I've just discovered the Gunsmoke movies of the 1990s are on you tube without any breaks. My fav is The Last Apache when Matt discovers he has a grown up daughter Beth. I was a bit disappointed in the latter movies when Beth becomes more of a girlie damsel in distress character, whereas here she's a tomboy who can take careof herself. Here's the movie
[youtube][/youtube]
Re: Gunsmoke The Last Apache
Posted: July 4th, 2011, 2:09 am
by mrsl
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I agree with you Stuart, for the same reasons. She was so tough and self reliant at first, then suddenly she became a delicate flower. More surprising since her mother remained a tough nut to crack until the very end.
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Re: Gunsmoke The Last Apache
Posted: July 4th, 2011, 9:57 am
by stuart.uk
Anne
I'm reminded of the pilot of The Big Valley where Stanwyck's Victoria comes over as a fragile woman, as the producers indended, but the great actress toughened up the character in later episodes. I hope Jessica Lange plays the tougher Victoria in the movie version of the pilot
In Gunsmoke I also think it was a pity Beth's mother Mike was killed off between the 2nd and 3rd movie. It would have been could to see Matt settle down with a woman in his latter yrs with Miss Kitty already passed away.
That said I thought all the Gunsmoke movies were really good, though I thought Beth was more entitled to the Dillion ranch than her dad
Re: Gunsmoke The Last Apache
Posted: July 16th, 2011, 11:36 pm
by mrsl
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In regard to our last couple of posts, about the Gunsmoke movies, on the METV channel, although I hate commercials, ( I watch from the DVR so I can FF through the commercials), I've also been watching the other series that James Arness starred in after Gunsmoke ended, How the West Was Won. In this one he is Zeb McCahan, the patriarch of a very extended family, with cousins, aunts, and nieces and nephews all forming a family unit on it's way to Oregon and the different people they meet on their way, often taking them far off their course. Zeb's hair is long and quite gray here but his body is still in fine fettle. The one thing that makes me laugh every now and then is, I wonder if he doubted that his Gunsmoke fans would follow him to this new show because every now and then he will use a phrase of believe it or not - - Festus'. Last week he said "blah, blah, blah, don't cha see?" Then in today's show it was "If I'm lyin, I'm dyin". Those phrases just sound so wierd coming from Arness, you kind of look twice to see if you really saw what you thought you did. This is another good western but what I really like is that the episodes are 2 hours long, so it's almost like watching a movie every week. For anyone else who can find this strange channel, you may like it for Dick Van Dyke, Bob Newhart, Rawhide, Combat and the half hour episodes of Marshall Dillon.
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Re: Gunsmoke The Last Apache
Posted: July 17th, 2011, 4:38 am
by stuart.uk
Anne
I really liked the tv movies of How The West Was Won, but wondered over a period of time if it became a stereo type of western we saw in the 60s.
I'm revisiting The Quest with Kurt Russell and Tim Mattheson and it's almost beyond me as to why it wasn't a success when it first aired. The stories still hold up well today and the guest stars are as well known as the Bonanza's, Gunsmoke and The Big Valley. The only thing I can think of is that it was made in 1976 when the western genre was going through a bad period
Re: Gunsmoke The Last Apache
Posted: July 17th, 2011, 6:05 pm
by mrsl
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I think you've hit on it Stuart, it started too late. The west ern era was soon leaving except for one or two old standbys like Gunsmoke and Bonanza. But I agree with you as to the show itself. The premise was good and the guest stars were known by now better than their earlier days on the other shows.