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Post by clarkie on May 1, 2014 18:25:25 GMT -5
'the Searchers' is the ultimate John Wayne film for me, it's beautifully shot, Wayne is at his best as playing the intractable-unlikeable hero, even more than Red River, the whole Native-American thing seems fairly balanced for the time (I'm British, it all seems slightly foreign) and the iconic shot of Wayne holding his arm in the doorway at the end, the man who got things done, but can't be part of the happy reunion because he's slightly tragic in how he's stuck in his ways.(also a tribute to Harry Carey, it was Carey's famous stance, plus Carey Jr was in the film, and I think his widow played the mother) It's Western gold.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 1, 2014 18:43:35 GMT -5
But I'm a big sucker for "end of the west" films. I read that term and the movie Lonely Are The Brave comes to mind.Kirk Douglas and his faithful horse Whiskey in a final meeting with the truck-driving Carol O'Connor |
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Post by numberthirty on May 1, 2014 18:44:30 GMT -5
John Wayne knew at the time that he was dying and the Shootist would be his last film.Not to be morbid but it would be an interesting list of films were the lead actor/actress knew it would be their last.I rank The Shootist as one of the best of those films.Love him or hate him,its an essential movie I love a lot of his movies, but I'm not too fond of the man himself. Anti-war Vietnam veterans wanted to talk to him at the GOP convention in Miami in 1968 and he wouldn't even give them the time of day. Shameful. While the character is not a classic "hero", The Searchers is the other Wayne film where I felt like he actually had a role with a bit of depth. |
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Post by Jasoomian on May 1, 2014 18:47:09 GMT -5
Edward G. Robinson knew he was dying while shooting Soylent Green.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 1, 2014 18:53:21 GMT -5
Henry Fonda knew On Golden Pond it was the end
Spencer Tracy as well in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2014 18:55:51 GMT -5
Henry Fonda knew On Golden Pond it was the end Spencer Tracy as well in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner I've never seen On Golden Pond, but I did see Guess Who's Coming to Dinner just a few weeks ago. It is one of Tracy's best, right up there with my favorite, Bad Day at Black Rock. |
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puma
Junior Member
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Post by puma on May 1, 2014 18:56:43 GMT -5
I'm also a fan of John Wayne and while I like The Shootist my two favorites are The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence and The Searchers. If you haven't seen Liberty Valence do so, a young John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart with a great character study of human behavior. As for The Searchers, absolute classic.
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Post by numberthirty on May 1, 2014 19:02:20 GMT -5
I'm also a fan of John Wayne and while I like The Shootist my two favorites are The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence and The Searchers. If you haven't seen Liberty Valence do so, a young John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart with a great character study of human behavior. As for The Searchers, absolute classic. I always felt like it was a shame that they didn't get to fill out The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence a bit more. That film deserved for those characters to have just a bit more depth. |
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Post by Rob Allen on May 1, 2014 19:12:09 GMT -5
And I saw part of McClintock yesterday. I've seen it before, and that section reminded that I'm not overly fond of this movie. Yvonne DeCarlo is good, and so is Maureen O'Hara, but O'Hara's role is written so over-the-top shrewish that there is no way she can be sympathetic and Wayne's role immediately becomes the only sane alternative for the audience's sympathy because O'Hara's character is so rude and snobbish. Also, McClintock is kind of stupid in many other ways. McClintock is great if you want to understand many modern US Republicans. Wayne's character is how the patriarchy sees itself - honest, fair, gruff but kind, and filthy rich because of his own hard work. It's close to a Randian point of view, with a good dose of sexism added (unhappy women are cured by the man taking charge and putting her in her place). It's a fantasy world, but many people believe in it - including, unfortunately, my mother. She loves this movie. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 1, 2014 19:31:34 GMT -5
I've seen the majority of John Wayne's movies.A few other very good ones I don't think was mentioned include
The Cowboys,The High and The Mighty,True Grit,Rooster Cogburn,Rio Bravo,Blood Alley,The Quiet Man,She Wore A Yellow Ribbon,3 Godfathers,Red River and Angel and the Badman.There's a few others
Even his stinkers are entertaining-The Conqueror,The Green Berets and The Brbarian and the Geisha
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2014 20:03:38 GMT -5
And I saw part of McClintock yesterday. I've seen it before, and that section reminded that I'm not overly fond of this movie. Yvonne DeCarlo is good, and so is Maureen O'Hara, but O'Hara's role is written so over-the-top shrewish that there is no way she can be sympathetic and Wayne's role immediately becomes the only sane alternative for the audience's sympathy because O'Hara's character is so rude and snobbish. Also, McClintock is kind of stupid in many other ways. McClintock is great if you want to understand many modern US Republicans. Wayne's character is how the patriarchy sees itself - honest, fair, gruff but kind, and filthy rich because of his own hard work. It's close to a Randian point of view, with a good dose of sexism added (unhappy women are cured by the man taking charge and putting her in her place). It's a fantasy world, but many people believe in it - including, unfortunately, my mother. She loves this movie. A lot of people who should know better like McClintock! Your political spin sounds entirely plausible.
I wonder if the IMDB message boards for McClintock! look like those for The Green Berets, where everybody who doesn't like it gets called an America-hater and a communist and blah blah blah. (It reminds of all the right-wingers who were mad that the 2010 version of True Grit got so much critical acclaim. It wasn't because people liked it better. It was because all the Hollywood liberals conspired to praise it at the expense of the John Wayne version. (Which liberal Hollywood despised so much that John Wayne only got an Oscar for it.))
And I remembered to add the exclamation point to McClintock! The original title has the exclamation point. I have no idea why.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 1, 2014 20:15:13 GMT -5
Speaking of angels, We're No Angels, is a great movie. I watched it quite young for the first time, but every time I watch it again I enjoy it. Edward G Robinson was great in Key Largo, also a great movie i continue to enjoy with each viewing. Bogart's character was an idol to me. The cool guy that pretend not to care but does. Like when he gets Gay that drink after she sings for Johnny. Good stuff. I also think The Return of the Pink Panther is one of the funniest movies ever. So many great moments.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2014 20:25:16 GMT -5
Speaking of angels, We're No Angels, is a great movie. I watched it quite young for the first time, but every time I watch it again I enjoy it. Edward G Robinson was great in Key Largo, also a great movie i continue to enjoy with each viewing. Bogart's character was an idol to me. The cool guy that pretend not to care but does. Like when he gets Gay that drink after she sings for Johnny. Good stuff. I also think The Return of the Pink Panther is one of the funniest movies ever. So many great moments. Key Largo! Hell, yeah! I've seen that so many times. That bit where Claire Trevor sings and Edward G. snarls: "You were lousy" and Bogart gets her the drink, yeah, that scene makes Key Largo one of the best movies of the 1940s.
Well, also, Edward G. hissing "A live war hero ..." and calling Bogey "sojer" all the time.
And where he gives Bogey the gun and dares him to shoot him. And Lionel Barrymore going "Give me the gun!"
And ... well, just about everything in the movie.
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Post by MDG on May 1, 2014 20:27:53 GMT -5
Stagecoach has a lot of things in it that look like clichés, but they weren't clichés yet in 1939. And despite that, the characters are all so great that they surpass how we've come to view these archetypes. Claire Trevor is the hooker with the heart of gold. Andy Devine is the goofy sidekick. John Carradine is the Southern gentleman.
And that drunken doctor is the ever-amazing Thomas Mitchell! He's Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life! He's Scarlett's dad in Gone with the Wind! He's Sheriff Pat Garrett in The Outlaw!
It's the first movie to use Monument Valley and I think it's the first movie where the protagonists are saved by the cavalry!
Such a great movie.
The most interesting thing to me is that of all the characters, the only one who is explicitly and totally negative is the banker, which probably resonated with 30s audiences. Even Carradine's confederate gambler has his own degree of honor. |
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Post by DubipR on May 1, 2014 20:44:13 GMT -5
I've been rewatching a lot of 80's movies lately. Just watched Gremlins for the first time in about 25 years. And all the Ninja Turtle movies before that. I think I'll rewatch Goonies soon. Joe Dante films are all worth watching. I love Matinee from him. Probably one of his Top 5 films he's done. |
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