It's time for the annual Legends of Western Cinema Week blogathon. Check out this link at Hamlette's blog for a round-up of all the links to the various posts. As usual, there is a giveaway and fun games!
Here are my answers to this year's tag questions.
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Stetson -- a favorite hero moment (i.e. highlighting their character and/or making a pivotal decision, etc) Silverado (1985) - Scott Glenn and Danny Glover arming themselves. "This oughta do." Bruce Broughton's magnificent score.
Petticoat -- a favorite heroine moment (ditto) Cora in Quigley Down Under (1990) overcoming her past and protecting the baby from the dingoes.
Canteen -- a favorite scene with a leader/mentor Jackson helping Kid Shelleen prepare and dress for his confrontation with Tim Strawn in Cat Ballou (1965).
Gloves -- a favorite sidekick/friend scene Ride Lonesome - the "you're not going to work for me/you're gonna be a partner" scene between Pernell Roberts and James Coburn.
Canyon -- a favorite western landscape Any landscape in a Western directed by Kevin Costner, because he understands the beauty of the West and shows it in all its glory and color. None of that washed out BS a lot of modern Westerns like to rely on.
Pistol -- a favorite fight scene Big Jake (1971) - Glenn Corbett/Patrick Wayne showdown: "They tell me you killed two men in a fair fight tonight. That true?" "No: three, counting you." It's a very short gunfight, but its one of my favorites. I suppose for fist fights, I'm quite fond of the barroom brawl from the same movie. "But I ain't never been to Nacogdoches!"
Saddle -- a favorite horse / animal in a western Silver, from The Lone Ranger (2013). I mean I named my Husky after him!
Sky -- a favorite ambitious / crazy plan in a western The finale of Cowboys & Aliens (2011). Very ambitious. Very crazy.
Rifle -- a favorite scene with an antagonist End showdown between Richard Boone and John Wayne in Big Jake.
Chuckwagon -- a favorite meal scene "I gotta real dislike of red beans," Jack Palance's character from Chato's Land (1972) during a camp breakfast. Mostly because that line is still quoted around here all the time even though we haven't rewatched the movie since the 1970s. And I agree with his character's sentiments.
Badge -- a favorite scene with peace officers / sheriff Doc Holliday (Jason Robards) confronting Wyatt Earp (James Garner) after Wyatt guns down Warshaw at the corral. Hour of the Gun (1967).
Lariat -- a favorite cattle drive /roundup The end cattle drive in Alvarez Kelly (1966).
It's time for Hamlette, Olivia, and Heidi's "Legends of Western Cinema Week." And it opens with a tag. Here are my answers...
1) Favorite western focused on a lone hero? Cowboys & Aliens - yes, Jake Lonergan ends up with a lot of help, but he starts alone, ends alone, and does things his way and usually without informing anyone what he's doing throughout. Epitome of a loner.
2) Favorite western focused on a group of compadres? The Professionals
3) Favorite western with a female main character? Cat Ballou - "Cat Ballou. Cat Ballooo-ooo-ou." A movie I grew up with that never gets old.
4) Favorite western with a POC main character? Silverado - Danny Glover as Mal is one of my favorite parts of this Western, and I adore his father and sister as well.
5) Favorite western with kids in it? Big Jake - all right, only one kid, but I love little Jake and I can't think of any other Western right now with multiple kids in it that I like.
6) Favorite western set somewhere other than the United States? Quigley Down Under - kind of the easy answer on this one, but it is such a good movie, hard not to jump right to it when asked.
7) Favorite "western" that doesn't fit the genre's dictionary definition? Outland (1981) - "High Noon" in space, with Sean Connery as the marshal. Been a fave of mine for years.
8) Favorite funny western? The Frisco Kid - And just in time, a new blu-ray was recently released of this. Can't wait to watch it again!
Here are their questions for this year's event. I found some of these quite hard to answer, so it took me all week to figure out responses.
1. What's the last western you watched? Custer of the West, (1967). Still in the middle of it actually. It's an interesting movie, but it's taking me awhile to work through cuz it's not that interesting. Last completed western would be The Lone Ranger (2013).
2. A western of any stripe (happy or tragic) where you were highly satisfied by the ending?
I'm not quite sure what this question is looking for, cuz every single one of my favorite Westerns obviously meet this criteria. A highly satisfactory ending is critical to me loving a Western (or any movie). Let's go with For a Few Dollars More, because it's one I haven't really talked about, and the ending, both the finale and the wrap up are awesome.
3. The funniest western you've seen? Cat Ballou or Rango, I guess? Depends on my humor mood. Both make me laugh throughout.
4. What similar elements/themes show up in your favorite westerns?
Ack, this question is too much like school work. Okay, fine. I like a lot of end-of-the-West movies, where the old-fashioned cowboy heroes/lawmen are outdated/no longer needed/wanted. Or just Westerns set in the early 1900s, like Big Jake, Ride the High Country, The Wild Bunch, The Professionals... Lonely Are the Brave fits that theme too, even if it's set in more modern times.
5. Favorite actress who made 1 or more westerns?
Barbara Stanwyck
6. Favorite western hero/sidekick pairing?
Sam Boone and Whit (Robert Pernell and James Coburn) in Ride Lonesome.(1959). Their relationship is my favorite part of this movie and I adore how Whit follows Boone around, always deferring to him. Their partnership conversation at the end is one of my favorite moments and never fails to make me grin in sheer delight.
7. Scariest villain/antagonist in a Western?
Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or Grimes (Richard Boone) in Hombre.
8. Favorite romance in a western?
None? Romance isn't my thing. None stand out to me. Okay, one does: Matthew Quigley and Cora in Quigley Down Under.
9. Three of your favorite westerns? Big Jake, Hour of the Gun, The Lone Ranger (2013)
10. Share one (or several!) of your favorite quotes from a western.
Since this was asked last year, I'm going to try to avoid repeating all my favorites already listed and try to find new ones, which is rather hard. So, I'm going to cheat and go with my nephew's two favorite quotes from Westerns that the two of us say to each other constantly.
"What's that? NOTHING!" - John Reid, The Lone Ranger (2013)
"You son of a---*timely hawk screech interrupts* - Toad in Rango.
I watched this Western with Arthur Kennedy, Marlene Dietrich, and Mel Ferrer, and directed by Fritz Lang, on Amazon prime... and um... wow. That's not necessarily a good wow. More like, what did I just watch? Ranch Notorious is a very strange viewing experience.
This is movie that doesn't quite know what it wants to be. It has a good cast saddled with a standard revenge plot, but with some other character arcs and settings that should have elevated it. This should have been a good movie... and it is just a head-shaker instead.
Let's start with the opening title song. I'm afraid it doesn't stand up to time's passage. It is cheesy and silly. It would be okay if it were just a theme song, but it turns out that this song continues throughout... it's not just a theme song, the singer ends up being a narrator who moves the plot along. Silence would have been better. It's just jarring.
But then the movie gets serious, and we meet Arthur Kennedy's character Vern and his fiancee. They share a nice happy moment. But he heads out and two robbers arrive in town. One fancies the fiancee... and yeah, that ends in the worse way possible. Vern swears revenge and takes off to find the men. Annnnd, the narrating singer is back. And then, as Vern keeps searching for the murderer of the love of his life, he keeps meeting people who tell him stories about Marlene Dietrich's character, Altar Keane (!). Now there's a name for you! It is very clunky storytelling. Worse because some of the flashbacks show stuff the teller isn't there to see.
Finally, Vern meets up with Frenchy (Mel Ferrer). Vern's desperate enough to break the law to get to meet Frenchy, so Frenchy can lead him to Altar Keane, where he hopes to find info about the murderer. We finally meet Marlene Dietrich in real time. She runs a safe house for outlaws. They give her ten percent of whatever illicit gains they've made, and she provides sanctuary. Now, this is quite a fascinating setup. This is cool. Particularly as the murderer is indeed there, taking advantage of the safe house. All these characters thrown together... this part should shine. It doesn't. It falls weirdly flat. I think we just don't know enough about the characters to care about them, so all this promising stuff goes nowhere.
So, this was a movie full of potential that just sort of comes apart at the seams. I watched this mostly because Arthur Kennedy was in it, but sadly, not even he can save this one.
Here are my answers to the Legends of Western Cinema Week tag.
1) Do you tolerate, like, or love westerns?
I love Westerns. Probably my favorite genre of movies.
2) What do you enjoy about them and, more broadly, the west itself (e.g. the history, accompanying paraphernalia, etc)?
Everything. I need wide open spaces in my life, I need land untouched by mankind. I need unpopulated vistas full of beauty and danger. I need horses and skies full of stars. Movie Westerns are also full of characters I relate to, most have a code of honor, there's a lot of protection of something or other going on. I love the themes of Westerns. Love the settings. Westerns are just a whole package deal.
3) What's the first western you can remember watching?
I've been watching Westerns since I was a child, so no memory of a first. There have always been Western movies in my memory. Though I do have a strong memory of a calvary/Indian fight from an unknown movie as one of my early cinematic memories. Lots of gunfire, arrows, falling horses...
4) Who are your favorite western stars, the ones whose presence in a western will make you pick it up off the shelf?
Kevin Costner. William Holden. Richard Boone. Richard Widmark. Arthur Kennedy. Barbara Stanwyck.
5) What's your favorite performance by an actress in a western?
Not sure what my absolute favorite is, but I do love Felicia Farr in 3:10 to Yuma and Anne Baxter in Yellow Sky and Claire Trevor in Texas. For a more modern performance, Annette Bening in Open Range is fabulous.
6) What is your "go-to" western, the one you'll typically reach for?
I have many go-to Westerns, depending on my mood. There isn't just one. How can there be one? Or even two? There are so many flavors of Westerns! But for a movie it would probably be one of the following: Big Jake, Slow West, The Lone Ranger, Hour of the Gun, Cowboys & Aliens, The Frisco Kid, Salvation, Open Range, Quigley Down Under, or Cat Ballou. Otherwise, I'm going to grab any "Have Gun Will Travel" episode or "Big Valley" episode for something short.
7) Do your family/friends share your interest in westerns, or are you a lone ranger (pun completely intended)?
My family and friends all share my interest, except for my sister.
8) Pick one western to live inside for a week, and explain why you chose it. The Ox-Bow Incident. I'd join Dana Andrews, make sure he gets a receipt for those darned cattle, and I'd be there armed and awake when the lynch mob shows up to make sure they don't try anything, and if they do, I will shoot first and ask questions later.
(Not on MY watch!!)
9) Share one (or several!) of your favorite quotes from a western.
"I thought you was dead." "Not hardly." (Multiple people, Jacob McCandles (John Wayne) - Big Jake)
"Let's drift." (Silas (Michael Fassbender) - Slow West)
"I smell a water hole!" (Kid Shelleen (Lee Marvin) - Cat Ballou)
"I'm drunk as a skunk." (Jed (Dwayne Hickman) - Cat Ballou)
"Don't talk about snow." (Chief Gray Cloud (Val Bisoglio) - The Frisco Kid)
"I don't want to hurt you; I just want to eat you." (or "I just want to make you kosher.") (Avram (Gene Wilder) chasing a chicken - The Frisco Kid)
"You bring horses?" (Tonto (Johnny Depp) - The Lone Ranger)
"All right, let's do this." (John Reid (Armie Hammer) - The Lone Ranger)
"The horse can fly?" "Don't be stupid." (John Reid/Tonto - The Lone Ranger)
"I said I didn't have much use for one. Didn't say I didn't know how to use it." (Matthew Quigley (Tom Selleck) - Quigley Down Under)
And a zillion other quotes. If I'm with the family, there are a ton from Cat Ballou and Frisco Kid that we use regularly. If I'm with Hamlette, then Lone Ranger and Slow West take over... :-D
While I grew up with John Wayne Westerns, we only had a handful that we watched all the time: The Comancheros, The Sons of Katie Elder, Big Jake, The Alamo, The Horse Soldiers, and Rio Lobo were the main six. There were others, of course, but they were watched infrequently compared to these.
Since I was young and non-discerning, I loved Rio Lobo pretty much unreservedly back then. (Okay, let's be honest. Mostly, I had a huge crush on Jorge Rivero, I was heartily amused by Jack Elam, and I loved the Jerry Goldsmith score. Nothing else mattered past those three things.) Then I grew up. Sigh. Then I discovered Rio Lobo is really a mixed bag. When it's good, it's good, when it's bad, it's really bad.
Let's get the bad out of the way: Jennifer O'Neill as Shasta. Egads. She single-handedly drags every scene she's in down to sheer fingers-on-chalkboard awfulness. Shasta ranks as one of the worst movie characters ever, and I just cringe every time she opens her mouth. She's supposed to be an I-can-take-care-of-myself character, but she just sounds horribly whiny throughout. Now, O'Neill sure was pretty, but she can't act worth a bean at this very early stage in her career (I haven't really seen anything of hers when she's older, so I'm optimistically assuming that she improved with experience). Sherry Lansing as Amelita is not really any better. Susana Dosamantes as Maria is the only one of the ladies in this movie I don't mind. She fits into the movie as Tuscarora's girlfriend, and she never stands out as blatantly out of place.
If Shasta and Amelita were actually important to the plot, I might feel differently. But if they vanished from the movie, the plot would be the same. No, it would be way better. One hates to say that about female characters, but these pretty much have no bearing on anything except to look pretty.
What is the plot? The first half hour of the movie takes place during the end of the Civil War. A band of Confederates has been stealing gold payroll shipments from the Yankees. They clearly have inside information telling them when and where, and John Wayne, as Colonel Cord McNally, is trying to find out who on his side is selling the information to the South. As the war is still going, the Confederates won't tell him anything, but once the war ends, Capt. Pierre Cordona (Jorge Rivero) and Tuscarora (Chris Mitchum) freely tell McNally what he wants to know, although they don't actually know the identity of the traitor.
The movie then shifts from the war to Texas and becomes a straight Western. Cordona and McNally head to Rio Lobo to help Tuscarora and his father (a scene-stealing Jack Elam) from some nasty fellows who have taken over the town and are buying up all the land thereabouts for a quarter of what any of its worth. The head bad guy is revealed to be the traitor McNally's been seeking, which ties the segments together. There's a showdown, prisoner exchange, bad guys are killed, everything is set right, the end.
The plot is nothing new, and this movie is actually Howard Hawks' second remake of Rio Bravo! (El Dorado is the other one.) Perhaps this is why the best part of Rio Lobo is the first thirty five minutes, because it's nothing like the other two movies.
That beginning has always been the best part of the movie. The spectacular, clever train robbery, McNally chasing after the thieves, getting captured, leading them into a trap... None of the stuff that drags this movie down (*cough* Shasta *cough*) have shown up yet. We're introduced to Capt. Cordona and Tuscarora, and I always loved how respectfully both sides treat each other. Their friendship in the rest of the movie begins here, with that respect for each other as soldiers. McNally's even willing to let Cordona and Tuscarora go if they give him the name of the traitor, but he also understands when they won't. I love how he immediately comes to see them after the war ends, buys them a drink, and gives Tuscarora money enough to get home.
What else is good? Any time Jack Elam is around. He is flat-out hilarious and gets all the great dialogue. He and John Wayne play off each other like the pros they are, and with a great deal of enthusiasm and fun. Whenever they're together, it is both delightful, and, unfortunately, you also realize how bad everyone else is. This was the first thing I saw Mr. Elam in, so I still always think of him as a good guy, even though he's really played some very nasty characters in his time.
And I love the Jerry Goldsmith score, of course. As usual with him, the quality of the music far exceeds the movie. This was a score I loved so much I taped the music cues I liked off television so I could listen to them in my walkman. Music for me is so critical to whether I like a movie and want to revisit it, that this score alone elevates this movie far above many other technically better movies.
I'm also quite fond of Chris Mitchum, mostly because I love him in Big Jake. He always seems such a good-natured young fellow in these two movies. Victor French as traitor Ketchum/Sgt. Major Gorman cracks me up. He's so panicky and worried after he gets captured. And Mike Henry as Hendricks (the real bad guy of the movie) is average but suitably nasty for the role.
And then there's Jorge Rivero. My adult self realizes he's not great in this either, but neither is he a train wreck like O'Neill. I remember reading ages ago that he spoke little English when he made this, so his weak dialogue delivery might just be due to not understanding the language well enough. My younger self didn't care at all that he wasn't great. She just really liked the handsome, broad-shouldered, athletic, half Mexican/half French character of Captain Pierre Cordona. ("Yeah, well which half was kneeling and which half was kissing her hand?") My favorite scene in the movie is still when he gets captured on the road.
Re-watching this film as an adult, though, I find I mostly appreciate John Wayne. He's got the sheer power, charisma, and professionalism to carry a movie filled with not-so-great actors. He's the true highlight of this movie because he doesn't act like he's in a lesser movie that's beneath him. He doesn't phone it in. You can't tell he's not in the best health. He just gives it his all, as he's always done. He plays McNally honestly and with strength and humor and dignity, even when he has to share scenes with Jennifer O'Neill. And I love John Wayne for that. And watching a lesser movie like this one with John Wayne is still far more enjoyable to me than watching many other better films that don't have him in it.
In conclusion, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this movie. However, if you asked me on any random night if I wanted to watch Rio Bravo, El Dorado, or Rio Lobo, I'm afraid I'd still have to pick Rio Lobo over its two superior predecessors. I've seen Rio Lobo so many times, it's become a bit of a comfort movie for me. This movie was such an influential part of my youth, and so I will always have a fond place for it in my heart (besides, nowadays we have fast-forward buttons and I can skip through the worst of Jennifer O'Neill). Plus, I'm afraid Goldsmith trumps Dimitri Tiomkin and Nelson Riddle, and I'll pick the movie with my favorite music every single time.
This post is an entry in Hamlette and Quiggy's John Wayne Blogathon. Head on over to either page for a list of participating blogs and what topic/movies are being covered. Hamlette is also hosting a giveaway! Thanks to them both for hosting and letting me join in the fun!
Hamlette’s been bugging me to post this, though I’m not sure why, when you could go read Millie’s review! Seriously, go read her review if you want a far better summary, and one that gives a really neat comparison to the original.
Anyway, for my viewing, I was pleasantly surprised and came out of the movie theater liking it a lot, and also looking for my horse so I could go ride off and fight bad guys. I drove home a little faster than necessary, cornering a bit swiftly... and that is ALWAYS a good sign that I enjoyed an action movie. An action movie that doesn't rev me up is a failure in my book. This one succeeded.
You can probably chalk this enjoyment up to a couple important things. One -- I had very low expectations going in, and, as I’ve long since learned, my expectations will totally dominate my first viewing. (Which is why I like to see things twice.) If I go in with high expectations, odds are I’ll be disappointed. If I go in expecting the worst, I’ll usually come out liking it. And I hated the trailer for this movie. I only ever saw one trailer, and it had some sort of rock music over it, and it was miserable. Nothing about the movie looked good in that trailer. I almost didn’t see the movie because of how much I didn’t like that trailer. I’m glad I ignored that inclination!
The second very important thing was that I did not spend the movie comparing it to the original while viewing it. I didn’t even think about the original at all until the crappy tacked on ending with the voice-over that mentioned the word “magnificent.” Then, I rolled my eyes. Because what made the original Magnificent Seven characters magnificent was that they went back. They had no reason to, they could have ridden away, but they didn’t. They rode back to the village, for no reward, no money, because they wanted to. Because there are more important things than money. There’s nothing like that in the new movie. In the new movie, they’re hired, they fight, they die/live, and it’s over. They’re still under hire in that final fight, they never leave and come back. And that fact keeps the original safely intact in its greatness.
However, taken on its own merits, as a movie about seven guys hired to help a town against the psycho who runs the town, this movie was a lot of fun. The movie flew by and was over before I was ready to leave that world. I got swept up in the characters and their issues, and my mind just didn't stray to the old movie.
What worked the best for me here was the characters. I was surprised how much I liked all of them. When Chris Pratt is playing my least favorite of the seven, that’s saying something. (Although, honestly, I think I love the concept of Chris Pratt, more than the actuality of him, if that makes any sense whatsoever. Or perhaps, I simply like the actor more than his characters. He seems so nice, and he’s so cute and likeable and cool, and I keep thinking that, therefore, I will like him in his movies, but for some unknown reason I haven’t really bonded with him in anything I’ve seen him in. Jurassic World came closest, except the velociraptors stole the movie, and so... not so much. I mean the dinosaurs did not steal the original movie from Sam Neill, and they were amazing, so I apparently just have a disconnect with Chris Pratt. On the other hand, Blue and her compadres are so awesome, they might very well have stolen the movie from anyone they played with, so it may just have been Pratt’s luck to be stuck with scene-stealing dinosaurs).
But the characters here are all distinct and all fun. I liked them all. Denzel... well Denzel is Denzel and can do no wrong. His Chisolm hits all the notes I wanted the leader of this group to hit. I'd hire him if I needed help, that's for sure. Ethan Hawke and Byung-hun Lee kill it as unlikely but awesome friends. They are amazing (separately and together), and every minute they were on screen was a joy. Vincent D’Onofrio is amusing and unexpectedly sweet as Jack Horne. Martin Sensmeier doesn’t have much to do, but Red Harvest was still intriguing and had more personality than some characters I’ve seen in movies who had a lot more dialogue. Chris Pratt’s Faraday was funny and likeable, even if I didn't bond with him. And my favorite character was Vasquez, played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. Loved him muchly, and you can believe I’ll be looking out for his next movies.
And when there are characters I love that much, not much else matters, and anything else is bonus. Like the scenery, which avoided the typical dry arid look of so many Westerns and gave this movie a unique location that I really appreciated. (It was filmed in Baton Rouge, I understand.) I love seeing greens in Westerns, and not just varying shades of brown.
I was worried from the trailer that it was simply trying to be bigger and badder than the original for the sake of outdoing it alone, but that wasn’t how it played out at all. The bad guy they set up in this movie (Peter Sarsgaard) WOULD hire an army. He would bring a gatling gun. I had none of the plot issues I expected to have extrapolating off what that crappy trailer had showed me. (I used to love trailers, but more and more these days, trailers are undercutting movies for me, not supporting them. I think I may just start ignoring them entirely before they give me a rash.)
As for the score, most of it is surprisingly dreary and unmemorable with a few bursts of melody and energy and scattered Horner moments. And that is just unfortunate. Horner himself composed some dreary music, (I’m thinking of last half of Beautiful Mind album), BUT it’s still emotional, it’s still got its melodies, it’s still got that gutpunch factor he brought to his music with such ease. This score has moments that give you a glimpse of what it might have been, then it falls back on more atmospheric blandness. It works far better in the movie than it does listening to it on its own, and to its credit, I've heard far worse scores than this one. This one just comes with a set of expectations that were impossible for me to suppress. I still bought the album, and I've listened to it quite a bit, as it is good writing music (where bland and atmospheric isn’t a detriment), but I wish... oh how I wish. I do hope someday that they release the supposedly seven completed pieces of music Horner composed for this before he died, just as he wrote them, not re-worked to fit the actual movie. That I would like to hear.
So, here’s the scoop for me: this film, taken on its own merits, ignoring what came before, is a violent but entertaining movie. I appreciated that this movie was PG-13, as well, as that meant it didn't get too gory, despite the body count. And because there aren’t enough Westerns in the world right now and I want more, I fully support any one that manages to entertain me this much. I will buy it when it comes out on DVD.
Despite being a big John Wayne fan, and a bigger Kirk Douglas fan, this is a film I'd only seen once, back in high school. I barely remembered anything about it, but a friend recently reminded me of it by quoting the famous line and rejoinder:
"Mine hit the ground first."
"Mine was taller."
And that put me in the mood to revisit this film. I had to watch it twice, only because I didn't particularly like it on my first viewing, and so I wanted to see it a second time, see if it improved. It did.
The war wagon of the film's title is a specially armored coach, completely with gatling gun and thirty guards, that ferries large quantities of gold between town and the railhead. John Wayne recruits a few people to stop and rob that wagon. That's essentially the plot.
The best parts of this movie for me are the cast, the snappy dialogue, and the Durango, Mexico scenery. I'm not fond of the plot, but that's only a matter of personal taste. Sure, there's a thirty-second exposition bit about how John Wayne's character, Taw Jackson (worst name ever), was framed and sent to jail so the bad guy, a smarmy Bruce Cabot as Pierce, could steal his ranch and the gold mine on his land, but watching Wayne on the wrong side of the law just doesn't sit well. It also makes the movie both a wee bit of a revenge tale and a heist tale... neither of which I'm fond of. (Clarification: I'm very fond of revenge tales when someone's avenging murdered family members, etc., but when wronged parties go after the person who wronged them, and it's solely about self, it never quite works for me... move on, already!) And heist movies, with all their careful timing and experts in various fields working together against high odds to steal a lot of whatever... it's just not my thing. So, plotwise... this movie does not push my buttons.
But then there's the cast, and they almost make up for it. John Wayne is his normal solid self, wearing a famous outfit that I had on a poster. Never knew what movie that poster's pic was from! Now I do. :-D He's great in this movie and his dialogue is perfect John Wayne dialogue. His character is highly entertaining, despite the lousy name.
Howard Keel shows up as Levi Walking Bear, and he amuses me no end in the role, particularly his entrance, all tied up and being shot at for getting caught cheating at poker (which he feels is perfectly justified). Cracks me up. He gets some very funny lines as well.
Robert Walker Jr. is around as their drunk explosives expert, and his presence always makes me uneasy. I'm so used to him playing psycho characters that I have the hardest time trusting him. I keep expecting him to go off the deep end at any moment. Poor guy! Talk about being typecast. And he's fine in this role too, as a non-pyscho, which is why the second viewing helped. I could stop worrying about him flipping out.
Bonus points for Emilio Fernandez, who has a small part as bandit leader, Calita, and who I instantly recognized from The Wild Bunch, where he plays corrupt General Mapache.
But the main thing I like about this movie is Kirk Douglas.
He plays gunfighter Lomax, who has some unpleasant history with Jackson, but they put that aside for the sake of stealing all that gold. He is sassy, smirky, confident, and all tons of smooth, physical grace. Seriously, I could watch this movie just to watch him leap across other horses to mount his own, or climb cliff faces, or generally show off his high level of fitness. I also just really enjoy his interactions with Wayne. The two actors play very well off each other, and they get the best dialogue.
Favorite moments:
Jackson and Lomax's rescue of Levi.
The spectacular barroom brawl, cuz barroom brawls in Westerns never get old, and this one is a doozy. I love Jackson's "Oh no!" as he gets jumped by multiple cowboys at once, and I love Lomax leaning against the bar watching the whole thing.
Nitro glycerin, because TNT is great fun, but nitro is just plain cool. Watching everyone get jumpy around it makes me grin.
Any time Kirk Douglas gets up or down off his horse.
It's not a movie I need to own, but after the second viewing made me appreciate it more, I definitely won't be waiting another thirty years before I see it again.
I've been wanting to see this movie for years. It wasn't available until just recently, but it is finally out on DVD, so I finally got me a copy, which arrived yesterday, just in time to add in one more review to the Legends of Western Cinema blog party. (Look at me go... radio silence for ages, and then all these posts again... you'd think I love Westerns or something.)
**SPOILERS!**
This movie is about an Army Lieutenant named Driscoll. At the beginning of the movie, it's the end of the civil war, and he's shot off his horse by a Confederate soldier, who at least has the courtesy to take him to the surgeon's tent, and not let him bleed to death. He recovers and heads West with his regiment to fight Indians... only to be stymied in his violent ambitions by generals and peace treaties. The nerve! He's sent as escort (wet nurse, in his opinion) to a troop of Army engineers who will be building an Army fort in a place agreed upon by the Army and the Indians. Driscoll immediately recognizes this spot is all wrong and has no military value. But will anyone listen to him? No! However, a renegade Indian kills his commanding officer, and he finally gets to take over and do things his way. Peace treaty? P'fah. He scouts out a new, completely unsanctioned (but an actually useful) location for the fort, one with a great view, and one that can only be approached/attacked from one direction. Work gets underway, but his new fort location and direct violation of the agreement has angered the Indians. They attack en force. With barely half a wall built, it doesn't matter that there's only one direction from which the Indians can attack the new fort. They easily overrun Driscoll's camp, massacre the soldiers, and take Driscoll prisoner. Because he interfered earlier in a Sioux form of justice, the "run of the arrow," the penalty is death... by being skinned alive. Poor Driscoll. It isn't a pretty way to go. Fortunately for him, the confederate soldier who shot him in the beginning of the movie, has been living with the Sioux, and is on hand to shoot him again to put him out of his misery. Which nicely brings things full circle.
What? That's not the movie's plot? Of course it is! From the point of view of a Ralph Meeker fan, that is. Cuz Meeker's why I was watching the movie, naturally.
The plot everyone else is watching apparently concerns the Confederate soldier, O'Meara, played by Rod Steiger. He's so angry and bitter and full of hatred that the South surrendered, that he heads West, survives the run of the arrow himself and becomes a Sioux. He might be full of identity issues, about himself, about the new United States, about which side he's on. He might become the designated scout the Sioux lend to the army to help them get to the designated spot to build their fort. He might try to keep the peace and convince the soldiers to surrender. He might decide he's more American than Sioux, and return with the army. The movie might actually be his story.
It's always interesting how many "movies" there are within one movie, isn't it? LOL!
(the other guy the movie may be about)
Lt. Driscoll could almost turn into Roy Anderson, the dishonorably discharged, morally unstable lieutenant from The Naked Spur, if Driscoll hadn't been killed at the end of Run of the Arrow. Driscoll's far more callous and self-aggrandizing than Anderson, but they're close cousins. Which means Meeker is perfect for playing Driscoll and is clearly having fun chewing scenery. He's rather delightful, as he usually is. All cigar-chomping, chafing at being told "no" every other minute. His smug grin when he finally takes over command shows no compassion whatsoever for the poor captain who's just been killed and shines with pure Meeker smirkiness.
The captain is played by Brian Keith. He's lovely in the role, nice (too nice to survive this world), honorable, steadfast, honest, and rule-following. He puts Driscoll in his place a few times (as Driscoll's resentment grows). He also has some nice pointed conversations with that other guy, O'Meara. His death was very sad, everything he worked for lost in a heartbeat.
Charles Bronson plays Blue Buffalo. He doesn't get much to do other than show off his fine physique. It is mighty fine.
H.M. Wynant plays Crazy Wolf, the Indian equivalent of Driscoll. The one who passionately hates the other side, who won't obey orders, and causes no end of trouble for everyone. If someone had just let those two hot-heads fight each other to the death, it would have saved everyone else a lot of pain and suffering. Those two really mess all the hard-earned peace everyone else is trying to preserve.
This was a surprisingly short movie, less than 90 minutes, and it feels too short to me. I wanted more time with the characters. However, the short running time keeps it fairly tight and ALL extraneous stuff is cut out. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It shows the Native Americans in a fair light. There are good and bad people on both sides. Some strive for peace, some for war. Some live on hate, some live on love.
There's lots of action, including the titular Run of the Arrow. It consists of giving a barefoot person a head start, and letting them run for their life across the desert while the tribe chases them down. No one has ever survived it, until O'Meara does, with the help of Yellow Moccasin (Sarita Montiel). Surviving the run of the arrow is what cements his place in Sioux life.
I liked this one, though didn't love it, and will watch it again when I need some smirky Ralph Meeker looking mighty fine in his uniform while he causes trouble and gets innocent people killed.
This Western has been part of my life since I was young. It is a powerful movie, and one I love deeply... but I can't watch it very often because it breaks my heart.
**SPOILERS FOLLOW**
This is a modern Western, set in the year it was filmed, but still very much a Western, even with cars and helicopters.
The basic plot: Jack Burns (Kirk Douglas), rides into a New Mexico town to try to help his best friend, Paul (Michael Kane), who's been jailed for helping illegal immigrants and faces two years in prison. Burns may live in current day, but he's an old-fashioned cowboy, doesn't have a home, doesn't have ID or a driver's license. He's a simple man of the Old West, out of his time, out of his place. The world has gone and changed, and is full of fences and laws and cars and airplanes and chaos masquerading as civilized order.
He gets deliberately arrested to join his friend in jail, to convince him to then break jail with him. But Paul has changed and accepted the modern world, and he intends to serve out his two-year sentence. He has a wife and a son, and if he breaks out of jail, they'll all be on the run, forever. He doesn't want that. So Burns breaks out alone and busts for the Mexico border on his horse, Whiskey, with the New Mexico law in hot pursuit.
I'm a sucker for movies about characters lost and outdated as time, progress, and civilization steamroll right over them and their ways. Maybe because that's how I've always felt. Some of my favorite Westerns are all set in the early 1900's, and incorporate this theme: Big Jake, The Professionals, The Wild Bunch. And Lonely are the Brave.
This movie is quiet, introspective, but still has plenty of action. It's Jack Burns' movie. Well, Jack Burns and his horse, because the young and skittish, beautiful, flaxen-maned Whisky is a main character herself, and as important as Jack. He talks constantly to her, she acts up in return and has more personality than quite a few actors I can think of. This is Kirk Douglas at his finest. He's always made a great cowboy, and how he brings Jack Burns alive is the center of this tale. It's my favorite role of his.
There are so many scenes that are amazing. The opening, where we see a open-aired camp, Burns lying on his bedroll, sipping coffee, Whisky in the background... when he hears engines and looks up in the sky to see three jets leaving contrails over the New Mexico sky. His look as he watches their intrusion says it all. The movie is full of those contrasts: Burns and his horse and open country against highways and jail and the modern world.
There's some dialogue in the first half of this movie I always liked, that always sums up the difference between Burns cowboy perspective, and the modern world taking over:
Burns: "A Westerner likes open country. That means he's got to hate fences, and the more fences there are, the more he hates them. D'you ever notice how many fences there're getting to be? And the signs they got on them: no hunting, no hiking, no admission, no trespass, private property, closed area, start moving, go away, get lost, drop dead! And they got those fences that say this side's jail, or that side's a street, or here's Arizona and that's Nevada, or this is us, that's Mexico. The one between here and Mexico is the fence that got Paul into trouble. He just naturally didn't see the use of it, so he acted as if it wasn't there. So when people sneaked across it, he just felt they were still people so he helped them."
Jerri: "Jack, I'm going to tell you something. The world that you and Paul live in doesn't exist. Maybe it never did. Out there is the real world. And it's got real borders and real fences, real laws and real trouble. And either you go by the rules, or you lose. You lose everything."
Burns: "You always keep something."
The scene when he looks in on Paul's sleeping son, marvels at him, at what he will never have. Not a word spoken, just watching Burns react to the young boy, to family life.
Every scene between him and Jerri (Gena Rowlands) is outstanding. They sparkle and shine when they're together. I love how obvious their history is in how they act towards each other. How they take care of each other, how they talk about Paul and life, how they can really talk with each other. And their goodbye scene... it nearly makes me cry every time. It's so sweet, so poignant, so perfect. (That cue on the album has the same effect on me as the scene in the movie).
I love how amazed and rather proud Burns is when he finally realizes that Paul won't be breaking out of jail with him, how he accepts that his friend has changed and moved into the modern world. And how he can grin about it, even as he is now alone, a last cowboy.
My favorite scene in the movie is when Burns has a chance to escape clean... if he leaves Whiskey behind. He starts to go, pauses and looks back at her, and she's watching him. He starts to leave again... and he can't do it. He can't abandon her. He just can't, even if it means his freedom, even if he gets killed. That makes me cry too, cuz I so get that. I wouldn't have been able to leave her either. Their subsequent climb up the steep mountainside not meant to be climbed by anything but a mountain goat is always harrowing.
The rest of the cast is outstanding as well, with Walter Matthau as the sheriff hunting Burns, and George Kennedy playing a nasty bully of a police officer who gets his kicks beating up prisoners. Carroll O'Connor plays a trunk driver.
The script by Dalton Trumbo is so well done. Perfect example of how to set up your end in the beginning, how to say so much with so few words, how to convey even more without a single word spoken. Those contrasts between modern and old worlds, the way the police can't believe Burns has no ID, nothing. I admire the writing so much in this film. The black and white cinematography is perfect. This is not a movie that would work in color.
But I also admit, I usually stop the movie five minutes from the end. The minute it starts raining... I hit the off button. The ending is brilliant, but hard, one of the hardest in any movie I know of. I bawl buckets when I do decide to watch it. Rough rough rough.
And Jerry Goldsmith's score... it's in my top five scores of all time. It is amazing by itself, and it could not be more perfect and suited in the actual movie. Jack Burns' theme, often played on solo trumpet, is so beautiful, and so lonely and sad, and so goose-bumpy. The beautiful variations of that theme, particularly when Burns and Whiskey sneak along trails in the mountains. And my favorite cue, "Run for It," so tense as his options dwindle, so soaring as he and Whiskey race for the forest.
(this is the only selection of music from this film I could find)
Last thoughts: I'm 46, same age Kirk Douglas was when he made this movie. There's some lines he says to Jerri, about why she's lucky to be with Paul, and not him, that really resonate with me personally:
"You know what a loner is? He's a born cripple. He's a cripple because the only person he can live with is himself. It's his life, the way he wants to live. It's all for him. A guy like that, he'd kill a woman like you. Because he couldn't love you, not the way you are loved."
