Westerns

[movieman1957]

I saw another Joel McCrea picture called "The First Texan." He plays Sam Houston in the days prior to and just after the battle at the Alamo. According to the script he was on his way there but didn't make it in time.

Anyway, it's okay. Felicia Farr stars as his wife but after the first half she is not much involved. Houston already has made a name for himself when he stumbles across a small cantina, it just happens that a small group of prominent people are planning to battle the Mexican government for their independence. Houston finds out but won't be dragged into it. He is, sort of, when the place is raided and he helps them avoid any bloodshed. Later on he is called to Washington where President Jackson makes him go back on his word and agrees to help the Texans.

On his return the film then becomes a military operation as he and Mexicans try and outsmart each other. It climaxes in a rather unconvincingly staged battle where the Texans win, of course, and they declare their independence.

McCrea's son Jody does a role as one of his soldiers.

Not great but I always like to watch McCrea.

[JackFavell]

I saw a part of Along the Great Divide too, but only a bit of it - getting my daughter ready for school interferes with my movie watching. I wish I'd known it was Walsh - especially because I was trying to see more of his movies. After recording Band of Angels, I wish I had got this one.

[MissGoddess]

Along the Great Divide will be on TCM again on June 25, at 1:30 p.m. EST.

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16176/Al ... at-Divide/

And just an FYI, in July TCM is spotlighting some great "B" western stars like Tex Ritter, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Johnny Mack Brown and others.

Although not part of the line-up for TCM, I just watched Gene Autry's Bells of Capistrano, and it's my favorite of those I've seen so far. The
leading lady is Virginia Grey, who looks lovely and is a good actress, too, who often got lost among the glamour queens at MGM, her home
studio at one time. It was kind of surprising to see her in a Gene Autry western, but she's not out of her element, and they make a cute couple.

Autry really has won me over. He seems to prove that nice guys needn't finish last.

[JackFavell]

I have to see that one - I like Gene and I especially love Virginia Grey... I think she completely outshines Joan Crawford in their scene in The Women, and she is a lovely bright presence in every movie I've seen her in, though she can be goofy at times. She seemed smart as a whip.

[movieman1957]

Gene Autry is a nice enough man, has a pleasant singing voice and rides a horse well but he seems the most unlikely of cowboys. And to be as popular as he was....

[JackFavell]

[youtube][/youtube]

[MissGoddess]

Ha!! I swear Hollywood is still using the same "Plotter" machine! They just changed to an iPad.

Virginia is so pretty and to me, always stands out in a quietly elegant way.

Chris, Gene isn't very "movie cowboy" looking, but something about his unassuming normalness...I think it's his kindness...has made up for it. I guess he wears those flashy duds to try and distract you from the fact he looks a little more like a storekeeper than a gunfighter. He probably looks more like men of the west really did, and not like Clint Walker or Gary Cooper!

[klondike]

Felicia Farr stars as his wife but after the first half she is not much involved.

Intriguing bit of casting, as Ms. Farr is immortalized in Western TV Mythology for her apocryphal role on "Bonanza" as Marie Cartwright, Ben's Acadian third wife, mother to Little Joe, and to Joe's maternal half-brother, Clay.

[movieman1957]

I remember seeing the episode about Joe (in fact all of the brothers birth stories) but I would not have known who she was at the time. Maybe imdb or someone has it.

I always think of her as the woman Glenn Ford shares an afternoon delight with in "3:10 to Yuma." A cinematic development joke considering they played a young couple in love in "Jubal."

[pvitari]

Gene Autry is a nice enough man, has a pleasant singing voice and rides a horse well but he seems the most unlikely of cowboys. And to be as popular as he was....

Autry was born in Texas and grew up there and in Oklahoma, where his dad had a ranch. So it's not entirely unlikely he'd be a movie cowboy... :)

[movieman1957]

No doubt. You don't get to be that popular without something in his make-up that makes him somewhat believable. But I agree with MissG that he resembles more the shopkeeper than the usual cowboy.

[knitwit45]

I guess I'm alone here, but Gene Autry always kind of gave me the creeps, when he had a close up. His eyes are so dark, it's like looking into a black rock. You couldn't see the 'soul' peeking out...ok, I'll go sit in the corner....

but one other thing Clu Gulager, mentioned by Lz, was HOT. ok, I'm going....

[pvitari]

I saw a very young Clu Gulager just the other day, in an early Laramie episode. He plays Jess' (Robert Fuller) brother-in-law who has deserted from the Army, and he convinces Jess to guide him to the Canadian border. Then, as they say, complications ensue and even more angst for Jess, poor guy.

[knitwit45]

One of the best 'made for tv' movies I've ever seen was with Clu as a blind man who falls in love with a young woman who is a reader-for-the-blind. "Heart in Hiding" whoa.

[klondike]

For what it worth, from up here in the peanut gallery, I have always thought that the oddly successful TV movie The Gambler had its evidently-effective casting bass-ackwards: Clu Gulager was a better fit for the charming, stoic, resouceful hero Brady Hawkes, and pandering, posturing icon Kenny Rogers should have been lurking around as the scenery-chewing heavy.