Ben Johnson

[JackFavell]

Nice!

[pvitari]

My Election Day post. :) I posted a bigger size scan without the text at my website but if anyone wants it text-free here, let me know and I'll post it. ;)

[pvitari]

I have three Wild Stallion lobby cards to post -- here's the first one. I think I now have the entire set. The first five plus this one are already at my webpage here: http://benjohnsonscreencaps.shutterfly. ... rabilia/12

I'll post the other two tomorrow and sometime this weekend. You'll like them! ;) And you can download bigger versions of the scans at that link.

[pvitari]

[pvitari]

The last Wild Stallion lobby card.

[Maricatrin]

Well, that's one scene they did not have in the movie! Martha looks properly enraptured, but Ben doesn't look too trilled... bemused, perhaps?

[pvitari]

Mary-Kate! Where have you been? Love your avatar!

As for the photo on the lobby card -- would love to see that scene. Who knows, maybe the footage is mouldering in a can in an archive somewhere. :) The shot on the lobby card probably reflects what's going on in the movie -- she wants to him to join the Army and to get married, he doesn't want to do any of that until he catches his white stallion. She is very patient with him in the movie, though. :)

I hope the Warner Archive Collection people are working on a release of Wild Stallion. A few months ago I followed up asking them if they were any closer to "sooner" -- they had said at one point Wild Stallion would show up "sooner, rather than later" -- but they had no additional information. :( Wild Stallion and Slim Carter are the two feature films Ben made in the 1950s that are still not available on DVD. In fact, neither has ever been available in any home video format. Thank goodness for TV!

I made a bunch of screencaps from a TCM screening of Wild Stallion which you can find here: http://benjohnsonscreencaps.shutterfly.com/movies/28948

I'd like to do the whole movie but I'd rather wait for the official DVD.

[Maricatrin]

Mary-Kate! Where have you been? Love your avatar!

Well, as Tim Holt would say in The Fargo Kid (1940), "that's a loong story".

Incidentally, the picture of Tim in my new avatar (aw, thanks ) is from that most enjoyable film (don't let the freeze frame of Cy Kendall deter you from taking a look):

[youtube][/youtube]

Who knows, maybe the footage is mouldering in a can in an archive somewhere.

Oh, please don't say things like that. m-m-mouldering?

Yes, Martha was so nice in Wild Stallion... it was a surprise to see her like that, being more familiar with some of her other roles (Ben bringing out the best in people, I guess. )

The TCM print of Wild Stallion is pretty good, but the tv print I have of Slim Carter is kind of dreadful. Maybe it will wind up on DVD someday, too? We can always hope.

[pvitari]

Well, Mary-Kate, wherever you've been, hope you're back to stay!

Tim Holt is my absolutely most favorite screen cowboy, after Ben that is. (John Wayne is on a plane all his own.) Unfortunately The Fargo Kid is one of the unreleased titles...the B-western fans have been patiently waiting for the Warner Archive Collection to release some more but apparently they are focusing on the Monogram B-westerns right now so they don't have any Holt films ready for release onto DVD. :(

The TCM print of Wild Stallion is indeed quite nice but a real DVD would be nicer. ;) My copy of Slim Carter is pretty dreadful too (as you will see if you look at the screencaps I did from it). It belongs to Universal, so I keep a-hopin' and a-wishin' that they release it through their Universal Vault Series.

OK, today is Veterans Day, so today's post is Ben in uniform. ;) This is a publicity picture from Fort Bowie, in which Ben played Captain Thomas "Tomahawk" Thompson. :) I love that enigmatic half-smile on his face, like he's thinking all kinds of stuff but he's not going to tell you what it is. :)

[Maricatrin]

OK, today is Veterans Day, so today's post is Ben in uniform. This is a publicity picture from Fort Bowie, in which Ben played Captain Thomas "Tomahawk" Thompson. I love that enigmatic half-smile on his face, like he's thinking all kinds of stuff but he's not going to tell you what it is.

Good Veterans Day post, and that is sort of his expression... love it.

Well, Mary-Kate, wherever you've been, hope you're back to stay!

Thanks, I'll try to keep my foot in the door.

Tim Holt is my absolutely most favorite screen cowboy, after Ben that is. (John Wayne is on a plane all his own.)

On his own plane,
There stands John Wayne.
Agreed. And gosh, Ben and Tim? Such good taste! Bye the bye, Tim Holt is my favorite B-Western cowboy, always has been. What a small world this is.

Yes, there's a real lack of Tim Holt DVD's. And Netflix has approximately three(?!) Why the neglect of Tim? Is it because he didn't have a particular "gimmick"? He didn't sing, or play a famous character? .... heck, he wasn't even tall in the saddle! But you don't need any of those "extras" when you're just plain good.

I'm always happy to watch a Tim Holt B-western ... they're bound to be elevated by Tim's skill in handling comedy and drama equally well, and his likeable, genuine presence (I could go into a shallow side discussion here as to how cute he is besides, but I'm trying to teach myself restraint) and as a bonus, some of his films are more like A's in character development and story lines (The Arizona Ranger (1948) really springs to mind).

[pvitari]

Mary-Kate, obviously we are GMTA when it comes to actors. ;) \

Yes, there's a real lack of Tim Holt DVD's.

Well -- not really. As I mentioned, the Warner Archive Collection has released three collections of Tim Holt films, for a total of 30 films! Unfortunately The Arizona Ranger is not one of them. There are more to come but they haven't done the remastering yet, so they're not ready for release. WAC has also released Fifth Avenue Girl, and I think they're working on preparing a release of Hitler's Children too. Plus Stagecoach, His Kind of Woman, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Magnificent Ambersons are all available on DVD and/or blu-ray.

http://www.wbshop.com/search.do?query=Tim+holt

The Monster That Challenged the World is available too but it's pan and scan -- I'm hoping someone gets around to remastering it in the proper widescreen aspect ratio.

I'm always happy to watch a Tim Holt B-western ... they're bound to be elevated by Tim's skill in handling comedy and drama equally well, and his likeable, genuine presence (I could go into a shallow side discussion here as to how cute he is besides, but I'm trying to teach myself restraint) and as a bonus, some of his films are more like A's in character development and story lines (The Arizona Ranger (1948) really springs to mind).

To quote a friend of mine, Tim Holt's movies are the gold standard for b-westerns. This is due to their high production values and of course Tim Holt himself, a fine horseman and an A-quality actor who could have had a career in A-list films if he'd had the desire to do so. RKO assigned some of their top people to Tim's films, like Oscar-winning cinematographer Nick Misuraca, and their best B-western directors, like Lesley Selander, and sometimes the result straddled or wandered into A territory. I wish he'd kept on with the westerns -- he'd have been great in those 1950s westerns which took on a darker, more psychological tone during the decade. But he never had much illusion about the movie business, growing up in it, and he disliked the changes that came into the industry in the early 50s. RKO started whittling down his budgets and when he couldn't make his movies the way he wanted to anymore, he moved on.

[Maricatrin]

Mary-Kate, obviously we are GMTA when it comes to actors. \

My brain is working so slow, I actually had to do a web search to figure that one out --- it's either Green Mountain Transit Agency, Georgia Motor Trucking Association, or Great Minds Think Alike. Hmm, I wonder?

Arrg, I hate it when I come out sounding dumber than I really am, I can't afford it. What I should have said was that there's a scarcity of Holt westerns from in-store, streaming and rental sources. Blockbuster and Netlix have hardly any (of course they both have some of his other film work, like the four you mention). The Warner Archives Collection is a great project, but forty dollars is a little steep all at once... in the long run, though, it's a good deal. I have most of Tim's westerns on tape, but DVD's are nicer. I have to be careful, I could seriously go DVD happy over there on the Archive and bankrupt myself. It might be a lot of fun, though...

How on earth had I never heard of Fifth Avenue Girl? Tim Holt and Ginger Rogers? Tim plays polo [onscreen?]? Have to get it now (see what I mean? )

I think Orson Wells said something to the effect that Tim Holt (in his opinion) could have been a big star, but had not desire to be one. His feelings toward the industry might have played a part there.

Having a side-kick for so many films (Richard Martin), taller than yourself, speaks of a really well-adjusted ego. And it was nice to read Martin's story about the time when the executives were discussing a raise for Holt, but Holt told them he didn't need a raise, they should give one to Martin instead!

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I absolutely adore that Veteran's Day photo of Ben from Fort Bowie. That enigmatic, knowing smile says it all!

[pvitari]

Auction ending tomorrow on ebay -- minimum bid $9,000. I dug around the couch cushions for loose change but unfortunately came up a bit short of $9,000. :(

Jimmy Don Cox print, "Singin' Seven Spanish Angels." ("Seven Spanish Angels" is a song recorded by Willie Nelson and Ray Charles in 1984 that went to number one on the country chart.)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ben-Johnson-Sin ... 4abe37589d

It's hard to see but I think this is autographed by Ben, too.

[pvitari]

An unexpected DVD release! This made my day. :)

The Warner Archive Collection released today Dream West, the 1986 TV miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain as pioneer, explorer and politician John Charles Fremont.

Ben has a supporting role as mountain man Jim Bridger.

Here is the WAC page for Dream West: http://www.wbshop.com/product/dream+wes ... rom=Search