The Guess a Movie Screenshot Thread

Is it ‘Scalps’ (1987) ?

1 Like

Absolutely!

A post-1970s SW… If there is so much interest in SWs, why are there none made today…and could they be made today with the same sensibilities? Are they too nonconforming to PC-think?

Think you answered your own question :grinning:

As many participants have said in interview, the genre was, as they say, ‘a victim of it’s own success’ Far too many were made and quality nose dived. I think it’s different for those of us looking at these films today, because we have a sense of nostalgia and history, which adds to the enjoyment.
Were as if you visited the cinema in mainland Europe in the 1960s /70s and it was low budget westerns week after week, you’d simply get bored with them - Especially when these things were often re-released under different names, audiences just got fed up with the same old shows.

There have been plenty of attempts to mimic the Leone style, but no one seems capable of capturing the essence or bringing back the magic. At least there’s no shortage of product to look at … and personally, I much rather watch a genuine 1960s Euro western, with all the quirks and energy, than some type of replica.

1 Like

Have a go at this :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Hang em High.

With the internet is probably easier than ever to have breakaway niche productions and distribution for new projects without having to be answerable to studios or groups…but I’ll have to explain further in another post.

Bit too easy ? :rofl: Over to you, Massimo

Actually there is not much interest in westerns, and even less in the Spaggie type. Unless QT makes one.

Every Spag could easily be made today, but as long as producers don’t believe in there commercial potential, they won’t do it.

Apart from that the style of former times is not that easy to reproduce with changed aesthetics, and aesthetic is always changing.

And most Spags are not really non-conform, most tell simple good guy-bad guy stories with predictable endings. But of course some did other things.

1 Like

I would include modern day “westerns” like Sicario or Hell or High Water. There is more crazy stuff happening south of the border than there ever was, mass beheadings, even almost DAILY great train robberies like Mazda Is Getting Fleeced Because Trains Are Robbed Almost Daily in this Mexican Town The SWs were mostly “Cowboys and Mexicans” set in the late mid/1800s.

They would be mostly straight to DVD, which is fine. They could still return a profit.

The masculinity of SWs, which is a giant part of the mix, would be considered very non-conformist today.

1 Like

I wouldn’t appreciate replicas either. SWs were a take on American westerns vs replica and the same would happen with a modern take on SWs. Just like 60s rock stars were trying to emulate the blues but came up with something different.

Like I mentioned above, my view on what constitutes a western is broad. It’s more the sensibilities and location. Cry of a Prostitute, which was a modern crime drama at the time, came across to me as a SW western. Of course, it was the same culture(Italian) and released at the same time period.

1 Like

I’d agree … artistic influences are very important, if not essential.

I would dearly love to see a movie, or for that matter hear a piece of music which really shakes things up.

The film and music arts, have for me been in a huge slump for a very long time. I think that’s due to problems with what’s seen as being commercial - ‘the money’ is dictating creativity … and as John Steinbeck wrote, ‘No piece of art or music was ever created by a committee’ … but that’s fundamentally what’s happening today.

What made Leone’s breakthrough films so exciting was, as you mentioned, taking something familiar and re-examining it’s basic components, and then ‘simply’ having the balls and the genius to do your own version - Easier said than done! :grinning:

1 Like

This movie stands alone, IMO, for being way ahead of its time, for a number of reasons.

I totally disagree.
Lots of great films today. The cinema lives and breathes … as always …

‘Gold Diggers of 1933’ ? :thinking:

It’s not a Busby Berkeley movie although I like those. The still above was from the very end of this “pre-code” movie. The movie starts out like a “buddy film” genre and gradually gets kind of David Lynch-ish, in my estimation.

City Streets? Just a wild guess…

Not City Streets but that looks interesting.

Sounds great - I could do with checking out some more 30s and 40s material … it’s not my strong suit.

I’m dying to post a clip after someone gets it. I became interested in the pre-Hayes code movies because they were a little more risque/less-censored than what followed for many years. For example, in all US film-noirs, you may not have known exactly how they’d end but you knew the criminal wouldn’t get away with it, “crime doesn’t pay” was enforced by censors. This particular movie’s ending scene alludes to a crime that the character got away with. It’s subtle but the ending would have to been changed somewhat after the code started being enforced.

The actress in the above still was a central character in a big US western television series.

Could it be Barbara Stanwyck in ‘Baby Face’ ?