Welcome to Hard Times

[mrsl]

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This film, starring Henry Fonda, was made in 1958, ten years before he made Once Upon a Time in the West, and could have been his original introduction to to the oncoming 'tougher and hard core' western. He was not the bad guy, but much of the blood letting, and costuming was similar, and unlike the Boetticher movies.

Fonda is a mayor of a lazy town that has not yet grown up to be populated by many people. It consists of a saloon, hotel, and a few other places, but they are wide apart and the town is not family oriented. So this totally vicious guy comes to town and immediately takes over in controlling the saloon, shooting people at random and having his sport with the bar girls. Then he sets fire to the saloon and takes off. Fonda decides to stick around and wait for other folks to come along and rebuild. As it is only the saloon is rebuilt, but that's enough for the miners who come down from the hills every weekend. There's a lot more to it, but I'm sure this movie will make it to TCM soon enough, and I don't want to give anything away. Henry turns in another of his master-works. along with Keenan Wynn, and Janice Rule. There's a lot of hate and misery to muddle through and this cast does a good job without getting maudlin about it.

This month it's on the Western Channel, but I'm sure it will travel the circuit soon, and is worth watching if you are even a minor western or Fonda fan.
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[movieman1957]

It's been a long time. I remember it as one of the more depressing westerns I've seen. That doesn't make it bad but it was different. Good to know it is coming around again.

I think that you might find it was filmed in 1967.

[mrsl]

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movieman:

You're probably right, I must have picked up the release date instead of the filming dates.
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