Burt Reynolds missed his calling

[mrsl]

Early this morning around 3:00 a.m., there I was, bright eyed and bushy tailed watching The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing. I had never seen it but the name intrigued me, although I guessed Cat Dancing was an Indian name and not an animal twirling around in a tu-tu. By the title of this thread, I mean, I wish he had made more westerns like . . . Cat Dancing. This is a good honest western. There might be a little more love making in the end for the guys, but its not over loaded. There is a lot of action, attempted rape, murder, fighting, shooting, etc., and happily for me, it had a happy ending. Sarah Miles was quite likable as the pampered wife who had to learn how to live on the prairie quickly as the captured victim.

I loved Burt in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and as a kid I enjoyed all the crazy Smokey movies, but I hadn't seen him as a real cowboy in very much, plus his career was mainly in TV, first on that riverboat, then on Evening Shade, and he also made a whole lot of stinkaroos with Dom de Luise. Unfortunately his whole appearance, and stature screams cowboy but he didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it. Oh he made a few, but he should have been a later version of the Duke or Randy Scott.

Cat Dancing is playing this month on Encore Western, so you might want to try to catch it.

Anne

[MikeBSG]

Well, Burt Reynolds was a supporting player on "Gunsmoke" back in the mid-Sixties. But I guess the genre moved away from him as his stardom grew. Really, was there a Western star launched in Hollywood between Clint Eastwood (who really became a star via Italy) and Kevin Costner (who became a star via thrillers and baseball movies)?

I've often thought that Scott Glenn or Ed Harris would have been good Western stars. (I think of that a lot when I watch "The Right Stuff.") But the genre just isn't there for them.

[movieman1957]

Mike:

Did you see Harris in "The Riders of The Purple Sage"? It was a TNT production from about 1996. I thought he did a fine job in it and could have done more with westerns if they had made them. I think he is also in "Appaloosa."

[Lzcutter]

Chris,

Ed Harris is, indeed, in Appaloosa and he directed it. I agree that it's too bad that the western fell out of style as there are a handful of actors today who would have had careers as cowboys.

Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Fred Ward and my all-time favorite Sam Elliott. These guys not only had the faces for westerns (and Elliott the voice) but they are good actors to boot. Thankfully, TNT made a number of made for television westerns starring Elliott. I also enjoyed The Sacketts and its sequel.

Silverado is one of my favorites of the new-age western. Even Kevin Kline makes a believable western hero. I wish the story hadn't had so much of the kitchen sink thrown in for good measure but Mr Cutter and I always stop and watch it if we come across it channel surfing.

[movieman1957]

Hi Lynn:

My wife and I were talking westerns and it came to me that how often have we had a good western in the last ten years or so only to have it follwed up with some overblown money losing oater that kills the genre all over again.

My wife (and I) are in complete agreement on Elliot. She loves his voice and he so fits the description. Selleck too. We both love "Conagher." It is at its heart a love story but enough action to keep everyone happy.

I also have "The Sacketts" and have seen "The Shadow Riders" and enjoyed it. I also have the two later films "The Desperate Trail" and "You Know My Name."

The Westerns channel has shown something called "Wild Times" recently. It has a pretty good cast at least as far as Sam and Ben Johnson are concerned (plenty of cameos with familiar faces) but overall I didn't much care for it.