Paul Colt's Blog, page 9
February 3, 2024
The Spoilers
We’ve aired our observations on the journey from print to film previously on these pages. We’ve made the point on behalf of intrepid authors everywhere; it hardly ever happens. Then we come to Rex Beach’s 1906 novel, The Spoilers, made into a 1942 film starring Randolph Scott, Marlene Dietrich, and John Wayne. The film showed up on my Not-so-classic western list. Research on the film came up a little thin, save one startling fact: The Spoilers made the journey from print to film not once, but five times. The story was filmed in 1914 (silent), 1923, 1930, and 1955 to go along with our 1942. Amazing.
In our ramblings about the journey, we noted the abstractions that take place moving from story to screen play to direction and cast. Each abstraction imprints the story in some fashion. So, what happened to The Spoilers? Five screenplays, five directors, and five casts. None of the plots agree. There is an Alaskan gold mine swindle in Nome. Crooked officials and a judge behind the claim steal. A murder to frame an innocent man. A love triangle with deadly consequences. And a climax ending in an epic fistfight allowing true love to triumph. The who and the how and the why and the when, well that’s all up to five different screen plays, directors, and the actors playing the parts. The real story? Only Rex Beach knows for sure. Don’t feel too bad for him though, after all he suffered through writer’s cramp signing all those checks.
The films attracted their share of acting talent. The Randolph Scott role of mine swindler Alexander McNamara was played by Thomas Santshi in 1914, Noah Berry in ’23, Gary Cooper in ’30, and Rory Calhoun in ’55. While Scott got top billing in ’42, young John Wayne had the lead as Midas mine owner Roy Glennister. William Farnum played Glennister in ’14, Milton Sills reprised the role in ’23 with Gary Cooper in ’30, followed by Jeff Chandler in ’55. Feme fatal saloon owner Cherry Malotte played by Dietrich in ’42 got her start as Kathlyn Williams in ’14, Anna Q. Nilson in ’23, Betty Compson in ’30, and Anne Baxter in ’55.
Hollywood loved the story. Did the films make money? Must have done OK for a five-peat. What did the critics think? Not sure critics were invented in 1914. Whatever they may have had to say in ’23 and ’30 didn’t stop ’42 or ’55. Writer’s cramp. Signing movie option checks. Just can’t get over that. Guess I should buy a lottery ticket.
Next Week: Canyon Passage
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
In our ramblings about the journey, we noted the abstractions that take place moving from story to screen play to direction and cast. Each abstraction imprints the story in some fashion. So, what happened to The Spoilers? Five screenplays, five directors, and five casts. None of the plots agree. There is an Alaskan gold mine swindle in Nome. Crooked officials and a judge behind the claim steal. A murder to frame an innocent man. A love triangle with deadly consequences. And a climax ending in an epic fistfight allowing true love to triumph. The who and the how and the why and the when, well that’s all up to five different screen plays, directors, and the actors playing the parts. The real story? Only Rex Beach knows for sure. Don’t feel too bad for him though, after all he suffered through writer’s cramp signing all those checks.
The films attracted their share of acting talent. The Randolph Scott role of mine swindler Alexander McNamara was played by Thomas Santshi in 1914, Noah Berry in ’23, Gary Cooper in ’30, and Rory Calhoun in ’55. While Scott got top billing in ’42, young John Wayne had the lead as Midas mine owner Roy Glennister. William Farnum played Glennister in ’14, Milton Sills reprised the role in ’23 with Gary Cooper in ’30, followed by Jeff Chandler in ’55. Feme fatal saloon owner Cherry Malotte played by Dietrich in ’42 got her start as Kathlyn Williams in ’14, Anna Q. Nilson in ’23, Betty Compson in ’30, and Anne Baxter in ’55.
Hollywood loved the story. Did the films make money? Must have done OK for a five-peat. What did the critics think? Not sure critics were invented in 1914. Whatever they may have had to say in ’23 and ’30 didn’t stop ’42 or ’55. Writer’s cramp. Signing movie option checks. Just can’t get over that. Guess I should buy a lottery ticket.
Next Week: Canyon Passage
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
January 27, 2024
Trail Street
Bat Masterson tames a lawless Kansas town. Dodge you think? Nope. The town is Liberal before the Wizard of Oz took off in a twister. Liberal’s farmers and ranchers are being terrorized by ruthless cattle baron Logan Maury (Steve Brodie), who will stop at nothing to drive them off range he claims for his own. Land Agent Allen Harper (Robert Ryan not Charlie’s brother) thinks the town needs a marshal to stop the villainy and keep Maury away from his girl, Susan Pritchard (Madge Meredith). Livery stableman Billy Burns (George ‘Gabby’ Hayes) agrees, at least with the villainy part and sends for his friend, Bat Masterson (Randolph Scott).
A Maury hired gun, beats up a farmer. Harper intervenes. The fist fight ends when Bat throws the gunny in jail. Bat takes the town marshal’s job with Billy as his deputy. Bat isn’t Maury’s only problem. Temptress saloon entertainer Ruby Stone (Anne Jefferies) has a fancy for Maury that doesn’t allow for his interest in Susan. When Harper is framed for the murder of a farmer, the locals figure a hanging bee for vigilant justice. Ruby, jilted for Maury framing Harper to have Susan, spills the beans fingering Maury for the murder. Maury returns the favor by killing her. Maury’s attempted escape ends in a gun scrape with Bat. We leave that end to the readers imagination.
Exonerated, Harper and Susan wed. Billy takes over as town marshal – you’re in good hands with Gabby. And in a tribute to historical authenticity, Bat rides off to become a newspaper reporter back east.
This not-so-classic film earned not-so-classic reviews with one critic hailing it as “another in a long line” of Bat Masterson western films “no better or worse than most of the rest”. High praise if ever high praise was to be had. Another observed though “no masterpiece”, Trail Street cinematography showed “fresh visual thinking.” Alright then. For all that, Trail Street gave us a generous helping Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jefferies, and Gabby Hayes, a talented ensemble cast in the 1947 dawn of the western golden age.
Next Week: The Spoilers
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Ride easy,
Paul
A Maury hired gun, beats up a farmer. Harper intervenes. The fist fight ends when Bat throws the gunny in jail. Bat takes the town marshal’s job with Billy as his deputy. Bat isn’t Maury’s only problem. Temptress saloon entertainer Ruby Stone (Anne Jefferies) has a fancy for Maury that doesn’t allow for his interest in Susan. When Harper is framed for the murder of a farmer, the locals figure a hanging bee for vigilant justice. Ruby, jilted for Maury framing Harper to have Susan, spills the beans fingering Maury for the murder. Maury returns the favor by killing her. Maury’s attempted escape ends in a gun scrape with Bat. We leave that end to the readers imagination.
Exonerated, Harper and Susan wed. Billy takes over as town marshal – you’re in good hands with Gabby. And in a tribute to historical authenticity, Bat rides off to become a newspaper reporter back east.
This not-so-classic film earned not-so-classic reviews with one critic hailing it as “another in a long line” of Bat Masterson western films “no better or worse than most of the rest”. High praise if ever high praise was to be had. Another observed though “no masterpiece”, Trail Street cinematography showed “fresh visual thinking.” Alright then. For all that, Trail Street gave us a generous helping Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jefferies, and Gabby Hayes, a talented ensemble cast in the 1947 dawn of the western golden age.
Next Week: The Spoilers
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Ride easy,
Paul
January 20, 2024
Bone Tomahawk
There’s a reason I never heard of Bone Tomahawk. Not a big fan of horror films. Bone Tomahawk is a horror film dressed for the west and mounted on horseback. S. Graig Zahler wrote a horror story he couldn’t profitably produce on film as written so ‘cowboyed-up’ it’s a western. They got Kurt Russell to play the lead, which convinced me to do this post. Not sure how that happened to either of us. Maybe Kurt needed the money. No excuse for me.
Two desperados discover and loot a tribal burial ground. One of them gets killed. The other, a man named Purvis, escapes to the town of Bright Hope where he has a minor gun-scrape with Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Russell). Hunt sends his Deputy Chicory for the doctor to attend the wounded outlaw. The doctor’s daughter and assistant Samantha arrives to care for the wounded. Hunt leaves her in the sheriff’s office with Purvis and Deputy Nick while he investigates the murder of a local stable boy. On returning, Hunt finds Smantha, Purvis, and Nick missing. A tell-tale arrow leads to the conclusion the trio have been abducted by . . . ready for this? A rogue tribe of cannibals known as Troglodytes (not making this up), who inhabit a remote valley.
After the fashion of The Searchers (with apologies to the Johns, Ford, and Wayne), Hunt organizes a rescue party posse with Deputy Chicory, gunfighter Brooder, and Samantha’s husband, who is nursing a wound of his own. The rescuers are ambushed leading to loss of their horses and further injury to Samantha’s husband who is left behind. Hunt, Chicory and Brooder make it to the valley on foot where they are ambushed. Trogs kill Brooder and capture Hunt and Chicory. They find Samantha and Nick in captivity; Purvis having already served for supper. Hunt, Chicory, and Samantha are then treated to a glimpse of fate as Nick is . . . let’s just say, comes to a savage end before being consumed. Cutting to the chase without any more cutting than necessary, Hunt’s attempt to free his friends ends heroically if badly for him. Samanth’s recovered husband rescues her and Chicory to some version of . . . ever after.
In a classic example of ‘What do I know?’, critics and film festivals gave Bone Tomahawk positive reviews for Russell’s performance, “slow burning” screenplay, cinematography, and musical score. Musical score mind you. Some speculated the cowboy cannibal genre might not work for everyone. Now there you have profound critical insight if ever there was profound critical insight.
Next Week: Trail Street
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
Two desperados discover and loot a tribal burial ground. One of them gets killed. The other, a man named Purvis, escapes to the town of Bright Hope where he has a minor gun-scrape with Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Russell). Hunt sends his Deputy Chicory for the doctor to attend the wounded outlaw. The doctor’s daughter and assistant Samantha arrives to care for the wounded. Hunt leaves her in the sheriff’s office with Purvis and Deputy Nick while he investigates the murder of a local stable boy. On returning, Hunt finds Smantha, Purvis, and Nick missing. A tell-tale arrow leads to the conclusion the trio have been abducted by . . . ready for this? A rogue tribe of cannibals known as Troglodytes (not making this up), who inhabit a remote valley.
After the fashion of The Searchers (with apologies to the Johns, Ford, and Wayne), Hunt organizes a rescue party posse with Deputy Chicory, gunfighter Brooder, and Samantha’s husband, who is nursing a wound of his own. The rescuers are ambushed leading to loss of their horses and further injury to Samantha’s husband who is left behind. Hunt, Chicory and Brooder make it to the valley on foot where they are ambushed. Trogs kill Brooder and capture Hunt and Chicory. They find Samantha and Nick in captivity; Purvis having already served for supper. Hunt, Chicory, and Samantha are then treated to a glimpse of fate as Nick is . . . let’s just say, comes to a savage end before being consumed. Cutting to the chase without any more cutting than necessary, Hunt’s attempt to free his friends ends heroically if badly for him. Samanth’s recovered husband rescues her and Chicory to some version of . . . ever after.
In a classic example of ‘What do I know?’, critics and film festivals gave Bone Tomahawk positive reviews for Russell’s performance, “slow burning” screenplay, cinematography, and musical score. Musical score mind you. Some speculated the cowboy cannibal genre might not work for everyone. Now there you have profound critical insight if ever there was profound critical insight.
Next Week: Trail Street
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
January 13, 2024
The Walking Hills
Start with $5 million in lost gold, nine treasure hunters each with a story, a detective who could be on the trail of several of them, throw in a love triangle, set it in a sea of drifting sand dunes, and next thing you know you have director John Sturges’ The Walking Hills.
It all starts with a poker game in a Mexican cantina. Where else? Conversation turns to a legendary lost fortune in gold gone missing a hundred years ago in the desert across the U. S. border. One player, a cowboy named Johnny mentions his horse stumbled over an old wagon wheel in the Walking Hills. Next thing you know, all nine agree to a treasure hunt.
Besides cowboy Johnny, the hunters include horse breeder Jim Carey (Randolph Scott), rodeo rider Dave Wilson (William Bishop), alias cowboy Shep who is on the run for shooting a gambler. He is pursued by a stranger named Frazee (John Ireland) who is actually a detective. Others on the run include drifter Chalk (Arthur Kennedy), Carey’s man Cleve, and Johnny of the wagon wheel. Prospector Old Willy (Edgar Buchanan), guitar player Josh, and bartender Bibbs round out the hunters. They are soon joined by Chris Jackson, a rodeo performer who is in love with Dave, having broken off her engagement to Carey. Frazee followed her to find Dave. Got all that?
They find desert drifted remains of a wagon and start digging but come up empty. With the prospect of fortune at a temporary dead end, Frazee gets down to business. Johnny, thinking Frazee is after him, gets shot for misunderstanding. Chalk, not taking any chances Frazee is after him, kills the detective. A sandstorm blows up, uncovering the rest of the wagon train. Old Willy declares it empty. Dave decides to turn himself in and rides off. Chris follows. Jim’s not so sure the wagons were as empty as Willy claimed.
In a not-so-classic critical review if there ever was a not-so-classic critical review one critic called the film “entirely forgettable”. And there you have it. Like the sands of walking hills so pass the days . . . or something like that.
Next Week: Bone Tomahawk
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
It all starts with a poker game in a Mexican cantina. Where else? Conversation turns to a legendary lost fortune in gold gone missing a hundred years ago in the desert across the U. S. border. One player, a cowboy named Johnny mentions his horse stumbled over an old wagon wheel in the Walking Hills. Next thing you know, all nine agree to a treasure hunt.
Besides cowboy Johnny, the hunters include horse breeder Jim Carey (Randolph Scott), rodeo rider Dave Wilson (William Bishop), alias cowboy Shep who is on the run for shooting a gambler. He is pursued by a stranger named Frazee (John Ireland) who is actually a detective. Others on the run include drifter Chalk (Arthur Kennedy), Carey’s man Cleve, and Johnny of the wagon wheel. Prospector Old Willy (Edgar Buchanan), guitar player Josh, and bartender Bibbs round out the hunters. They are soon joined by Chris Jackson, a rodeo performer who is in love with Dave, having broken off her engagement to Carey. Frazee followed her to find Dave. Got all that?
They find desert drifted remains of a wagon and start digging but come up empty. With the prospect of fortune at a temporary dead end, Frazee gets down to business. Johnny, thinking Frazee is after him, gets shot for misunderstanding. Chalk, not taking any chances Frazee is after him, kills the detective. A sandstorm blows up, uncovering the rest of the wagon train. Old Willy declares it empty. Dave decides to turn himself in and rides off. Chris follows. Jim’s not so sure the wagons were as empty as Willy claimed.
In a not-so-classic critical review if there ever was a not-so-classic critical review one critic called the film “entirely forgettable”. And there you have it. Like the sands of walking hills so pass the days . . . or something like that.
Next Week: Bone Tomahawk
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Ride easy,
Paul
January 6, 2024
John Sturges
We’ve done more than a few John Sturges films in our classic and not so classic western series. Some you may recall and some you may not like Escape from Fort Bravo and Hallelujah Trail. In the memorable category you’ll find The Law and Jake Wade, Last Train from Gun Hill, Gunfight at the OK Corral and two we’ll feature here as we salute John Sturges’ career in the western director’s chair.
Sturges distinguishes his western filmography for me by being willing to take on historical events. Most Hollywood productions resist dabbling in history or if they flirt with it, cannot resist doing so in largely unrecognizable revisionist variation. Sturges got his start with the ‘highly fictionalized’ 1957 Gunfight at the OK Corral. He returned to the corral ten years later with 1967’s Hour of the Gun. Billed as “Based on fact. This is the way it happened,” the film mostly did better by Hollywood standards. Based on Edward Anhalt’s non-fiction book Tombstone Epitaph, I wonder if the author would agree. Still, Sturges held claim to historical authenticity until 1993’s Tombstone with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, and Sam Elliott raised the historical standard bar, with ‘Best ever’ portrayals of Wyatt, Doc, and Virgil.
Sturges also lays claim to directing one of the best western films of all time, The Magnificent Seven. Sturges’ western adaptation is based on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, featuring iconic portrayals by Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, and the badest bad hombre of them all, Eli Wallach. The film score was nominated for Best Original Score by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was selected as a top 25 American film score by the American Film Institute. All that goes to show how good the score was before the Marlboro Man made it famous.
Sturges was an innovator in cinematography, pioneering wide screen CinemaScope in Bad Day at Black Rock, a contemporary western starring Spencer Tracy. The film earned Sturges an Oscar Nomination for Best Director and a place in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress along with The Magnificent Seven. In 1992 Sturges received the National Motion Picture & Television Golden Boot Award for lifetime achievement in western film.
Next Week: The Walking Hills
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Ride easy,
Paul
Sturges distinguishes his western filmography for me by being willing to take on historical events. Most Hollywood productions resist dabbling in history or if they flirt with it, cannot resist doing so in largely unrecognizable revisionist variation. Sturges got his start with the ‘highly fictionalized’ 1957 Gunfight at the OK Corral. He returned to the corral ten years later with 1967’s Hour of the Gun. Billed as “Based on fact. This is the way it happened,” the film mostly did better by Hollywood standards. Based on Edward Anhalt’s non-fiction book Tombstone Epitaph, I wonder if the author would agree. Still, Sturges held claim to historical authenticity until 1993’s Tombstone with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, and Sam Elliott raised the historical standard bar, with ‘Best ever’ portrayals of Wyatt, Doc, and Virgil.
Sturges also lays claim to directing one of the best western films of all time, The Magnificent Seven. Sturges’ western adaptation is based on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, featuring iconic portrayals by Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, and the badest bad hombre of them all, Eli Wallach. The film score was nominated for Best Original Score by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was selected as a top 25 American film score by the American Film Institute. All that goes to show how good the score was before the Marlboro Man made it famous.
Sturges was an innovator in cinematography, pioneering wide screen CinemaScope in Bad Day at Black Rock, a contemporary western starring Spencer Tracy. The film earned Sturges an Oscar Nomination for Best Director and a place in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress along with The Magnificent Seven. In 1992 Sturges received the National Motion Picture & Television Golden Boot Award for lifetime achievement in western film.
Next Week: The Walking Hills
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Ride easy,
Paul
December 30, 2023
The Sheepman
Jason Sweet, gambler, gunman, and all round tough guy (Glenn Ford) wins a flock of sheep in a poker game. He loads the flock on a train and heads for cattle country, because where else will sheep be as welcome as an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease. Local folks take notice and want no part of the woolly invaders, none more so than cattle baron Colonel Steven Bedford (Leslie Nielsen).
Bedford has more problems with Sweet than sheep. Sweet knows him to be gambler, gunslick Johnny Bledsoe posing in newfound respectability.
Sweet notifies townsfolk not to mess with him by picking a fight with Jumbo McCall, the meanest toughest bully in town, proceeding to beat him to a pulp. He draws the attention of Dell Payton (Shirley MacLaine), who finds the sheepman strangely attractive. Sweet returns Payton’s interest, creating an awkward strain with her fiancé, Bedford. Sheep, a past best left in the past, and a romantic triangle, the Colonel has had enough of it.
Bedford sends for professional killer Chocktaw Neal (Purnell Roberts) to deal with the sheepman before his seedy side is exposed to Dell. Chocktaw and two henchmen set an ambush for Sweet. Chocktaw confronts Sweet challenging him to a gunfight while his partners tilt the odds with their guns trained on the sheepman's back. Dell convinces Milt Masters (Edgar Buchanan) to even the odds. They disarm Chocktaw’s back-up guns. Mano-a-mano Chocktaw draws. Sweet guns him down, leaving Bedford to deal with his sheepish problems.
Sweet faces Bedford at the last and bests him in yet another gunfight. Dell learns the truth of the erstwhile colonel. Sweet sells the sheep and buys cattle. He tells Dell he only kept the sheep out of spite to those who wouldn’t leave him alone. Together they ride off to happily ever after.
Billed as a comedy, The Sheepman earned $3.7M at the box office domestically and internationally. In addition to Roberts and Buchanan in supporting roles the cast included Slim Pickens as the sheriff, mostly gone fishin’.
Next Week: Escape from Fort Bravo
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Ride easy,
Paul
Bedford has more problems with Sweet than sheep. Sweet knows him to be gambler, gunslick Johnny Bledsoe posing in newfound respectability.
Sweet notifies townsfolk not to mess with him by picking a fight with Jumbo McCall, the meanest toughest bully in town, proceeding to beat him to a pulp. He draws the attention of Dell Payton (Shirley MacLaine), who finds the sheepman strangely attractive. Sweet returns Payton’s interest, creating an awkward strain with her fiancé, Bedford. Sheep, a past best left in the past, and a romantic triangle, the Colonel has had enough of it.
Bedford sends for professional killer Chocktaw Neal (Purnell Roberts) to deal with the sheepman before his seedy side is exposed to Dell. Chocktaw and two henchmen set an ambush for Sweet. Chocktaw confronts Sweet challenging him to a gunfight while his partners tilt the odds with their guns trained on the sheepman's back. Dell convinces Milt Masters (Edgar Buchanan) to even the odds. They disarm Chocktaw’s back-up guns. Mano-a-mano Chocktaw draws. Sweet guns him down, leaving Bedford to deal with his sheepish problems.
Sweet faces Bedford at the last and bests him in yet another gunfight. Dell learns the truth of the erstwhile colonel. Sweet sells the sheep and buys cattle. He tells Dell he only kept the sheep out of spite to those who wouldn’t leave him alone. Together they ride off to happily ever after.
Billed as a comedy, The Sheepman earned $3.7M at the box office domestically and internationally. In addition to Roberts and Buchanan in supporting roles the cast included Slim Pickens as the sheriff, mostly gone fishin’.
Next Week: Escape from Fort Bravo
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
December 16, 2023
Take a Hard Ride
Dying rancher Bob Morgan (Dana Andrews) has a short lived part. He also has $86,000 he needs delivered to his soon to be widow at their ranch in Sonora Mexico. He entrusts the cash and the mission to Pike (Jim Brown), his trusted right hand. Pike joins forces with gambler Tyree (Fred Williamson), who has other ideas for what might be done with the money. Tyree isn’t the only one with a design on the loot. Morgan’s fortune attracts outlaws and gunmen, including bounty hunter Kiefer (Lee Van Cleef – can’t have reel spaghetti without him) and Kane (Barry Sullivan) a sheriff straddling both sides of the law.
The journey to Sonora races from ambush to chase to gunfight, pausing along the way to collect a prostitute needing rescue (as necessary to spaghetti as sauce and meat balls), Chico a Mexican orphan, and mute Indian scout, Kashtok (Jim Kelly) handily gifted in martial arts. Did I mention ambushes, chases, gunfights.
Showdown comes in a cave where Pike and Tyree’s dispute over the future of the money comes to blows. The fight ends in necessity of surviving you guessed it, another gunfight. Pike and Tyree agree to stand together. They give the cash to the boy and send him off with Kashtok to complete the mission while Pike and Tyree take care of the bad guys once and for all.
With the cave mined with dynamite, Pike and Tyree make their getaway. When the cave blows the outlaws are entombed, all except the enigmatic spaghetti villain Kiefer who lets his bounty go, knowing another helping will come his way. Ah spaghetti, good guys, bad guys, and a good bad guy or two.
Next Week: The Sheepman
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
The journey to Sonora races from ambush to chase to gunfight, pausing along the way to collect a prostitute needing rescue (as necessary to spaghetti as sauce and meat balls), Chico a Mexican orphan, and mute Indian scout, Kashtok (Jim Kelly) handily gifted in martial arts. Did I mention ambushes, chases, gunfights.
Showdown comes in a cave where Pike and Tyree’s dispute over the future of the money comes to blows. The fight ends in necessity of surviving you guessed it, another gunfight. Pike and Tyree agree to stand together. They give the cash to the boy and send him off with Kashtok to complete the mission while Pike and Tyree take care of the bad guys once and for all.
With the cave mined with dynamite, Pike and Tyree make their getaway. When the cave blows the outlaws are entombed, all except the enigmatic spaghetti villain Kiefer who lets his bounty go, knowing another helping will come his way. Ah spaghetti, good guys, bad guys, and a good bad guy or two.
Next Week: The Sheepman
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
December 10, 2023
Seraphim Falls
War’s violence and vengeance flow from Seraphim Falls. In a turnabout of events former Confederate Colonel Morsman Carver (Liam Neeson) pursues personal vendetta against Gideon (Pierce Brosnan), the Union officer he holds responsible for the death of his family. Carver is aided in his pursuit by four bounty hunters who are variously killed off by Gideon or give up over the course of the pursuit, leaving Carver and Gideon to confront each other man to man along with their respective demons.
The two exhausted men face each other, each with the opportunity to finish the other. They revisit the scene at the Carver farm in Seraphim Falls where Gideon was ordered to track the former rebel. When Carver is not present, Gideon orders the barn burned to force Carver’s wife and son to reveal his whereabouts. The fire spreads to the house as Carver returns. Restrained by Gideon’s soldiers, both men watch in horror as Carver’s wife and son rush into the burning house to save the infant inside. There all perish. Gideon drops his gun belt and departs.
Haunted by the past the men fight. Gideon bests Carver, sending him off to the nearest town on foot, while Gideon takes his horse and rides away. Carver continues the pursuit overtaking his fugitive once again. Gideon wounds Carver in a gunfight but refuses to finish him. He offers Carver the chance to kill him. Both men throw down their guns and walk away.
Cut out of leftover cloth from films like The Outlaw Josey Wales, Seraphim Falls was a cinematographic triumph of a stark, sweeping vistas set in backdrop to the noir brutality of mortal conflict. The artsy finished film cratered at the box office barely registering on the revenue Richter scale. Critics panned it. Richard Gere, who was originally cast to play Brosnan’s part, dodged a bullet.
Next Week: Take a Hard Ride
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
The two exhausted men face each other, each with the opportunity to finish the other. They revisit the scene at the Carver farm in Seraphim Falls where Gideon was ordered to track the former rebel. When Carver is not present, Gideon orders the barn burned to force Carver’s wife and son to reveal his whereabouts. The fire spreads to the house as Carver returns. Restrained by Gideon’s soldiers, both men watch in horror as Carver’s wife and son rush into the burning house to save the infant inside. There all perish. Gideon drops his gun belt and departs.
Haunted by the past the men fight. Gideon bests Carver, sending him off to the nearest town on foot, while Gideon takes his horse and rides away. Carver continues the pursuit overtaking his fugitive once again. Gideon wounds Carver in a gunfight but refuses to finish him. He offers Carver the chance to kill him. Both men throw down their guns and walk away.
Cut out of leftover cloth from films like The Outlaw Josey Wales, Seraphim Falls was a cinematographic triumph of a stark, sweeping vistas set in backdrop to the noir brutality of mortal conflict. The artsy finished film cratered at the box office barely registering on the revenue Richter scale. Critics panned it. Richard Gere, who was originally cast to play Brosnan’s part, dodged a bullet.
Next Week: Take a Hard Ride
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
December 2, 2023
The Big Trail
The Big Trail blazed more than historical portrayal of the Oregon Trail. In 1930 twenty-three year old John Wayne got his first starring role. The film was shot in cinematographically innovative 70mm wide-screen Grandeur rendering big country landscapes of seven states breathtaking. The United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry for its historic and aesthetic significance. Moreover, pains were taken to give the film historic authenticity in costuming, Ox-drawn wagons and countless period correct features of staging. Imagine that. What could possibly go wrong?
Depression. The film died at box offices laboring to deal with the conversion to talkies never mind a wide-screen extravaganza. John Wayne’s career went from feature film star to nine years of B western oaters. He didn’t reemerge in a starring role until Stagecoach in 1939.
The film portrays the epic trek pioneers blazed along the Oregon Trail. Trapper Breck Coleman (Wayne) is on the trail of two men who killed a fellow trapper for his furs. He catches up with Red Flack and his henchman, Lopez, at a trading post where they are hired to drive freight wagons to a new trading post in Oregon. Coleman agrees to scout for a wagon train of settlers also bound for Oregon. Coleman plans to keep an eye on the suspected murderers, who in turn suspect Coleman is on to their guilt.
On the trail Coleman finds romance with young Ruth Cameron (Marguerite Churchill). Fleck and Lopez plot to remove Coleman from their trail before frontier justice avenges their crimes.
Next Week: Seraphim Falls
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Ride easy,
Paul
Depression. The film died at box offices laboring to deal with the conversion to talkies never mind a wide-screen extravaganza. John Wayne’s career went from feature film star to nine years of B western oaters. He didn’t reemerge in a starring role until Stagecoach in 1939.
The film portrays the epic trek pioneers blazed along the Oregon Trail. Trapper Breck Coleman (Wayne) is on the trail of two men who killed a fellow trapper for his furs. He catches up with Red Flack and his henchman, Lopez, at a trading post where they are hired to drive freight wagons to a new trading post in Oregon. Coleman agrees to scout for a wagon train of settlers also bound for Oregon. Coleman plans to keep an eye on the suspected murderers, who in turn suspect Coleman is on to their guilt.
On the trail Coleman finds romance with young Ruth Cameron (Marguerite Churchill). Fleck and Lopez plot to remove Coleman from their trail before frontier justice avenges their crimes.
Next Week: Seraphim Falls
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Ride easy,
Paul
November 25, 2023
Calaway Went Thataway
Regular readers of these posts know I love the story of how William Boyd’s phenomenal Hopalong Cassidy success prompted an attempt by publisher Harper Collins to resurrect author Clarence Mulford’s original Hoppy only to discover that crusty old reprobate had nothing to do with Boyd’s cleaned up for prime time Hoppy. Along comes Callaway Went Thataway, a film spoof of the Hopalong Cassidy phenomenon with overtones of the literary conflict.
Mike Frye (Fred MacMurry) and Deborah Patterson (Dorothy McGuire) co-own an ad agency with a hot hit on their hands, based on re-releasing vintage western films starring “Smokey” Callaway (Howard Keel). The show’s sponsor is primed for more. Frye and Patterson have a problem. No one has seen Smokey in ten years. Frye hires Smokey’s agent to find him.
Enter cowboy “Stretch” Barnes (Keel again) who complains his pals claim he looks like Smokey. Frye and Patterson take one look and convince Stretch to impersonate Smokey who they say is dead. Stretch agrees. If he has to look like the guy he might as well get paid. Patterson and Stretch head out on a smokey PR tour that turns romantic for Stretch if not for Patterson.
Matters complicate when Smokey’s agent George Markham finds his old drunk, womanizing client in a Mexican cantina. Markham persuades Smokey to get cleaned up and go back to work. Smokey agrees to the money, the cleanup – not so much. Meanwhile Stretch decides to establish a charitable foundation for needy kids, leaving him a small salary for his work. He hires a law firm to draw the papers.
Things take a turn when Stretch and Smokey meet by chance. Stretch realizes he has been used and plans to throw in the towel. Patterson convinces him to make one last public appearance at an event in the L.A. Coliseum. When the lawyer delivers the foundation papers, Stretch decides to sign them at the event in front of a stadium full of witnesses. Smokey gets wind of the plan and gets himself knocked out in a brawl over his objection, as do Frye and Markham. Patterson on the other hand decides she loves Stretch after all.
Oh, and for those of you new to these posts – Harper Collins found a ghost writer for the four book Hopalong Cassidy series Mulford refused to do because he objected to Boyd’s ‘cleaned up’ Hoppy. That ghost writer, Louis L’Amour, went to his grave denying he wrote the books.
Next Week: The Big Trail
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
Mike Frye (Fred MacMurry) and Deborah Patterson (Dorothy McGuire) co-own an ad agency with a hot hit on their hands, based on re-releasing vintage western films starring “Smokey” Callaway (Howard Keel). The show’s sponsor is primed for more. Frye and Patterson have a problem. No one has seen Smokey in ten years. Frye hires Smokey’s agent to find him.
Enter cowboy “Stretch” Barnes (Keel again) who complains his pals claim he looks like Smokey. Frye and Patterson take one look and convince Stretch to impersonate Smokey who they say is dead. Stretch agrees. If he has to look like the guy he might as well get paid. Patterson and Stretch head out on a smokey PR tour that turns romantic for Stretch if not for Patterson.
Matters complicate when Smokey’s agent George Markham finds his old drunk, womanizing client in a Mexican cantina. Markham persuades Smokey to get cleaned up and go back to work. Smokey agrees to the money, the cleanup – not so much. Meanwhile Stretch decides to establish a charitable foundation for needy kids, leaving him a small salary for his work. He hires a law firm to draw the papers.
Things take a turn when Stretch and Smokey meet by chance. Stretch realizes he has been used and plans to throw in the towel. Patterson convinces him to make one last public appearance at an event in the L.A. Coliseum. When the lawyer delivers the foundation papers, Stretch decides to sign them at the event in front of a stadium full of witnesses. Smokey gets wind of the plan and gets himself knocked out in a brawl over his objection, as do Frye and Markham. Patterson on the other hand decides she loves Stretch after all.
Oh, and for those of you new to these posts – Harper Collins found a ghost writer for the four book Hopalong Cassidy series Mulford refused to do because he objected to Boyd’s ‘cleaned up’ Hoppy. That ghost writer, Louis L’Amour, went to his grave denying he wrote the books.
Next Week: The Big Trail
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
