Westerns

[klondike]

You're exactly right, Anne, it was indeed Mr. Hamilton, & not Mr. Maharis, who played the irritable heir in Home from the Hill; I was remembering him as a young, eager, handsome actor named George, and I guess my sunconcious had me crusin' down Route 66!
Could've been worse: I could've misquoted him as George Goble!

[mrsl]

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Yeah, yeah, Klondike, why don't you just admit it was a senior moment!!! We all have them from time to time.

[MissGoddess]

oh wow, MAN IN THE SHADOW is on Encore Westerns. Maybe it will get play during prime time or the weekend so more people can see it. I always liked this "modern day" western starring Orson Welles and Jeff Chandler. It's very dark, violent, but Chandler was never better. Orson is a scene stealer, as always. A movie about racism and how it ties into a murder cover up. (AT least I think it's set in a small Texas town). The movie has a very "modern" (as in today) vibe to it. Somewhat noirish in fact.

I like that the title almost seems to suggest Orson's fabulous entrance as Harry Lime.

[moira finnie]

Hi, Miss G.,
I'm so glad that you brought this movie to my attention. I've never seen Man in the Shadow (1957), but it sounds like a sort of contemporary Western noir, no? I usually get a kick out of Hollywood's postwar obsession with movies about small town tin dictators who are running their burg into the ground while profiting from their intimate knowledge of the weaknesses of their fellow citizens--until one man (trumpet fanfare!) stands up for justice. In any case, any movie that brings Orson, Jeff, Paul Fix, Leo Gordon and James Gleason together in a story about a corrupt small town might be worth a look.

I've never seen the leading lady Colleen Miller in anything consciously but she's mentioned in a book I have called Ladies of the Western. The actress said the script was "mangled,really bad." Then she went on to make the somewhat contradictory statement that Jeff Chandler was "out of it as a person. He was not having fun. He was, however, very personable; and looked great. Tall and handsome. " Miller also said that Orson Welles thought that the script could have been fixed, "but there wasn't time and he didn't care." During the shooting, however, Welles found time to teach Miller "to play gin rummy. I loved it, and I'm very good at it now," the actress claimed. Gee, I'm glad she learned something useful from the experience!

Apparently Orson Welles was allowed to write his own scenes in this movie by director Jack Arnold. Arnold was sort of interesting too since he used to take exploitation movies with prosaic scripts and found a way to give them an appealing cheesiness, as he did in The Creature from the Black Lagoon or he found a way to give a genre picture an unexpected dimension, as he did in the surprisingly haunting The Incredible Shrinking Man. Welles may have done this movie primarily to gain financing help from the producer Albert Zugsmith for Touch of Evil. Some of the comments I've come across about Man in the Shadow and Welles' role opposite Jeff Chandler indicate that it may have been sort of a warm-up for his turn as the flamboyantly corrupt policeman in Touch of Evil.

I missed the showing you saw, Miss G., but found that the film is being shown several times (natch, since it is Encore), in the next few months. (I believe that the times shown on their website are all ET).
Monday, December 6th
Encore Westerns 10:50am
Encore Westerns 11:10pm

Wednesday, December 15th
Encore Westerns 10:35am

Tuesday, January 4th
Encore Westerns 3:05pm

Wednesday, January 5th
Encore Westerns 1:40am

[movieman1957]

I watched "A Man Called Horse." I can't really say that I liked it all that much. An Englishman is captured by a group of Sioux Indians and through the years becomes part of the tribe rather than a prisoner of it. It's an odd grouping. If it had not been for a previously captured Frenchman there wouldn't have been any dialog after the first five or so minutes.

Richard Harris is initially abused and mistreated by his captors before he is sort of given to an old woman. Along the way as he becomes more Indian his status increases a little until there is an impending attack by a rival tribe that is discovered and he kills one of them and now becomes a high ranking member of the tribe.

It's gruesome in parts. It's hard to understand in parts. There doesn't seem to be a lot to connect with. On the other hand it has beautiful locations and you get a real good sense of some of the tribal customs and life. It sure is different. There are times it is pretty slow.

It must be me.

[MissGoddess]

moira,
i always learn so much from your posts, terrific. i only knew that the movie was not thought well of by anyone involved in it. and there are moments that don't quite come off, but i always have liked it. i have to credit Welles for his presence does raise the bar. However, i would have liked a little more subtlety from him but that was asking too much, ha! jeff sometimes seems in over his head (in the situation in the movie, and as an actor) but I like looking at him. the supporting cast is first rate and it really does feel like a crummy, seedy little town that orson rules like a despot. in other words, it has mood and atmosphere, very menacing, especially if you're not white.

i hope you catch it and let us know what you think.

[movieman1957]

Three Hours To Kill is as much murder mystery as straight western. Dana Andrews is believed to have killed his fiance's (Donna Reed) brother. He knows he didn't do it but that doesn't stop the town's attempted hanging of him. Andrews comes back to get it straightened out.

Standard but beautiful looking film with a host of familiar faces. I'm not quite sure I buy Andrews as a western hero. He wears the stern look well but the horse doesn't fit him as well as a trench coat. Harry Joe Brown produced and has the look and feel (and length) of the later films with (cue chorus) Randolph Scott.

[mrsl]

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Man in the Shadow was a surprising movie, to me. I didn't expect the suspense it offered. Beginning with the murder as they did, I was expecting another court room drama and was amazed to find it was basically a detective movie set in a small western town. Actually, I kind of wish they had found a way to work around the girls part. She was really only so much eye candy for the guys. Jeff's wife was enough for that. BTW Miss G. the guy killed was white, but he was mexican, so I guess that was the reason for the sister - she had to be in a no-no relationship.

Sometimes it is irritating how often they re-run movies on Encore, but often it helps when you catch the end of something, you can find it again later in the month and see it from the beginning, or if you miss it altogether.
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[movieman1957]

Saddle The Wind is a really nice surprise. I've not seen it before and found it to be very interesting and well done. Written by Rod Serling, which accounts for the great dialog) and it stars Robert Taylor and John Cassavetes as brothers who own a ranch. They love each other but are headed for trouble.

Taylor plays a reformed gunfighter and Cassavetes plays the younger brother who, after killing his first man in a not quite fair fight, becomes enamored with the idea of being one. The trouble is he is a hot head and it can't be simple. They certainly look like brothers and Cassavetes is really good in his part. He walks a fine line of being right and over-the-top. Donald Crisp plays a character not unlike that in "The Man From Laramie." The real surprise was Royal Dano. I know we all like him but I haven't seen him like this before. It is not a big part but it is memorable. Lots of anger from everyone but that makes for great dialog.

Julie London plays an odd character who comes to the ranch to marry Cassavetes after having only met him a few days before. Even after finding out she is not all that fond of him she hangs around.

Unusual ending ends a beautiful looking and pretty tight film. I think it is worth a look for the fine performances.

[pvitari]

I'm getting this for my... um.. Winter Solstice present. ;)



Contents include:

Tate (1960): Episode "Comanche Scalps" starring Leonard Nimoy and co-starring a young Robert Redford in the critically-acclaimed but obscure series

Bonanza (1960): Episode "The Ape" co-starring Leonard Nimoy and Dan Blocker.

Outlaws (1960): Episode "Starfall" Parts 1 & 2: Starring William Shatner, Cloris Leachman and more in a feature-length adventure.

The Lone Ranger (1949): Episode "Legion of Old-Timers" featuring Deforest Kelley, Clayton Moore & Jay Silverheels.

Last of the Mohicans (1957): Episode "The Scapegoat" starring Lon Chaney Jr. and James Doohan.

Outlaws (1960): Episode "Shorty" featuring Edward Binns, Alfred Ryder and Leonard Nimoy.

White Comanche (1968): The cult classic tamale western starring William Shatner & Joseph Cotton.

What is a "tamale western"? That's a new term to me!

[movieman1957]

I haven't seen Doohan in anything but the other guys got around in several old western shows, especially Nimoy. Have fun.

[MissGoddess]

Paula, I have to admit that is one of the cleverest DVD packaging ideas I've seen. I love it!

[klondike]

Chris, to my experience, Jimmy Doohan turned up in TV westerns most often as a disgruntled miner, or a mob-minded railroad navvie, and typically got tucked into unruly crowd scenes.
The one time where a role of his stands out in my memory, was in an episode from the 2nd or 3rd season of "Bonanza", wherein he played a settler trying desperately to sink a well for his drought-stricken village.

[pvitari]

The one time where a role of his stands out in my memory, was in an episode from the 2nd or 3rd season of "Bonanza", wherein he played a settler trying desperately to sink a well for his drought-stricken village.

That was a second season episode called "The Gift of Water" -- and another guest star on that episode was Majel Barrett, the future Nurse Chapel/Enterprise Computer Voice/Mrs. Gene Roddenberry. :)

Roddenberry of course wrote for a lot of westerns (Borden Chase wrote "The Gift of Water") and it was no secret that his inspiration in part for Star Trek was Wagon Train -- he wanted to do a Wagon Train in outer space. :) Have I ever mentioned that Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett came to visit the Army V Corps in Frankfurt, Germany, in the 1980s? They made a personal appearance at the movie theater on the HQ base in Frankfurt and screened (I think, my memory is vague) the original pilot, and took questions from the audience. I got my husband (an Army JAG at the time) in hot water with his boss, the V Corps staff judge advocate, because the SJA was having some big social wingding for the visiting TJAG (The Judge Advocate General of the United States -- the army's top lawyer) and we were both expected to be there with bells and whistles on. Well, no way was I going to miss Gene Roddenberry, Majel Barrett and actual screening of a Star Trek episode in a theater for some boring social function and my understanding husband told me to go and I could come to the party late. I went to the Star Trek event and as soon as it was over ran to the building where the party was still going on. Needless to say, my delayed appearance was noted by the SJA (the TJAG himself couldn't care less -- he had no idea who I was). However, a lot of the JAGs and their spouses were really jealous that I had gone... heh heh. ;)

[mrsl]

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Hey Pvi:

If my husband was the head honcho of the JAG section, I would still have been walking along side of you. Nothing would have stopped me from seeing Roddenberry and the Mrs. in those days.
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