Jason's Blog, page 121

A Cup of Coffee

drawn directly in pen without penciling

Happy birthday, Harold Lloyd!

Aaugh!

The Vikings

Kirk Douglas is a viking. Also starring Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine and Janet Leigh, directed by Richard Fleischer.

The filmmakers have obviously done their research. Things look pretty authentic. The vikings don't have horns on their helmets. The film was shot in the fjords of Norway. But there's also a corny love triangle between Douglas, Curtis and Leigh, and the vikings speak English. Kirk Douglas makes a pretty good viking, even without a beard, and of course, Ernest Borgnine was born to play a viking. The last half hour is really impressive, with the attack on the English castle and the final fight between Douglas and Curtis, looking like a blockbuster before there were blockbusters.

Oh, and sorry about all the plundering, by the way.

Room With A View

Kliban

Breaking bad

Lost Cat script

Hands in pockets

Stagecoach

Apaches attack a stagecoach. Luckily, John Wayne is there to shoot most of them. Directed by John Ford.

This is one of those Westerns where the Indians are just a faceless horde to be shot down, with no background for why they attack. At one moment a passenger on the stagecoach, with one bullett left in his gun, directs it at the head of a female passenger, the idea being that death is better for her than to be captured by Indians. Only at the end of his career, with Cheyenne Autumn, did Ford try to see the situation from the Indians' point of view.

Anyway... this was the breakthrough film for John Wayne, but his persona isn't quite there yet, so it's rather Thomas Mitchell, as a drunk doctor, that steals the film. It's a sound film, but still often has the feel of a silent. John Carradine plays a Doc Holiday type character. There's the scene of the bartender removing the mirror before a duel - always a classic.