Westerns

[schwammy]

I got to see some of "My Darling Clementine" on the big screen this evening. I hadn't seen it before. That was an unexpected pleasure. Well, not really the BIG screen, but a very large, very wide television screen. It was enough to give me a sense of how impressive this film must have been on the silver screen. Henry Fonda looks fifty feet tall in closeups.

Beautiful cinematography too. Funny, this was supposed to take place in Tuscon, Arizona. 'The Searchers' is supposed to take place somewhere in Texas. And they were both shot in Monument Valley. John Ford really loved that place. I can see why.

 

[STHill]

Speaking of Henry Fonda and Westerns, I happened across "Once Upon a Time in the West" last night while flipping channels. One of my all time favorite Westerns (Spaghetti Division).

Great casting against type of Fonda, as one of the meanest, nastiest characters ever in a Western.

 

[Imahomer]

Man, there are a ton of great Westerns out there. One of my favorites is How the West was Won.

 

[thefish]

Speaking of Henry Fonda and Westerns, I happened across "Once Upon a Time in the West" last night while flipping channels. One of my all time favorite Westerns (Spaghetti Division).

Great casting against type of Fonda, as one of the meanest, nastiest characters ever in a Western.

Oh yes! I have the special edition DVD of OUaTitW!

The first scene with Fonda as Frank, with the extreme close-up on his eyes as he guns down the boy! Priceless!

And Jason Robards as Cheyanne.

Leone got to shoot a good amount of the film in the US around Arizona, Wyoming, etc. All the places where John Ford shot those Western epics.

Opera with Guns.

 

[Explorer]

One great western from the 50's is Winchester '73 . It stars Jimmy Stewart, and it shows on TV from time to time.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I love Jimmy Stewart's 1950s westerns. Thankfully, Universal released a bunch of them on DVD a year or two ago. My favorite is "Night Passage," with co-star Audie Murphy. I watched that one any time it came on TV, finally got it taped, and wore out the tape before the DVD came out.

Brad

 

[Doctor Strange]

I've always loved Once Upon A Time in the West too, but my all-time favorite (if I have to name just one!) is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Nice article to spark further discussion of westerns:

http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue10/infocus/

 

[Feraud]

Oh, I love the Western!
You guys mention some great films. Once Upon a Time is great! Fonda and Robards are excellent. Winchester '73 is another great one.

My two favorites are probably The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Unforgiven. Same lead actor(Eastwood) but different stories. The first is a quest for gold(always a great subject!) and the latter is about Justice and one's past coming back to haunt them.

Speaking of Fonda I have to menion The Ox-Bow Incident. No Western style action but an incredible story of "Frontier Justice". Fonda, Dana Andrews and A. Quinn played their roles extremely well. Now that I am typing this I think Ox Bow and Unforgiven have a common theme. Something about 'misplaced Justice'....

 

[thefish]

I got to see "Unforgiven" for the first time recently, and I just didn't care for it the way I thought I would. Couldn't see what the whole "Best Picture" bit was all about. It was an altogether mediocre movie with some shining bits scattered here and there.

It was the script. It was well shot, and the cast was brilliant, (Hackman's Little Bill I thought was phenomenal, and Richard Harris gave a wonderfully slimy performance as English Bob.)

There was a story THERE, but it sort of meandered, and I felt never hit it's mark. About the time that it got up to pace, it was over. It was if they'd spent all of this time in Act 3, just marking time, and then ran out of time, and ended the film at the beginning of Act 4.

It just had a very odd plot structure. Now, I like films with odd plot structures, but this one left me cold. I really WANTED to like the film, but it just fell short. I think a little tweaking to the script by a REALLY good screenwriter would have made this film phenomenal IMHO.

Still, not a bad movie, I just didn't like it as well as I expected to.

Your mileage may vary.

-Dan

 

[Ken]

I LOVE the Spaghetti Westerns. Sergio Leonne was a true master - and those scores of Morricone's were some of the best music ever!!

I especially love the clothes Clint wears in the dollars trilogy - I always wanted to replicate the hat and poncho but the only offerings I have seen onlien are exceedingly overpriced.

Ken

 

[Brad Bowers]

The Museum of the American West has an exhibition dedicated to Sergio Leone, including the original poncho and boots. An article in today's NY Times talked about this exhibit, and said that Clint Eastwood wore the same boots from the "Man With No Name" trilogy in Unforgiven.

Wish I could get to L.A. to see the exhibit.

http://www.museumoftheamericanwest.org/explore/exhibits/leone/index.php

Brad

 

[airfrogusmc]

All great films and don't forget one of my favorites Sam Peckinpahs Wild Bunch. Old school in a changing world. (its better to burn out rust never sleeps)