The Last Western You Watched?

True Grit - My first western with Wayne i’ve seen. Finally, right. Well, i was comparing it to the remake, of course, and i must say, that some scenes i like more here, some in Coen’s vehicle. I was surprised that scene with cut fingers was already here, must have been quite shocking back then. In remake, i wasn’t very content with final showdown between Rooster and four riders - now i can’t remember what precisely i didn’t like there, but in original it looked quite spectacular.

I have similar feelings. Overal I like the Coens version a tiny bit better, but there are several things I like better in the '69 version. John Wayne is a better lead and, indeed, the finale is more satisfying.

i don’t care much for Wayne in general (that’s probably a reason i haven’t seen any movies til now), so, there’s not much of a competition for Bridges - just for the record

  • i hated that thing with girl falling into the snake pit in both versions

Well, referring to the finale I didn’t mean the snakepit in particular. That scene works better in the book than in any of the two movies.

Thought True Grit the original movie was alright, nothing special. The remake I just did not like one bit as Bridges in the main role just did not do it for me.

Last night: The Homesman (Jones, 2014). Low-key but harsh tale of a trail unusually moving from west to east, in which Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank), a woman of practical means and hard demeanour which belies an intense loneliness, enlists the help of ne’erdowell “George Briggs” (Tommy Lee Jones, also directing), saving him from the noose in order to transport three women who have gone insane during the harsh winter in their Nebraska outpost back to civilization in Iowa where they can get the help that they need. Not as clearly beautiful aesthetically as Slow West - few films are - but beautiful in its own purposely flat, intimidating way, with some stunning photography here and there. As well as Mr. Jones and Ms. Swank in the leads, The Homesman is peppered with heavyweight performers in smaller roles: John Lithgow, James Spader, Miranda Otto, Hailee Steinfeld, Meryl Streep and even Ms. Streep’s daughter Grace Gummer all feature. Slightly uneven - a pivotal event two-thirds into the movie changes the tone somewhat - but well worth seeking out. Good stuff.

Yesterday: Red Sun (Young, 1971). Hmm. Not a bad film by any means, in fact it might contain my favourite performance by Charles Bronson. Toshiro Mifune is good and doesn’t get crowded out, and he enjoys a decent “buddy movie” relationship with Bronson, it’s difficult to look away from Ursula Andress or indeed even concentrate while she’s on-screen, and Alain Delon is the best of the lot. And yet it’s a little flat, as though Terence Young was just going through the motions. It’s a strange brew: A potentially decent tale told with (IMO) little interest, in a Spag setting without feeling particularly like a Spag (I appreciate that it’s not, really), elevated by some terrific turns by its principals, then deflated by getting bogged down with “red injuns”. First forty minutes or so, it was really quite a lot of fun. For me, it couldn’t quite maintain its momentum and early promise. Still a decent enough film though, I’d happily stick it on again come some lazy Sunday afternoon sometime.

Today: The Salvation (Levring, 2014), a largely Danish production shot in South Africa. Mads Mikkelsen stars as a Danish immigrant in Death Wish mode as he avenges the murder of his wife and child, and is then himself hunted by the lunatic brother of one of his family’s killers (played fantastically by Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who also has an iron grip on the local town as a protection racketeer systematically claiming the town’s land on behalf of a shady cabal eager to seize the oil believed to be underground. Also starring Eva Green as a mute and including a smaller role for former Manchester United idol and crazed French Seagull-trawling would-be philosopher Eric “Kung-Fu” Cantona, The Salvation is another beautiful-looking movie and there’s a fair bit of action, too. It’s a little overwrought and one or two plot strands which feel as though they are going to have significance come to nothing, frustratingly, but all in all it’s a decent enough watch, not least for Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s performance.

Death Hunt.

Only just viewed this Bronson one , but wanted to compare the U.S dvd to the German dvd. German dvd may have less grain. Brother gave me his disc to watch as he is a big Bronson fan. Interesting radio interview on the disc with the two stars. Bronson was a clever guy and one guy I would not like to have a debate with. Anyway I like the film :D.

[quote=“ENNIOO, post:11789, topic:141”]Death Hunt.

Only just viewed this Bronson one , but wanted to compare the U.S dvd to the German dvd. German dvd may have less grain. Brother gave me his disc to watch as he is a big Bronson fan. Interesting radio interview on the disc with the two stars. Bronson was a clever guy and one guy I would not like to have a debate with. Anyway I like the film :D.[/quote]

Didn’t know that. Would like to see the interview.

I don’t know much about him, actually. Most people who have worked with him describe him as a rather enigmatic type, a loner, not too communicative.

Today: The Timber (O’Brien, 2015). Set in the Yukon at the time of the Gold Rush (and to that end filmed to fantastic effect in the Carpathian mountains of Romania), this is a heavily snowbound western concerning two brothers - one a killer, one a family man - forced by an unscrupulous banker with his talons deep in their homestead to collect on a bounty up in “The Timber”, a forested stronghold up in the mountains wherein lies the evil and long-wanted Jebediah Seagrave, the nefarious murderer of several gold prospectors. Muddying the waters is the fact that old Jeb also happens to be the brothers’ estranged father.

A treacherous “road movie”-style path to a guarded hideout to carry out the assassination of an enigmatic madman? All sounded very Apocalypse Now to me, which to be honest I found an intriguing concept. Alas, The Timber has some good ideas but it either doesn’t take the time to explore them within its brisk 80-minute runtime, or it falls victim to some uncertain editing which leaves chunks of what’s basically an astonishingly simple premise unnecessarily unclear. That’s not to say that it’s a bad film by any means - I’d recommend any of you to give it a spin - but I just felt that the ingredients were there to have produced a real hand grenade of a movie, and it never quite achieves that on any level. It’s another terrific-looking film though with the cast frequently having to tramp through five feet of snow, and the whole production is taken seriously; sometimes with these smaller-budget pictures, the temptation is to lean towards gleeful parody in order to make an asset of the limitations (understandably, in most instances). That’s not the case here, and the film is better for that.

Anyway, worth a look for sure.

Broken Lance (1954)- There were some really good westerns made in the 50’s and Broken Lance is one of them. This was entertaining and very well made with a good cast, gripping story and great cinematography. To be honest, I’ve never been much a fan of Spencer Tracy, but his performance is really outstanding as the cruel and iron fisted cattle rancher. 8/10

Django Unchained
-This was on tv last night so I decided to watch it for the second time. I’ts a entertaining film but not really among Tarantino’s better films, there’s too many flaws in it: mainly it’s just too long, some scenes go on and on for too long and some scenes could have been left out completely. There’s also some problems with some of the music choices in my opinion and no, I don’t mean the rap, actually it’s some of the sw music that doesn’t work that well. But like I said it’s still entertaining film especially the actors are all very good. Now that I saw it again I noticed few spaghetti western references I didn’t spot on the first time like Big Daddy holding his rifle exactly like Sartana does and other small details like this. Not sure if it’s meant to be sw reference but Bruce Dern looks like Demofilo Fidani with his shaded glasses.

[quote=“last.caress, post:11788, topic:141”]Today: The Salvation (Levring, 2014), a largely Danish production shot in South Africa. Mads Mikkelsen stars as a Danish immigrant in Death Wish mode as he avenges the murder of his wife and child, and is then himself hunted by the lunatic brother of one of his family’s killers (played fantastically by Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who also has an iron grip on the local town as a protection racketeer systematically claiming the town’s land on behalf of a shady cabal eager to seize the oil believed to be underground. Also starring Eva Green as a mute and including a smaller role for former Manchester United idol and crazed French Seagull-trawling would-be philosopher Eric “Kung-Fu” Cantona, The Salvation is another beautiful-looking movie and there’s a fair bit of action, too. It’s a little overwrought and one or two plot strands which feel as though they are going to have significance come to nothing, frustratingly, but all in all it’s a decent enough watch, not least for Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s performance.

[/quote]

I’ve also watched it this week, can’t agree more, and Mikkelsen has a cool western character look. The final feeling I had was that was a very classical western, I wish they mode more

Another pretty good new western is Sweetwater (Logan Miller, 2013). 8/10

A vengeance film with January Jones, Ed Harris and Jason Isaacs. Isaacs is a strong villain and slightly over the top. Unfortunately Harris, who co-produced, plays also an over the top character, but his eccentric lawman (very similar to Brando in The Missouri Breaks) is often too much to keep the character in balance with the film’s more realistic approach.
A wicked movie.

Haven’t heard about that. I need to remember to check it out.
Ed Harris was great in Appaloosa as an actor but also as a director. One of the best westerns from the recent decades.

Something Big (1971) - Pretty leisurely throughout but something big is coming as they keep repeating … not really worth waiting for, imo… and also wasn’t a fan of the opening song… but I like the dog

[quote=“Bill san Antonio, post:11793, topic:141”]Django Unchained

(…) Not sure if it’s meant to be sw reference but Bruce Dern looks like Demofilo Fidani with his shaded glasses.[/quote]

I too have noticed that :slight_smile:

The Legend of God’s Gun - a recent-ish budget offering from a bunch of fellahs more used to playing spaghetti-flavoured ditties in a popular beat-combo than making films.

“A gun-slinging preacher” :slight_smile: “returns to the debaucherous town of Playa Diablo seeking revenge … notorious scorpion-venom drinking bandito… band of bad banditos” 8) 8) 8) “… revenge… Bounty Hunter … sure to be a confrontation of Biblical proportions as they all meet in the circle of death” :o 8) :stuck_out_tongue: 8) ??? etc.

Sounds good? Sounds like it could challenge Ninja… Say Your Prayers to best storyline-on-a-budget masterpiece?
Only time will tell though, as I don’t want to give too much away… yet!

I’ve scribbled my thoughts down, but will bide my time on sharing them, as I believe another forumite may be watching this soon. I’ve been informed that it’s found a home on his low-budget shelf to be filed between Lapdancing for Beginners and Lesbians in Legoland apparently (or somesuch).

:wink:

[quote=“Reverend Danite, post:11799, topic:141”]The Legend of God’s Gun - a recent-ish budget offering from a bunch of fellahs more used to playing spaghetti-flavoured ditties in a popular beat-combo than making films.

“A gun-slinging preacher” :slight_smile: “returns to the debaucherous town of Playa Diablo seeking revenge … notorious scorpion-venom drinking bandito… band of bad banditos” 8) 8) 8) “… revenge… Bounty Hunter … sure to be a confrontation of Biblical proportions as they all meet in the circle of death” :o 8) :stuck_out_tongue: 8) ??? etc.

Sounds good? Sounds like it could challenge Ninja… Say Your Prayers to best storyline-on-a-budget masterpiece?
Only time will tell though, as I don’t want to give too much away… yet!

I’ve scribbled my thoughts down, but will bide my time on sharing them, as I believe another forumite may be watching this soon. I’ve been informed that it’s found a home on his low-budget shelf to be filed between Lapdancing for Beginners and Lesbians in Legoland apparently (or somesuch).

;)[/quote]
An inspired review with well chosen words. Love it …