BS: western flicks

Subject: western flicks
From: GUEST,van lingle
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 06:32 PM

i'm going through a period of inactivity due to a shoulder injury (no guitarizing) and am watching many videos. i love classic (shane, high noon etc.) and even more recent (silverado, unforgiven...) westerns and wonder if i've missed any great or good ones.any suggestions? i've tried the archives and couldn't pull up any relevant threads. thanks, vl.

9

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Midchuck
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:00 PM

My all-time personal favorite in that genre is probably "The Outlaw, Josey Wales." Clint Eastwood starred and directed, I think...

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:05 PM

Paint Your Wagon; The Unsinkable MOlly Brown; Going South; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid come to mind, as well as all of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns.

Take care with your shoulder.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Justa Picker
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:08 PM

I found "The Quick and The Dead", amusing and escapist. (Gene Hackman and Russell Crowe - when he was nobody, and Sharon Stone.)

The early Clint "dusters" (as I call them) were good. Agree about Josey Wales, and also Unforgiven. "The Magnicient Seven" is a must as well.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:15 PM

The John Ford films: "Red River," "The Searchers," "Ft. Apache," "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon," "Rio Grande," "Rio Bravo," "Ride the High Country" (Randolph Scott and Joel McCray), "Winchester 73," "Stage Coach," are a few I can recommend.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Cappuccino
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:18 PM

English TV often shows old 50s westerns in the early afternoons on weekdays, and as I work from home, I often have them on. The only thing I like better than a good western... is a bad western. I love the 1940s-50s bright Technicolor, and I like my heroes in clean duds while the baddies are dirty and unshaven, and there's always an unrealistically pretty girl with an hourglass figure in some remote shack somewhere... could watch them all day!

- ian B

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,colwyn dane
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:39 PM

In addition to those mentioned above.
Some very good b+w jobs:
'The Plainsman' - Gary Cooper
'My Darling Clementine' - Henry Fonda
'They Died With Their Boots On' - Errol Flynn
'Red River' - John Wayne
'Santa Fe Trail' - Errol Flynn
'The Gunfighter' - Gregory Peck

And some colourful ones:
'Drums Along The Mohawk' - Henry Fonda
'Northwest Passage' - Spencer Tracy
'Jesse James' - Tyrone Powell(1938)

Have a laugh with:
Laurel & Hardy 'Way Out West'
'Blazing Saddles'

Good viewing to you.
CD.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,colwyn dane
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:42 PM

Spot my mistake and send the answer on the back of a 50 dollar bill to yours truly.

CD.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,BigDaddy
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:49 PM

"One-Eyed Jacks" with Marlon Brando and "The Long Riders" with sets of brothers (Carradines, Keach-s, etc.). Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch," and "Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid." And definitely "Lonely Are The Brave," starring Kirk Douglas in a film based upon a novel by Edward Abbey.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,vl
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:50 PM

colwyn, wasn't it john wayne and not fonda in drums along the mohawk. u.s. currency only please *g*. great suggestions all. please don't stop.vl

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,vl
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:54 PM

tyrone powell(-er)?

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: catspaw49
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 07:59 PM

No wonder I'm such a waste.........I've seen all of these I think.........completely pathetic.

Magnificent Seven
How the West Was Won

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DonMeixner
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 08:04 PM

Will Penny is an overlooked gem, The Sacketts is very good as is the other Quick and the Dead. Any Sam Elliot or Ben Johnson western is worth the time.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 08:13 PM

Doug R. mentioned 'Rio Bravo', one of my favorites with a nice musical interlude with Ricky Nelson and Dean Martin harmonizing on " My Rifle,Pony and Me",,then going into " Get Along Home Cindy Cindy" with Walter Brennan joining in on the chorus. Makes me smile every time I see it.

Also, not a straight cowboy picture, but 'Northwest Passage' with Spencer Tracy and Brennan, and Robert Young is very good.

Clifton

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 08:14 PM

Doug R. mentioned 'Rio Bravo', one of my favorites with a nice musical interlude with Ricky Nelson and Dean Martin harmonizing on " My Rifle,Pony and Me",,then going into " Get Along Home Cindy Cindy" with Walter Brennan joining in on the chorus. Makes me smile every time I see it.

Also, not a straight cowboy picture, but 'Northwest Passage' with Spencer Tracy and Brennan, and Robert Young is very good.

Clifton

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 08:36 PM

The years when I was living in New York City and had a hankerin' to see the sky, I used to go down to those seedy theaters in Time Square every time Big Country was on. Will Penny is another favorite, already mentioned. I watched Stage Coach the other night with John Wayne in his first "major" movie role (although he shared equal time with four or five other actors and actresses. Iinda nice to see him before he started mailing in his appearnces. One no one had mentioned, I think, is the Ox Bow Incident... very disturbing. I also watched the Gunfighter with Gregory Peck recently, and that's fine, too.
Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 09:27 PM

Yes, Jerry, your suggestions are excellent. The Big Country is one of my favorites, and I love the musical score to it. You are right about The Ox Bow Incident. That was really considered a very daring movie when it was released in the 1940's. Clifton, Rio Bravo is one of my favorites too and I thought Walter Brennen was great in it. The Wild Bunch was a very good movie too, I thought. I also liked John Wayne's last movie, "The Shootist," based on a novel by Glendon Swarthout. Musn't forget Monte Walsh either.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Dave Swan
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 09:34 PM

My Name is Nobody

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Midchuck
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 09:38 PM

Of course, if you watch "Blazing Saddles," you can never again watch any western and take it completely seriously...

Peter.

P. S. "The Long Riders" is worth watching for the music alone. The action and the acting are bonuses.

P.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DonMeixner
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 10:11 PM

Swano,

Sure it isn't "Trinity"?

Don

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Peg
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 10:18 PM

One of my favorite westerns is a very recent one: Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman. It won a lot of awards and deserved every one. This film takes a lot of the old standard images and plot twists of the classic western and flips them on their heads! A great story, great shooting, very entertaining.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Justa Picker
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 10:24 PM

My favourite line in that movie Peg, after the kid has the shakes from shooting the guy in the outhouse...to Clint.."guess he had it coming"..and Clint's reply "Kid, we've all got it coming."

Loved it!

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Dave Swan
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 10:26 PM

Don,

The Trinity films were made with Terence Hill & his buddy Bud Spencer. Both those names are pseudonyms, as Bud & Terence are both Italian.

My Name is Nobody features Terence Hill & Henry Fonda.

ES

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DonMeixner
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 10:34 PM

Dave,

I know that. Jeepers boy I was pickin on ya. The silver conchos on the saddle bags with the dynamite is a scene that I recall very vividly. Also the barroom "drink a shot and shoot the glass" scene was most fun.

Ever see The Massacre at Marble City? After the wagon train massacre the Italian movie staple of a lone trumpet and an electric guitar play a duet of The Party's Over.

I laughed my self nuts with that one.

Going to bed now--------yawn------- I is beat.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Mickey191
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 10:42 PM

Each & everyone is a winner. May I add John Ford's The Searchers and Missouri Breaks with Jack Nicholson. Get Well. Slainte

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 12:58 AM

"Duel In The Sun" (Gregory Peck) and "Tom Horn" (Steve McQueen). Also, for more modern , "revisionist" westerns: "When Legends Die," "J. W. Coop," "Junior Bonner"." Also recent film now on video called, "All The Pretty Horses." And "The Hi-Lo Country." And "Last Of The Dogmen."

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 06:49 AM

Two Mules For Sister Sarah (Clint Eastwood) is a good un

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 07:12 AM

'Fort Apache', with Henry Fonda and John Wayne, and Victor McGlaglen(sp?), where Fonda plays the new straight-laced Commander and Duke is the sargeant/indian expert, contains a great line, something like,

Fonda: "I saw some Apaches on my way here, didn't look like much to me."

Wayne: " Well if you saw them sir,they weren't Apache"

Clifton

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Hrothgar
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 07:46 AM

Onya, Midchuck! Why did it take so long for someone to mention "Blazing Saddles?"

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Cappuccino
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:30 AM

They must have had a whole Hollywood-full of actors who seemed to do nothing but westerns - I always loved seeing Slim Pickins or Walter Brennan in a cast!

- Ian B

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:44 AM

What about Valley of the Gwangi? My favorite dinosaur western with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. What could possibly top cowboys roping and tieing a Terranosaurus Rex?
Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,colwyn dane
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 09:56 AM

Yup you got it van - Power it should be.

The Anthony Mann/Jimmy Stewart works:
'Winchester 73'
'Bend of the River'
'The Naked Spur'
'The Far Country'
'The Man From Laramie'
Arthur Kennedy in a couple of 'em as a 'greyish' rather than 'blackish' villan.
Dan Duryea as a sneering/whining heavy - great stuff.


'Dodge City' with Errol Flynn contains perhaps the greatest saloon punch-up in the movies.
Guinn Williams: "That's one fight you Yanks didn't win"

CD.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Les B
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 02:39 PM

And for a hint of weirdness - "Missouri Breaks" and "The Ballad of Little Jo"

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 06:42 PM

Also, the Virginian.

What were the two recenet ones with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance? Oh yeah, City Slickers. loved those!

We learned a lot of songs from How the West Was Won, I think it was (got spurs on my boots and I don't give a hoot 'cause I got me a pretty woman's glove...)

Fort Apache - the Bronx was excellent, though not a western:-)

Paint Your Wagon...er, did I already say that, sorry...

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: RangerSteve
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 06:56 PM

The Shootist - JW's last movie, and maybe his best. And Cat Ballou (sp?) - maybe the funniest western, and a great performance by Lee Marvin. Which reminds me - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - also with Lee Marvin, James Stewart, John Wayne, and everyone else who was ever in a John Ford western. And not really a western, but North to Alaska - Wayne, again.

Any western with Wallace Beery, although I've never seen any on video.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: kendall
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 07:54 PM

Lonesome Dove. Head and shoulders above all except High Noon.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:00 PM

I think Lonesome Dove was the best TV mini- series ever made. I never could understand why Gus had to die though. He was the glue that held that story together, I thought.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:01 PM

Legends of the Fall; the Grey Fox was it, with Richard Farnsworth?

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Mickey191
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:25 PM

HELP. Can't remember the name. Michael Cimino movie which was murdered by the critics and died at the B.O. About the westward migration, and narrated by the hero's teenage sister.Beautifully photographed. I loved it. I'm sure Christopher Walken was in it. Anybody??

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: kendall
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:29 PM

Mickey, was that The Far Country?

Doug, the story was based on a true incident, that's why Gus bought the farm. You've heard Utah Phillips' GOODNITE LOVING/TRAIL? Supposedly, one of them died and the other dragged him many miles to bury him where he wanted to rest.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: rube1
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:41 PM

Heaven's Gate -Cimino's epic

Run of the Arrow -young Rod Steiger on foot Bandolero- grizzled Jimmy Stewart-great jew's harp theme Valdez is Coming- Burt Lancaster in Elmore Leonard story Once Upon a Time in the West-Sergio Leone epic The Romance of Rosy Ridge-early MacKinlay Kantor story My Little Chickadee-Mae West and WC Fields

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Mickey191
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:54 PM

Thanks Kendall, But I think it is Heaven's Gate.Good Job Rube1. Romance of Rosey Ridge, was, I think Janet Leigh's first picture. My husband saw that on the ship going to Japan as part of occupation forces. He said every soldier fell in love with Janet and her more then ample bosom! Slainte.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 12:22 AM

Little Big Man (Dustin Hoffman)

From Noon Til Three,a totally different kind of film for Charles Bronson. He starred with his wife (whose name escapes me at the moment).

McLintock, Big Jake, Sons of Katie Elder, True Grit (moreJohn Wayne)

Maverick, both the TV series with James Garner and the "new" movie with Mel Gibson/James Garner

The Villain, THE absolutely funniest Western ever made (including Blazing Saddles), with Kirk Douglas playing The Coyote and Arnold Swartznegger as Handsome Stranger (named after his father) (a/k/a The Roadrunner...)! Oh yeah, and Ann Margaret as Simply Charming (because that's what her daddy said when her mom told him she was pregnant).

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DonMeixner
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 12:54 AM

Is it possible that no one has yet mentioned "Shane"? That film never gets stale or old.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 01:24 AM

Yeah, I think Shane was mentioned in the first post, Don. Interesting, Kendall, I didn't know that LD was based on a true story. DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DonMeixner
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 07:51 AM

Yup. It was. But its so good it deserves to be mentioned twice.

Now how about "Hondo"? Great movie made from Louis LaMours first novel.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 08:15 AM

I may have missed it, but there is also "Once Upon a Time in the West" the spaghetti western with Henry Fonda as a blue-eyed bad-ass.....makes the whole thing worthwhile.

There was another Alan Ladd one called "The Big Land" I think....pretty fair classic Hollywood western.

And I don't think we've mentioned another humorous classic, "The Cheyenne Social Club"......Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda, two old friends on screen and off........helluva' good movie!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 05:11 PM

Someone mentioned " My Darlin' Clementine" above, the only movie I've seen in which Walter Brennan plays a bad-ass, Ike Clanton, at one point, slapping his son to the ground and saying, " when you pull a gun kill a man". Bad Walter!!

Clifton

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: kendall
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 05:27 PM

Little Big Man yes! All I remember about Hondo was Marion Morrison saying "Never apologize; it's a sign of weakness." Mega asshole.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Wesley S
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 05:39 PM

Another vote for Little Big Man { soundtrack of delta blues by John Hammond }.

An interesting western of sorts was "Quigley Down Under". Tom Selleck plays a sharpshooter hired to come to Australia. When he finds out the job is shooting aborigines he turns on his boss. There are some horrible scenes of the aborigines being driven off cliffs. Some good 12 string guitar in the soundtrack also.

"Welcome to Hard Times" is good but of course the book by E L Doctrow is better.

And perhaps I missed it but did anyone mention "Gunfight at OK Corral" yet? Now that's almost the perfect western.

The book that SHOULD have been turned into a movie but wasn't was " The Cowboy and the Cossak" by Clair Huffaker. Texas cowboys driving cattle across Siberia. Based on a true story. Has anyone else read that?

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: rube1
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 05:56 PM

The Big Gundown - Lee Van Cleef- I looked for this one on video for years- no luck

Support Your Local Sheriff -James Garner comedy

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DonMeixner
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 08:04 PM

The bad Walter Brennan was also Judge Roy Bean in a film with Gary Cooper.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: artbrooks
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 08:37 PM

I can't recall the name, but I gave it to my father for Christmas: a circa 1932 John Wayne black and white flick with the Duke playing a singing cowboy! Title, anyone?

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 08:52 PM

My gawd, I think we have forgotten (and we probably should), "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"...and the interminably long to boot!

How about both of the "Destry Rides Again" flicks? The first with Jimmy Stewart and the remake with Audie Murphy in the title role.

Some nice shots of Racquel in "Hannie Caulder."

And thinking of Jimmy Stewart and Audie Murphy, they did one as brothers on different side of the law....I think the title is "Night Passage."

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Ian Darby
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 09:46 PM

Regarding humour, "Blazing Saddles" was excellent, but the funniest western (for me) was "Evil Roy Slade"

I saw this around 30 years ago on telly in the U.K. and have been trying to find it ever since.

I couldn't get it in England and finally managed to order it from the 'States'. (The postage cost more than the video.) I then had to pay to convert it to U.K. VHS format and it was worth every penny.

The film started out as a 'pilot' and never got any further.

It stars John Astin, (Addams Family) as a phsychotic bank robber and also features Mickey Rooney, Henry Gibson, Edie Adams, Dick Shawn, Dom DeLuise, Pamela Austin, and Milton Berle.

There's a whole catchphrase cult in the U.K based on some of the scenes in this film.

I was really pleased that, having finally got my hands on a copy, it was as funny as I remembered it.

Americans. You should be proud.

"Enough Warmth"

P.S. After spending years tracking down the damn thing and getting copies done for all my mates channel 4 showed it the week after.

P.P.S. So it goes.....

P.P.S. Please try and see it.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 10:44 PM

Wesley S --

The Cowboy and the Cossack is my all-time favorite Western book. I wore out my first paperback copy and had to use an out-of-print search and buy hardback to replace it. I've read that thing at least once a year since I discovered it, and don't think I'll ever get tired of it.

Didn't know it was based on a true story, though--where did you find out about that?

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 11:02 PM

Hey Ian...EVIL ROY SLADE!!!! Check this post from about a year and a half ago. You have good taste my man!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 12:19 AM

I saw Evil Roy Slade when it was on tv in the late sixties or early seventies, and I thought it was hilarious. I remember several scenes of Evil Roy trying to "go straight" by being a shoe salesman etc. I never knew if it was really that funny, or if the Maui Wow-ee we had that night biased my opinion.

My number one western of all time? Ulzana's Raid with Burt Lancaster as an aging tracker employed by the army to catch a renegade Apache and his band. Very gritty and unglamorized view of the Indian Wars in the Southwest.

In one scene, a young cavalry officer is escorting a woman and her young son to safety when the Apaches ambush them. On horseback, he leads their wagon in an attempted escape, but the wagon loses a wheel. He pauses, then gallops away to save his life. He goes maybe 50 feet when he suddenly turns his horse and draws his sidearm, galloping back to them. As the Apaches close in, he leans down from his horse and shoots the woman through the forehead, then pulls the boy onto the horse and once again attempts escape. As the Apaches are gaining on him, his horse is shot down and he and the boy sprawl on the ground. The Apaches seize the boy and, as they come toward the soldier, he rolls to his pistol and shoots himself.

No, 'taint politicall correct. Just a damn good film.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: thosp
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 12:34 AM

throw in some Glen Ford westerns such as "3:10 to Yuma " and "The Fastest Gun Alive" add a dash of Audie Murphy movies and you have an enjoyable omelet

peace (Y) thosp

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: technission
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 01:25 AM

"Stagecoach" already recommended, just chiming in to say it has been part of curriculum for past 25 years at university (where I work in film/photo dept) - not just as film history but also for the film production classes, to try to teach those pups something about *structure* and *film language* -it's like performing an intervention on their MTV-warped visual cortices. And still being currently screened for the same purposes, "McCabe and Mrs.Miller" - it's dark visually and thematically but Leonard Cohen soundtrack for a western - and it works!?! Well, directed by Robert Altman; he *makes* it work! I won't even tell you the star-studded cast, you wouldn't believe it, go to www.imdb.com to verify or search for any film info. As for "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid", the older I get the less I like a Peckinpah bloodbath but how can you not watch Kristofferson as Billy, while listening to Dylan songs and seeing the Zimmer-man as a camp follower?? If you get the bloodlust from that, take a break from westerns to cross the pond and see "Straw Dogs". Peckinpah set in UK, disturbing to watch at some times but ultimately satisfying. OK, spaghetti westerns already lauded but "G B & U" best of Clint's in that genre IMHO, you just have to settle in for the long haul and absolutely watch to the end through all the credits because the action continues and affects your final opinion. "In this world, Tuco, there are two kinds of people: those with guns, and those who dig. You dig." "When you have to shoot, shoot - don't talk!" Enough said, but I can't *believe* nobody came forth with "Pale Rider" - Clint as you expect him, championing the oppressed; good vs evil on two fronts and satisfying resolution! For much lighter fare action/comedy/western try "Maverick"(1994) with Jameses Garner + Coburn, Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster... And seriously, you need to get out of this western rut and check out "The Stunt Man" (1980), Peter O'Toole playing an obsessed director, the luscious Barbara Hershey (oops I give myself away) superb suspense and twisted plot with glimpses into filming processes. I'm sure I heard it's just out on DVD or about to be, with making-of footage and interviews included, I can't wait. Just promise to NeveR see it on commercial TV, it gets butchered for time and major subtleties are lost. So, get better, but pace yourself to leave time for viewing! Haha, got a broken ankle myself, down 3 mos. already with another O.R. visit and 2 months before I ambulate unassisted, but at least I can strum. HANG in there! (But make sure your bounty-scam partner can really shoot that noose rope!) /> michael

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Wesley S
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 02:04 PM

Lin - I'll have to check my copy at home. But either in the book or from a good friend who suggested the book I heard that there was a cattle drive in Siberia that included American cowboys. That's the only true part that I've heard of - that was supposed to have been the insiration for Clair Huffaker. I still think that it would be one hell of a movie. Maybe Arnold Swartzwhatever will take a stab at it someday.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 08:02 PM

Oh yes, "McCabe and Mrs. Miller." One of the very best, I think of the modern westerns.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,Bluey
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 08:44 PM

Wow, there are some real gems listed in this thread. One of my favourite westerns in recent years is "The Jack Bull" with John Cusack as the main character and John Goodman as a circuit judge.(It has the most realistic hanging I have ever seen in a movie.) Check it out.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 10:33 PM

One that I don't think has been mentioned, and won't be now either because I can't recall the blooming title, but the Siberian cattle-drive mentioned above reminded me of another film. This one featured, amazingly, Japanese samurai on a wagon train I think, guarding a Japanese princess while transporting her cross country, along with the regular cowboys. I can't remember much more about it except that bit, and the strange juxtaposition of cultures it portrayed.
Anyone help with the title please? And maybe who was in it? I think Toshiro Mifune(sp) was one actor in it.

Clifton

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 10:37 PM

Hi Cliff......Probably not the one you're thinking, but it's similar to Jackie Chan's "Shanghai Noon."

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 10:59 PM

Found it Spaw, and I'm fine, tweren't about no princess at all, but about he and Charles Bronson trying to recover a samurai sword from a bloody train robbery. It was called " Red Sun", circa 1972.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 11:03 PM

Good grief!! I've just answered my own post!! DOH!!

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 12:44 AM

Spaw, I didn't name it, but I did mention all of Eastwood's spaghetti westerns.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: RangerSteve
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 08:34 AM

Wesley S. and Lin in Kansas, thanks for reminding me of the Cowboy and the Cossack. It's crying out to be made into a movie. But they don't turn out good westerns anymore. At least not like they used to.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Mickey191
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 12:22 PM

Cattle drive in SIBERIA-How about a private club in Manhattan whose membership consists of Afro-American business men; who ride rented horses around N.Y.C. in the wee small hours of the am? They were shown on tv driving up to a favorite bar, securing the horses, and enjoying a libation. All that was missing, was Miss Kitty. What do you think?

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Art Thieme
Date: 14 Feb 02 - 12:02 AM

MONTE WALSH

LONESOME DOVE

DEAD MAN

THE MOUNTAIN MEN

JEREMIAH JOHNSON

WYATT EARP

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Feb 02 - 02:42 AM

Oh, man! All those great westerns. My all-time favourites are:

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (and the other two)

The Magnificent Seven

Windwalker

Dances With Wolves

Little Big Man

And I like just about any Clint Eastwood western.

For laughs...Back To The Future, part III

Pat Garret and Billy the Kid had some great moments, but was paced in a kind of strange way...really disjointed at times.

The worst one (on a large scale, that is) was probably Heaven's Gate. Don't watch it unless you really want to suffer...

Doug - I agree that Gus McCrae was the character who held Lonesome Dove together...he was a marvellous personality. He was the Catspaw49 of all cowboy characters. I read the book "Lonesome Dove", and was so genuinely horrified when Gus died that it darn near broke my heart...honest to God. I was depressed for quite a while afterward (the book triggered it cos I got so involved with the characters), and I sort of hate Larry McMurtry for writing a book that good, while delivering a overall message of final and utter defeat of the human spirit, despite its courage...he did the same thing in the book about Calamity Jane. I absolutely don't buy his view of human destiny, but then I believe in a soul that never dies, but goes on to greater things. I gave up reading his books after those two. I can get depressed easily enough on my own, without his help...

But he's one heck of a writer, that's for sure. Makes the others in the western genre look like nothing but pulp fiction.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: musicmick
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 12:27 AM

I just love this thread. The movie with John Wayne as a singing cowboy was RANDY RIDES ALONE. It wasn't a great film but it has curiousity value.

An unheralded gem was VALDEZ IS COMING with Burt Lanchester as a Mexican deputy hired by a nasty rancher. How about HOMBRE, with Paul Newman and Richard Boone? ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST was Sergio Leone's masterpiece, even better than THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. If you like broad comedy, try PALEFACE with Bob Hope and Jane Russel. But if you are like me, and you want pure escapist fare, grab ahold of those wonderful B westerns of the 40's. I, particularly, liked Lash La Rue and the Durango Kid but, in a pinch, Sunset Carson or Hopalong Cassidy filled the bill.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 01:23 AM

How about "The Frisco Kid," with Gene Wilder and a very young (c. 1979) Harrison Ford? Ford plays the Bad Guy With The Heart Of Gold, a part he's done well since Star Wars (the first one). Gene does a great job as a Polish rabbi bringing a copy of the Torah to the West. I could watch Gene in most anything ("The name is Fronk-en-steen, you idiot!")

Wesley S., I can't see Arnie as Shad, or as Rostov either. And who the heck could play Levi? That's the trouble with making movies from books; the players hardly ever match my idea of what the characters should look and act like... Ranger Steve, you're right--they just don't make 'em like they usta. Damn, now I've got to go read that book AGAIN!

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Wesley S
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 11:13 AM

Lin - Agreed that Arnie wouldn't be my first choice either { I'm not sure who would be } but he does have enough clout to get it done if he wanted to. Besides, to Americans his accent would sound Cossack.

By the way you have great taste in books.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 11:50 AM

I read the first 30 pages of Lonesome Dove and gave it up. I found McMurtry's writing amateurish and inconsistant. The movie, on the other hand, was really good.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Wesley S
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 01:06 PM

EJ - Not to be argumentative but did you know that Lonesome Dove won the Pulitzer prize for fiction?

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 01:11 PM

Gad, LEJ, you have succeeded in dumfounding me! I guess we have different tastes in literary style or something.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 02:26 PM

Hey guys, I could be wrong. There's no accounting for taste :>}

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,GUEST
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 03:47 PM

"The Professionals" Burt Lancaster, Woody Strode, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan

Can't remember the name, but Gene Hackman, James Coburn, a horse race across the west by a newspaper, early 1900's

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Wesley S
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 03:52 PM

Yes Guest - Great movie. I think Candice Bergan was in it too. The title of the movie will come to me as I'm driving home I'm sure. It was on the late movie just a few weeks ago. Intersting scene when the Mexican rider walked into a bar to get some relief for his toothache and the bartender offered him heroin and morphine.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Art Thieme
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 07:18 PM

McMurtry's endings are right on from where I sit. The end of "Grapes Of Wrath" (the book==not the film) was proletariat romance----but McMurtry just reflects "what is".

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Feb 02 - 08:49 PM

Oh, they're realistic, all right. I guess you have to ask yourself what is the actual reason to write a story? Is it to simply report on what you think is out there? If so, then what you think may be different from what someone esle thinks, as we all have a rather subjective view of reality.

Some people die feeling that it was all a waste and that their life has come to nothing. Others die proudly, and others die peacefully, without regret. Who was the wiser?

My problem with McMurtry's books is that they do not inspire hope. Surely it would be wiser to write material that does? The greatest written works ever written are precisely those which do inspire hope and a faith that goes beyond the mere material circumstances of life.

But, for books that don't, McMurtry's are exceedinly well written. I just can't see the point of it all, upon finishing one of them. Why waste brilliant craft on pessimism and the defeat of the human spirit?

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 12:55 AM

Well, L.H., you could be right, of course, but McMurtry has done pretty well for himself writing in the style that he does, I think.

I agree with others that questioned LEJ about his take on Lonesome Dove. I, myself, think it is probably the most interesting book of fiction I read in the 90's. I've read some of his books that, in my opinion, missed the mark. But the Lonesome Dove series (with the exception of the one about the gang trying to invade Santa Fe) was very good. "The Last Picture Show," I think is a classic, and the movie ain't shabby.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,Den
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 01:09 AM

I scanned OK... but I don't think anybody mentioned a couple of greats IMO. Namely "the Culpepper Cattle Company" and Bad Company". Doug here we are again. Check these movies out and let me know what you think PM. Ian great choice with Evil Roy Slade, we had a fan club, which pretty much consisted of our band and friends, I think that "Stubby Little Index Finger", should be in the DT. Den

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: van lingle
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 07:54 AM

i'm compilng a hell of a list here folks, thank you. did anyone mention "hombre" which featured a smoldering paul newman and a magnificently evil richard boone. adapted from one of elmore leonards' first novels, i believe.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 01:28 PM

re Gus dying in Lonesome Dove. It certainly made for a gripping scene in the movie, and gave Tommie Lee Jones' character an opportunity to push his limits, both emotionally and from the standpoint of his "sense of duty". And would Gus have been happy staying home on the Montana ranch? I doubt it. For the Jones character, the journey was a means to an end. For Gus, the journey WAS the important thing, and I think his destiny pleased him : dying a heroic death with his best friend at his side.

Now regarding McMurtry. I concede that his vision of the plot for Lonesome Dove was stunning. That's why the film was so damn good. It's his writing that rendered the story transparent to me. My concern when I read is : does this writer render truth in his words? To me, McMurtry is like the film director whose movie has great potential, but we see the camera and the boom mic all too often. Now I only read 50 pages of the book, so I'm basing my opinion on that. My assessment would be McMurtry has the vision of a Hemmingway, and the writing talent of Robert Ludlum.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 02:41 PM

Interesting viewpoint, LEJ. I haven't read any Robert Ludlum, but I think I get what you mean.

I think most people come to crucial turning points in their lives...where they can either wake up, change their habitual pattersn, and vitally alter and improve their destiny...or...they just keep blindly (or weakly) doing what they've always done and meander off to a much lesser destiny. The latter is what happens in the majority of cases.

Now...Augustus McCrae had his accustomed, comfy ways and routines, and one of them was going off on crazy adventures with Captain Call (who was an emotionally supressed nut case, with a talent for practical action). Augustus, however, was not a stupid man nor was he devoid of imagination. He was smart enough to see the alternatives.

He had a crucial moment when he could have decided to let Call go off and destroy himself (and numerous others) on some unrealistic folly...and he could have made a really fine life for himself with those 2 fine ladies on the ranch. He could have fulfilled the love of a lifetime.

He made the wrong decision. Because of it, he died prematurely, and pointlessly. So did some Indians and some cowboys, while the rock-headed idiot Call went on fanatically doing further wrong things until the final gasp of utter futility. He (Call) ruined so many lives.

All Gus had to do was listen to the lady. She had it figured right. Call couldn't save himself, but Gus could have. What a shame he did not.

On such slender things does a human life rise or fall.

I do not much enjoy stories where no one has enough sense to change themselves. The wonderful thing about life is...we CAN change...if we are willing to. That's the challenge. Why not write about that?

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 03:05 PM

Good points,LH. But Gus was a Quixotic figure and a flamboyant risk-taker. I believe that those chracteristics were exactly what attracted the two women AND Capt Call to him. He was also a fatalist, and never revealed a sense of remorse or tragedy in his own death.

I think we view Call differently. To me, he was emotionally crippled by his own sense of duty and reponsibility. The Gus part of him, and there was an element of Gus within him, was so far suppressed that he only glimpsed it in the crazy actions of his friend. But Call wasn't unemotional, and I think Jones did a hell of a job of showing the glimmers of the inner Call in the deathbed scene with Gus, in the scenes with Call's son, and in the vengeance scene with Blue Duck. Because they were sparks under the surface, they were no less intense.

And Gus loved to tweak Call's sense of duty. In his request for Call to haul his body home, he forced Call to realize, through his self-imposed sense of duty, to experience a totally Quixotic adventure that drove him beyond the brink of his own self-control. It was truly Gus' last gift to him.

Call's sense of vision, true, left its victims in his wake, but the vision was no less grand for that. He also realized a lot of dreams for a lot of people, whether he intended to or not.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Don Firth
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 03:29 PM

Another vote for "The Big Country." It has everything a Western movie buff could possibly want.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 05:36 PM

LEJ, LH, damn fine assessments, both of them.

I do agree, LEJ, that McMurtry has a tendency to overwrite at times, and some of his books are pure BS in my opinion. When he really tries, though, he can grab me. I thought the follow-up to "The Last Picture Show," "Texasville," was pure crap.

As to Gus, if he had been content hobbling around with only one leg, he probably could have saved himself. That wouldn't have been Gus though. He would have found it awkward to try to manage a poke with only one leg.

Den, I thought Culpepper was a very good movie. I don't think I have seen "Bad Company." I'll have to check that one out.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Feb 02 - 09:54 PM

Brilliant analysis of both Call and McCrae, LEJ! You may be right that Gus did what was most appropriate for him, given his quixotic nature. Many Indian warriors would have done something similar, also being romantics and fatalists by nature. And yes, that was part of what attracted the ladies...

And you're right about Call's sense of duty driving him. His kind of psychology gives me the creeps. Military regimes of the worst sort have so often capitalized on that quality in people, finding willing heroes and loyal killers to murder and destroy for them. You can win iron crosses and congressional medals of honour with such dedication...often posthumously.

At any rate, I enjoyed reading your angle on the whole thing thoroughly. As always, it shows there are many valid ways to look at something.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Art Thieme
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:59 PM

This was fiction emulating reality once again. Charlie Goodnight, the real western hero, took his partner's corpse (Oliver Loving) all the way back to Texas for burial. I remember seeing an actual pho of the wagon moving south on the trail the two men had pioneered and made famous---THE GOODNIGHT-LOVING TRAIL.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Art Thieme
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 01:09 PM

McMurtry's books don't inspire hope because real life doesen't inspire hope. Only religion inspires hope--a contrivance to make people feel better while avoiding reality. One can get to an actual realization of this reality by working toward a wisdom that encompasses INSECURITY. After that, whatever comes down the pike is, more or less, o.k.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 05:22 PM

Hmmm. Art, you're not a pessimist are you?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 09:40 PM

Real life inspires whatever one is willing to be inspired by.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: leprechaun
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 10:07 PM

Just reading these posts makes me want to get injured so I can watch all theses movies again.

Katlaughing has it right with Paint Your Wagon. Don't miss it.

I think Bruce Dern is the greatest bad guy of all time. He did a relatively obscure movie where he wasn't exactly the bad guy, but he was an outlaw adept at escaping from custody. I can't remember the name of the movie right now; one too many glasses of wine.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Kim C
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 11:17 AM

LONESOME DOVE (yes I meant to holler) Sorry to be late in the conversation. This is my all-time favorite Western and I could go on for days.

Mister and I were just watching a movie - not a Western, and now I can't think of what it was - but the woman was berating the man for something, and she said, you could have saved him.... I said, that's just like Clara arguing with Woodrow over Gus.

And I have known one or two Gus-es... men I was crazy about, but had the sense enough to know it wasn't going to work. Thankfully the one I chose to marry has enough sense not to get kicked in the head by a horse.

And boy, was Mister ever pissed when Gus died! (No, we really aren't spoiling this for anyone who hasn't seen it. There is SOOOOOOO much more than that.)

Danny Glover as Deets is totally awesome.

Tombstone with Kurt Russell is another favorite. Don't bother with Costner's Wyatt Earp, except to see Dennis Quaid as Doc Holliday. (although Val Kilmer was better...)

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 02:55 PM

Kim, no argument with you on the better Wyatt Earp movie. The one with Kurt Russell was much better than Costner's I thought. I still like the old one with Henry Fonda better than any of them though. John Ford knew how to direct Westerns. It has already been mentioned: "My Darling Clementine."

I agree with you about Danny Glover too, and with the Sheriff and Deputy from Arkansas. Aw hell! The whole cast was good.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Kim C
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:11 PM

Oh! I saw My Darling Clementine once. It was a good movie... although by modern standards, a little kitschy. (Somehow I don't think Doc Holliday wore black eyeliner.) But we liked it.

What's scary about Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp is that He Looks Exactly Like Him.

I will second the vote for anything with Sam Elliott.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,Paulie
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 03:25 PM

Check out THE BRAVADOS, starring Gregory Peck.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 08:32 PM

I think Peck's best two westerns, though, was "Big Country" and "The Gunfighter." I knew him professionally back in the early 70's and asked him why he made "McKenna's Gold," which in my opinion, is one of the worst ever made. He had no good answer.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:09 PM

My favorite scene in The Big Country is the climactic fist-fight between Peck and his rival. The camera starts in tight on their struggle, grim faces, blood and dirt, then gradually pans out until their fight is revealed in its real significance against the surrounding endless plains and the mountains towering behind them...they are tiny figures whose winning or losing will have no impact on the vast landscape.

Duel in the Sun is my other favorite Peck western. The girl must choose between a safe respectable life with the bland Joseph Cotton, or fire and passion with the false-hearted Peck. Their ultimate confrontation is an ultimate symbol for the thin line that divides love from hatred.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:38 PM

I think my favorite scene in The Big Country is the Burl Ives' scene where he forces the duel between Greg Peck and his son. The scene where he bursts into the dinner party is good too. The arrogance of the ranchers, who simply could not accept the fact that Peck could find his way on the ranch with a compass, was a great theme, I thought.

I wasn't as enthused about Duel in the Sun, but I should watch it again, LEJ, if you are that impressed with it. I haven't seen it, probably, since it was released in the 50's?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:51 PM

The film with Bruce Dern mentioned here was SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF---a hilarious Western that starred James Garner, B.Dern and Walter Brennan. Carol and I came out of a LONG trip in the Barrataria bayou outside of New Orleans. We were very sunburnt and overheated so when we ducked into the air-conditioned theater darkness where the film was running it was truly what we needed right then. I have never laughed so long and loud as I did at that superb film and those 3 guys.

Try it you'll like it.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 12:37 AM

Again, not a strict cowboy movie, but nobody's mentioned " Jerimiah Johnson ", with Robert Redford and Will Geer.

My favorite scene in that movie is when Geer and Redford have bedded down for the night, and a little while later, Redford's blanket catches on fire as he laid it down a wee bit close to the fire, and Geer, chuckling from beneath his blankets tells him, " hee hee, spotted it right off".

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Hrothgar
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 06:05 AM

And how many Oscars did "Cat Ballou" win not to get a mention?

Well, maybe only one, but wasn't it worth t?

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Kim C
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 09:48 AM

Clifton53, can you skin grizz?

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 11:27 AM

Kim C., I doubt I could skin grizz, prolly run like a rabbit if I even smelled a bahr.

To quote Will Geer again, " You've done well to keep your hair Pilgrim, when so many's after it"

Clifton

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Art Thieme
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 11:32 AM

Check out the book "LIVER EATING JOHNSON" by Thorp(?) I think. That's the REAL story of Jeremiah Johnson.

Still a great movie -- that I did mention in an earlier post.

Art

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 12:18 PM

The Naked Prey, a movie by and starring Cornel Wilde made in the early sixties, was based on the true story of a mountain man captured by Indians near Three Forks Montana. He was stripped naked and given a head start as he was pursued by warriors. He succeeded in escaping them and found refuge in what is now Yellowstone Park. I'm thinking the man's name was Colter, and that Yellowstone was originally called "Colter's Hell" by the mountain men. Is that right Art? In Wilde's film, the action takes place in Africa and Wilde is a big-game guide captured by an African Tribe. Good film.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Clifton53
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 01:04 PM

Sorry Art, so many titles floating around, I missed it.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Wesley S
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 01:14 PM

Another book about the real Jeremiah Johnson is "Crow Killer". Sorry I can't remeber the authors name but I know I have the book at home.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 01:15 PM

That would be John Colter, who had the honor of doing what the Indians used to call "running arrows." And in the TV sequel to Lonesome Dove, creatively titled Return to Lonesome Dove, Woodrow (this time played by Jon Voigt) has to run arrows, although if I recall right, he gets to keep his clothes.

Funny no one has mentioned Streets of Laredo or Dead Man's Walk, McMurtry's sequel and prequel to Lonesome Dove. I guess the rest of you disliked them as much as I did. Return to Lonesome Dove - which McMurtry didn't write, as far as I know - was a lot better, I thought.

And there's one more book in the Lonesome Dove series, which tells about Gus & Woodrow's days as Texas Rangers. It's called Comanche Moon, and I have yet to finish it.

McMurty should've quit while he was ahead. There's just no improving on a good story.

Since I'm now at home with a sore throat, I think I'll fire up the VCR. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Lanfranc
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 01:27 PM

Just about the first adult movie (as opposed to kids' movies) that I ever saw was "The Man from Laramie", starring James Stewart. I loved the 50s and 60s cowboy series like "Rawhide", "Wagon Train", "Cheyenne" and the inimitable "Cisco Kid".

Aw, Cisco - Aw Pancho! - still haunts me 40-odd years on!

Probably corrupted me for life!

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: DougR
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:28 PM

Kim, I enjoyed reading "Streets of Laredo," but agree the movie is week. "Deadman's Walk," was a waste of time, I thought, both the book and the movie. I thought "Comanche Moon" was a pretty good read, but was a bit too long. I think it could have been said better in fewer pages. I wasn't impressed by "Return to" either.

Lanfranc: I was raised with "B" western movies and many of the early TV westerns were little more than "B" westerns. My favorite was Hopalong Cassidy, played by William Boyd.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 05:43 PM

When I was a kid Elfego Baca was a big deal for a while there, but I never saw him on film...only in the comics. Anybody know anything more about this character?

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Midchuck
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 07:11 PM

I think Disney did a made-for-tv movie series on Elfego way the heck back...maybe in the late '50s, early '60s. I remember there was a heck of a shootout in the first one, where an enormous mob of law enforcement types had him trapped in a house alone and couldn't get him...

I remember the refrain of the theme music very clearly...

"And the legend was that,
Like El Gato, the cat,
Nine lives had Elfego, El Gato...

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Art Thieme
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 09:13 PM

Wesley, You are correct. CROW KILLER ia the book I meant.

Art

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: leprechaun
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 12:04 AM

My favorite exchange from Support Your Local Sheriff went something like:

If I pull this trigger it'll ruin my gun!

Well, it ain't gonna do my finger a whole lotta good!

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 12:19 AM

You are right, Peter! I remember that song now...must've heard it somewhere at the time. It would have been in the mid-fifties, I think. I had the comic, since my family was highly unconventional in some respects...and we had no TV. Thus I very rarely saw TV as a kid, and not doing so made me a dangerous radical who read way too many books... :-) This led directly to folk music, socialism, Dylan/Baez/Buffy Sainte-Marie, and having very little in common with my peers in school...who were mostly good little upstate New York Republicans in search of a couch potatoe life in the suburban wasteland. They can have it.

I figure it was a mob of their spiritual ancestors who had Elfego holed up in that house... :-)

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: western flicks
From: GUEST,Mac
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 05:27 AM

Does 'Viva Zapatta' count as a western? Good old Marlon!