Paul Colt's Blog, page 13
April 22, 2023
Rawhide
It’s a western. That’s about the best to be said about this one. J. C. Owens, owner of Overland Stage & Mail Company wants his son, Tom (Tyrone Power) to learn the business from the ground up. He sends the young man to the remote Rawhide relay station to work for J.C.’s old friend station master Sam Todd (Edger Buchanan).
A coach arrives carrying passengers Vinnie Holt (Susan Hayward) and her young niece Carrie, on their way east to the orphan’s grandparents. Before they depart the cavalry rides in to inform them four convicts have escaped the prison at Huntsville. They recently robbed an eastbound stage looking for a gold shipment scheduled to pass through Rawhide. The cavalry will escort the stage, but no children are permitted on such a dangerous passage. Vinnie will hear none of it and refuses to go without the girl. The escorted stage pulls out without Vinnie and her niece.
Don’t tell me, let me guess . . . the escapees ride into Rawhide. They kill Todd and take over the station to await the gold shipment. Vinnie is mistaken for Tom’s wife. Tom convinces her to play along for her own safety and for Carrie’s as the outlaws need the station to appear normal in management’s hands.
Tom and Vinnie try to escape while the would-be gold robbers turn on each other to reduce the number of splits when the gold is eventually stolen. The shoot-around ends with a stand-off between Tom and the outlaw leader. When Vinnie wanders into harm’s way, the outlaw threatens to kill her if Tom doesn’t throw down his gun. He does and walks to certain death. The outlaw, thinking he has the upper hand turns his attention to Tom, Vinnie grabs a discarded rifle and shoots the outlaw.
When the gold stage pulls in the driver asks Tom what happened. Tom says, “Just learning the business”.
It’s a western.
Next Week: Rancho Notorious
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Ride easy,
Paul
A coach arrives carrying passengers Vinnie Holt (Susan Hayward) and her young niece Carrie, on their way east to the orphan’s grandparents. Before they depart the cavalry rides in to inform them four convicts have escaped the prison at Huntsville. They recently robbed an eastbound stage looking for a gold shipment scheduled to pass through Rawhide. The cavalry will escort the stage, but no children are permitted on such a dangerous passage. Vinnie will hear none of it and refuses to go without the girl. The escorted stage pulls out without Vinnie and her niece.
Don’t tell me, let me guess . . . the escapees ride into Rawhide. They kill Todd and take over the station to await the gold shipment. Vinnie is mistaken for Tom’s wife. Tom convinces her to play along for her own safety and for Carrie’s as the outlaws need the station to appear normal in management’s hands.
Tom and Vinnie try to escape while the would-be gold robbers turn on each other to reduce the number of splits when the gold is eventually stolen. The shoot-around ends with a stand-off between Tom and the outlaw leader. When Vinnie wanders into harm’s way, the outlaw threatens to kill her if Tom doesn’t throw down his gun. He does and walks to certain death. The outlaw, thinking he has the upper hand turns his attention to Tom, Vinnie grabs a discarded rifle and shoots the outlaw.
When the gold stage pulls in the driver asks Tom what happened. Tom says, “Just learning the business”.
It’s a western.
Next Week: Rancho Notorious
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Ride easy,
Paul
April 15, 2023
High Lonesome
High Lonesome was written and directed by Alan Le May whose resume includes western film classics The Searchers and The Unforgiven. From that we get an eighty-minute film whose plot can be summarized in a sentence. Two killers make a habit out of blaming their killings on a young drifter. That’s it. Ok, the character names are unusually creative, but after that we’re talking thin broth.
The cook at Horse Davis’s (Basil Ruysdael) ranch, Boatwhistle (Chill Wills), catches the young drifter (Drew Barrymore) stealing food. For that he names the young man Cooncat. The boy is on the run, having been blamed for the death of a man named Shell. Cooncat believes the men responsible for the murder are Smiling Man (Jack Elam) and Roper (Dave Kashner).
Neighboring rancher Pat Farrell (John Archer), who is engaged to Horse’s daughter Abby learns his parents have been killed. Farrell blames Cooncat and is ready to hang him. Horse talks him out of it. On cue, Smiling Man and Roper show up in the bunkhouse at Horse’s ranch. They taunt the kid for taking the blame for them. When Smiling Man kills Boatwhistle, Cooncat runs before he can be blamed. Horse decides Farrell was right and prepares to go after the kid.
Cooncat returns to the Davis’ ranch under cover of darkness. He confides everything to Horse’s younger daughter Meagan. He plans to return to the trading post where Shell was killed to clear his name. Meagan leaves a note for her father and goes with him.
Cooncat and Meagan reach the trading post. Soon after Smiling Man and Roper arrive. The kids hide. The following day Horse, Farrell and a couple of Horse’s men reach the trading post thinking to confront Cooncat. Cooncat comes out of hiding to warn Horse Smiling Man and Roper are inside. Cooncat is shot by the killers for his trouble. Horse enters the trading post and kills Roper. He is knocked down by Smiling Man. Farrell kills Smiling Man before he can finish Horse. Both Horse and Farrell are convinced Cooncat is not the killer.
For all its classic western roots High Lonesome falls into the not-so-classic hall of fame.
Next Week: Rawhide
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Ride easy,
Paul
The cook at Horse Davis’s (Basil Ruysdael) ranch, Boatwhistle (Chill Wills), catches the young drifter (Drew Barrymore) stealing food. For that he names the young man Cooncat. The boy is on the run, having been blamed for the death of a man named Shell. Cooncat believes the men responsible for the murder are Smiling Man (Jack Elam) and Roper (Dave Kashner).
Neighboring rancher Pat Farrell (John Archer), who is engaged to Horse’s daughter Abby learns his parents have been killed. Farrell blames Cooncat and is ready to hang him. Horse talks him out of it. On cue, Smiling Man and Roper show up in the bunkhouse at Horse’s ranch. They taunt the kid for taking the blame for them. When Smiling Man kills Boatwhistle, Cooncat runs before he can be blamed. Horse decides Farrell was right and prepares to go after the kid.
Cooncat returns to the Davis’ ranch under cover of darkness. He confides everything to Horse’s younger daughter Meagan. He plans to return to the trading post where Shell was killed to clear his name. Meagan leaves a note for her father and goes with him.
Cooncat and Meagan reach the trading post. Soon after Smiling Man and Roper arrive. The kids hide. The following day Horse, Farrell and a couple of Horse’s men reach the trading post thinking to confront Cooncat. Cooncat comes out of hiding to warn Horse Smiling Man and Roper are inside. Cooncat is shot by the killers for his trouble. Horse enters the trading post and kills Roper. He is knocked down by Smiling Man. Farrell kills Smiling Man before he can finish Horse. Both Horse and Farrell are convinced Cooncat is not the killer.
For all its classic western roots High Lonesome falls into the not-so-classic hall of fame.
Next Week: Rawhide
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Ride easy,
Paul
April 2, 2023
A Ticket to Tomahawk
I started down the research road, in this case tracks, as I do with every post. With this one, I didn’t get very far before the plot ran out of track. I like fiction, but even the willing suspension of disbelief needs a smidgeon of credibility.
A Ticket to Tomahawk is about a traveling salesman as the only passenger on the inaugural run of rail service to the Rocky Mountain town of Tomahawk. The run must be completed by a contractual deadline to establish the service. Owner of a competing stage line will stop at nothing to see the railroad fail. The first problem the run to Tomahawk encounters is a forty-mile section of unfinished track. Who knew? To get around the problem the locomotive star of the show, Emma Sweeny is taken off the tracks and pulled forty miles by a team of mules. When they get Emma back on the tracks, stagehands dynamite a trestle. This time Emma must be disassembled for the mules to get her parts over a mountain. Enough already.
Mules couldn’t pull Emma. She’s too heavy. She was in reality Rio Grande & Southern #20 ten-wheeler. Hollywood ‘made her up’ to look older with a smokestack, headlight, and a pretty paint job. Now what to do for the mule pulling scenes? Make a wooden replica the mules could pull, which they did. Now we’re talkin’. Did they make it to Tomahawk in time? Almost. Emma’s boiler lost pressure due to bullet holes just short of town. The traveling salesman saved the day when he convinced Tomahawk’s mayor to extend the town limit to where Emma stood.
Emma’s wooden stand-in with a new paint job would go on to star as the Hooterville Cannonball in the TV series Petticoat Junction. After her TV gig Emma was displayed in a California museum wearing her Hooterville make-up. Wooden Emma was later donated to the Durango Colorado Railroad Historical Society, where she was made over to her original Emma Sweeny costume.
The real Emma Sweeny has a story too. She was mothballed in 1951. In 2006 a restoration project was launched, putting her back ‘in service’ fourteen years later in 2020. She now resides in the Colorado Railroad Museum.
As for the film, it’s good they had Emma. Her performance gave interest to a tortured story line stretched beyond any hope of belief.
Next Week: High Lonesome
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
A Ticket to Tomahawk is about a traveling salesman as the only passenger on the inaugural run of rail service to the Rocky Mountain town of Tomahawk. The run must be completed by a contractual deadline to establish the service. Owner of a competing stage line will stop at nothing to see the railroad fail. The first problem the run to Tomahawk encounters is a forty-mile section of unfinished track. Who knew? To get around the problem the locomotive star of the show, Emma Sweeny is taken off the tracks and pulled forty miles by a team of mules. When they get Emma back on the tracks, stagehands dynamite a trestle. This time Emma must be disassembled for the mules to get her parts over a mountain. Enough already.
Mules couldn’t pull Emma. She’s too heavy. She was in reality Rio Grande & Southern #20 ten-wheeler. Hollywood ‘made her up’ to look older with a smokestack, headlight, and a pretty paint job. Now what to do for the mule pulling scenes? Make a wooden replica the mules could pull, which they did. Now we’re talkin’. Did they make it to Tomahawk in time? Almost. Emma’s boiler lost pressure due to bullet holes just short of town. The traveling salesman saved the day when he convinced Tomahawk’s mayor to extend the town limit to where Emma stood.
Emma’s wooden stand-in with a new paint job would go on to star as the Hooterville Cannonball in the TV series Petticoat Junction. After her TV gig Emma was displayed in a California museum wearing her Hooterville make-up. Wooden Emma was later donated to the Durango Colorado Railroad Historical Society, where she was made over to her original Emma Sweeny costume.
The real Emma Sweeny has a story too. She was mothballed in 1951. In 2006 a restoration project was launched, putting her back ‘in service’ fourteen years later in 2020. She now resides in the Colorado Railroad Museum.
As for the film, it’s good they had Emma. Her performance gave interest to a tortured story line stretched beyond any hope of belief.
Next Week: High Lonesome
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
March 25, 2023
Lonely are the Brave
Jack Burns (Kirk Douglass) is the last of a dying breed. A ranch hand drifter, the decorated Korean War veteran can’t find a place in modern society. The film opens with Jack attempting to cross a busy highway mounted on his horse, Whiskey spooked by traffic and noise. They manage to reach the small New Mexican town home to Jack’s friend Paul Bondi (Michael Cane) and his wife Jerry (Gena Rowlands). Paul has been jailed for aiding illegal border crossers. (Some things do change.) Jack vents his frustration with a society that denies a man his liberty and then locks him up. He resolves to break Paul out of jail.
Burns gets himself jailed to help Bondi escape. Bondi is being brutalized by sadistic jailer Deputy Gutierrez (George Kennedy). Jack sticks up for Paul and gets a beating for his trouble. Paul refuses to break out of jail. He has too much to lose to become a fugitive. Jack goes it alone. He makes it back to Bondi’s house, collects his horse and supplies and heads over the mountains for Mexico.
Sheriff Morey Johnson (Walter Matthau) and posse take up pursuit. Johnson knows Burns is a decorated war hero with a discipline record. Burns leads his pursuers over a difficult mountainous climb. A helicopter is called in to track him. The helicopter spooks Whiskey. Burns shoots out the tail rotor, causing the copter to crash. Deputy Gutierrez gets close enough to take a shot at Whiskey. Burns jumps him and butt strokes him with his rifle.
Burns and Whiskey finally make it over the mountain. They dash for a stand of timber for cover as their pursuers fire on them. Jack is hit in the leg. They try to cross Route 66 in a driving rainstorm. Whiskey is spooked by the light and the noise. Rider and horse are struck by a truck. The sheriff arrives on the scene. Asked if this is the man he is pursuing, the sheriff claims he cannot identify him. Jack is taken away by ambulance. Whiskey must be put down.
Kirk Douglass claims Lonely are the Brave for his favorite film. The film has a following who number it among the best western films ever made. Not so classic high cotton for me.
Next Week: A Ticket to Tomahawk
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Ride easy,
Paul
Burns gets himself jailed to help Bondi escape. Bondi is being brutalized by sadistic jailer Deputy Gutierrez (George Kennedy). Jack sticks up for Paul and gets a beating for his trouble. Paul refuses to break out of jail. He has too much to lose to become a fugitive. Jack goes it alone. He makes it back to Bondi’s house, collects his horse and supplies and heads over the mountains for Mexico.
Sheriff Morey Johnson (Walter Matthau) and posse take up pursuit. Johnson knows Burns is a decorated war hero with a discipline record. Burns leads his pursuers over a difficult mountainous climb. A helicopter is called in to track him. The helicopter spooks Whiskey. Burns shoots out the tail rotor, causing the copter to crash. Deputy Gutierrez gets close enough to take a shot at Whiskey. Burns jumps him and butt strokes him with his rifle.
Burns and Whiskey finally make it over the mountain. They dash for a stand of timber for cover as their pursuers fire on them. Jack is hit in the leg. They try to cross Route 66 in a driving rainstorm. Whiskey is spooked by the light and the noise. Rider and horse are struck by a truck. The sheriff arrives on the scene. Asked if this is the man he is pursuing, the sheriff claims he cannot identify him. Jack is taken away by ambulance. Whiskey must be put down.
Kirk Douglass claims Lonely are the Brave for his favorite film. The film has a following who number it among the best western films ever made. Not so classic high cotton for me.
Next Week: A Ticket to Tomahawk
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
March 18, 2023
Hopalong Cassidy Returns
I love the Hopalong Cassidy story. I use it in my talk, Crossing the Chasm: The Journey from Print to Film. We posted about it in our Cowboy Heroes series some years ago. Readers new to these pages haven’t heard the story and I like it, so here we go again.
Hopalong Cassidy was created for a book series by author Clarence Mulford. Mulford’s Hoppy was a crusty old reprobate. William Boyd bought the film rights from Mulford and proceeded to reimagine him as the good guy, soldier of fortune, roaming the west righting wrongs and seeing justice done we all came to know and love. Screen any of the sixty-six film titles from the 30’s and 40’s you find when you search ‘Hopalong Cassidy films’ and that is the character you see. Mulford hated the character. Movie goers loved him.
When you cross the chasm from print to film, creative conflict is common. What does the author get to do? Cash the check. Boyd had himself a winner. We put Hoppy’s black clad figure, plated guns, and big white horse on everything from lunch buckets to wrist watches. Then in 1951 Boyd decided to take Hoppy to the little screen. Hopalong Cassidy was coming to our living rooms on television.
Publishing house Doubleday, owned the print rights to Hoppy and saw opportunity. They approached retired Mulford with the offer of four book deal. Mulford turned it down. Doubleday next asked Mulford if he would approve a ghost writer to do the books. Mulford agreed, provided he approved of the writer’s work. Doubleday shopped the project, presenting samples for Mulford to consider. He signed off on a down and out young writer from L.A. whose treatment of the character and style aligned with Mulford’s preferences. Doubleday hedged their bets assigning the writer the pen name Tex Burns, giving the publisher the right to make a change down the road if need be.
Trouble arose when the first book was submitted. Editors realized they had a Hopalong Cassidy character that wasn’t the lunch bucket Hopalong Cassidy. They went back to the young author and told him to rewrite the book with the ‘real’ Hopalong Cassidy character. The only thing that young author hated more than being told what to do was being told to rewrite his work. He needed the money. He rewrote the book completing the other three as well. He hated them all. In fact, Louis L’Amour went to his grave denying he ever wrote them. And now you know . . .
Next Week: Lonely Are The Brave
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
Hopalong Cassidy was created for a book series by author Clarence Mulford. Mulford’s Hoppy was a crusty old reprobate. William Boyd bought the film rights from Mulford and proceeded to reimagine him as the good guy, soldier of fortune, roaming the west righting wrongs and seeing justice done we all came to know and love. Screen any of the sixty-six film titles from the 30’s and 40’s you find when you search ‘Hopalong Cassidy films’ and that is the character you see. Mulford hated the character. Movie goers loved him.
When you cross the chasm from print to film, creative conflict is common. What does the author get to do? Cash the check. Boyd had himself a winner. We put Hoppy’s black clad figure, plated guns, and big white horse on everything from lunch buckets to wrist watches. Then in 1951 Boyd decided to take Hoppy to the little screen. Hopalong Cassidy was coming to our living rooms on television.
Publishing house Doubleday, owned the print rights to Hoppy and saw opportunity. They approached retired Mulford with the offer of four book deal. Mulford turned it down. Doubleday next asked Mulford if he would approve a ghost writer to do the books. Mulford agreed, provided he approved of the writer’s work. Doubleday shopped the project, presenting samples for Mulford to consider. He signed off on a down and out young writer from L.A. whose treatment of the character and style aligned with Mulford’s preferences. Doubleday hedged their bets assigning the writer the pen name Tex Burns, giving the publisher the right to make a change down the road if need be.
Trouble arose when the first book was submitted. Editors realized they had a Hopalong Cassidy character that wasn’t the lunch bucket Hopalong Cassidy. They went back to the young author and told him to rewrite the book with the ‘real’ Hopalong Cassidy character. The only thing that young author hated more than being told what to do was being told to rewrite his work. He needed the money. He rewrote the book completing the other three as well. He hated them all. In fact, Louis L’Amour went to his grave denying he ever wrote them. And now you know . . .
Next Week: Lonely Are The Brave
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
March 11, 2023
Nevada Smith
Directed by Henry Hathaway, Nevada Smith stars Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy, and be still my heart, Suzanne Pleshette. Set in the 1880’s, outlaws Bill Bowdre (Kennedy), Jesse Coe (Martin Landau), and Tom Fitch (Malden) rob, torture, and kill young Max Sand’s white father and Kiowa mother.
Max sets out to avenge his parents armed with nothing more than a rusty gun he found in the desert. In need of traveling money, he attempts to rob Jonas Cord. Cord, a gunsmith, takes one look at Sand’s gun and ignores the robbery demand. Max tells Cord his story. Cord takes him in and teaches him how to shoot. Max continues his search for the killers.
Max tracks Coe to Abilene, Texas and kills him in a knife fight, though he is badly wounded. A Kiowa dance hall girl, played by Janet Margolin, nurses him back to health, becoming a romantic interest along the way. If I were McQueen, I’d have had a talk with Hathaway. Clearly the part belongs to Suzanne.
Max next learns Bowdre is in prison in a Louisiana bayou. He gets himself sentenced to the same prison, befriends Bowdre and convinces him to escape, where he plans to kill him in the swamp. Cajun woman, Pilar (Pleshette) agrees to help Max. They escape in a boat she navigates through the swamp. The boat capsizes. Max kills Bowdre. Pilar is bitten by a snake and, in a Cleopatra moment, dies. Worth another conversation with Hathaway.
Fitch is still outlawing, planning to rob a gold shipment. He knows Sand has killed Coe and Bowdre and suspects Sand is coming after him. Max, calling himself Nevada Smith, joins Fitch’s gang. With the gold taken, the gang divides the take. Smith only watches. Fitch realizes Smith is Sand. He runs. Max corners him near a creek bank. Fitch goes for his gun. Max wounds him. Fitch is down. Max inflicts multiple gunshot wounds. Fitch pleads for Max to finish him. Max rides away, leaving the last killer for dead.
Next Week: Hopalong Cassidy Returns
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
Max sets out to avenge his parents armed with nothing more than a rusty gun he found in the desert. In need of traveling money, he attempts to rob Jonas Cord. Cord, a gunsmith, takes one look at Sand’s gun and ignores the robbery demand. Max tells Cord his story. Cord takes him in and teaches him how to shoot. Max continues his search for the killers.
Max tracks Coe to Abilene, Texas and kills him in a knife fight, though he is badly wounded. A Kiowa dance hall girl, played by Janet Margolin, nurses him back to health, becoming a romantic interest along the way. If I were McQueen, I’d have had a talk with Hathaway. Clearly the part belongs to Suzanne.
Max next learns Bowdre is in prison in a Louisiana bayou. He gets himself sentenced to the same prison, befriends Bowdre and convinces him to escape, where he plans to kill him in the swamp. Cajun woman, Pilar (Pleshette) agrees to help Max. They escape in a boat she navigates through the swamp. The boat capsizes. Max kills Bowdre. Pilar is bitten by a snake and, in a Cleopatra moment, dies. Worth another conversation with Hathaway.
Fitch is still outlawing, planning to rob a gold shipment. He knows Sand has killed Coe and Bowdre and suspects Sand is coming after him. Max, calling himself Nevada Smith, joins Fitch’s gang. With the gold taken, the gang divides the take. Smith only watches. Fitch realizes Smith is Sand. He runs. Max corners him near a creek bank. Fitch goes for his gun. Max wounds him. Fitch is down. Max inflicts multiple gunshot wounds. Fitch pleads for Max to finish him. Max rides away, leaving the last killer for dead.
Next Week: Hopalong Cassidy Returns
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Ride easy,
Paul
March 4, 2023
Last Train from Gun Hill
Last Train From Gun Hill is second feature to a twin bill. Remember the double feature? Two young drunk cowboys come across an Indian woman and her half-breed son returning from a visit to the woman’s father. They rape and murder her. The boy escapes on one of the murderer’s horses, a horse with a custom saddle. The woman’s husband is U.S. Marshal Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas). He recognizes the saddle as belonging to his old friend, wealthy cattle baron Craig Beldon (Anthony Quinn), who lives in nearby Gun Hill.
Morgan assumes the saddle is stolen. He rides out to Gun Hill hoping to pick-up the killer’s trail. He picks up more than a trail, identifying Beldon’s son Rick (Earl Holliman) as the killer. Beldon, who owns the town, won’t give up his son. Morgan faces overwhelming opposition.
Morgan manages to capture Rick, holding him in a hotel room while waiting for the last train from Gun Hill to depart. Sound familiar? Can you say 3:10 to Yuma? Just wait. Morgan manages to hold off Beldon’s men until just before train time. Lee, Rick’s partner in rape and murder sets fire to the hotel to smoke Morgan out.
Morgan exits the hotel to walk to the depot with a shot gun under Rick’s chin should anyone try to stop him. Lee attempts to shoot Morgan but kills Rick instead. Morgan kills Lee, his vengeance complete. A distraught Beldon calls Morgan out. Morgan is forced to kill his old friend in the final showdown.
Last Train from Gun Hill was filmed in Arizona casting Old Tucson Studios in the role of Gun Hill. Old Tucson is an authentic 19th century western town in the desert not far from present day Tucson. If you ever have an opportunity to visit, don’t miss it. If you have visited, you know what I’m talking about. You will recognize scene locations from some of your favorite western films many of which were shot there. For those of us who are members in good standing of the ‘Century too Late Club’ it is a rare opportunity to try our west on for size.
Next Week: Nevada Smith
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Ride easy,
Paul
Morgan assumes the saddle is stolen. He rides out to Gun Hill hoping to pick-up the killer’s trail. He picks up more than a trail, identifying Beldon’s son Rick (Earl Holliman) as the killer. Beldon, who owns the town, won’t give up his son. Morgan faces overwhelming opposition.
Morgan manages to capture Rick, holding him in a hotel room while waiting for the last train from Gun Hill to depart. Sound familiar? Can you say 3:10 to Yuma? Just wait. Morgan manages to hold off Beldon’s men until just before train time. Lee, Rick’s partner in rape and murder sets fire to the hotel to smoke Morgan out.
Morgan exits the hotel to walk to the depot with a shot gun under Rick’s chin should anyone try to stop him. Lee attempts to shoot Morgan but kills Rick instead. Morgan kills Lee, his vengeance complete. A distraught Beldon calls Morgan out. Morgan is forced to kill his old friend in the final showdown.
Last Train from Gun Hill was filmed in Arizona casting Old Tucson Studios in the role of Gun Hill. Old Tucson is an authentic 19th century western town in the desert not far from present day Tucson. If you ever have an opportunity to visit, don’t miss it. If you have visited, you know what I’m talking about. You will recognize scene locations from some of your favorite western films many of which were shot there. For those of us who are members in good standing of the ‘Century too Late Club’ it is a rare opportunity to try our west on for size.
Next Week: Nevada Smith
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
February 25, 2023
Cowboy
Cowboy stars Glenn Ford as tough as nails trail boss Tom Reece. OK. Jack Lemon plays Frank Harris, hotel clerk turned wanna-be cowboy. It is probably unfair to a young Jack Lemon, but I had a hard time not putting Felix Unger in those chaps.
Harris is clerk in a Chicago Hotel. He falls in love with Maria, daughter of a Mexican cattle baron hotel guest. He dreams of making his fortune in cattle. Reece and his men arrive in Chicago finishing a cattle drive – unlike any cattle drive known to have taken place, as we shall see. Reece negotiates purchase of a Mexican herd from Senor Vidal, the girl’s father.
Vidal finds out about his daughter and Harris. He tells Harris to stay away and spirits Maria straight back to Mexico. Meanwhile Reece loses his money in a card game and is unable to complete the Mexican cattle deal. Harris sees opportunity. He offers Reece his life savings for a 50:50 stake in the drive. Reece wants no part of the greenhorn but in desperation he accepts.
Life on the trail is not what Harris bargained for. Reece rides him hard. Cowhands are a rough lot. One dies of a snake bite prank. One gets himself in trouble in a Mexican cantina. Harris demands they go to his aid. Reece refuses to let anyone help.
They arrive at Vidal’s hacienda to begin the drive. Harris discovers Maria has been married off by her father. He doesn’t take it well. Reece saves him from a bull fighting challenge sure to get him killed. On the drive, Harris toughens up. Reece quietly comes to respect the young man. They encounter a Comanche raid where Reece is wounded and the cattle stampede. Harris takes over as tough as nails ramrod – no, really.
At the rail head they load the cattle into to stock cars and then – board the train to ride with the cows? On the rail run, a cow goes down in a stockcar. Harris climbs into the car among the nervous animals to save the cow from being trampled. Reece goes into the car to save Harris from being trampled. The adversaries reach understanding.
In Chicago they takeover a wing of the hotel where Harris once worked, much to the surprise of his old boss.
Next Week: Last Train to Gun Hill
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
Harris is clerk in a Chicago Hotel. He falls in love with Maria, daughter of a Mexican cattle baron hotel guest. He dreams of making his fortune in cattle. Reece and his men arrive in Chicago finishing a cattle drive – unlike any cattle drive known to have taken place, as we shall see. Reece negotiates purchase of a Mexican herd from Senor Vidal, the girl’s father.
Vidal finds out about his daughter and Harris. He tells Harris to stay away and spirits Maria straight back to Mexico. Meanwhile Reece loses his money in a card game and is unable to complete the Mexican cattle deal. Harris sees opportunity. He offers Reece his life savings for a 50:50 stake in the drive. Reece wants no part of the greenhorn but in desperation he accepts.
Life on the trail is not what Harris bargained for. Reece rides him hard. Cowhands are a rough lot. One dies of a snake bite prank. One gets himself in trouble in a Mexican cantina. Harris demands they go to his aid. Reece refuses to let anyone help.
They arrive at Vidal’s hacienda to begin the drive. Harris discovers Maria has been married off by her father. He doesn’t take it well. Reece saves him from a bull fighting challenge sure to get him killed. On the drive, Harris toughens up. Reece quietly comes to respect the young man. They encounter a Comanche raid where Reece is wounded and the cattle stampede. Harris takes over as tough as nails ramrod – no, really.
At the rail head they load the cattle into to stock cars and then – board the train to ride with the cows? On the rail run, a cow goes down in a stockcar. Harris climbs into the car among the nervous animals to save the cow from being trampled. Reece goes into the car to save Harris from being trampled. The adversaries reach understanding.
In Chicago they takeover a wing of the hotel where Harris once worked, much to the surprise of his old boss.
Next Week: Last Train to Gun Hill
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
February 18, 2023
Gun The Man Down
Gun the Man Down is notable for all things off screen. The film stars James Arness and Angie Dickenson in her first starring role. She went on to starring roles opposite John Wayne (Rio Bravo), Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra (Oceans Eleven), Gregory Peck (Captain Newman M.D.), Lee Marvin (Point Blank), Marlin Brando, and Robert Redford (The Chase). Not a bad resume for so humble a beginning.
Oh, and Gun the Man Down was a humble beginning. Three outlaws rob a bank. One, Rem Anderson (Arness) is wounded. His partners leave him for the sheriff, running off with his share of the loot and his girlfriend (Dickenson). A year later, Rem gets out of prison and goes after his erstwhile partners. He finds them in a near ghost town, where he messes with them some before the showdown you knew was coming. Humble beginning alright. Actually, humble beginnings.
The screen play was Burt Kennedy’s second. You remember him from last week’s 7 Men from Now that kicked off his long collaboration with director Budd Boetticher. That film was produced by John Wayne’s production company. Wayne’s brother Robert E. Morrison, picked up Gun the Man Down also for Wayne’s company. Still with me here? This one was directed by Andrew McLaglan, best known for his work in TV westerns. Hold on to the thought.
McLaglan cast budding Sci Fi star James Arness as Rem Anderson. Wayne liked the cut of James’ gib. When Wayne was approached with the role of Matt Dillon for the TV western series Gunsmoke, Wayne declined, preferring instead to stick with his career success on the big screen. He recommended Arness for a role he played for the next twenty years, directed by . . . Andrew McLaglan. You can’t make this stuff up.
The beginnings may have been humble but seems like they came in bunches and turned out great with one exception. In the final showdown scene in Gun the Man Down, Rem’s former sweetheart abandons her two dead partners and runs toward him. In a turnabout editing error he shoots her . . . in the back. And there you have a humble end to humble beginnings.
Next Week: Cowboy
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Ride easy,
Paul
Oh, and Gun the Man Down was a humble beginning. Three outlaws rob a bank. One, Rem Anderson (Arness) is wounded. His partners leave him for the sheriff, running off with his share of the loot and his girlfriend (Dickenson). A year later, Rem gets out of prison and goes after his erstwhile partners. He finds them in a near ghost town, where he messes with them some before the showdown you knew was coming. Humble beginning alright. Actually, humble beginnings.
The screen play was Burt Kennedy’s second. You remember him from last week’s 7 Men from Now that kicked off his long collaboration with director Budd Boetticher. That film was produced by John Wayne’s production company. Wayne’s brother Robert E. Morrison, picked up Gun the Man Down also for Wayne’s company. Still with me here? This one was directed by Andrew McLaglan, best known for his work in TV westerns. Hold on to the thought.
McLaglan cast budding Sci Fi star James Arness as Rem Anderson. Wayne liked the cut of James’ gib. When Wayne was approached with the role of Matt Dillon for the TV western series Gunsmoke, Wayne declined, preferring instead to stick with his career success on the big screen. He recommended Arness for a role he played for the next twenty years, directed by . . . Andrew McLaglan. You can’t make this stuff up.
The beginnings may have been humble but seems like they came in bunches and turned out great with one exception. In the final showdown scene in Gun the Man Down, Rem’s former sweetheart abandons her two dead partners and runs toward him. In a turnabout editing error he shoots her . . . in the back. And there you have a humble end to humble beginnings.
Next Week: Cowboy
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
February 11, 2023
7 Men From Now
John Wayne’s production company purchased screen writer Burt Kennedy’s debut screen play 7 Men from Now with the intention of having Wayne star in the lead as Ben Stride. John Ford had him committed to star in The Searchers, a film many regard as the best western film of all time. Wayne suggested taking the film to Warner Brothers with Randolph Scott in the lead role. Budd Boettcher directed, the first of seven staring Scott, with five written by Kennedy.
Ben Stride (Scott) is on the trail of seven men who held up a Wells Fargo office where Stride worked, killing his wife. A storm forces him to take cover in a cave where he meets John and Annie Greer, traveling by wagon to Flora Vista on their way to California. Stride too is headed that way and accompanies them.
They meet Bill Masters (Lee Marvin) and his partner Clete at a stage station stop. Masters tells Greer Stride is the former sheriff in Silver Springs. Stride is determined to avenge his wife’s death which he blames on himself for refusing a deputy sheriff’s job when no longer sheriff. Masters plans to follow Stride and take the twenty-thousand-dollars in Wells Fargo gold when he recovers it.
Masters and Clete ride ahead to Flora Vista where the bandits await delivery of the stolen gold. Masters tells outlaw leader Payte Bodeen Stride is coming for them.
Bodeen sends two of his men after Stride. Stride leaves the plodding wagon and rides ahead alone. Bodeen’s men ambush Stride. He kills both but is knocked unconscious by a fall from his horse. He returns to the Greer camp on foot and overhears John tell Annie the Wells Fargo gold is in the wagon. He’s been paid to deliver it to Flora Vista. Stride takes charge of the gold using it to bait a trap for the robbers.
John and Annie reach Flora Vista. John tells Bodeen Stride has the gold. Bodeen kills Greer. He and the other remaining bandit Clint ride out for the gold. Masters and Clete follow along. In the show down, Stride kills Clint, Masters kills Bodeen and in a fit of greed, kills Clete. Masters faces off against Stride who kills him.
The gold is returned to Wells Fargo. Stride puts Annie on a stage for California, telling her he is going back to Silver Springs as deputy sheriff. Annie gets off the stage.
Next Week: Gun the Man Down
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
Ben Stride (Scott) is on the trail of seven men who held up a Wells Fargo office where Stride worked, killing his wife. A storm forces him to take cover in a cave where he meets John and Annie Greer, traveling by wagon to Flora Vista on their way to California. Stride too is headed that way and accompanies them.
They meet Bill Masters (Lee Marvin) and his partner Clete at a stage station stop. Masters tells Greer Stride is the former sheriff in Silver Springs. Stride is determined to avenge his wife’s death which he blames on himself for refusing a deputy sheriff’s job when no longer sheriff. Masters plans to follow Stride and take the twenty-thousand-dollars in Wells Fargo gold when he recovers it.
Masters and Clete ride ahead to Flora Vista where the bandits await delivery of the stolen gold. Masters tells outlaw leader Payte Bodeen Stride is coming for them.
Bodeen sends two of his men after Stride. Stride leaves the plodding wagon and rides ahead alone. Bodeen’s men ambush Stride. He kills both but is knocked unconscious by a fall from his horse. He returns to the Greer camp on foot and overhears John tell Annie the Wells Fargo gold is in the wagon. He’s been paid to deliver it to Flora Vista. Stride takes charge of the gold using it to bait a trap for the robbers.
John and Annie reach Flora Vista. John tells Bodeen Stride has the gold. Bodeen kills Greer. He and the other remaining bandit Clint ride out for the gold. Masters and Clete follow along. In the show down, Stride kills Clint, Masters kills Bodeen and in a fit of greed, kills Clete. Masters faces off against Stride who kills him.
The gold is returned to Wells Fargo. Stride puts Annie on a stage for California, telling her he is going back to Silver Springs as deputy sheriff. Annie gets off the stage.
Next Week: Gun the Man Down
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
