Ben Johnson

[pvitari]

Here's the last of the "Ben from the Back" photos. This one's from Fort Defiance, and Ben is on the left, shooting down a bad guy. :)

[pvitari]

I'm sure you've all seen this Wagon Master photo before and finally I have a good version of it for The Collection. This does not seem to be original from the film's premiere in 1950 but does appear to be studio-issued at some point as it has very fine detail and also has notations on the back from whatever media outlet used it. (Some time ago I posted a not as good version of this photo that appeared to be clipped from a book but was still desireable as Ben had autographed it.)

I'm about to do a series of "re-runs" -- photos I had posted previously but now had a superior version, either now a vintage original or just better. This is the first. Actually that Chisum photo I ran a few weeks ago was the first, now that I think about it. So this is the second "re-run." ;)

[pvitari]

If you had a look at this thread yesterday morning, you would have seen a "re-run" picture from Chisum. But I took it down from here and my Ben page after a few hours. It showed Ben, John Wayne and Glenn Corbett all holding weapons, with a dead body on the ground in front of them. (Not sure who the "dead" actor is.) The more I looked at that picture the more I wanted it gone -- I didn't like looking at it the day after another mass shooting, at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. If you want to see it (or download it), it's still in the album on the Ben page: https://benjohnsonfanpage.shutterfly.co ... allery/495

Today's "re-run" is from Mighty Joe Young. No guns, but Robert Armstrong is definitely making a point with his finger, which I'm sure JackFavell will appreciate. :) This version of the publicity photo has much superior picture quality but the text at the bottom isn't as colorful or fun as on the first version of the photo, so I'm keeping both in the "Mighty Joe Young Photos and Lobby Cards" album. ;) Here's the link to the first version of the photo: https://benjohnsonfanpage.shutterfly.co ... allery/143

And now the "re-run":

P.S. Tinker -- have a great time in Asia!!!!! I look forward to hearing about your travels.

[JackFavell]

Does anyone else wonder why the terrific Robert Armstrong didn't really make it to stardom, and the just OK Pat O'Brien became a big star? this bothers me every time I see Armstrong in a movie, and King Kong was just on, so I thought I'd bring it up here.

[pvitari]

Maybe because Armstrong was pushing forty by the time talkies came around, and came off as older? He wasn't an actor you could imagine yourself in a romantic relationship with -- that is perhaps some ladies could, but I suspect most could not. :) Not that I could ever imagine myself in a romantic relationship with (ugh) Pat O'Brien. I'll take Armstrong any day. Or even better, Frank McHugh. :)

The last three "reruns" are all from She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

On this second version of a She Wore a Yellow Ribbon publicity picture there's a bit LESS picture information on the left side and bottom, and it has publicity information in the white space at the bottom (the first version doesn't have that info). The first one also has some streaks on it which this one doesn't have. Otherwise the picture quality is the same.

Here's a link to the first one:

https://benjohnsonfanpage.shutterfly.co ... gallery/47

And now the second version:

[tinker]

Thanks Paula

You realise how tall Ben was in that photo with Robert Armstrong.

I am hanging around Changi airport waiting for planes so Ben pictures are a very nice way to fill in the time (when there is free internet)

dee

[pvitari]

This "rerun" is identical to the first copy of this photo I had posted, except that this new second copy of the photo does not have a piece of white gunk stuck to the picture obscuring John Wayne's eye. I had tried gently to pull off the gunk, which looked like dried-up white-out, but it was instantly obvious I'd rip off the part of the photo the gunk was stuck to. But now here is a scan of the second copy I bought, exactly the same but minus gunk. :)

[pvitari]

The last of the "reruns." ;) John Wayne, John Ford and Ben Johnson on the set of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Someone started selling modern reproduction copies of this photo on ebay so I bought a copy, as the one I'd posted previously was just a small version I'd found on the internet. This new scan is much improved in detail and even has a bit more picture information on the bottom of the photo. I did lighten and sharpen it just a bit, something I normally don't do, but in this case I thought it helped.

[pvitari]

Southern California Motion Picture Council event held at the Sportsmen's Lodge, April 7, 1982. The lady is Jean Dolan, the council president. The gentleman on the right is identified on the back of the picture only as "Art N." Presumably Ben was given the Council's Golden Halo Award at this event although the council's website does not include an archive of past winners to verify this.

[pvitari]

Sorry, I've been slow with scanning etc. the past few days. Not much news but here goes.

Paramount's The Evening Star (Ben's last movie) has been out of print on DVD for some time but is now available again through the Warner Archive Collection thanks to their deal with Paramount.

Great piece on One-Eyed Jacks: http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/20 ... -west-film

[JackFavell]

Super article. I agree, Brando took the fall when the film did poorly at the box office, he should get the acclaim now that people are rediscovering it. I love the movie.

[pvitari]

Toby Roan (50 Westerns from the '50s) is working on a book about One-Eyed Jacks and I can't wait until he's finished! It's going to be an amazing read.

Today's pic is from Mighty Joe Young. :)

[pvitari]

Here's an article by actor and voiceover artist Joseph Sirola in the Autumn 2006 (vol. 2, no. 6) issue of Cinema Retro magazine. It's just two pages, about his experiences making Hang 'Em High. There's a paragraph about Ben in it. ;)





Speaking of that stunt, Bruce Dern also writes about it in his autobiography Things I've Said, But Shouldn't Have: An Unrepetant Memoir:

"Hang 'Em High has the single greatest stunt ever performed in the history of movies. Not by Clint, but by Ben Johnson. We hang Clint at the beginning of the movie, and we ride off and leave him. Ben Johnson comes over the hill and sees him hanging alone. He rides toward him full-out. Pulls a knife, rides, stops his horse dead as he slashes the rope, dismounts and before Clint hits the ground, catches him. No cut. Only Johnson could do that. He was the greatest cowboy who ever lived, and I mean bona fide five-time world champion. Greatest roping cowboy who ever rode, and he got a part in a movie simply because he was a wrangler on Rio Grande and John Ford saw him do a stunt on the second day of the movie and said to John Wayne, "Who the [expletive deleted] was that?" Wayne said, "Oh, that's Ben Johnson. He's the best horseman who ever lived."

Dern's facts are not entirely accurate* but he's right about how amazing the stunt is.




* Ben was a one-time world rodeo champion, not five time; he caught John Ford's eye on the set of Fort Apache, not Rio Grande; the description of the stunt is not 100 percent correct.

[pvitari]

I recently listened (several times) to Film Score Monthly's 250th and final soundtrack release, The Wild Bunch: End of the Line edition, and it's 100 percent pure pleasure for fans of Jerry Fielding's classic score, with many cues (and variants of cues) never released before and fascinating demo recordings. The set also contains the original soundtrack album as that actually has music not heard in the movie! Definitely a must-buy for Wild Bunch or Fielding fans. This was a limited edition release but copies are still available at screenarchives.com.

You can read the liner notes online here: http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/wild_bunch.html

Here is a picture from the CD insert booklet. Fortunately not too much is showing so I feel safe posting it online. :)

[pvitari]

I'm not posting anything at the Ben page today because I'm working on a Very Special Post that will have LOTS of behind the scenes Getaway pictures which you've never seen before, but this should help you get through Government-Shutdown Tuesday. There's something about a man in a top hat. :)



(From Wild Times....)