The Good, The Bad, and The Official Western Thread

[C. Lee]

I remember watching Day of the Evil Gun with my dad a while ago, I remember really liking it and need to watch it again. Haven't seen Guns for St. Sebastian, but it sounds like it needs to be my next watch. Always love your posts on this thread C. Lee, thanks.

Thanks....I'm never sure how much info to give out when talking about a movie. Most of them are decades old, but there are still many posters on here who have never seen them. I don't want to give too much away too them.

If you have the ENCORE westerns channel.....Day of the Evil Gun and Guns for San Sebastian are playing on it this month....along with several of the James Stewart movies I've mentioned and several Audie Murphy ones.

Thank you for the infos, C. Lee

No problem. Like I said somewhere before...I grew up watching the LONE RANGER....the new version just doesn't sit well with me at this point.

If you are interested in Native American actors....check out the things that Eddie Little Sky was in http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0514507/ I always like to see him.

 

[TomServo]

Yeah I don't have Encore, I could only pick one special channel so I had to go with HBO so I can watch my shows. However, I have a library card and I'm not afraid to use it!! (my library has an awesome western DVD catalog)

 

[C. Lee]

Yeah I don't have Encore, I could only pick one special channel so I had to go with HBO so I can watch my shows. However, I have a library card and I'm not afraid to use it!! (my library has an awesome western DVD catalog)

That's good to hear. Westerns are becoming a forgotten genre. I'm working my DVD recorder overtime trying to get all the different things recorded.

 

[TomServo]

Yeah it's great, hoping to find some real hidden gems, I'll keep posting as I find them

 

[Eddie Dean]

I'd just like to say that Woody Strode is super awesome. Not only in westerns, but everything else he was in. Being in so many classic movies (Spartacus, Ten Commandments, Man Who Shot Liberty Valince, Once Upon a Time in the West), I'm surprised he didn't have a bigger career. Apparently, he and Lee Marvin shot Vegas Vic with arrows while filming The Professionals!

Also, he would have made the perfect Martian Manhunter if a Justice League filim was made in the 60s.

 

[gwynplaine]

Thanks....I'm never sure how much info to give out when talking about a movie. Most of them are decades old, but there are still many posters on here who have never seen them. I don't want to give too much away too them.

If you have the ENCORE westerns channel.....Day of the Evil Gun and Guns for San Sebastian are playing on it this month....along with several of the James Stewart movies I've mentioned and several Audie Murphy ones.


No problem. Like I said somewhere before...I grew up watching the LONE RANGER....the new version just doesn't sit well with me at this point.

If you are interested in Native American actors....check out the things that Eddie Little Sky was in http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0514507/ I always like to see him.

Thanks, C. Lee. I have also always liked Will Sampson and of course Chief Dan Georges.

 

[TomServo]

Watched Four Faces West (Alfred Green, '48) today, had never seen or heard of it, it was quite good, interesting to see a western without [BLACKOUT]a single gunshot[/BLACKOUT]

 

[C. Lee]

Watched Four Faces West (Alfred Green, '48) today, had never seen or heard of it, it was quite good, interesting to see a western without [BLACKOUT]a single gunshot[/BLACKOUT]

That's interesting....I've seem most of Joel McCrea's westerns, but never heard of this one. I'll keep an eye out for it.

Yesterday morning I watched -

ADIOS, SABATA (1970)

Starring Yul Brynner, Dean Reed, and Gérard Herter.

This movie is no relation except title character's name to the Lee Van Cleef SABATA movies. Lee's first Sabata movie was a hit, so the producers of this one changed the title and since all dialogue was dubbed in later anyway, had everyone now call Brynner's character Sabata. A year after this, Lee made an actual sequel to his previous movie called RETURN OF SABATA.

The movie plot revolves around Sabata being hired by Mexican revolutionaries to help them steal gold from one of Emperor Maximillian's forts. Lots of fights, double and triple crosses, and acrobatic maneuvers. Of particular note is the type of gun favored by Brynner's character. It's a harmonica rifle. I had only remembered seeing a harmonica pistol before, but here he has a rifle version. There is a picture of the DVD cover on the IMDB page that shows it. A harmonica gun uses a clip of bullets that resemble a harmonica, and you manually slide it horizontally through the gun as you fire. It was one of the first semi automatic weapons in the time of the single shot rifle and pistol.

 

[TomServo]

Yeah I hadn't heard of it either, but I thought it was really good, definitely different...Adios, Sabata sounds interesting, love Yul Brynner, will have to check it out

 

[C. Lee]

This morning I watched -

THE LAST HARD MEN (1976)

Starring Charlton Heston, James Coburn, Christopher Mitchum, Barbara Hershey, Jorge Rivero, Michael Parks, Larry Wilcox, and Thalmus Rasulala.

A group of convicts escape from a turn of the century chain gang. They are lead by a half breed murderer named Provo (James Coburn) who only wants revenge against Marshal Sam Burgade (Heston) who put him in prison and caused the death of Provo's wife in his capture years ago. Coburn's being half Native American plays into the story when he and his men are allowed to pass through a reservation with no trouble because they know of his parentage.

In the years that Provo has been in prison, Burgade has retired from the Marshal's office....but he saddles back up when he hears of his escape. As Burgade sets a trap to capture him, Provo ups the ante by kidnapping Burgade's daughter (Hershey) to set a trap of his own. This leads to a horrific scene where Provo [BLACKOUT]allows his men to rape her on a hillside in the daylight just in the hopes of making Burgade break from cover to rescue her.[/BLACKOUT]

This is a rough movie that justifies it's R rating. It was directed by veteran western maker Andrew V. McLaglen. McLaglen is of note for directing more episodes of the Tv series GUNSMOKE and HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL than anyone else. He also directed 5 of John Wayne's movies.

 

[gwynplaine]

Anybody seen "Blackthorn"?
I think it's supposed to be a sort of sequel to George Roy Hill's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", by way of "Unforgiven" and I was wondering if it's any good.

 

[TomServo]

Anybody seen "Blackthorn"?
I think it's supposed to be a sort of sequel to George Roy Hill's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", by way of "Unforgiven" and I was wondering if it's any good.

Never heard of it, but those are two of my favorite all-time movies (not just westerns), so if it's anything like either or both, I'm in. Looked it up, will try to find it, looks like it has Jaime Lannister (if you're into GoT) in it

 

[gwynplaine]

Never heard of it, but those are two of my favorite all-time movies (not just westerns), so if it's anything like either or both, I'm in. Looked it up, will try to find it, looks like it has Jaime Lannister (if you're into GoT) in it

Thanks for the info. "Unforgiven" and "BCATSK" are also two of my all-time favorites. I'm not sure "Blackthorn" will be as great as them, not too many Westerns or films for that matter are, but it might be worth checking out anyway.
Hey TomServo, if you like "Unforgiven" and you have time, I highly recommend Sam Peckinpah's "Ride the High Country" if you haven't already watched it.
It's a great Western tackling the same kind of themes as "Unforgiven", starring Joel Mc Crea and Randolph Scott, two Legendary Cowboys and a young creepy Warren Oates.

 

[C. Lee]

Anybody seen "Blackthorn"?
I think it's supposed to be a sort of sequel to George Roy Hill's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", by way of "Unforgiven" and I was wondering if it's any good.

Haven't had the chance yet, but looking forward to it. Sam Sheppard plays Butch Cassidy still living in Columbia 20 some years after his supposed death at the end of the Butch and Sundance movie.

 

[gwynplaine]

Haven't had the chance yet, but looking forward to it. Sam Sheppard plays Butch Cassidy still living in Columbia 20 some years after his supposed death at the end of the Butch and Sundance movie.

Sounds like an interesting premise. Like I said before, I'm a huge fan of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", so I will likely check it out too.
On a related note, I've always loved how Georges Roy Hill freeze frames the picture on Newman and Redford at the end of the film

and doesn't show them dying, even though they are seriously outnumbered and it's most certainly the fate that awaits them. The movie finishes on them kind of triumphant and going out together in a blaze of glory for one last hurrah, instead of defeated and riddled with bullets.
It looks like maybe Ridley Scott sort of homaged it a bit with the ending of "Thelma and Louise."
The only thing I'm not too crazy about in the film is probably the "Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head" musical sequence. Even though it doesn't make the movie any less awesome at all, it kinda (briefly) takes me out of it.
But like Newman says at the beginning: "Small price to pay for beauty."t:

 

[TomServo]

Hey TomServo, if you like "Unforgiven" and you have time, I highly recommend Sam Peckinpah's "Ride the High Country" if you haven't already watched it.
It's a great Western tackling the same kind of themes as "Unforgiven", starring Joel Mc Crea and Randolph Scott, two Legendary Cowboys and a young creepy Warren Oates.

I have seen it, and it is phenomenal. Peckinpah is definitely a favorite of mine, his style is great, it's familiar...but unique.

 

[gwynplaine]

I have seen it, and it is phenomenal. Peckinpah is definitely a favorite of mine, his style is great, it's familiar...but unique.

 

[C. Lee]

Yesterday I watched -

NO NAME ON THE BULLET (1959)

Starring Audie Murphy, Charles Drake, Joan Evans, Warren Stevens, R.G. Armstrong, and Whit Bissell.

I'm an Audie Murphy fan. Watched most of his movies as a kid growing up. He mostly played the quiet stalwart hero who would defend truth, justice, and the American way. That's one of the things that makes this movie standout...he was a mean snot in it. He plays John Gant....professional murderer. His motis operandi is to come into a town where there is someone who he has been paid to kill, and goad them into a fight. They draw first, he kills them, and he can't be prosecuted because he was defending himself.

From the minute he rides into the town of Lordsburg people get very nervous. Everyone is wondering who he's after...but several have secrets in their pasts that make them think he is there for them. Gant shows no indication at all who he is specifically after....but just looking at or saying hello to someone sends them scurrying. People try to buy him off without knowing if he's really after them (he calmly tells them he does one job at a time)....a group of around 20 try to force him out of town (he calmly tells them that yes, they may kill him....but he will take out six of them first)....the sherrif tries to force him out of town and gets a bullet in the hand (when he asks Gant why he didn't kill him, he calmly says "I wasn't paid to kill you.") I keep saying calmly because....Gant is exceedingly calm. Nothing flusters him. Town mobs mean nothing to him, worked up townsmen getting into gunfights with each other around him because they think the other has hired him barely makes him set his coffee down.

As I said, I have watched a lot of Murphy's movies. They are action filled with lots of fistfights, gunfights, and him running around jumping from horses, saloons, and boulders down onto indians and bad guys. In this movie he is a calm, laconic, all business assassin.....very unusual portrayal for him. I hadn't seen this movie for over 40 years....but there were parts of it that stayed with me on this time....especially the unexpected ending.

 

[gwynplaine]

Yesterday I watched -

NO NAME ON THE BULLET (1959)

Starring Audie Murphy, Charles Drake, Joan Evans, Warren Stevens, R.G. Armstrong, and Whit Bissell.

I'm an Audie Murphy fan. Watched most of his movies as a kid growing up. He mostly played the quiet stalwart hero who would defend truth, justice, and the American way. That's one of the things that makes this movie standout...he was a mean snot in it. He plays John Gant....professional murderer. His motis operandi is to come into a town where there is someone who he has been paid to kill, and goad them into a fight. They draw first, he kills them, and he can't be prosecuted because he was defending himself.

From the minute he rides into the town of Lordsburg people get very nervous. Everyone is wondering who he's after...but several have secrets in their pasts that make them think he is there for them. Gant shows no indication at all who he is specifically after....but just looking at or saying hello to someone sends them scurrying. People try to buy him off without knowing if he's really after them (he calmly tells them he does one job at a time)....a group of around 20 try to force him out of town (he calmly tells them that yes, they may kill him....but he will take out six of them first)....the sherrif tries to force him out of town and gets a bullet in the hand (when he asks Gant why he didn't kill him, he calmly says "I wasn't paid to kill you.") I keep saying calmly because....Gant is exceedingly calm. Nothing flusters him. Town mobs mean nothing to him, worked up townsmen getting into gunfights with each other around him because they think the other has hired him barely makes him set his coffee down.

As I said, I have watched a lot of Murphy's movies. They are action filled with lots of fistfights, gunfights, and him running around jumping from horses, saloons, and boulders down onto indians and bad guys. In this movie he is a calm, laconic, all business assassin.....very unusual portrayal for him. I hadn't seen this movie for over 40 years....but there were parts of it that stayed with me on this time....especially the unexpected ending.

Sounds interesting. I will look it up. I'm not familiar with Audie Murphy's work, but I like when actors play against type and try something different than their usual image and onscreen persona.
Like Tom Hanks in "Road to Perdition" where he was great or James Stewart in his Western films, among many others.

 

[C. Lee]

This morning I watched -

THE LAST SUNSET (1961)

Starring Kirk Douglas, Rock Hudson, Dorothy Malone, Carol Lynley, Joseph Cotton, Nevill Brand, Regis Toomey, and Jack Elam.

There will be spoilers

Brendan O'Malley (Douglas) is a likeable bad guy on the run in Mexico because of a recent killing in Texas. He stops at a ranch and finds an old flame (Malone) and her teenage daughter (Lynley) about to take a herd of cattle up to Texas with her alchoholic cowardly husband (Cotton) who is an ex confederate soldier. Douglas tries to start things up again with Malone, but she'll have nothing to do with it. Soon Marshal Stribling (Hudson) arrives on Douglas' trail. Hudson and Douglas decide to help the family get their cattle to Texas, and make a truce until they arrive.

Not long after they start, Cotton is killed by some other ex rebs who knew of his cowardice during the war. Hudson and Douglas continue to help the trail drive, with Hudson now falling for Malone, and Douglas and Lynley getting friendly too (Douglas has a history of chasing all the ladies....the killing he's running from was over a woman....Hudson's sister).

When they arrive at the border, they decide to stay the night in Mexico before trying to get the herd across the river. They throw a party, and Lynley dresses up in one of her mother's prettiest dresses (she usually dresses like a boy) and professes her love for Douglas. They have a passionate kiss as the scene fades to black, leaving it to your imagination if they consumate their love.

The next morning, Hudson and Douglas agree to meet at sunset to fight it out after they are finished with getting the cattle across the river and all corralled in. Douglas goes to Malone and tell her how he plans to take Lynley with him because he feels a connection to her like no other woman. Malone looks him straight in the eye and says "Of course you do....she's your daughter." He's devastated and doesn't believe it at first...but it slowly comes to him it's true. He goes to Lynley and tells her he will take her all around the world just as soon as he finishes off Hudson.

He then unloads his gun and goes to have his gunfight with Hudson.


Soap operish....but some good action and acting....and the incest angle was quite risque for the time.

 

[C. Lee]

This afternoon I watched -

THE LONE RANGER (1938) a 15 chapter serial.

Although it was filmed in 1938 and did very well at the box office, this became a "lost" film until 2009. Until then, only incomplete English speaking copies, a dubbed in French, or partial copies with Spanish subtitles could be found. A world wide search by fans finally got together a 99% complete copy. The DVD I watched had various in quality chapters, one chapter had lost the original recaps title cards of the last episode and had it replaced with an abbreviated new one, and one episode had what appeared to be a missing scene described by a new titlecard and the sound in this episode had many problems with some obvious new dubbing of a couple of characters. But overall a fun ride.

I won't say who played the Lone Ranger in this....because that was part of the plot. A bad guy fakes his way into the Texas government during the Civil War and uses his position to fill a local militia with his cronies....so he has his own private army to cause trouble. When a group of Texas Rangers are sent to check up on his actions, he ambushed them, killing all but one...who is found and nursed back to health by Tonto. ** INTERESTING SIDENOTE** - although running on the radio since 1933 and in comics and pulp stories....this was the first time that origin was used, and has been basicly used the same ever since****** The Lone Ranger then starts fighting the bad guy and his men. Five different men are suspected of being the Lone Ranger and arrested and put into a jail cell together. They are told that if they give him up, they will live, if they don't, all will die. The real Lone Ranger tells the other who he is (we the audience only hear him say it {and a well known voice over actor of the time does the voice of the Lone Ranger character for the whole serial}....so we don't know which actor it is) and they all decide to work together to fight the bad guy. They manage to escape with the help of Tonto (he saves their bacon many times) and slowly throughout the 15 chapters the others are killed in fighting the bad guys until there are only 2 left in the last chapter...and you don't find out until the last minute which one is the real Lone Ranger.

 

[Matt Mortem]

Just watched Unforgiven for the first time. Holy ****. That film is a masterpiece. The climax and ending between Munny and Little Bill was spectacular and Munny's threat to the townsfolk over the burial of Ned gave me chills. Eastwood is a master at his craft. I'm definitely gonna buy myself a copy of Unforgiven on Blu-Ray.

 

[TomServo]

Just watched Unforgiven for the first time. Holy ****. That film is a masterpiece. The climax and ending between Munny and Little Bill was spectacular and Munny's threat to the townsfolk over the burial of Ned gave me chills. Eastwood is a master at his craft. I'm definitely gonna buy myself a copy of Unforgiven on Blu-Ray.

It really is a masterpiece, it's basically tied with his work with Leone for me as far as his best movies, not just westerns. Was on vacation in CO and felt like I needed to watch a western since everywhere I looked I felt like I needed to be riding a horse, the only one my friend had at the house was the original True Grit, such an awesome movie, love the remake too, but Jeff Bridges is just no John Wayne when it comes to westerns.

 

[Matt Mortem]

I didn't much care for the original True Grit. The actor who played LeBeouf annoyed me (Glenn Cambell I think) and John Wayne's performance was a little too hammy for my tastes I like Wayne, but his Rooster Cogburn just didn't do it for me.

 

[Boom]

Watched Once Upon a Time in the West for the first time, and now I'm kicking myself for waiting this long to see it.