Glen Ford underrated actor
Posted: March 27th, 2008, 11:08 am
if i had to say who i thought was the screens most underrated actor, the chances are i'd say Glen Ford
to me the two greatest spoof westerns were James Stewart's Destrey Rides Again and Glen Ford's The Sheepman, where Glen mixed comedy with Shirley Maclaine, Edgar Buchanan, but showed a darker side in scenes with Leslie Neilson and Parnel Roberts. (i wonder what the younger generation would make of Neilson's serious image when younger, compared to his later Naked Gun films)
in The Violent Men he wanted to sell his land and return East, only for a hired gun to kill one of his men inorder for him to sell at the price he was offered. the result was Ford changing his mind and taking on the big cattle empire, owned by Edward G Robinson, but really ran by Brain Keith and Barbara Stanwyck in one of her great evil roles
he played a shy retiring store keeper, who felt fear, but was also as the title of the film suggests The Fastest Gun Alive
in Blackboard Jungle he played a School teacher in a rough neigbourhood, who when pushed could resort to fists, like in the scene where he stopped a pupil from molesting a female teacher. (he'd get the jail if he did that now)
in Heaven Without A Gun, he played an ex gunfighting jailbird, who while in jail coverts and becomes a minister. in one scene he guns down three men who try to stop him opening his church, then he beats up David Caradine for trying to rape an Indian girl.
in the 70s he made a brief, but succesful transition into television with modern western Cade's County, as sherif Sam Cade with old 79-yr-old Edgar Buchanan as one of his deputies
to me the two greatest spoof westerns were James Stewart's Destrey Rides Again and Glen Ford's The Sheepman, where Glen mixed comedy with Shirley Maclaine, Edgar Buchanan, but showed a darker side in scenes with Leslie Neilson and Parnel Roberts. (i wonder what the younger generation would make of Neilson's serious image when younger, compared to his later Naked Gun films)
in The Violent Men he wanted to sell his land and return East, only for a hired gun to kill one of his men inorder for him to sell at the price he was offered. the result was Ford changing his mind and taking on the big cattle empire, owned by Edward G Robinson, but really ran by Brain Keith and Barbara Stanwyck in one of her great evil roles
he played a shy retiring store keeper, who felt fear, but was also as the title of the film suggests The Fastest Gun Alive
in Blackboard Jungle he played a School teacher in a rough neigbourhood, who when pushed could resort to fists, like in the scene where he stopped a pupil from molesting a female teacher. (he'd get the jail if he did that now)
in Heaven Without A Gun, he played an ex gunfighting jailbird, who while in jail coverts and becomes a minister. in one scene he guns down three men who try to stop him opening his church, then he beats up David Caradine for trying to rape an Indian girl.
in the 70s he made a brief, but succesful transition into television with modern western Cade's County, as sherif Sam Cade with old 79-yr-old Edgar Buchanan as one of his deputies