Paul Colt's Blog, page 17
September 10, 2022
Gunfight at the OK Corral
The title for this film is guilty of false advertising. Yes, they had a gunfight. The sign at the corral said it was OK. Past the names of some characters that is as far as the truth went. This 1957 version of the famous gunfight starred Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday. Both fine actors. Neither in the conversation for best Wyatt or best Doc. The film was directed by John Sturges, who has a following. The screen play was written by novelist Leon Uris, who should have taken the Exodus and run.
Let’s separate fact from Hollywood fiction. The Film opens in Fort Griffin Texas with Doc Holliday killing a man named Ed Bailey. Could have been an historically accurate start, but Hollywood would have none of that. In the film, Baily is in town looking for Doc to avenge Doc’s murder of his brother. In truth the pair got into a dispute over a card game, Bailey went for a gun and Doc stabbed him with a knife, he didn’t throw as the movie portrays. Doc is arrested for murder. Wyatt Earp is also in Griffin at the time. This is where the film alleges Wyatt and Doc first met over friendly card games. The film has Wyatt and Doc’s girlfriend Kate help him escape a lynch mob. Kate did. Wyatt didn’t.
Wyatt and Doc are next reunited when Doc and Kate arrive in Dodge City. The Dodge City script is unfettered by fact apart from the turbulent relationship between Doc and Kate the storyline for which gives history a passing nod. The Dodge sojourn ends when Wyatt receives a letter from brother Virgil asking him to help clean-up Tombstone. In truth the Earp’s, Wyatt, Morgan, James, and Virgil all went to Tombstone in hopes of cashing in on a rich silver strike.
Fast forward to Tombstone. Now the story line pits the Clanton cowboy rustlers against Earp law enforcement officers. At this point Hollywood shuffles the roles of the brothers like a deck of marked cards. Clanton and company plan to ambush Wyatt while making his rounds in town. Mistakenly they kill youngest brother James, leading to the gunfight. The ambush, targeting Virgil happened after the gunfight as did the assassination of Morgan Earp which gave rise to Wyatt’s famous vendetta ride. The gunfight in the film involves shooting and smoke. Facts depart there. All the Clanton’s are killed. Morgan and Virgil are wounded.
The film was critically well received, largely due to Lancaster and Douglas.
Next Week: The Hour of the Gun
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Let’s separate fact from Hollywood fiction. The Film opens in Fort Griffin Texas with Doc Holliday killing a man named Ed Bailey. Could have been an historically accurate start, but Hollywood would have none of that. In the film, Baily is in town looking for Doc to avenge Doc’s murder of his brother. In truth the pair got into a dispute over a card game, Bailey went for a gun and Doc stabbed him with a knife, he didn’t throw as the movie portrays. Doc is arrested for murder. Wyatt Earp is also in Griffin at the time. This is where the film alleges Wyatt and Doc first met over friendly card games. The film has Wyatt and Doc’s girlfriend Kate help him escape a lynch mob. Kate did. Wyatt didn’t.
Wyatt and Doc are next reunited when Doc and Kate arrive in Dodge City. The Dodge City script is unfettered by fact apart from the turbulent relationship between Doc and Kate the storyline for which gives history a passing nod. The Dodge sojourn ends when Wyatt receives a letter from brother Virgil asking him to help clean-up Tombstone. In truth the Earp’s, Wyatt, Morgan, James, and Virgil all went to Tombstone in hopes of cashing in on a rich silver strike.
Fast forward to Tombstone. Now the story line pits the Clanton cowboy rustlers against Earp law enforcement officers. At this point Hollywood shuffles the roles of the brothers like a deck of marked cards. Clanton and company plan to ambush Wyatt while making his rounds in town. Mistakenly they kill youngest brother James, leading to the gunfight. The ambush, targeting Virgil happened after the gunfight as did the assassination of Morgan Earp which gave rise to Wyatt’s famous vendetta ride. The gunfight in the film involves shooting and smoke. Facts depart there. All the Clanton’s are killed. Morgan and Virgil are wounded.
The film was critically well received, largely due to Lancaster and Douglas.
Next Week: The Hour of the Gun
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
September 3, 2022
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is one of those Avant Garde films coming out ahead of its time. Sam Peckinpah wrote and directed this low budget contemporary western set in Mexico starring Warren Oates. We previously previewed it when we profiled Oates last year. This time we’ll focus on Peckinpah and the films reception. For those of you who may not have been along for the ride on Oates, we recap.
The teenage daughter of Mexican crime boss known as El Jeffe turns up pregnant. She identifies the father as El Jeffe under-boss Alfredo Garcia. El Jeffe offers a million-dollar bounty to anyone who brings him the head of Garcia. Two hit men take up the search. They visit a bar Garcia is known to frequent. Bennie (Oates), bar manager and down and out musician plays dumb at first. Bennie visits his girlfriend who knows Garcia. She tells him Garcia died in a car accident.
Bennie tells the hit men he’ll bring them Garcia’s head for ten-thousand dollars. Bennie and his girlfriend head for the grave. Along the way they are attacked by two bikers Bennie kills. Assaulted by grave robbers who kill Bennie’s girlfriend and take the head, leaving him for dead half buried in the grave. Bennie tracks down the grave robbers, killing them and recovering the head. He is next assaulted by members of Garcia’s family. His killing is interrupted when the hit men arrive. They machine gun the family though one of them is killed. The surviving hit man turns on Bennie. Bennie kills him. After that the film becomes violent. Bennie guns down El Jeffe’s crime syndicate, bodyguards and El Jeffe himself while developing a friendship of sorts with Garcia’s head.
Peckinpah shot the film in Mexico with particular attention to location and authenticity. The bar he chose for Bennie to work in, for example had more than a cinematic criminal vibe. The violence, grit, exaggerated pulp script was captured in zooms, camera angles, and slow motions shot with editing in mind. Peckinpah claimed the film was the only one of his films that ever came out as intended.
A box office bust and a critical catastrophe at the time of its release, the film is numbered among the fifty worst of all time. For all the bad reviews, Roger Ebert saw tragic character through all the blood and gore. Gene Siskel lauded Peckinpah’s portrayal of societies’ outcasts. Glimmers of acclaim likely account for the film gaining some following in recent years.
Next Week: Gunfight at the OK Corral
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
The teenage daughter of Mexican crime boss known as El Jeffe turns up pregnant. She identifies the father as El Jeffe under-boss Alfredo Garcia. El Jeffe offers a million-dollar bounty to anyone who brings him the head of Garcia. Two hit men take up the search. They visit a bar Garcia is known to frequent. Bennie (Oates), bar manager and down and out musician plays dumb at first. Bennie visits his girlfriend who knows Garcia. She tells him Garcia died in a car accident.
Bennie tells the hit men he’ll bring them Garcia’s head for ten-thousand dollars. Bennie and his girlfriend head for the grave. Along the way they are attacked by two bikers Bennie kills. Assaulted by grave robbers who kill Bennie’s girlfriend and take the head, leaving him for dead half buried in the grave. Bennie tracks down the grave robbers, killing them and recovering the head. He is next assaulted by members of Garcia’s family. His killing is interrupted when the hit men arrive. They machine gun the family though one of them is killed. The surviving hit man turns on Bennie. Bennie kills him. After that the film becomes violent. Bennie guns down El Jeffe’s crime syndicate, bodyguards and El Jeffe himself while developing a friendship of sorts with Garcia’s head.
Peckinpah shot the film in Mexico with particular attention to location and authenticity. The bar he chose for Bennie to work in, for example had more than a cinematic criminal vibe. The violence, grit, exaggerated pulp script was captured in zooms, camera angles, and slow motions shot with editing in mind. Peckinpah claimed the film was the only one of his films that ever came out as intended.
A box office bust and a critical catastrophe at the time of its release, the film is numbered among the fifty worst of all time. For all the bad reviews, Roger Ebert saw tragic character through all the blood and gore. Gene Siskel lauded Peckinpah’s portrayal of societies’ outcasts. Glimmers of acclaim likely account for the film gaining some following in recent years.
Next Week: Gunfight at the OK Corral
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
August 27, 2022
The Hired Hand
Universal thought it had a golden ticket to the next Easy Rider smash hit when they handed the director reins and starring role to Peter Fonda. A first-time director, Fonda chose Vilmos Zsigmond, a cinematographer with no full-length feature experience and unknown composer Bruce Langhorne for his musical score. Both made their mark on a film bolstered by a gifted veteran cast. Too bad about the story. The Hired Hand is another example of what happens when you make a film before its time.
Harry Collings (Fonda) and Arch Harris (Warren Oates) have run out of zest for tramping the west for seven years. A dust up in the dead-end town of Del Norte leads to the murder of a friend and Collings, evening the score by crippling the town boss, a man named McVey. Collings decides he’s had enough saddle tramping and announces he is going back to the wife he abandoned.
Collings heads home with Harris along for the ride. Collings welcome home isn’t warm. Wife Hannah (Verna Bloom) informs him he can stay as a hired hand. Harry and Arch go to work. Gradually Harry’s welcome warms up. Arch packs up to get out of the way. Word reaches Harry, Arch has fallen into McVey’s clutches. Harry rides to rescue his friend. In a shootout with McVey and his men, Arch is rescued. Harry is mortally wounded. Arch returns to Hannah with the news.
Critics in 1971 panned the film in harsh terms. The screen play came off as disjointed by western genre standards. The cinematography and editing were innovative, but got in the way of a story, preoccupied with getting in its own way. The musical score came in for high praise. The Hired Hand cratered at the box office to add insult to injury.
In 2001 the film was rereleased into the film festival circuit. Twenty-first century critics loved it. The cinematography and editing, so disruptive to enjoyment of the film in 1971, became appreciated for its cutting-edge innovation. Elements of the story so off-putting to audiences in the 70’s, aged to excellent fare thirty years later. Still, Universal lost its shirt and Fonda didn’t make a dime at the time.
Next Week: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Harry Collings (Fonda) and Arch Harris (Warren Oates) have run out of zest for tramping the west for seven years. A dust up in the dead-end town of Del Norte leads to the murder of a friend and Collings, evening the score by crippling the town boss, a man named McVey. Collings decides he’s had enough saddle tramping and announces he is going back to the wife he abandoned.
Collings heads home with Harris along for the ride. Collings welcome home isn’t warm. Wife Hannah (Verna Bloom) informs him he can stay as a hired hand. Harry and Arch go to work. Gradually Harry’s welcome warms up. Arch packs up to get out of the way. Word reaches Harry, Arch has fallen into McVey’s clutches. Harry rides to rescue his friend. In a shootout with McVey and his men, Arch is rescued. Harry is mortally wounded. Arch returns to Hannah with the news.
Critics in 1971 panned the film in harsh terms. The screen play came off as disjointed by western genre standards. The cinematography and editing were innovative, but got in the way of a story, preoccupied with getting in its own way. The musical score came in for high praise. The Hired Hand cratered at the box office to add insult to injury.
In 2001 the film was rereleased into the film festival circuit. Twenty-first century critics loved it. The cinematography and editing, so disruptive to enjoyment of the film in 1971, became appreciated for its cutting-edge innovation. Elements of the story so off-putting to audiences in the 70’s, aged to excellent fare thirty years later. Still, Universal lost its shirt and Fonda didn’t make a dime at the time.
Next Week: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
August 20, 2022
Welcome to Hard Times
Welcome to Hard Times turns a small-town victim to a vicious killer known as The Man from Bodie (Aldo Ray) who has an insatiable taste for terrorizing the weak. And weak they are as he murders the only two men in town who stand up to him. Many townspeople flee in the wake of Bodie’s maniacal spree, killing and raping at will before setting fire to several buildings on his way out of town.
Will Blue (Henry Fonda) is one among those who stay. He convinces his woman, Molly to stay and help him care for a young boy whose father faced the mad man. She agrees, though she is disappointed Blue did not stand up to Bodie. They both know the man will come back. Molly is consumed by a desire for vengeance. She pleads with drifter, gun hand Leo Jenks (Warren Oates) to face the man when he returns. She even buys young Jimmy a shotgun.
Now if you are expecting a reprise of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, forget it. The film ends with the return of Bodie who kills Jenks. Blue finds enough backbone to shoot Bodie. When he shows the dying villain to Molly, Bodie grabs her. Jimmy touches off a shot gun blast that kills Bodie, mortally wounding Molly. She dies in Blue’s arms. Not a satisfying ending in the traditional western genre.
Critics panned both screen play, based on a book by the same name, and direction Variety called “inept”. Tell us what you really think. The critics must have had a point when you consider the quality of the cast. Fonda, Ray, and Oates come in for special mention along with supporting performances by Keenen Wynn and Edgar Buchanan. The New York Times likened the evil of Ray’s Man from Bodie to the work of Jack Palance in Shane. High praise.
Welcome to Hard Times has a dark noir tilt to the story that is out of character to the expectations of western film audiences. The psychodrama took over the story in ways some present-day audiences might relate to, but not mainstream western viewers of the time. Nice cinematography though.
Next Week: The Hired Hand
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Will Blue (Henry Fonda) is one among those who stay. He convinces his woman, Molly to stay and help him care for a young boy whose father faced the mad man. She agrees, though she is disappointed Blue did not stand up to Bodie. They both know the man will come back. Molly is consumed by a desire for vengeance. She pleads with drifter, gun hand Leo Jenks (Warren Oates) to face the man when he returns. She even buys young Jimmy a shotgun.
Now if you are expecting a reprise of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, forget it. The film ends with the return of Bodie who kills Jenks. Blue finds enough backbone to shoot Bodie. When he shows the dying villain to Molly, Bodie grabs her. Jimmy touches off a shot gun blast that kills Bodie, mortally wounding Molly. She dies in Blue’s arms. Not a satisfying ending in the traditional western genre.
Critics panned both screen play, based on a book by the same name, and direction Variety called “inept”. Tell us what you really think. The critics must have had a point when you consider the quality of the cast. Fonda, Ray, and Oates come in for special mention along with supporting performances by Keenen Wynn and Edgar Buchanan. The New York Times likened the evil of Ray’s Man from Bodie to the work of Jack Palance in Shane. High praise.
Welcome to Hard Times has a dark noir tilt to the story that is out of character to the expectations of western film audiences. The psychodrama took over the story in ways some present-day audiences might relate to, but not mainstream western viewers of the time. Nice cinematography though.
Next Week: The Hired Hand
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
August 13, 2022
Rooster Cogburn
This post started out researching the film True Grit: A Further Adventure for which there was little more information available than a lobby poster and a cast list featuring Warren Oates as Rooster. Fortunately, it provided a reference to the first True Grit sequel Rooster Cogburn, starring John Wayne and Audrey Hepburn. That pairing had to be good, right?
Rooster’s drinking and excessive use of force have gotten the marshal crosswise with Judge Parker, who lifts his badge. When a wagon load of nitroglycerin is stolen by bank robbers, the judge gives Rooster the chance to redeem himself by recovering the juice and apprehending the gang. He tracks them to a remote mission the gang has overrun, killing the elderly pastor and members of his Indian flock. The pastor is survived by his spinster daughter Miss Eula Goodnight (Hepburn) who joins Rooster in his pursuit of her father’s murderer. They are joined by Wolf, orphaned son of one of the dead Indians.
Cogburn intercepts the gang and attempts to arrest them by threatening to blow the nitro. When a gang member tries to shoot Rooster in the back, Miss Eula guns him down from her hiding place along with a second man who tests her aim. The gang abandons the wagon, nitro, and a Gatling gun to Rooster. They manage to capture Wolf and offer to exchange him for the wagon and its lethal load. Wolf escapes, running off the gang’s horses. With Wolf safely in camp, Rooster turns the Gatling gun on the outlaws.
Rooster next commandeers a raft, to carry his little band, the nitro, and gun down river. The chase is on. One riverbank encounter with the determined outlaws leads to another until the raft reaches a stretch of white-water rapids. The damaged raft makes it through, though the Gatling gun is lost. They find the gang waiting below the rapids. Rooster floats a couple cases of nitro downstream which he detonates, eliminating the bad guys and getting his job back.
Critics gave the film poor reviews, despite the charm of Wayne and Hepburn’s performances. Gene Siskel called it “A stupid story riddled with plot-holes.” Plot holes like a raft of volatile nitro crashing white water rapids without blowing the rafters to kingdom come? Still, the film grossed $17.6 million. If this sequel is the reason, they changed the ending of Charles Portis’ True Grit novel to keep Rooster alive, they should have left well enough alone.
Next Week: Welcome to Hard Times
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Rooster’s drinking and excessive use of force have gotten the marshal crosswise with Judge Parker, who lifts his badge. When a wagon load of nitroglycerin is stolen by bank robbers, the judge gives Rooster the chance to redeem himself by recovering the juice and apprehending the gang. He tracks them to a remote mission the gang has overrun, killing the elderly pastor and members of his Indian flock. The pastor is survived by his spinster daughter Miss Eula Goodnight (Hepburn) who joins Rooster in his pursuit of her father’s murderer. They are joined by Wolf, orphaned son of one of the dead Indians.
Cogburn intercepts the gang and attempts to arrest them by threatening to blow the nitro. When a gang member tries to shoot Rooster in the back, Miss Eula guns him down from her hiding place along with a second man who tests her aim. The gang abandons the wagon, nitro, and a Gatling gun to Rooster. They manage to capture Wolf and offer to exchange him for the wagon and its lethal load. Wolf escapes, running off the gang’s horses. With Wolf safely in camp, Rooster turns the Gatling gun on the outlaws.
Rooster next commandeers a raft, to carry his little band, the nitro, and gun down river. The chase is on. One riverbank encounter with the determined outlaws leads to another until the raft reaches a stretch of white-water rapids. The damaged raft makes it through, though the Gatling gun is lost. They find the gang waiting below the rapids. Rooster floats a couple cases of nitro downstream which he detonates, eliminating the bad guys and getting his job back.
Critics gave the film poor reviews, despite the charm of Wayne and Hepburn’s performances. Gene Siskel called it “A stupid story riddled with plot-holes.” Plot holes like a raft of volatile nitro crashing white water rapids without blowing the rafters to kingdom come? Still, the film grossed $17.6 million. If this sequel is the reason, they changed the ending of Charles Portis’ True Grit novel to keep Rooster alive, they should have left well enough alone.
Next Week: Welcome to Hard Times
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
August 6, 2022
Return of the Seven
Gunmen employed by wealthy landowner Lorca conscript the men of a small Mexican village and force them to build a memorial to Lorca’s dead sons. Chico, the one of the seven who remained in the village to marry his love after the seven defeated Calvera. Chico’s wife, Petra finds Chris Adams (Yule Brenner) and Vin (formerly Steve McQueen, now Robert Fuller) and pleads with them to once again, save the village.
The film was shot in Spain with a cast mostly unknown to American audiences except as noted. Chris recruit’s gunman Frank (Claud Akins) and Colbee (Warren Oates) along with bandit Luis and cockfighter Manuel. The six locate the labor camp and drive out Lorca’s overseers. With the farmers liberated, Chris and his men, Chico now making seven, prepare to defend them against Lorca’s expected attack.
The initial attack is repulsed, though Chris knows Lorca will return in force. The situation is grim until Manuel discovers a cache of dynamite. Lorca attacks in overwhelming force. One by one the seven are cut down until only Chris, Vin, Chico and Colbee remain. The battle ends when Chris kills Lorca. With the paymaster dead the mercenaries abandon the fight.
In a final scene reminiscent of the original Magnificent Seven, Chico undertakes rebuilding the village. Colbee stays to help train the villagers to defend themselves while helping himself to all the pretty girls the village has to offer. Chris and Vin are left to ride away.
The film grossed $5.1 million. Critics panned it. The story had more than the last scene in common with the original. That did not include the cast. Yule Brenner owns the character, Chris. He didn’t appreciate McQueen’s ability to upstage him in the original. Enter Fuller as Vin. The rest of the casting was a step down, likely for budget reasons. You get what you pay for.
Sometimes sequels work and sometimes they don’t. This one didn’t. Partly due to the step down in cast, but for me it was more about a warmed-over story from the original.
Next Week: Rooster Cogburn
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
The film was shot in Spain with a cast mostly unknown to American audiences except as noted. Chris recruit’s gunman Frank (Claud Akins) and Colbee (Warren Oates) along with bandit Luis and cockfighter Manuel. The six locate the labor camp and drive out Lorca’s overseers. With the farmers liberated, Chris and his men, Chico now making seven, prepare to defend them against Lorca’s expected attack.
The initial attack is repulsed, though Chris knows Lorca will return in force. The situation is grim until Manuel discovers a cache of dynamite. Lorca attacks in overwhelming force. One by one the seven are cut down until only Chris, Vin, Chico and Colbee remain. The battle ends when Chris kills Lorca. With the paymaster dead the mercenaries abandon the fight.
In a final scene reminiscent of the original Magnificent Seven, Chico undertakes rebuilding the village. Colbee stays to help train the villagers to defend themselves while helping himself to all the pretty girls the village has to offer. Chris and Vin are left to ride away.
The film grossed $5.1 million. Critics panned it. The story had more than the last scene in common with the original. That did not include the cast. Yule Brenner owns the character, Chris. He didn’t appreciate McQueen’s ability to upstage him in the original. Enter Fuller as Vin. The rest of the casting was a step down, likely for budget reasons. You get what you pay for.
Sometimes sequels work and sometimes they don’t. This one didn’t. Partly due to the step down in cast, but for me it was more about a warmed-over story from the original.
Next Week: Rooster Cogburn
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
July 30, 2022
Major Dundee
The sidebar stories with Major Dundee maybe more interesting than the film. The 1965 film directed by legendary Sam Peckinpah starred Charlton Heston in the title role opposite Richard Harris as Captain Ben Tyreen. Set in the civil war, Dundee is relieved of his Union Army command and sent to oversee a prison camp in New Mexico. Tyreen is the prisoner’s ranking officer. Dundee and Tyreen were classmates at West Point, where Tyreen was drummed out of the corps of cadets, Dundee casting the deciding vote at his court martial. Apache war parties crossing the border from Mexico force Dundee and Tyreen and their respective commands into an unwelcome alliance, entering Mexico in pursuit of the Apache.
The screen play is a story in itself. Peckinpah tossed the original, teaming up with screenwriter Oscar Saul (A Streetcar Named Desire cred) to create a character conflict story reminiscent of Moby Dick. Cast member R. G. Armstrong called the film, “Moby Dick on horseback”. As if the Moby Dick likeness wasn’t enough the film borrows scenes from such notables as John Ford’s The Searchers, and Fort Apache with a dab of Howard Hawk’s Red River. Toss in a dash of Vera Cruz and Lawrence of Arabia. One wonders how you get away with all this scenic plagiarism. As a writer, I’m careful of word choices. Sam must have liked it though. Four years later he remixed the recipe for The Wild Bunch!
Hand that story over to Heston, Harris and a cast that included James Coburn as a one-armed mountain man, Jim Hutton as Dundee’s green second in command, Senta Berger as (does it matter?) with supporting characters played by Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, L.Q. Jones, Slim Pickens, and Dub Taylor. No unemployment in 1965 Hollywood.
Then there is the mercurial Peckinpah presence. Drunk by the end of a day’s shooting, Heston directed more than a few of those borrowed scenes. At one confrontation Heston threatened to run Sam through with a cavalry saber. In another Heston charged him on horseback with Peckinpah taking refuge by raising a camera boom. The film firmly solidified Peckinpah’s irascible reputation.
The uncut film ran 4 hours and 38 minutes, eventually pared down to just over 2 hours. Critics panned it. The story left most of the combined command dead at the Rio Grande.
Next Week: Return of the Seven
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
The screen play is a story in itself. Peckinpah tossed the original, teaming up with screenwriter Oscar Saul (A Streetcar Named Desire cred) to create a character conflict story reminiscent of Moby Dick. Cast member R. G. Armstrong called the film, “Moby Dick on horseback”. As if the Moby Dick likeness wasn’t enough the film borrows scenes from such notables as John Ford’s The Searchers, and Fort Apache with a dab of Howard Hawk’s Red River. Toss in a dash of Vera Cruz and Lawrence of Arabia. One wonders how you get away with all this scenic plagiarism. As a writer, I’m careful of word choices. Sam must have liked it though. Four years later he remixed the recipe for The Wild Bunch!
Hand that story over to Heston, Harris and a cast that included James Coburn as a one-armed mountain man, Jim Hutton as Dundee’s green second in command, Senta Berger as (does it matter?) with supporting characters played by Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, L.Q. Jones, Slim Pickens, and Dub Taylor. No unemployment in 1965 Hollywood.
Then there is the mercurial Peckinpah presence. Drunk by the end of a day’s shooting, Heston directed more than a few of those borrowed scenes. At one confrontation Heston threatened to run Sam through with a cavalry saber. In another Heston charged him on horseback with Peckinpah taking refuge by raising a camera boom. The film firmly solidified Peckinpah’s irascible reputation.
The uncut film ran 4 hours and 38 minutes, eventually pared down to just over 2 hours. Critics panned it. The story left most of the combined command dead at the Rio Grande.
Next Week: Return of the Seven
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
July 23, 2022
The Tall Men
The Tall Men travel a hard road to romance. The Allison brothers, Ben (Clark Gable) and Clint (Cameron Mitchell) are former Quantrill Raiders down on their luck. They take wealthy Montana businessman Nathan Stark (Robert Ryan) for a hold-up at gunpoint. Stark convinces them the best use of his money is to go to Texas, buy cattle and drive them back to market in Montana. Stark provides the money; the Allison boys handle the trail drive. Money talks and the trio heads south into a winter snowstorm.
A party of starving settlers take them in from the storm. Among them they meet Nella Turner (Jane Russell) much to the liking of Ben and Stark. With a break in the storm, Stark and the brothers head for a nearby fort from which they can travel to San Antonio. With the territory under threat of an Indian uprising, Ben returns to warn the settlers. All are dead, save Nella. Together they find a cabin to wait out another storm. Attraction is there, but Nella craves a station in life Ben cannot provide.
Ben and Nella follow Stark and Clint to San Antonio by stage. Stark is pleased to see Nella, who appreciates the finer things of life he can provide. Still tempestuous tensions remain between Nella and Ben. Ben hires cowboys to drive Stark’s herd north. They are confronted by bandits and later a Sioux war party, shooting their way out of the first scrape and stampeding their herd through the next. Clint is killed by the Sioux.
On reaching Mineral City Montana, Stark attempts to double-cross Ben out of his share of the proceeds from the sale of the herd. Ben, expecting something of the sort, has his men in position, forcing Stark to back down. Ben returns to camp; Stark having given him the impression he and Nella are to wed. As unrolls his blanket to turn in, Nella is heard singing to him from a nearby wagon.
Directed by Raul Walsh, the 1955 filming was done in Mexico. The film is based on a novel by Heck Allen. A curious historical quirk that is vintage Hollywood comes from the bandits, characterized as Jayhawkers. If Quantrill’s raiders were disbanded, the war was over. Jayhawkers were back on their farms.
Next Week: Major Dundee
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
A party of starving settlers take them in from the storm. Among them they meet Nella Turner (Jane Russell) much to the liking of Ben and Stark. With a break in the storm, Stark and the brothers head for a nearby fort from which they can travel to San Antonio. With the territory under threat of an Indian uprising, Ben returns to warn the settlers. All are dead, save Nella. Together they find a cabin to wait out another storm. Attraction is there, but Nella craves a station in life Ben cannot provide.
Ben and Nella follow Stark and Clint to San Antonio by stage. Stark is pleased to see Nella, who appreciates the finer things of life he can provide. Still tempestuous tensions remain between Nella and Ben. Ben hires cowboys to drive Stark’s herd north. They are confronted by bandits and later a Sioux war party, shooting their way out of the first scrape and stampeding their herd through the next. Clint is killed by the Sioux.
On reaching Mineral City Montana, Stark attempts to double-cross Ben out of his share of the proceeds from the sale of the herd. Ben, expecting something of the sort, has his men in position, forcing Stark to back down. Ben returns to camp; Stark having given him the impression he and Nella are to wed. As unrolls his blanket to turn in, Nella is heard singing to him from a nearby wagon.
Directed by Raul Walsh, the 1955 filming was done in Mexico. The film is based on a novel by Heck Allen. A curious historical quirk that is vintage Hollywood comes from the bandits, characterized as Jayhawkers. If Quantrill’s raiders were disbanded, the war was over. Jayhawkers were back on their farms.
Next Week: Major Dundee
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
July 16, 2022
Chuka
Chuka is described as an American adaptation of the classic Beau Geste. I read Beau Geste somewhere in my teens. It stuck in that mental library of favorites. Recently I decided to reread some of them. They aren’t all still in print. Beau Geste is. I enjoyed it this time around. It centers on the theft of a priceless blue diamond, leading the presumptive thief to the French Foreign Legion and the fate of a doomed fort. Chuka doesn’t have anything to do with diamonds; but the doomed fort resonates with the story.
The film opens in the ruins of a fort overrun by a band of Arapaho. The post commander has the Arapaho war chief Hanu in custody to tell the story. Hanu first encounters Chuka (Rod Taylor) when the gunfighter rides into a starving Arapaho winter camp and generously shares his food.
Chuka next crosses the trail of a stage carrying Senora Veronica Kleitz (Luciana Paluzzi) and her niece, Senorita Helena Chavez (Victoria Vetri). Chuka and Veronica have a history. The Arapaho attack the stage. The worst is averted when Hanu recognizes Chuka and abandons the attack. Chuka escorts the stage to a nearby fort.
The fort is garrisoned by malcontents and misfits under the command of disgraced Colonel Stuart Valois (John Mills), seconded by a Major Benson with an Arapaho mistress stashed away on post. Valois, for all his faults, has the allegiance of Sergeant Otto Hansbach (Ernest Borgnine), a good soldier who has no use for the likes of Chuka. Between Arapaho sorties against the fort, Chuka tries to rekindle the flame with Veronica to no avail.
With the Arapaho threat building to a decisive moment, Chuka urges Valois to abandon the fort and its supplies, arguing the supplies are all Hanu wants. Valois refuses. The die is cast when Benson’s Arapaho mistress stabs him to death and sets fire to the stables. Hanu and his warriors overrun the fort. Veronica is killed along with Valois, Hansbach and what’s left of his command. The Indians loot the fort and are preparing to leave when Hanu spots Chuka hiding with Senorita Helena. He rides off in, yet another kindness returned for Chuka’s shared food.
Hanu finishes the story as the post commander wraps up his report.
Next Week: The Tall Men
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Ride easy,
Paul
The film opens in the ruins of a fort overrun by a band of Arapaho. The post commander has the Arapaho war chief Hanu in custody to tell the story. Hanu first encounters Chuka (Rod Taylor) when the gunfighter rides into a starving Arapaho winter camp and generously shares his food.
Chuka next crosses the trail of a stage carrying Senora Veronica Kleitz (Luciana Paluzzi) and her niece, Senorita Helena Chavez (Victoria Vetri). Chuka and Veronica have a history. The Arapaho attack the stage. The worst is averted when Hanu recognizes Chuka and abandons the attack. Chuka escorts the stage to a nearby fort.
The fort is garrisoned by malcontents and misfits under the command of disgraced Colonel Stuart Valois (John Mills), seconded by a Major Benson with an Arapaho mistress stashed away on post. Valois, for all his faults, has the allegiance of Sergeant Otto Hansbach (Ernest Borgnine), a good soldier who has no use for the likes of Chuka. Between Arapaho sorties against the fort, Chuka tries to rekindle the flame with Veronica to no avail.
With the Arapaho threat building to a decisive moment, Chuka urges Valois to abandon the fort and its supplies, arguing the supplies are all Hanu wants. Valois refuses. The die is cast when Benson’s Arapaho mistress stabs him to death and sets fire to the stables. Hanu and his warriors overrun the fort. Veronica is killed along with Valois, Hansbach and what’s left of his command. The Indians loot the fort and are preparing to leave when Hanu spots Chuka hiding with Senorita Helena. He rides off in, yet another kindness returned for Chuka’s shared food.
Hanu finishes the story as the post commander wraps up his report.
Next Week: The Tall Men
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
July 10, 2022
The Cowboys
Last week we watched a fiftieth reunion of the cast of the John Wayne film The Cowboys on the Cowboy Channel. We interrupt this Not-so-Classic western film series to revisit The Cowboys. The ‘boys’ aren’t kids anymore. It was a treat to watch them reminisce over their acting encounters with the Duke as experienced in youth now seen in the long shadow of an icon.
Rancher Wil Anderson (Wayne) is left shorthanded when his drovers run off to a gold rush, leaving him with no crew to drive a herd of cattle four-hundred miles to market. A friend suggests hiring schoolboys whose families desperately need money. The hard-bitten trail boss visits the school to see for himself. He doubts they can cut it.
When the boys show up at the ranch next morning, Anderson tests their horsemanship with a green broke horse more green than broke. Here we have life emulating art. Three of the boys in the cast were ranch kids who’d grown up, so far as they were, cowboying. So far so good. The other seven were actors who had to be taught to ride. The boys went to school on set, learning to ride early in the morning and again after school. Rewatch the film. The kids did their own riding to the point their ranch raised stunt doubles complained they didn’t have enough to do.
Roping, branding, and riding the trail the boys become competent hands. The trail throws hazards at the boys the trail throws at cattle drives, including a band of rustlers. Anderson develops a fatherly relationship with each of the boys. As the cast members told their reunion stories, each had a nostalgic experience or encounter with John Wayne, suggesting once again life emulating art.
When it is learned rustlers are following the herd Anderson insists the boys be boys and not put up a fight. The rustlers strike and steal the herd. Anderson is mortally wounded. Dying he instructs the cook to see the boys safely home. Before he dies, he tells the boys he is proud of them. The boys bury Anderson and set off in pursuit of the rustlers, intent on finishing the drive.
The rest of the story is worth rewatching the film. Seen in the reflections of the fifty-year reunion cast members, we are reminded once again, how long John Wayne cast his shadow.
Next Week: Chuka
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Rancher Wil Anderson (Wayne) is left shorthanded when his drovers run off to a gold rush, leaving him with no crew to drive a herd of cattle four-hundred miles to market. A friend suggests hiring schoolboys whose families desperately need money. The hard-bitten trail boss visits the school to see for himself. He doubts they can cut it.
When the boys show up at the ranch next morning, Anderson tests their horsemanship with a green broke horse more green than broke. Here we have life emulating art. Three of the boys in the cast were ranch kids who’d grown up, so far as they were, cowboying. So far so good. The other seven were actors who had to be taught to ride. The boys went to school on set, learning to ride early in the morning and again after school. Rewatch the film. The kids did their own riding to the point their ranch raised stunt doubles complained they didn’t have enough to do.
Roping, branding, and riding the trail the boys become competent hands. The trail throws hazards at the boys the trail throws at cattle drives, including a band of rustlers. Anderson develops a fatherly relationship with each of the boys. As the cast members told their reunion stories, each had a nostalgic experience or encounter with John Wayne, suggesting once again life emulating art.
When it is learned rustlers are following the herd Anderson insists the boys be boys and not put up a fight. The rustlers strike and steal the herd. Anderson is mortally wounded. Dying he instructs the cook to see the boys safely home. Before he dies, he tells the boys he is proud of them. The boys bury Anderson and set off in pursuit of the rustlers, intent on finishing the drive.
The rest of the story is worth rewatching the film. Seen in the reflections of the fifty-year reunion cast members, we are reminded once again, how long John Wayne cast his shadow.
Next Week: Chuka
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
