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Post by Jesse on May 17, 2015 7:28:00 GMT -5
Shenandoah (1965)  Jimmy Stewart had some great lines in this. He plays a widower and father from Virginia that refuses to get involved in the Civil War. When his youngest son is mistaken for a Confederate soldier his family goes out searching for him. There are some excellent and suspenseful action scenes throughout as well as some genuinely touching moments. Andrew V. McLaglen's direction in this is superb and he makes some interesting commentary on the effects of war while also showing us that just because someone chooses neutrality during wartime doesn't necessarily mean they will remain unscathed.
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Post by Jesse on May 24, 2015 4:18:35 GMT -5
Bite the Bullet (1975)  Richard Brooks' film about an dangerous cross-country horse race. Gene Hackman gives a superb performance throughout. The film also stars James Coburn and Candice Bergen. The character building is excellent as each contestant is tested as the race progresses. The friendship between Coburn and Hackman's characters being the main focus. The race is pretty suspenseful especially the final stretch up to the finish line which gives us a really satisfying ending.
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Post by Prince Hal on May 24, 2015 6:56:50 GMT -5
Also about a horse race, but with a tad less realism (I would think) than Bite the Bullet, is Hidalgo, which is fanciful and strains credulity about every six minutes, but which I enjoy for the same reasons I do any number of adventure movies and comic books. It's just plain fun.
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Post by thwhtguardian on May 24, 2015 20:10:05 GMT -5
Also about a horse race, but with a tad less realism (I would think) than Bite the Bullet, is Hidalgo, which is fanciful and strains credulity about every six minutes, but which I enjoy for the same reasons I do any number of adventure movies and comic books. It's just plain fun. I absolutely love Hidalgo, it has a fantastic old Hollywood feel to it. |
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Post by Prince Hal on May 24, 2015 22:09:29 GMT -5
Also about a horse race, but with a tad less realism (I would think) than Bite the Bullet, is Hidalgo, which is fanciful and strains credulity about every six minutes, but which I enjoy for the same reasons I do any number of adventure movies and comic books. It's just plain fun. I absolutely love Hidalgo, it has a fantastic old Hollywood feel to it. Agreed. It reminds me of the first Mummy movie (with Brendan Fraser): lighthearted but not farcical; serious, but not "dark." |
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Post by coke & comics on May 25, 2015 1:18:25 GMT -5
Watched Shane, which at its root is the story I most associate with westerns. And with samurai stories. And I think is a story I came up with independently as a kid. A small isolated community in need of a hero, when a stranger comes stumbling into town. A man escaping his past who will ensure their future. It could be one stranger or seven, but it's a story I've seen in various forms and will always love. And this film in particular I found excellent all the way through. The story of homesteaders staking their claim and dreaming of the future to me is what the Old West is all about.
Then I watched Rio Bravo. Another excellent film. A heroic sheriff, outnumbered, but determined to uphold the law. A movie where almost everything was perfect. The music, the scenery, most of the actors... and then there's the one actor who reminds me of nobody so much as Justin Bieber. With permed hair and shiny white teeth, he seemed to stumble in from a different movie. I think Howard Hawks is a fine director. I know him best from The Thing from Another World. And he again shows off his chops here. But why James Dean?
Tonight I watched No Country for Old Men, a neo-western too new for this thread. A fine film but reminded me a lot of other Cohen Brothers films, crime and intersecting lives.
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Post by Prince Hal on May 25, 2015 7:06:53 GMT -5
Watched Shane, which at its root is the story I most associate with westerns. And with samurai stories. And I think is a story I came up with independently as a kid. A small isolated community in need of a hero, when a stranger comes stumbling into town. A man escaping his past who will ensure their future. It could be one stranger or seven, but it's a story I've seen in various forms and will always love. And this film in particular I found excellent all the way through. The story of homesteaders staking their claim and dreaming of the future to me is what the Old West is all about. Then I watched Rio Bravo. Another excellent film. A heroic sheriff, outnumbered, but determined to uphold the law. A movie where almost everything was perfect. The music, the scenery, most of the actors... and then there's the one actor who reminds me of nobody so much as Justin Bieber. With permed hair and shiny white teeth, he seemed to stumble in from a different movie. I think Howard Hawks is a fine director. I know him best from The Thing from Another World. And he again shows off his chops here. But why James Dean? Two great choices. Shane is about as well made as a movie can be, with excellent performances, script, photography, music, etcetera, etcetera. Gotta love Jack Palance in particular. Eastwood's Pale Rider is -- how shall we say? -- "greatly indebted" to Shane. Excellent novel as well. Rio Bravo is well known as a response to High Noon. (Neither Hawks nor Wayne thought that a sheriff would have been looking for help to take out the returning badmen.) It was so popular that Hawks and Wayne remade it as El Dorado just a few years later with James Caan in the Ricky Nelson part. If you didn't care for Nelson, console yourself that Hawks' first choice for the part was Elvis Presley. Forget Nelson, and just focus on the impossibly sultry Angie Dickinson, anyway. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on May 25, 2015 11:08:41 GMT -5
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948  Next to Casablanca and African Queen this one of my favorite Bogie films, although my reaction now is the same as it was when I first saw it as a kid, "How could they kill Bogie!!!  " It still surprises me to see him die but it really makes the film for me, that total downer finale gives it a raw, realistic feeling that many westerns lack. |
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2015 18:17:14 GMT -5
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 Next to Casablanca and African Queen this one of my favorite Bogie films, although my reaction now is the same as it was when I first saw it as a kid, "How could they kill Bogie!!! " It still surprises me to see him die but it really makes the film for me, that total downer finale gives it a raw, realistic feeling that many westerns lack. I feel the same way as you've feel about Bogie! It's a powerful, gripping, total focus, and tempting movie that makes you think about life. The finale was a bummer to me; but I just was so sad when Bogie was killed off - Who wants Dobie killed makes me feel so mad when they did this. I would put this in 2nd place behind Casablanca as the best Bogie film in his career. |
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Post by coke & comics on May 29, 2015 0:55:15 GMT -5
Well, I had intended to watch "Ride the High Country tonight". But the Netflix disk is broken. Here's hoping they can get me a new one before May ends.
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Post by coke & comics on May 31, 2015 1:24:57 GMT -5
I've seen various film critics point to various films as the "best" western film of all time. Some say Searchers, some say Once Upon a Time in the West.
I can only infer these people have never seen Paint Your Wagon.
What is the west about if not Lee Marvin's struggle to stay one step ahead of civilization and its rules?
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Post by coke & comics on May 31, 2015 3:08:44 GMT -5
Lonesome Dove was the best film I watched this month.
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Post by coke & comics on May 31, 2015 3:10:16 GMT -5
I may or may not have time to watch one more before the month's end. We'll see how tomorrow goes. It would be Ride the High Country if I get to one. If not, I'll be watching that film in the next few days.
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Post by Prince Hal on May 31, 2015 10:35:15 GMT -5
Lonesome Dove was the best film I watched this month. And maybe for a long time to come. As fine a version of a novel as has been committed to film. (In this respect, up there with To Kill a Mockingbird.) Duvall has long said the Gus was his favorite part. Not too much to dislike here, especially considering it was made for television. The casting is spot-on, with even Robert Urich, a lightweight by comparison to Duvall and Jones, turning in an excellent, against-type portrayal of the charming, but feckless Jake Spoon. I would avoid any of McMurtry's other novels of the characters in Lonesome Dove, which I read, hoping against hope that the same characters he had delineated so deftly would reappear, but I was disappointed. Terrible novels in which it became quickly apparent that McMurtry was cashing in. Perhaps, and I don't know this for a fact, but perhaps he did not rely as much, or at all, on the stories of Texas history for the pre- and sequel, as he did with the original. I regret the time I spent reading them. Now I simply say that everyone knows that there is only one novel that features Gus and Woodrow, just as we all know that a fourth Indiana Jones movie was never released. |
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Post by coke & comics on Jun 1, 2015 3:45:23 GMT -5
About 75 minutes until the end of May. Have the DVD for Ride the High Country from Netflix. Not gonna get to it tonight. Opted to go out for a fancy steak dinner instead. Now I have to wake up in 7.5 hours, so now movie for me.
I'll watch it this week. And start ordering whatever next month's theme is from Netflix.
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" It still surprises me to see him die but it really makes the film for me, that total downer finale gives it a raw, realistic feeling that many westerns lack.