I liked it too, it’s a fine Western / family drama; in my opinion not as strong as Dmytryk’s Warlock but much better than his pretty mediocre Shalako.
All three look the same. Is Rory the girl in the middle? No? No …
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YUMA (1971, Ted Post)
A made for TV western, produced by Aaron Spelling, supposedly a pilot for a TV-show that never came off the ground, directed by the man who did Clint Eastwood’s Hang 'm High and would also do Magnum Force. That other Clint - the gigantic Clint Walker - is Dave Harmon, the new Marshal of the town of Yuma, Arizona (the film was shot in Old Tucson). Upon his arrival two of the King brothers - both members of the family that virtually owns the place - are causing trouble. One of them is shot by the new lawman, the other one put behind bars. The situation looks critical, and things get even worse when the imprisoned King brother is killed by someone who wants to put the blame on Harmon …
At first Yuma looks very much like a poor man’s Rio Bravo (tough lawman, brother in jail, other brother demanding his release, and so forth), but man, they sure managed to complicate things. With a story about murder, backstabbing, Indians, pilfered beef plus a Mexican orphan and an attractive young widow (I guess Kathryn Hays’ character is supposed to be a widow) they have crammed so much into the mere 73 minutes of running-time that even Walker with his 6 foot 5 (1.98 m.) must have had trouble to overlook the overworked plot. Walker is still tall - very tall - in the saddle, but we’re more than a decade after his Cheyenne days and I thought he was looking a little tired in this one. Strictly average, but a great supporting cast helps (if you don’t know the actors by name, you’ll recognize their faces).
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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
-Probably my favorite Ford western. Great cast with Lee Van Cleef in a supporting role.
Haven’t, of course, seen all of Ford’s Western films (virtually impossible) but among his sound Westerns definitely a favorite, alongside Wagon Master (1950).
Revenge of the Virgins (1959), directed by Peter Perry Jr.
A scruffy old prospector, Pan Taggart (Stan Pritchard), leads a group of gold-seekers (Charles Veltman, Jodean Russo, Hank Delgado [better known as Henry Darrow {The High Chaparral}], Hugo Stanger) into rough, secluded territory. On their way they are joined by two deserters (Lou Massad, Del Monroe). Unfortunately, the gold they’re looking for is fiercely protected by the last surviving members of an Indian tribe, all of them female (Joanne Bowers, Pat O’Connell, Jewell Morgan, Betty Shay, Jan Lee, Nona Carver, Ramona Rogers). – Very basic but surprisingly effective film-making; screenplay by Ed Wood, credited as “Pete La Roche.” Watched Revenge of the Virgins because Lee Broughton mentions it in The Euro-Western, emphasizing “the fact that Wood had actually written a Western that subversively allowed its Indians to successfully defend their land and its natural resources” (p. 43).
STARS IN MY CROWN - One for the family and god-fearing, law-abiding people, but not for me. Objectively it’s quite well-made though.
I prefer CANYON PASSAGE and every other Tourneur western I have seen to it. Technically there’s nothing seriously wrong with it, problem is that it’s as harmless and PC as a western can get.
At long last back to cultured life after weeks of work, work and more work somewhere on the coast far from civilization and with very poor internet. Brought a BR player and a small stack of DVDs there though, including the following westerns
Viva Zapata with Brando, very impressing, seems both Petroni and Milian were influenced by it while making Tepepa, Villa Rides, what a great disappointment, and Antonio Banderiras’ Pancho Villa. And Shane. And reviewed from my laptop HD: Why Go on Killing, Prega Dio… e scavati la fossa and La Ciudad Maldita.
The latter, La Ciudad Maldita, aka La notte rossa del Falco, has no thread on the Forum and no review on the SWDB, I’ll try to furnish both.
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Yesterday: In a Valley of Violence (West, 2016).
A drifter, Paul (Ethan Hawke), and his dog, Abby, wander into the almost deserted former mining town of Denton and are immediately set upon by the town braggart, Gilly (James Ransone). Paul dismisses this idiot with a single punch but the set-to brings the attention of the town Marshal (John Travolta), who also happens to be Gilly’s father. The Marshal ascertains quickly that Paul is a deserter from a lethal post-Civil War military kill squad currently assigned to indiscriminately wiping out the entire Cheyenne nation and decides to defuse the situation by agreeing not to turn Paul over to the army provided he and his dog leave Denton immediately, and never return. And that should have been that, except that the Marshal’s gormless son’s pride has been wounded in front of his hee-haw buddies, he needs reparation and, if you’ve seen John Wick (Stahelski, 2014), you may have an idea as to how he decides to go about it. The rest of this economical little revenge western more-or-less tells itself.
I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this at first. The set of Denton didn’t look very well aged and the paucity of extras gave everything a decidedly on-the-cheap feel. Also, I felt that Ethan Hawke and John Travolta, both of whom I like generally, were miscast… But, as the movie progressed, the stripped aesthetic grew on me and so did Mr. Travolta’s performance; his character, at first glance a stock crooked small-town tyrant, is in fact closer to Gene Hackman’s character in Unforgiven (Eastwood, 1992): A hard guy placed in a bad spot. I still don’t feel that Ethan Hawke’s your man if you’re casting a haunted, no-nonsense agent of death but, overall, In a Valley of Violence is well worth a look; it’s certainly the liveliest Ti West film I’ve ever seen, by some measure.
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Just finished it and can’t say that I was impressed. A few violent deaths, an atmospheric SW-like score and that’s about it. Everything else has been done to death before and infinite times better. Where the hell were the rest of the people in that town? As mentioned above, Ethan Hawke doesn’t cut it for this type of role. Couldn’t take Travolta seriously and I don’t believe he took his own role seriously enough either. And the concept of taking such a vicious revenge for a slain dog…well, ok…5/10, tops
That and the dog (until they killed him) were the best thing in this horrible western. The acting and the dialogue was laughably bad… 2 bones for the dog 0 for everything else.
Had a few cringes with some of the dialogue as well.
I just saw who Ti West is. He’s the guy that has directed V/H/S and The Innkeepers, which I found both to be terrible. Suddenly, I feel the need to bash the film a little bit more…
Tbh, if someone murdered my kitty-kat I would go on a kill-crazy rampage. 
His slow-burn style divides opinion, for sure. To be fair he’s only directed one segment of the first V/H/S picture: Second Honeymoon, which I thought was one of the better entries (full disclosure: I like V/H/S, and I bloody love V/H/S/2. The third movie was largely a disappointment). The Innkeepers - yeah, that is a pretty glacial wedge of inactivity.I enjoyed it but it’s one I’ll only need to see once every ten, fifteen years or so.
‘THE SEARCHERS’ - 1956, Directed by John Ford.
Starring John Wayne, Ward Bond, Harry Carey Jr,; Vera Miles; and Jeffrey Hunter.
Actually had a good night, last night…plates piled high with ‘Cottage Pie, eggs and beans’, with a glass of two of white wine. Even my wife sat with me…although, I must admit, she did have to endure my pausing the movie several times…just so that I could then re-play a few of the iconic ‘Wayne Lines’… such as ‘That’ll be the Day!’; and "We’ll find ‘em, I promise…just as sure of the turnin’ of the Earth’.
‘THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN’ (1960)
Well, I didn’t think I’d be waking up the night after watching this favourite, to find that the last of the ‘Seven’ has now gone…R.I.P Mr. Robert Vaughan.
A ‘Classic’ in every sense of the word…
‘Bone Tomahawk’
Now…I’d heard that this was a film that would not please everyone, due to certain acts of violence in part of the feature.
So, after buying the Bluray, I skimmed through the film…just to check out the violent bits - and to ‘prepare’ myself for the experience.
On Saturday night, I say down, with my wife, and watched the film…not knowing what our reaction would be.
People have called this Film ‘slow-moving’; ‘ultra-violent’; ‘Boring’; ‘Tedious’; and 'Sick…
Having said that, my wife, and I, thoroughly enjoyed every second of ‘Bone Tomahawk’; and we’re impressed with the acting, the set-design, the ‘authentic’ ‘Western-Speak’, (to ourselves, at least); and the much criticised tedious pace…
To our minds - at least - there was an ‘realism’ to every aspect of the film.
Perhaps the biggest compliment came from my wife, who said that ‘Bone Tomahawk’ - with the gritty dialogue - reminded her of the ‘True Grit’ remake…
Toscano.
Surely no angels in this one as the title implies, almost impossible to identify with any of the characters. It’s a sick and twisted horror western and certainly has its flaws, but the overall grimness keeps you watching until the very end. I liked it.
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Yes, I liked it too but, for a good portion of the movie’s runtime, I was sure I wasn’t going to. Do you know what I mean? It’s that sort of film, imo. The only thing I took to immediately was the score.