Westerns

[RedRiver]

I like simple, character oriented stories. This sounds like one.

[JackFavell]

It sounds pretty good to me too. I'll have to wait to see if it turns up somewhere.

[tinker]

I was reading a book not long ago about quotes from western movie and was surprised to see one from a film called Monte Walsh with Tom Selleck. The quote was
"I've never been in love. I've been a cowboy all my life" which is grabbed me

The book of Monte Walsh by Jack Schaffer who also wrote Shane has a aways been a favourite and I remember being quite disappointed when I saw the film with Lee Marvin ( who is always a favourite actor) but he just was not Monte Walsh who in thw book was for the most part a young man.Tho book mostly celebrates cowboys and the Lee Marvin film did not for me. It was like watching the end of westerns

Anyway I got the Tom Selleck film and I was really surprised. It was a lovely film. Tom is old for the Monte of the book and they changed the ending like they did in the Lee Marvin film but it was beautifully photographed in Canada, the riding scenes were well done and Tom Selleck was very good as the very laconic Monte and Keith Carradine as his best pal Chet was excellent. So was Isabella Rossellini as Monte's kind of love interest. The film is still about cowboys as dying race, which only the last part of the book was, but they used lots of the book in it, many of the incidents and a bit of the dialogue.

Its nice to find a western fairly recently made (2000) that really works.


dee

[movieman1957]

I am glad you liked it. I saw Selleck's version long before I saw Marvin's. I couldn't get past comparing the two. I know that is unfair but I did it anyway.

Selleck's is a very sympathetic and melancholy character. Knowing nothing about the book I think it suits the film very well. It also suits his age. There is also the respect between Selleck and Rosellini that is wonderful in its maturity.

I like all of Selleck's westerns. He may be the last cowboy we had. It's hard not to like Selleck in anything though. I'm a big fan of the Jesse Stone pictures.

[tinker]

I always enjoy Tom Selleck too. Although I have to admit part of my liking him may be wrapped up in Magnum and those short shorts.

The romance in Monte Walsh was as you say mature and beautifully done. I kind of like the big smile on the easten boss's wife's face as she watched Monte ride at the end. She knew she was seeing a real man.

dee

[MissGoddess]

i will have to see the remake, you make a very attractive case for Selleck's Monte Walsh. I like him, too, though I've only seen one or two of his westerns.

[movieman1957]

If you watch "Last Stand At Saber River" you'll get a few minutes of Harry Carey, Jr.

[mrsl]

.
I've never seen Monte Walsh. I'll have to try to find it somewhere especially since Selleck is in it. I have to admit I would probably prefer Tom to Lee as I am a true fan of Tom and not much of one for Lee. Were they theatrical or made for T.V. movies? They sound like something I would like to see.

I also like Selleck as Stone, and adore him as Frank Regan on Blue Bloods. Oddly, I was never a great fan of Magnum.
.

[movieman1957]

Selleck's "Monte Walsh" is one of those made-for-tv westerns he did for TNT. It was part of the group with "Last Stand At Saber River" and "Crossfire Trail."

OF the few "Blue Bloods" I have seen he was less a part of the story. I really should watch more of them.

[mrsl]

'.
On Blue Bloods, he's the backbone of the family. Kind of a modern day Ben Cartwright, with three grown children, who are never too old to look for advice from Dad.

[RedRiver]

Believe it or not, LAST STAND AT SABER RIVER is from an Elmore Leonard book. The author wrote westerns before becoming known for crime stories. The theatrical MONTE WALSH, with Marvin and Palance at their absolute most grizzled, is one of my favorite westerns. I love the scene where Monte breaks the wild horse. It's poetic. I haven't seen the Tom Selleck show.

[CineMaven]

Click on the photo below to find out Criterion's THREE REASONS to check out this western:

[JackFavell]

That was beautiful, Maven! And spot on. Those 3 reasons are well thought out and displayed. I love the look of the movie especially, it lays out the stark choices well before anyone actually even shows up in the landscape.

I love Van Heflin's uncertainty, and Ford's opposite ---his strength and charm, the certainty that anyone can be bought is actually very attractive. The movie feels like it could go any direction at any time. In fact, it plays with you... there's a point about 2/3rds of the way through where you actually WANT Heflin to give in... to be less inflexible, more like Ford. It's brilliant.

TCM ought to do a night of charming villains who almost make you want to do bad. Twisty movies that play with your head and make you take the villain's side? They could run

The Tall T
3:10 to Yuma
Day of the Jackal

to start with. I'm sure there are more, perhaps Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice?

[movieman1957]

One thing about Ford is that he puts himself above his gang. The clip makes a point about him being charming, he is that. He charms Felicia Farr right out of her clothes. But it also shows he doesn't want to hurt anyone but he sure doesn't mind what the group is doing to the others and will do to Heflin if they can.

I think we start to see the wife making more sense of him quitting. It's not worth the risk, I think Heflin has to convince himself that he can do it. He's not much, in his mind, if he can't. For me it becomes less about the money and more about his self worth.

[MissGoddess]

terrific! glad to see this western get respect. wendy, brilliantly said about how the starkness does set it all out before the people are introduced...this is a place of hard choices. chris, i agree that heflin's self worth is what's on the line, and it's fascinating that ford's character figures this out almost before heflin does.