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The Great Westerns

Naughty_Felid said:
God it's lovely knowing someone else enjoys Anthony Mann.
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One of those jobbing directors who started in B movies, graduated to A pictures, ended up in bloated epics and died, then was rediscovered when a bunch of film fans realised how great he was. Off topic, but his film noirs are excellent too. His background was quite mysterious, if you care to look it up.
 
Just watched Peckinpah's Ride The High Country again. The older I get the more I appreciate this movie.

I'm rather partial to westerns and my favourites include - The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid from Peckinpah.
John Sturges run from the fifties to mid-sixties - Escape from Fort Bravo, Bad Day at Black Rock, Last Train from Gun Hill, Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Magnificent Seven, The Hallelujah Trail and Hour of the Gun.

Clint's stuff of course.

Once Upon a Time in the West

And Walter Hill's The Long Riders which had the James, Younger, Miller and Ford brothers played by real life acting brothers - and it has a Peckinpah inspired shootout.

Actually, when I come to think of it, there are very few westerns I dislike.
 
For such an apparently limited genre, there's plenty of room to manoeuvre in Westerns. Lots of excellent variations include Unforgiven, Silver Lode, Red River, Once Upon a Time in the West, Calamity Jane, Stagecoach, A Bullet for the General, The Paleface, From Noon Till Three, Rio Bravo, The Wind, The Big Country, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Shane, The Tall T and Way Out West. None of them quite like the others. That's without mentioning loads that are "just" really good, rather than excellent.

Although twice recently I've heard someone complain that they can't watch Butch Cassidy because of THAT song. I love Burt Bacharach's soundtrack, but then I'm not old enough to have gotten sick of the song played on the radio ad nauseam.
 
The Killer: A Brazilian Western which qualifies as great or rather epic because of the way it spans generations in the Brazil of the 1910s to the 1940s. An assassin finds a baby abandoned in the desert and raises him as his son. When this killer disappears his "son" takes his place as the chief assassin for a rich landowner who kills everyone who gets in his way. A story of revenge and betrayal which unfolds across the decades. There are killers to deal with the killers and bandidos to carry out the more unsavory massacres. Even poets are shot! In some ways reminiscent of Leon, showing how simple people can be turned into savage killers. Writer/Director Marcelo Galvão delivers a thrilling tale about the 20th Century Wild West of Brazil. 8/10 On Netflix.
 
GNC said:
Although twice recently I've heard someone complain that they can't watch Butch Cassidy because of THAT song. I love Burt Bacharach's soundtrack, but then I'm not old enough to have gotten sick of the song played on the radio ad nauseam.
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Two points to make here, relating especially to age and progress.

1. Yup, THAT song was certainly played to death at one time.
2. Even people my age can manage to FF past it!
 
stu neville said:
No idea how I forgot that!
"Your eyes are very red!"
"You should see them from this side..."
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When Lee Marvin won his Oscar he said "Half of this probably belongs to a horse out in the Valley somewhere".
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The Duel: Woody Harrelson is well suited to the role of a prophet, a crooked snake-handling preacher called Brant who controls Mount Hermon, a town on the Texan-Mexican border. Mexican citizens have gone missing in the area and the Texas Governor sends Texas Ranger Kingston (Liam Hemsworth) to investigate, The complication is that Brant killed Kingston's father in a duel twenty years before. A tale of racism, revenge, ethnic cleansing and downright horror with some really disturbing scenes. Truly a Savage Western. Good acting by Hemsworth and Harrelson along with Alicie Brage as Marisol, Kingston's conflicted wife and Felicity Price as Naomi, a prostitute who is desperate to escape from Mount Hermon. Directed by Kieran Darcy-Smith. 7/10. On Netflix.
 
Hickok: A film which has all of the ingredients to be a Great/Epic Western, Wild Bill Hickok (Luke Hemsworth) as a town marshal, John Wesley Harding (Kaiwi Lyman) as his deputy, Kris Kristofferson as the mayor, Bruce Dern as the drunken old doctor, Cameron Richardson as Bill's long lost love Mattie. But the promise is not fulfilled. Bill is hired to clean up the town but comes into conflict with the saloon/brothel/rackets boss Trace Adkins who is now the fiance of Mattie. Nothing particularly original here, you can predict the outcome. This is an entertaining if average Western with a superior cast who enjoy themselves portraying Western icons and archetypes. Directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. 6/10. On Netflix.
 
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Cry Macho: A Neo-Western set in 1978, Macho is a chicken, well a rooster who excels in Cockfights. Back in his late 70's films Eastwood had an Orangutan as a sidkick, this s a bit of a comedown. Eastwood is too old for the part of Mike Milo an ex-Rodeo Star now who is guilt-tripped into going to Mexico to collect his boss's son. This plus women falling him and his ability to ride and break horses suggests a 60 year old like Hugo Weaving or Sean Penn would have better fitted the role. Nevertheless this is a tale which will warm your heart. Milo eventually bonds with the boy Rafo (Eduardo Minett) and his Fighting Cock Macho, protecting him from mafiosi and corrupt cops. They even settle down for a while in a Mexican village where Milo win's the love of Martha (Natalia Traven) and becomes the local horse breaker and vet. The trio Milo, Rafo and Macho look great as they walk along the road together. Certainly worth watching as once again the Pale Rider drifts across the Plains. Directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Nick Schenk and N. Richard Nash. 7/10.

In cinemas.
 
'Blazing Saddles' and
The Life and Times Of Judge Roy Bean.
 
Spent the afternoon watching The Professionals starring Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Woody Strode, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale and Jack Palance.
Marvin, Lancaster, Strode and Ryan are mercenaries hired by a wealthy businessman to rescue his wife (Cardinale) who has been kidnapped by Mexican revolutionary Palance. However, it's not as straightforward as they think and they encounter all manner of twists and turns.
It's the kind of movie the word "rollicking" was invented for - plenty of action, things going boom, humour, a rousing score by Maurice Jarre and a great final line from Marvin.
The perfect way to spend a dull, wet afternoon.
 
The Power of the Dog: Montana 1925, the life of the cowboy remains the same in spite of the arrival of cars and changing music. The great star of this film is the Montana High Prairie, butting into the hills and bluffs which sidle up to the Rockies. Herds of cattle trek along a ridge with the continental divide and the Montana big skies behind them. This and the concentration on nature be it rabbits, deer, horses, cattle or even humans in all of their strengths and frailities is highlighted by the cinematography of Ari Wegner. TPOTD will soon stream on Netflix but is worth watching on a big screen to fully appreciate these vistas. Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George (Jesse Plemon)s are brothers in their 40s, they run a ranch and are close, sharing a bedroom even though they live in a large house. Phil is rough and uncouth in contrast to the mannered George who dresses as a prosperous rancher even when working. Phil upsets the sensitive Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) a waiter at his mother Rose's (Kirsten Dunst) eating house. George is taken to Rose and they end up marrying. Phil resents this and makes life a misery for Rose, literally driving her to drink. Peter, now at medical school comes to the ranch for summer and is mocked by Phil and his ranch hand cronies. After an incident Phil seems to take a shine to Peter though.

A film of powerful emotions, maternal love, filial loyalty and more dominate the film. Phil worships the memory of Bronco Henry who taught him all that he knows about ranching, he even keeps Henry's saddle as a shrine. His dislike of Rose extends to misogyny , the reasons for this ar payed out as the narrative unfolds. Phil's secrets explain some of this, he carries out rituals in a hidden creek, part of his life is suppressed. Rose's strengths are undermined not just by Phil but by her own actions when drunk. George's ambitions are also hampered by Phil's bitterness. The interplay of tensions is literally Shakespearean as the egos clash and Peter reveals unexpected strengths. Writer/Director Jane Campion even manages to include a piano in this tale of the dying days of the Old West. 9/10.
 
Billy The Kid: Billy had it tough growing up. Angela's Ashes pales in comparison. Not raining as much though but even that is surpassed by drownings and wagons washed away during a trek west when he was really a kid. An immigrant Irish family, oppressed and exploited at every turn, losing his depressed and ill father at an early stage. His mother ends up marrying a dodgy character. We see how Billy's character was formed at an early age. the town's are grim and dirty, as are the cowboys. Maybe the story line is a bit sanitised but it;s generally accepted that the first two men killed by Billy were in acts of self defence, not during criminal acts. Tom Blyth plays the "older" Billy, conflicted driven, falling out with a fellow outlaw or a love interest but always loyal. He also becomes a cold killer but retains some qualms. We see his first meetings with Pat Garrett and Alias. Season 1 leads up to the Lincoln County Wars. The good news is that there;s a second season coming. Created and written by Michael Hirst. Eight episodes, I saw it on RTE2. 8/10.
 
I watched Once Upon a Time in the West a few years ago to teach a film student and found it superb.
 
Yithian said:
I watched Once Upon a Time in the West a few years ago to teach a film student and found it superb.
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Among my favourite films, along with For a Few Dollars More. I sort of consider Once Upon a Time in the West a kind of Dollars Trilogy film, but obviously not. In spirit. But Leone continues to bring the goods.
 
Yithian said:
I watched Once Upon a Time in the West a few years ago to teach a film student and found it superb.
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Great movie. Stunning photography and one of the greatest soundtracks of all time. I once heard it described as an opera where the arias are stared rather than sung.
Certainly one of my top five westerns. My avatar is a clue to the number one spot.
 
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