gunfighter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj86rbT88Y_ZL4WoLNBtClRnD7SWMuH6_rOhxxJuQWJoY9ll5xx8hl4qqG06mOmyJVU22BnE0heRkh7gdjyIBtMxmtP9LvIT5UOnWW0C6smm1zRpvvSdw18roZqkz9HKVFS_W_k0RiG3LRj/s1600/YulGunfborder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="804" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj86rbT88Y_ZL4WoLNBtClRnD7SWMuH6_rOhxxJuQWJoY9ll5xx8hl4qqG06mOmyJVU22BnE0heRkh7gdjyIBtMxmtP9LvIT5UOnWW0C6smm1zRpvvSdw18roZqkz9HKVFS_W_k0RiG3LRj/s640/YulGunfborder.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">A flawed but interesting western set in the aftermath of the Civil War. It has been labeled as 'a
strong contender for the dullest Hollywood western ever' (*1), but others think it's a minor classic (*2). It's far from perfect</span>, but tells a story
about racism and hypocrisy that is
probably even more relevant today than it was back in the Sixties.<br />
<br />
Yul Brynner
is a professional gunfighter who's commisioned to a small border town in
New Mexico. Matt Weaver, a war veteran, has returned to his hometown to reclaim his homestead and his fiancée, but Weaver was one of the few inhabitants of the border town
sympathizing with the Confederacy and therefore wasn't welcomed by the others. Moreover the town boss, a banker named Sam Brewster has sold his farm in his absence and his fiancée (Janice Rule) has
married another man, a Unionist who lost an arm in the war ...</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">Both men of course want Weaver out of town and pay the professional to to the job, but t</span>his is
definitely a western with a twist. The gunfighter is a Creole (by
the name of <i>Jules Gaspard d'Estaing</i>) who despises white supremacists and
therefore has a natural disliking for Confederate soldier Matt Weaver. But Weaver
has barricaded himself in his family home and while biding his time, Jules discovers
that the situation is far from crystal clear. Brewster is a corrupt businessman
who uses the painful memories of the Civil War to swindle people out of their
houses, and the townspeople are hypocrites, who allegedly sympathized with
those who fought against slavery but look down on Mexicans and hire them for
the jobs that were done by black slaves before the war. Soon the Creole gunman
becomes a bigger threat to the townspeople than Matt Weaver ...</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The film was directed and co-written by Richard Wilson, an Orson Welles disciple; it is
talkative and slow-moving and has a static, almost theatrical look. It was nearly entirely filmed on the backlots of the Universal Studios (the house from
Psycho, the 'Bates Motel', was used as Sam Brewster's home). There are only a couple of isolated action scenes, but those sparse action moments are intense and the
finale is both well-prepared and well-handled; all characters, including Jules,
seem cornered, which makes you wonder what will happen and who will survive the
final confrontation. Pat Hingle overdoes things a little as the local tyrant
and Janice Rule has three men courting her, but as an actress she very little
to do, other than looking very worried out of her window (but she's good-looking when she does). Yul Brynner and George
Segal on the other hand, are two great leads with contrasting looks and acting
styles. I've never been a great fan of Brynner's acting style, but he's near perfect as the dandy-esque professional. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">_______________________________</span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><b>Notes:</b></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">* (1) Stuart Galbraith IV on DVD Talk - <a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/67775/invitation-to-a-gunfighter/">http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/67775/invitation-to-a-gunfighter/</a></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">* (2) Phil Hardy, <i>Western movies</i>, p. 287</span><br />
<i style="text-align: center;"><br /></i>
<i style="text-align: center;">Director: Richard Wilson - Cast: Yul Brynner, George Segal, Pat Hingle, Janice Rule, Brad Dexter, Strother Martin, Alfred Ryder, Clifton James, Bert Freed, John Alonzo - Screenplay: Richard & Elizabeth Wilson, Alvin Sapinsley, based on a story by Hal Goodman & Larry Klein</i><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit6mTfM5RKpWEqbiHZ43d0GBWXFykFqCa7GIqxB6ZQAmqXFi_KqrqGoKtbW0dxe5pbgv93tvelklSwPnsa7apU0gI8U3Oz2cj-ccVuY3ZFAGcvndcTDf5ViH2zCyZMID4y1f8_Ost061Qe/s1600/20170908-120506+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="663" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit6mTfM5RKpWEqbiHZ43d0GBWXFykFqCa7GIqxB6ZQAmqXFi_KqrqGoKtbW0dxe5pbgv93tvelklSwPnsa7apU0gI8U3Oz2cj-ccVuY3ZFAGcvndcTDf5ViH2zCyZMID4y1f8_Ost061Qe/s400/20170908-120506+%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Janice Rule: Looking good, when looking worried ...</i></td></tr>
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Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-4090205927652404182017-08-19T08:04:00.000-07:002018-06-02T08:58:51.428-07:00The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWoxRDQ15IWEDO8gcGUJD74HqZDS4mNJ5sEtiUS2Jq0kKMjNAzgStpkby7sWTRFH1BtHQiQwmesybo0rD_Jf6wR7qJaEx7lQodMdkHc6NhPQ0EwBecUEhqAqwfCMBZ1aOmkmR3DmPYcvM1/s1600/fracjaw2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="782" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWoxRDQ15IWEDO8gcGUJD74HqZDS4mNJ5sEtiUS2Jq0kKMjNAzgStpkby7sWTRFH1BtHQiQwmesybo0rD_Jf6wR7qJaEx7lQodMdkHc6NhPQ0EwBecUEhqAqwfCMBZ1aOmkmR3DmPYcvM1/s640/fracjaw2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw</span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">In this
British-American comedy western Kenneth More stars as Jonathan Tibbs, the last
surviving member of a family of British gunsmiths. He has no desire to step
into his father’s boots - he’d rather spend his time on his inventions (that often don’t work at all) - but when he discovers that
the family business is not doing well, he decides to travel West. To the
<i>American </i>West that is, because in the 1880s the Far West has become the best
outlet for guns. Jonathan has never rode a horse or fired a gun, but thanks to
a side-effect of one of his gadgets he is taken for a gunslinger and named
sheriff in the western town of Fractured Jaw. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The idea
for the movie is usually traced back to Leo McCarey’s classic comedy <i>Ruggles of
Red Gap</i> (1935) in which an English manservant (played by Charles Laughton) ends
up in the American West, but also seems to have taken inspiration from Nicolai
Gogol’s famous 19th Century play <i>The Inspector General</i> (in Russian <i>Revizor</i>), in which a civil servant is
held for an important dignitary and starts acting like one. Gogol’s biting satire on human greed, stupidity and political
corruption has been turned into a rather mild oddball comedy telling the story
of the tenderfoot taming the western town, including the stern and buxom saloon
lady, played by no other than Jayne Mansfield.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The Sheriff
of Fractured jaw is occasionally funny and overall it's a pleasant movie to
watch, but it's never as hilarious as the now classic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyhXwEn9EQs" target="_blank">trailer</a> will try to make you
believe. Some of the jokes work, others don't. The best jokes come from the fact that
Jonathan thinks the American West is still ruled by British manners ('once a
colony, always a colony') and therefore tries to solve every problem with a stiff
upper-lip and a wink of the eye. It’s quite funny to hear him say, leaning out
of the window of a stagecoach under Indian attack:<i> "Dear God, somebody
should talk to these savages!" </i>(political correctness wasn’t on the
program yet in 1958!), but turning a brave into a butler is not funny, just
plain stupid.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkGOdV-zRorA5yWCh6B1dFK5Uc35ewtQyvIhYgLWQDQtIn7_MyGrPFLiNrdyHXY5UP7ESfQlahRW9nVvBYn-dUFTgpsTCq9vgLIFlkUjJlnDbH2203sDygYGqg3DSasSgba6dbFHYI9i8/s1600/fracjac4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="708" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkGOdV-zRorA5yWCh6B1dFK5Uc35ewtQyvIhYgLWQDQtIn7_MyGrPFLiNrdyHXY5UP7ESfQlahRW9nVvBYn-dUFTgpsTCq9vgLIFlkUjJlnDbH2203sDygYGqg3DSasSgba6dbFHYI9i8/s400/fracjac4.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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20th Century Fox
had bought the rights to the original stoy as a possible vehicle for American actor Clifton Webb,
but director Raoul Walsh insisted on hiring More. Blonde bombshell
Mansfield - at the two peaks of her career - was his personal choice as well;
her singing voice was dubbed by Connie Francis. The interiors were filmed
in the British Pinewood Studios but with the new cinemascope process in mind,
Walsh decided to shoot some of the outdoor scenes in Spain. It was the first
major western to be shot in Spain and some have suggested that its look might
have told other - notably Italian - directors that the Spanish countryside was
an ideal substitute for the desolate American West. The film doesn’t really
feel like a spaghetti western but the gag with the small <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derringer" target="_blank">derringer</a>, that snaps
out of More’s sleeve when he extends his arm, was copied by Lee van Cleef in
Sergio Leone's <a href="https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/For_a_Few_Dollars_More_Review" target="_blank">For a Few Dollars More</a> and gadgets would become part of Lee's collection of guns
throughout his career in Italian westerns.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagrnDYtFmTr51GzoHEhWKPMEFbClwcJZc3ebzI2nXqgPEsOBmVvFDCj5PnRdpOF0JqKOiMfbz5VYM-WhbpzsIFIeGhhPh5sMcNWW0-NUY2UYOYKvo0a07ej4_ccOe5UkR5CJjcCbNy9ep/s1600/FracturedJaw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="708" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagrnDYtFmTr51GzoHEhWKPMEFbClwcJZc3ebzI2nXqgPEsOBmVvFDCj5PnRdpOF0JqKOiMfbz5VYM-WhbpzsIFIeGhhPh5sMcNWW0-NUY2UYOYKvo0a07ej4_ccOe5UkR5CJjcCbNy9ep/s640/FracturedJaw.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US">Director: Raoul Walsh - Cast: Kenneth More, Jayne Mansfield, </span>Henry Hull, Bruce Cabot, Ronald Squire, William Campbell, Sid James, Robert Morley, David Horne - Script: Howard Dimsdale, based on a short story by Jacob Hay</i></div>
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Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-35464129771239373522017-08-05T07:06:00.000-07:002017-08-06T03:48:38.032-07:00The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI3Qni5jomB305g0f_j_Y76qYEIMr08dPFWktZWrCHdkuDqPadXROyVQx19buaDz6iQa35xCLuFGM9L_1WPbgI2fuWyk_I8eoXxZ21wxFNyGUO1r-xzSMJNULwLQoePdWNpgB5-wCaJggf/s1600/catdancing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="970" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI3Qni5jomB305g0f_j_Y76qYEIMr08dPFWktZWrCHdkuDqPadXROyVQx19buaDz6iQa35xCLuFGM9L_1WPbgI2fuWyk_I8eoXxZ21wxFNyGUO1r-xzSMJNULwLQoePdWNpgB5-wCaJggf/s640/catdancing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Burt
Reynolds is Jay Grobart, a former army captain who has spent some time in jail
for shooting the man who raped and murdered his wife, an Indian woman named <b>Cat
Dancing</b> (hence the odd title). After his release, he takes to robbing trains with
three of his friends, Dawes, Billy and Charlie. Sarah Miles is Catherine
Crocker, a highborn Lady who accidently witnesses their latest robbery. Jay wants to take her horse, but Dawes and Billy are also interested in the lady. When they flee into the mountains, they're
persecuted by Lapchance, a railway detective, and lady Catherine's husband William ...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I had
always avoided this movie, because of the negative reviews, so I was surprised
to see a genuinely enjoyable western. Okay, it runs for nearly two hours, at
least half an hour too long, and there are a few issues with the script, but
Reynolds and Miles are a nice, unlikely couple and Jack Warden and Bo Hopkins
are an interesting pair of sex-crazed baddies, both trying to get their filthy
hands on Mrs. Crocker. There's no too much action, but those sparse action
moments are remarkably cruel and violent, notably a protracted fistfight
between Reynolds and Warden. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-d1OLQMLxIP-Cs3zYRhj9aAIjcCp7klrD8G1-jhDyrAz6XBfps5SjgG8_99Xo8q2gn000y3SSpdaSzJdc_WeMT5xvpdhK7c9mlrsi1O6Tik5lA-MNXSvmi0V-lXOYtfZGJWKoIDxEgQEp/s1600/catmiles.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="284" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-d1OLQMLxIP-Cs3zYRhj9aAIjcCp7klrD8G1-jhDyrAz6XBfps5SjgG8_99Xo8q2gn000y3SSpdaSzJdc_WeMT5xvpdhK7c9mlrsi1O6Tik5lA-MNXSvmi0V-lXOYtfZGJWKoIDxEgQEp/s200/catmiles.png" width="190" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Reynolds'
performance in <i>Deliverance</i> (1972) had brought him critical acclaim and a semi-nude
Cosmopolitan centerfold had turned him into a sex symbol. Expectations were
high but the film was not born under a lucky star. Screenwriter
Eleanor Perry, a well-known feminist, claimed that others (among them Robert
Bolt, Mrs. Miles' husband) had rewritten her script and ruined the character of
Catherine Crocker. The movie also got some negative publicity because of a
scandal: Miles' business manager (and possible lover) had been found dead in
his hotel room and both she and Reynolds had to testify in the ensuing
investigation (*1). <i>"Talking about Cat Dancing brings me
pain,"</i> Reynolds later said. <i>"So I'd rather not talk about it."</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The movie
was praised for its breathtaking location photography and some critics liked
the romantic spin, but others thought the script too easily turned Catherine
Crocker from an independent woman who runs away from her abusive husband, into
a docile woman who falls for her kidnapper. The about face may be a bit too
sudden and smooth, but note that Catherine remains the dominant character: <i>she
picks</i> <i>Groper </i>to become the father of her child, <i>he does not take her</i> by force. Reynolds
bemused reticence in front of the rather talkative and resolute lady is
sympathetic. The storytelling is a bit sluggish at times, but the script keeps
you guessing how things will end. We only learn in the course of the movie
where Reynolds needs the money from the robberies for and there's at least one
- quite shocking - revelation in relation to his character that will surprise
most viewers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Director:
Richard C. Sarafian - Cast: Burt Reynolds (Jay Grobart), Sarah Miles (Catherine Crocker), Jack Warden (Dawes), Lee J.
Cobb (Lapchance), Bo Hopkins (Billy), George Hamilton (William Crocker), Jay Varela (Charlie), James Hampton, Jay Silverheels -
Music: John Williams - Screenplay: Eleanor Perry, based on a novel by Marilyn
Durham</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><u>Miscellaneous:
</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">* Jay
Silverheels, who appears in the film's finale, is best known for his role as
Tonto, the faithful companion of The Lone Ranger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">* The
action scenes were coordinated by Hal Needham, a personal friend of Burt
Reynolds and his regular stunt double. The two struck a rich vein a couple of
years later when Reynolds offered Needham to direct his own screenplay called
<i>Smokey and the Bandit</i>. The rest is history<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><u>Notes: </u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">(*1) A
contemporary newspaper article on the case: * </span><a href="http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1973/03/15/page/10/article/actress-at-whiting-inquest">http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1973/03/15/page/10/article/actress-at-whiting-inquest</a></div>
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Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-70732161598991646232017-07-24T14:29:00.000-07:002017-07-24T14:29:34.980-07:00Cattle Annie & Little Britches <div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sb6Xu9TOnGkJJzFzPktFoeakrE-jEMp8EuyIuXDBiThZN1Z39r75cVcWdvPUsNMlCmECbnZYDDy1oczPAwTQF41HO35z90HUGLjHI_QMUny7FqgnnhRYoO5eIoRx9jLkz0dmcrG-83yX/s1600/cattleannie1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="971" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sb6Xu9TOnGkJJzFzPktFoeakrE-jEMp8EuyIuXDBiThZN1Z39r75cVcWdvPUsNMlCmECbnZYDDy1oczPAwTQF41HO35z90HUGLjHI_QMUny7FqgnnhRYoO5eIoRx9jLkz0dmcrG-83yX/s640/cattleannie1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Cattle
Annie and Little Britches (1981)</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A little
western, loosely based on the real-life adventures of two girls - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_Annie" target="_blank">AnnieMcDoulet</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Britches_(outlaw)" target="_blank">Jennie Stevens</a> - who traveled West to learn more about outlaw
life. They had read <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Buntline" target="_blank">Ned Buntline</a>'s dime novels about frontier brigandage and
desired to meet their idols in the flesh. </span>The film is
set in the late 19th Century, in a West that is no longer as Wild as it used to
be, and when the girls finally meet the infamous Doolin-Dalton gang, they're
confronted with a demoralized bunch of has-beens ... a wild bunch grown tired
... Their leader, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Doolin" target="_blank">Bill Doolin</a>, feels inspired by the presence of the young girls, but his efforts to live up to their expectations put himself
and his gang in danger of being dismantled by their arch enemy, the patient but
determined sheriff Tighman ...</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">If you
think - like Sergio Leone did - that women basically hold-up the action of a
western movie, this is not a movie for you. It's a western and there's some
western action, but it's secondary to the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the two
girls played by Amanda Plummer and Diane Lane. The film is a bit similar to
Fred Schepisi's<a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.be/2013/08/barbarosa-1982.html" target="_blank"> Barbarosa</a>, released around the same time. Both movies are light-hearted at the surface, but tragic at the core, painting an unromantic image of the
West. Both movies are also coming-of-age tales set against the background of
outlaw life: in <i>Barbarosa</i> a young man eventually adopts the identity of his
mentor, a man who told him everything about the art of survival while being on
the run; in <i>Cattle Annie and Little Britches</i> the overzealous
girls learn from the worn-out but world-wise outlaws that it's a good thing to
be brave, but a bad thing to be reckless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Until
recently it was rather difficult to find a decent copy of this largely
forgotten movie, but I finally got hold of widescreen copy that does proud to Larry
Pizer's breathtaking cinematography. Burt Lancaster (67 when the film was made)
is too old for the part of Bill Doolin (who was shot at the age of 38), but he seems
perfectly in touch with the dry humor of the script. There's also some fine acting
by Rod Steiger and John Savage (as Bittercreek Newcomb, the good-looking gang
member Annie plans her 'first time' with), but the movie definitely belongs to
the girls. Amanda Plummer (Christopher Plummer's daughter) makes a sublime
screen debut as the loud, foul-mouthed but nevertheless vulnerable Annie;
16-year old Diane Lane has a more laid-back acting style but she's the prettier
of the two girls and has a couple of endearing scenes with Lancaster. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
This is a nice little movie, not a classic, but worthy of reappraisal. </div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>Director:
Lamont Johnson - Cast: Amanda Plummer (Annie), Diane Lane (Little Britches)
Burt Lancaster (Bill Doolin), Scott Glenn (Bill Dalton), John Savage
(Bittercreek Newcomb), Rod Steiger (Bill Tilghman), Buck Taylor, Redmond
Gleeson, William Russ, John Quade </i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></div>
Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-90801625488642655102017-06-06T09:23:00.000-07:002020-02-04T01:35:14.786-08:00Showdown (1963)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwc08UNsABZTbKzOAxPeq5oRGyf_mS_2hyphenhyphen0-K1Rni6pN42D8fddtEzIg4tEK_T3ibxf5lhfzn8iyXQ6Qa7PH_u6Vz5-NdrWx5wjTT4Y5LHlzFr4o3Qh4Bc7M_Ej240jjcTYlqWkq9B9Dd0/s1600/showdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="793" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwc08UNsABZTbKzOAxPeq5oRGyf_mS_2hyphenhyphen0-K1Rni6pN42D8fddtEzIg4tEK_T3ibxf5lhfzn8iyXQ6Qa7PH_u6Vz5-NdrWx5wjTT4Y5LHlzFr4o3Qh4Bc7M_Ej240jjcTYlqWkq9B9Dd0/s640/showdown.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Showdown (1963)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><i>Aka</i>: The</span> Iron Collar</div>
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The border town of Adone is one of a kind: it has no
jail, therefore perpetrators are chained to a post in the middle of the town
street. This is what happens to two friends, Chris (Audie Murphy) and Bert
(Charles Drake), after spending a night in town. Chris was already a bit
skeptic about their visit, because his friend has a habit of drinking and
making trouble at the card table. Of course his worries come true: a drunken
Chris provokes a brawl in the saloon and the two end up in the middle of the
street, with an <b>iron collar</b> around their necks.</div>
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<br /></div>
It's an unpleasant situation, but under normal circumstances
they will be released the next day, so Chris tries to get some sleep while Bert
is sobering up. Unfortunately, they're not alone: also tied to the pole, is a
dangerous outlaw called Lavalle, who forces the others to dig out the
pole. After a brief shootout, the 'prisoners' manage to escape and fly
into the hills. Chris and Bert decide to go their own way, but they're caught
by Lavalle and his men ...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqNEU3I9tv7XZ3ynzk1qNNs1avZEWoV_PZtb0JmA3f3FR1fFUoAtiVTL-szOWB53N92yaBn2hq94V5-z34Gx9enQyMQAXo5kysu_UytVrKOKwazQ2sQ2MJ_ZAiSzC0Fcx1V92tn10dfLaH/s1600/show-16-300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqNEU3I9tv7XZ3ynzk1qNNs1avZEWoV_PZtb0JmA3f3FR1fFUoAtiVTL-szOWB53N92yaBn2hq94V5-z34Gx9enQyMQAXo5kysu_UytVrKOKwazQ2sQ2MJ_ZAiSzC0Fcx1V92tn10dfLaH/s200/show-16-300.jpg" width="145" /></a></div>
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Showdown is a stark, grim movie, with a short running time
(under 80 minutes), made on a tight budget. The outdoor scenes were shot around <b>Lone
Pine</b>, but to save money, the movie was shot in black-and-white, a decision that
made Murphy furious. Lone Pine was also a favorite shooting location of Bud
Boetticher and there's no doubt that the famous Scott-Boetticher westerns from
the Ranown Cycle were a major source of inspiration. There is a hostage
situation, a strong-willed yet vulnerable lady, and an undaunted hero, who
refuses to give an inch. Murphy's Chris is a man who acts on instinct rather than
reason: he risks his own neck when trying to save his friend's life, even
though Bert has told him he wouldn't ever do the same thing for him ...</div>
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<br /></div>
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The film was almost completely overlooked and panned by
those who had noticed it, but recent comments have been more positive. The script is a bit over-elaborate and not all twists and turns are believable, but basically this is
a B-movie and scripts for these movies were never meant to be scrutinized
methodically. Audie Murphy is his usual steadfast self and there are nice
cameos by<b> Strother Martin</b> (as the town drunk) and <b>L.Q. Jones</b> (as
a silent member of the gang), six years before they became a notorious couple
of scavengers in Peckinpah's <i>The Wild Bunch</i>. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-85523366858772199842017-05-16T04:41:00.002-07:002020-09-29T07:01:42.923-07:00Cahill U.S. Marshal<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk0Tuclkilcap017dT54_rUVi2BJa7sk5rMTNYyTKU2xaN5mseew7RrHaLX7zQMpPwYg3VZ0GImkynsbtJxKBlbnjkvQopeDlKdiOpDAGP20l3OXyFBMjHpzBrMY1GGJrdwiM3Ww4TTIeH/s1600/Cahill_US_Marshall_%25281973%2529-kopie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk0Tuclkilcap017dT54_rUVi2BJa7sk5rMTNYyTKU2xaN5mseew7RrHaLX7zQMpPwYg3VZ0GImkynsbtJxKBlbnjkvQopeDlKdiOpDAGP20l3OXyFBMjHpzBrMY1GGJrdwiM3Ww4TTIeH/s640/Cahill_US_Marshall_%25281973%2529-kopie.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">CAHILL: U.S. MARSHALL</span> (1973, Andrew V. McLaglen)</div>
<span lang="EN-US">
<br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
An odd western with Duke as an aging Marshal whose sons go astray because daddy
isn't home enough. They absolutely want his attention and therefore make some
'bad friends' and get involved in a bank robbery. Of course things go terribly wrong: nobody was supposed to get hurt, but one of daddy's friends even gets killed, and instead of bad friends, the bank
robbers turn out to be real mean bastards.
<o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It has been
suggested that <i>Cahill, U.S. Marshal</i> was intended as a cop thriller (*1). Thanks to Clint Eastwood's portrayal of <i>Dirty Harry</i> cop thriller were in the air, but apparently it was decided in the last minute to put Big John back in the
saddle. <i>Cahill</i> is definitely a 'post-True Grit' movie: like
the more successful <i>Big Jake</i> (1971), it plays with the new persona Wayne had
adopted in his Oscar winning role: a living anachronism, a man who had outlived his time, but had not yet lost his touch. But, like John Wills has stated in his study,
in <i>True Grit</i> and <i>Big Jake </i>Wayne's persona was presented as a remnant of some
older order, brought back for a limited mission in 'modern times' (*2): the sly
fox was asked to do some dirty work younger generations were unable to handle.
The role fitted the aging Duke like a glove. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In <i>Cahill</i>
things are a little different. Wayne plays an aging widower who has two young
boys <i>back home</i> but prefers to spend his days <i>out there</i>, tracking down bad guys.
The subject must have been very dear to his heart: like J.D. Cahill, the actor
John Wayne had often been an absent father to his children, always moving on to
the next movie. His autobiographers Randy Roberts and J.S. Olsen go as far as
to describe the movie 'close to biographical'. This might also have been
the reason why John Wayne wasn't happy with the finished movie: in an interview he
declared that the movie had <i>"a good theme"</i> but <i>"wasn't a
well-done picture, because it needed better writing and a little more care in
the making."</i> (*3) <i>Cahill U.S. Marshal</i> is not a bad film, it's rather slow-moving and the action scenes are sparse, but they're well-crafted and the finale - daddy saving his kids by blowing the baddies to hell - is surprisingly violent. <i>Cahill</i> is entertaining enough; the problem is
that there seems to be a better movie lurking underneath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">John Wayne
was sixty-five when <i>Cahill, U.S. Marshal</i> was filmed and had already a cancerous lung
removed. He was suffering from shortness of breath and had difficulty mounting
his horse. Filming must have been quite an ordeal but he saves himself with his
usually bravura and looks remarkably comfortable in the role of the sly fox. George
Kennedy (as the leader of the boys' 'bad friends') and Neville Brand (as a half-breed
tracker who assists Cahill on his quest), are also quite good, but this 'good theme' of the unsound family relations is treated too superficially. </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US">⭐⭐½</span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Dir: Andrew V. McLaglen - Cast: John Wayne, Neville Brand, George Kennedy, Gary Grimes, Clay O'Brien, Dan Vadis, Denver Pyle, Jackie Coogan, Harry Carey Jr. Walter Barnes, Marie Windsor, Morgan Paull - Music: Elmer Bernstein</i></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<b>Notes: </b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* (1) Ivan Scheldeman, De Films van John Wayne, Antwerp 1979,
p. 33</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">* (2) Gary
Wills, John Wayne's America, p. 289<o:p></o:p></span></div>
* (3) See: <a href="http://tonymacklin.net/content.php?cID=194">http://tonymacklin.net/content.php?cID=194</a><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-46187955614306364592017-04-17T07:21:00.003-07:002017-09-22T08:15:30.096-07:00The Guns of Fort Petticoat<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwLCeWo_FYVfCy8FL4K8fjqYPaK_Hh4eyn_JcEiGkSc3PObcx0zYoHSqg5acaN99IW0eXxTZMiJtZWtXB2pJrje4PAfyoKhY_NTZQNZECEsY3esfqLRv29HwO_cGK0FIuXAh0MWLIZs2x/s1600/vlcsnap-2017-04-17-00h35m51s677.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwLCeWo_FYVfCy8FL4K8fjqYPaK_Hh4eyn_JcEiGkSc3PObcx0zYoHSqg5acaN99IW0eXxTZMiJtZWtXB2pJrje4PAfyoKhY_NTZQNZECEsY3esfqLRv29HwO_cGK0FIuXAh0MWLIZs2x/s400/vlcsnap-2017-04-17-00h35m51s677.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">The Guns of Fort Petticoat (1957)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The first
movie production by Murphy-Brown Pictures, a partnership Audie Murphy had
formed with Harry Joe Brown. It remained their only movie because of personal
differences between the two partners. The Guns of Fort Petticoat was panned by
contemporary critics who thought this outlandish story about a petticoat army
fighting off an Indian attack didn't combine well with the historic background
of the plight of the red man, but the movie seems to have withstood the test of
time pretty well and today many think it's one of Murphy's more enjoyable
efforts <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The story
is set in full Civil War time. Audie Murphy is Lt. Frank Hewitt, a guy from
Dixie in Yankee service. When some Cheyenne braves leave their territory,
Hewitt's commander, the racist Colonel John Chivington decides to punish them
by attacking their virtually unprotected village. The result is an infamy known
to history as the <a href="http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-sandcreek.html" target="_blank">Sand Creek Massacre</a>. Hewitt knows the Indians will seek
revenge by attacking innocent homesteaders and with most men departed to fight
in the Civil War, only women and children are left to defend the homesteads. He
deserts to warn the women but is first treated by them as a 'blue belly
traitor'. Things change when he shows them the dead body of a woman tortured
and murdered by marauding Indians. Hewitt and the women entrench themselves in
an abandoned mission post to fight of the imminent Indian attack ... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8PDz23so5SZSnvWZcMP27Z7W1WusSu-p1om9Gr4flS5JHX6qRgeKTcQEpN8wPGsbft-F4CvdtCPifpuBPyL_ZdSJFGrANw0VlrB7eYT65b_ycJNMnMftiC5E6t6hXvrVPU67QbtpckXP/s1600/vlcsnap-2017-04-17-00h36m23s434.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8PDz23so5SZSnvWZcMP27Z7W1WusSu-p1om9Gr4flS5JHX6qRgeKTcQEpN8wPGsbft-F4CvdtCPifpuBPyL_ZdSJFGrANw0VlrB7eYT65b_ycJNMnMftiC5E6t6hXvrVPU67QbtpckXP/s400/vlcsnap-2017-04-17-00h36m23s434.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.biography.com/people/audie-murphy-9418662" target="_blank">AudieMurphy</a>'s real-life experiences (he was one of the most decorated combat soldiers of WWII) always seemed to lend credibility to his
screen persona. He is quite convincing as the experienced soldier
training the women in combat techniques, slowly turning the colorful troupe
into an efficient fighting unit, the <i>Guns of Fort Petticoat</i>. Some clichés are
tackled (several women and one child are killed during the attack), others
remain intact; there's room for romance and comedy and yes, some of the comedy
feels a little out of place, notably a scene of Murphy spanking the hot-headed Kathryn Grant. But let's not forget that many contemporary
westerns (including those by the likes of Ford or Hawks) offered vaudeville-like interruptions of a serious narrative.<br />
<br />
Director Marshall was no Ford or Hawks but he had a long career in both the western and comedy genre and overall the serio-comic mix works quite well. Only the coda, in which a court-martialed Hewitt is
discharged thanks to the intervention of the women (and his commanding officer
is charged instead), rings untrue. There's nothing wrong with using historic
events as a background of a fictional story, but John Chivington was forced to
resign after a thorough investigation by the Congress, and to suggest that his
fate was sealed during an improvised military court by a group of women who
stood up for the man who had taught them how to fight, is sheer nonsense. </div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>Director:
George Marshall - Cast: Audie Murphy (Lt. Frank Hewitt), Kathryn Grant (Anne
Martin), Hope Emerson (Hannah Lacey), Jeanette Nolan (Cora Melavan), Sean
McClory (Emmett Kettle), Ainslie Pryor (Col. Chivington), Patricia Livingston
(Stella Leatham) </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-5483807979795674762017-04-04T10:16:00.000-07:002018-12-09T06:43:49.268-08:00Jane Got a Gun<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">Jane Got A Gun </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Ever since
I saw her in Luc Besson’s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Leon: The professional</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(1994)
I have a soft spot for Natalie Portman. In 1994 she was thirteen, but looking
like a child, today she’s 35, but still looking ever so young. In Jane
got a Gun she is a young woman who has lost her innocence, but not her
vulnerability. She’s the mother of a six or seven year old girl and the wife of
a man with a questionable reputation, Bill Hammond (played </span>by Noah
Emmerich).<br />
<br />
One day Bill comes home with eight bullets in his back. The
men who shot him, the Bishop brothers, are on their way to the farm and their
arrival will mean even more trouble. The only one who can help Jane and her
wounded husband, is their neighbor Dan Evans (Joel Edgerton). Main problem: Dan is not
only their neighbor, but also Jane's former fiancé, the man she left to become
Mrs. Hammond ...</div>
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Jane Got a Gun was a troubled production. At some point, the
names of Michael Fassbender, Sam Worthington, Bradley Cooper and Jude Law were
all mentioned in relation to the production. The original director, Lynne
Ramsey, left a few days into shooting and Edgerton was first cast as
the villain but then became the hero after Worthington had
left the production. For a movie with this history,
Jane got a Gun isn’t bad. <br />
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The film has an interesting setting - the days immediately
before <i>and </i>after the Civil War. It also
has interesting characters: the three leads, Jane, Bill and Dan, all have their
shady sides, and none of them is 'innocent': It soon transpires that Jane did
not leave Dan but that, quite on the contrary, <i>he left her</i>, to fight in a war he believed in. Jane then headed
West, in search of a new life, joining a wagon train led by two brothers, John
and Vic Bishop, and realized far too late that the brothers had special plans
with her. She only accepted to become the wife of a man with a questionable
reputation because he was the only one who cared when she was in a humiliating,
dishonoring situation.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The film
was criticized for its complex, flashback-driven narrative and I do agree that
this <i>back-and-forth, back-and-forth structure</i> occasionally works a little
confusing, but the twists, turns and revelations will surely hold your
attention (and the final twist, concerning a second daughter, is particularly
surprising). The action moments are often unexpected
(and very brutal), but the movie seems to lack a real western ending: the
attack on the farm is set at night and if it brings a Peckinpah movie to mind,
it's not one of his westerns, but his siege drama <i>Straw Dogs</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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⭐⭐⭐<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>Dir: Gavin O'Connor - Cast: Natalie
Portman (Jane), Joel Edgerton (Dan), Noah Emmerich (Bill), Ewan McGregor (John
Bishop), Boyd Holbrook (Vic Bishop), Rodrigo Santoro (Fitchum)</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-56142495922540289142016-04-01T09:39:00.000-07:002018-11-18T02:20:26.024-08:00Rio Grande<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">RIO GRANDE</span><b> </b></div>
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<i>Dir: John Ford - Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Ben Johnson, Claude Jarman, Jr., Harry Carey, Jr., Chill Wills, J. Carrol Naish, Victor McLaglen, Grant Withers, Sons of the Pioneers (as the Regimental Singers), Patrick Wayne</i></div>
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The third part of Ford’s celebrated Cavalry Trilogy, following <a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.be/2013/05/fort-apache-1948.html" target="_blank">Fort Apache</a> and <a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.be/search?q=She+Wore+a+Yellow+Ribbon" target="_blank">She Wore a Yellow Ribbon</a>. It’s the first of five movies with John Wayne playing opposite to Maureen O’Hara. The story is set fifteen years after the Civil War, but the theme is still (like in <i>Yellow Ribbon</i>) reconciliation. North and South must unite under the US flag and stick together in pursuit of marauding Indians. At a personal level, the theme of reconciliation is reflected by the relationship of an inhibited, stubborn officer, Colonel Kirby Yorke (Wayne) with his estranged wife (O’Hara) and his son, a boy he hasn’t seen since the end of the war. The young man was dropped as a cadet at West Point, but subsequently enlisted in the cavalry and is now assigned to his father’s regiment at the frontier. Soon after the boy, the mother also arrives at the outpost, to buy her son free.<br />
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Rio Grande was an adaptation of a story by J.W. Bellah, whose writings had served as the base for all three movies of the trilogy. Bellah’s story, called <i>Mission with No Record</i>, was based on an actual raid executed in 1873. A number of Kickapoo Indians had left their reservation and fled into Mexico; from time to time they were launching surprise attacks from their base south of the border. Eventually an officer from Fort Clark was ordered - unofficially - to put an end to the raids, even if the campaign violated the sovereignty of another nation. The action almost led to an international conflict and reportedly General Sherman was much angered at the operation that was planned behind his back (1).<br />
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In the movie the army still crosses the border, but the punitive expedition is turned into a rescue mission when a wagon load of women and children, sent by Colonel Yorke to another fort for savety, is intercepted by the Indians. The children are held captive in a church south of the border and the situation leaves Colonel Yorke no choice: he must act and must act without hesitation. Yorke sends his most daring trooper, Tyree (played by Ben Johnson) forward to infiltrate the Indian camp and protect the children so he can launch a full-scale attack on the camp without putting the children in danger. Tyree is given permission to choose two other troopers to accompany him and to Yorke’s shock his own son is one of the two men chosen ...<br />
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Rio Grande is often called the most beautifully filmed of the cavalry pictures, but at the same time many regard it as the weakest of the trilogy. The story of the broken down marriage and the son who grew up without his father is well-handled, but it offers few surprises; of course the two still love each other and of course the young man proves himself in battle. The songs performed by The Pioneers aren’t completely redundant - the 'Kathleen song' neatly illustrates the feelings of the protagonists - but there are too many of them and they’re not well integrated into the movie. The conflict with the Indians lacks a 'bad character' such as Henry Fonda’s Owen Thursday, the irresponsible martinet from Fort Apache who was played off against Wayne’s knowing Sergeant York (then written without the 'e').<br />
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As a result Rio Grande is - more then the other parts - a movie of moments: some incredible horse stunts, performed by the actors themselves (*2), drunken Indians performing a death song in the middle of the night, O’Hara opening Wayne’s war chest, finding a music box that plays '<i>I’ll take you home, Kathleen</i>' (her name in the movie) and above all that majestic scene of Colonel Yorke all alone on a hill, grieving for the past, thinking of what might have been, agonizing the difficult task he has been assigned.<br />
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★★★½ </h3>
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<b>Notes:</b><br />
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*1) Gary Wills, John Wayne’s America, p. 181-183. The story of Rio Grande is set in 1879, fifteen years after 'Shenandoah’<br />
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* 2) See: <a href="http://www.westernhorseman.com/archive/classic-articles/198-ben-johnson">http://www.westernhorseman.com/archive/classic-articles/198-ben-johnson</a> - The text says: "(...)<i> in Rio Grande, he and fellow actors Claude Jarman Jr. and Harry Carey Jr. did their own stunt work in a spectacular Roman-riding scene that's still a film classic. Anyone who views that scene can easily see that Johnson is a real horseman.</i>"<br />
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Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-22607714491489462642016-02-08T10:51:00.000-08:002016-04-01T09:39:49.826-07:00Hannie Caulder <br />
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Of all the oddities of the Western Wonderland of the early seventies, this must be one of the oddest. Like many westerns of the period it was shot in Spain and offers a cast of familiar faces as well as a few surprise appearances; it also tries to outdo the violent and perverted tendencies of the previous decade with lots of blood and a particularly nasty rape scene. With Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam and Strother Martin playing the baddies in the style of the Three Stooges, this may sound like a half-baked American pseudo spaghetti, but the film is British, which explains some of the surprise appearances, such as Christopher Lee, Mr. Dracula himself, as a gunsmith, and Diana Dors as a prostitute.<br />
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In the opening minutes three outlaw brothers try to rob a bank in a sleepy Mexican border town. It’s an outrageous scene, with so much blood spilled, that it comes close to parody. Director Kennedy had done a few good western comedies (notably the excellent <a href="http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.be/2015/05/support-your-local-sheriff.html" target="_blank">Support your local Sheriff</a>), and the scene was probably meant as a spoofy version of the opening scene of <i>The Wild Bunch</i>, but it’s so gross, and at the same time so stupid, that it fails in every aspect. After all, even outlaws as inept as the Clemens brothers wouldn’t have robbed a bank with <i>a regiment of federales sleeping on the porch of a town building</i>. The next scene is the infamous <b>rape scene</b>, with the brothers not only raping a woman (played by a thirty-one year old Raquel Welch), but also killing her husband and burning down her house. The sequence is filmed with an almost total lack of subtlety or restraint. And again so much blood is spilled & spattered that the killing of the husband looks like a ritual slaughter.<br />
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Surprisingly the movie finds the right tone as it goes along. A key element is a strong performance by the much underrated <b>Robert Culp</b> as a bearded and spectacled bounty hunter, hired by Welch to turn her into a proficient gunwoman who can get even with the thugs who ruined her life. He gives her the shooting lessons she’s asking for, warning her at the same time of the ultimate futility of the revenge mission she has planned. Culp’s wonderfully reserved performance provides the movie with exactly the right counterbalance for the outlandish atmosphere. The shooting lessons are wisely nested in a carefully handled interlude involving Christopher Lee as a gunsmith with more children than you can think of. This is all handled with so much care, that we seem to have wandered into another movie. The scene eventually culminates into a bloody shootout with a Mexican gang of cutthroats, which seems a bit thrown in, but also leads the film to its final act, describing Welch’s revenge.<br />
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Once past the first ten, fifteen minutes, Hannie Caulder is a surprisingly enjoyable western, although the would-be mystical ending is weak (what’s all this nonsense with Stephen Boyd - dressed in black - supposed to mean?). Even some of the comedy starts to work (Borginine and Martin starting to fight while trying to rob a stagecoach!). Edward Scaife’s lush cinematography of the Spanish locations is admirable. I wasn’t too pleased with Ken Thorne’s score. It occasionally reminded me of Jerry Fielding’s magnificent score for <i>The Wild Bunch</i>, but never seems to find the right balance between classic and modernist influences. Too much old school in a modern context. But of course in this movie everything (direction, landscape & score) plays second fiddle to Welch, and she had never looked better and would never look as good again as she did in Hannie Caulder. A promotion pic of her in her poncho, and no more than a poncho, became one the most iconic images in the history of film making.<br />
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***</div>
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Dir: Burt Kennedy - Cast: Raquel Welch (Hannie Caulder), Robert Culp (Thomas Luther Price), Ernest Borgnine (Emmett Clemens), Jack Elam (Frank Clemens), Strother Martin (Rufus Clemens), Christopher Lee (Bailey), Stephen Boyd, Aldo Sambrell, Brian Lightburn, Luis Barboo, Diana Dors (Madam)</div>
<br />Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-47259450245488379652016-02-06T08:04:00.000-08:002017-07-13T02:51:40.013-07:00Three Amigos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short are The Three Amigos, a comedy team from Hollywood’s silent era (probably inspired by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritz_Brothers" target="_blank">The Ritz Brothers</a>). After being sacked by the studio they receive a telegram from a Mexican woman named Carmen, who wants them to come to her little hometown Santo Poco, south of the border, and do some work for the locals. The three think they’re asked to perform their singing cowboy routines, but no: the señorita had accidently seen their adventures on a big screen and thinks they will be able to defend the town against real bandidos ...<br />
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As one might expect in a comedy, the three amigos are the last to understand the seriousness of the situation: the town of Santo Poco is visited on regular intervals by the notorious bandit El Guapo, who has discovered the racketeering business and is asking increasingly more money for his services from the poor villagers. And as you might expect (again) in a comedy, the three manage to do what they were hired for, in spite of their own incompetence. And they do this - the film makers know their stuff - by rallying the villagers to stand up for themselves and organize their own defence; in other words, the three amigos become<i> the magnificent three</i>.<br />
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As a comedy Three Amigos is not without merit, but knowing that three of the most popular American comedians from the period are in it, one would have expected it to be funnier. The script offers all three of them a few opportunities to show what they’re capable of, but only in one scene, set around a campfire, there’s something like a <i>synergetic effect</i>, otherwise the best moments come from individual efforts, and the three never really feel like a team. In one scene, Short and Martin perform a song and dance number in a cantina; it’s a nice and funny scene but you wonder what Chase is doing while they’re performing their act: it turns out that he was playing the piano - at least that’s what we’re supposed to believe.<br />
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Three Amigos has its moments and I noticed that it also has its fans: some critical notes from my part on facebook led to some spiteful remarks. I therefore gave it another chance. It’s actually not bad and some of the solo bits and vignettes are even pretty good. Kai Wulff is hilarious as the German who has always idolized Short’s skills as a gunslinger and therefore challenges him to a duel and ... <i>is outdrawn by him!</i> <b>Alfonso Arau</b> - best known to western buffs as one of the baddies from <i>The Wild Bunch</i> - has the movie’s best remembered line as the villain El Guapo, after watching the three performing their routine:<br />
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<i>"I like these guys. They are funny guys. Kill only one of them."</i></div>
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<b>Randy Newman </b>is mentioned as co-author of the script; he wrote three songs for the movie and also has a ‚cameo’ as a singing bush (maybe he wrote his own lines). Let’s say that his songs are better than his performance ...<br />
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Dir: John Landis - Cast: Chevy Chase (Dusty Bottoms), Steve Martin (Lucky Day), Martin Short (Ned Nederlander), Joe Mantegna (Harry Flugleman), Alfonso Arau (El Guapo), Loyda Ramos (Conchita), Patrice Martinez (Carmen), Kai Wulff (The German)</div>
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Simon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6816822228711777202.post-56396038257712232012016-01-06T04:28:00.002-08:002020-02-16T06:07:50.846-08:00Man in the Wilderness<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">MAN IN THE WILDERNESS </span></b></div>
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<i>1971 - Dir: Richard C. Sarafian - Cast: Richard Harris, John Huston, Percey Herbert, Prunella Ransome, Henry Wilcoxon, Dennis Waterman, Ben Carruthers, James Doohan </i></div>
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Like the upcoming <b>The Revenant </b>(2015, Alejandro G. Iñárritu) this movie is based on the real-life story of trapper <b>Hugh Glass</b>, who was left for dead after a bear attack by the members of his party during an expedition through the Northwest territories. The new movie adaptation was also the reason to return to the older one. I had seen it, most probably on videocasette, somewhere in the Eighties and I remember that I wasn't very fond of it then. I thought it was slow and also rather confusing: for one thing I didn't understand why the group of fur trappers led by John Huston were wheeling this large boat (looking like Noah's ark) over the mountains.<br />
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In the movie Glass is called Zachary Bass, and he's played by Richard Harris, fresh from his turbulent adventures with the Sioux in <i>A Man Called Horse </i>(1970, Elliot Silverstein). Zachary is the guide of a group of fur trappers who are returning from an expedition up North with a boat (dragged by mules) full of furs. When mauled by a grizzly bear, the leader of the trappers, Captain Filmore Henry is convinced that Zacharay will not survive his wounds. He therefore decides to move on and leave only two of his men behind to bury the dying man. Zachary is even deserted by these two when hostile Indians are ranging the woods, but he miraculously survives his terrible wounds and - after a series of trials - start trailing those who abandoned him ...<br />
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Man of the Wilderness was shot in Spain and some have noted that the locations have little in common with the Northwest territories where the events are supposed to take place, but the cinematography of the rugged Spanish terrain is lush and impressive. The film works well - very well actually - as long as it stays with the heavily wounded Bass. The real-life trials and tribulations of Hugh Glass were staggering, almost unbelievable: he had festering wounds, a broken a leg and severe cuts on his back and in his left flank; to prevent <i>gangrene</i> he let maggots eat the dead flesh around the compound fracture of his leg. The movie renders his endurances very well; the first three quarters of an hour are gripping, occasionally (literally) painful to watch.<br />
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Unfortunately it does not stay with the suffering, fighting Bass; there are flashbacks to the past, explaining how Bass became an atheist and wanderer (in reality they're so splintered that they hardly explain anything) and the camera also shifts between the crawling man and the party that left him for dead. The real-life Captain Henry (his name was William Henry Ashley) wanted to ascend the Missouri river as part of a fur-trading venture, which explains the boat, but in the movie it all looks absurd. The scenes of the ship on dry land are majestic, but we get an awful lot of them and the movie rambles on and on to an inconclusive ending. We're also supposed to believe that the heavily wounded Bass eventually managed to catch up with the expedition (which would have been an effort of truly superhuman proportions). In reality Glass did not follow their trail but tried to reach the nearest settlement, Fort Kiowa on the Missouri river.<br />
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In the end Man of the Wilderness falls into the category of movies that can be described as 'interesting-good-but-not-great'; it has been labeled as an anthropological western (some of the scenes of Indian life are touching, notably a scene of a woman giving birth in the woods) but also as a study in sado-masochism and excess. I'm normally not a fan of Richard Harris but he turns in a very convincing performance and John Huston is also fine as the party leader and lunatic Henry (clearly modeled after <b>Captain Ahab</b> from <i>Moby Dick</i>). The movie dates from the time when the SPCA (Society for Prevention of cruelty to Animals) was still fighting a fierce battle to improve the treatment of animals on film sets; watching the movie it's impossible to imagine that 'no animals were hurt in the making of it'.<br />
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⭐⭐⭐</div>
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<u>Miscellaneous:</u><br />
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* <b>Revenant </b>- Hugh Bass covered more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) to reach Fort Kiowa, which gave the local Indians the impression that he had come back from the other side; he was therefore called a 'revenant' by them, that is a ghost (from the French word revenant, ghost. The French word comes from the verb (it's a participle used as a substantive, a common use in French) revenir, to return, come back from the other side)<br />
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* For <b>Hugh Glass</b> see: <a href="http://www.rosyinn.com/more005.html">http://www.rosyinn.com/more005.html</a> or his wikipedia pageSimon Geltenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09508149299818535491noreply@blogger.com1