Great Moments in Westerns!

[moira finnie]

Have you ever seen a Western that has a surprising moment or two of comedy or drama? I think most of us think of this genre as riding along one well-worn trail, but today, while looking at the somewhat hackneyed The Big Trees (1952) for a moment, Western stalwart Edgar Buchanan observes a cat running across a desk, and knocking over an oil lamp when a dog chases him, causing an inferno to erupt. Grabbing the cat, Buchanan turns to his female companion and says: "Catty-clysm" while ambling away.

Nice, huh?

[MissGoddess]

I loved that moment in The Big Trees! Ha! Actually, Eddie B. makes that movie so much more enjoyable than it would be without him.

Okay, the first example that comes to my mind is pretty well known.
Right after the tense operation on Linda Darnell, in My Darling Clementine
(going by memory here):

Henry Fonda: "Mac, you ever been in love?"
J. Farrell MacDonald: "No, I been a bartender all my life."

[stuart.uk]

Errol Flynn's reaction to the death of a small boy on a Sunday school outing, caught in the cross fire in Dodge City

Anne Sheridan Marching Through Georgia and starting a saloon riot in Dodge City

Flynn and De Havilland's farwell scene in The Died With Their Boots On

Elvis holding a little girl hostage so her dad, a doctor would treat his ma in Flaming Star

Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan doing 2 tunes in Rio Bravo

The begining of The Sheepman

[JackFavell]

Also from My Darling Clementine:

Henry Fonda, who has been fiddling with his hat while Clementine waits for him to ask her to dance, unexpectedly throws it away, literally throwing caution to the winds..

[Vienna]

The end of HIGH NOON. When that tin star hit the ground , Gary Cooper didn't need to say a word.

[Western Guy]

The scene where Jimmy Stewart has to tell John Wayne he has an inoperable cancer in THE SHOOTIST.

The fight between Duke and Bruce Dern in THE COWBOYS, and Duke's farewell to his "Boys". (Just got a shiver thinking about it)

Gregory Peck's final words to Skip Homeier in THE GUNFIGHTER. (shiver #2)

Millard Mitchell's final attack on Skip in THE GUNFIGHTER.

Absolutely, stuart: The final scene between Errol and Olivia in THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON. (shiver #3)

Of course the reading of Dana Andrews' letter in THE OX-BOW INCIDENT.

Jimmy Stewart riding off after the death of Debra Paget in BROKEN ARROW. (the shivers keep on a-comin')

The final scene with Jimmy Stewart and his son in SHENANDOAH. (ditto)

Soooooo many fine moments . . .

[JackFavell]

Good ones! How about the moment at the end of Stagecoach when Mrs. Mallory and Dallas meet - Dallas has pretty much ensured that Lucy's baby has survived, and has nursed Lucy herself back to health. And yet, Lucy Mallory is still unable to even thank Dallas in front of anyone.... it's a moment of parallels and comparisons for each of the women - one that includes shame, connection, deep understanding, hurt, sadness and self-realization. It showcases inbred weakness and shallow intolerance versus strength, resilience and compassion. Pretty much the entire movie's subtext in a nutshell.

[Western Guy]

I'm not the greatest fan of STAGECOACH, Wendy, although I am super-impressed by your brief dissertation of the story's theme. To me, it's a fine Western but not one that I would revisit often.

[JackFavell]

You know, that's how I felt until last year, so I completely understand.

I watched it with the sound turned down low, and I was busy typing. I looked up and started to see remarkable things in the movie, things I'd only ever seen in Murnau. Now I am just starting to find other incredible things in Stagecoach.

[Western Guy]

One of those classics whose impact on first viewing had somehow escaped me. There certainly have been some others: Veidt's HANDS OF ORLAC and Dreyer's VAMPYR, for example - to me, two ultimate yawners, though I love early horror films. The cinematography of STAGECOACH certainly was masterful, and there definitely were memorable elements in the film. But overall it just didn't completely do it for me. Well . . . to each his own, I suppose.

[JackFavell]

I did the same thing... I saw it, and just sort of thought, well that was a movie I can cross off my list. I saw it again, and it did nothing for me. And on and on for several years. I don't know what happened, but now I love it! Of course, I also didn't get The Searchers when I first saw it.

Hands of Orlac has some great parts, but overall it's just LONG. And you'll find sympathy from me because Dreyer makes me feel like I have attention deficit disorder.

[Western Guy]

Well, I have the DVD of STAGECOACH and I'm going to have to give it another viewing, And, yes, I feel the same way about THE SEARCHERS. Bought the DVD because I need that addition to my Western collection, but haven't stripped away the cellophane from the case yet. Caught pieces of it some years back and it just didn't seem to hold my interest. Not a fair assessment, so I've gotta give it another go. Darn it, as of late I think I'm more into the latter John Wayne films. His team-ups with Dean Martin, Mitchum, etc. Popcorn movies, I know. Perhaps I enjoy them more because they're simply-plotted and (heavens!) I'm aging into brain candy entertainment.

[JackFavell]

I don't care whether a movie is a popcorn movie or a deep treatise on whatever, I think there's room in the world for both, and I love both types. Most of my favorites are more in the popcorn category.

I think there are some movies that need a few viewings to make an impact, at least for me. Some of them are just so dense it's all you can do to get the basic plot points! Others seem deceptively simple so you don't really think about them except for what they are at face value. Ford's films are like that. But then on subsequent viewings things start to pop out at you, things you didn't think about before. The Searchers affected me like that. I watched and didn't get it at all. What's the big deal? I even watched a second time with no reaction. But then something happened on the third viewing, weird, beautiful, psychological things started coming out, scenes I hadn't noticed, and I just fell in love with it.

[tinker]

I just watched Saratoga Trunk (which is a kind of western I guess) for the first time in a long time and I think the scene where Gary Cooper is introduced is pretty good. As he lounges back on bar chair the camera pans up the whole long long length of him till it stops on the smile. Taking in everything that Ingrid Bergman (and the rest of us are thinking). In some ways the tough censorship codes made for some very innovative filming and respect for their audiences that they "got" it. Another trick they did ( from memory in the Edna Ferber book which I have not read for a long while ) I think Cleo was of mixed ancestory and they could not then say that on screen at that time so as Cleo walks down the street they have some character singing about black coal for sale or blackberries for sale. Trusted the audience to work it out.

And because I am a romantic and a John Wayne devotee( and really romantic scenes with him are few and far between), the scene in Angel and the Badman when Quirt is harnessing up the horses and lets Penny convince him to give up on his badman ways is special. John Wayne plays it with so much charm, which was pretty good to have that much romance going on considering he was backing a pair of horses to harness them to a wagon at the time.

I also think the moment at the start of Hondo when Hondo walks out of the desert is pretty special.

I think the image of the spinning bicycle wheel in Butch Cassidy was a special moment too. Said many things with no words.

And in Red River as they bring the cattle through the town at the end of the road always gets a lump in my throat.


dee

[JackFavell]

Oooh, I never ever noticed the 'blackberries for sale' undercurrent!

Saratoga Trunk is one of my favorite movies and books. I haven't read it in years, I keep waiting for it to be available on kindle but it never is. I think it was her best story. I am totally in love with the movie, it also has Florence Bates in another fantastic performance. Ingrid also has dark hair, which works for me, but it's another indicator of her parentage.

I'm also a big fan of Angel and the Badman, swoon!