I’m watching “I Want Him Dead!” tonight. I like this scene where he saves the ladies from getting raped by these pigs.
I watched The Last Hard Men with James Coburn and Charlton Heston. I enjoyed it a lot.
Barquero, 1970… with Lee Van Cleef and Warren Oates… plus Forrest Tucker, all chewing-up the scenery with fantastic performances. The river is the star though.
" I shot the river, " says Oates, after Van Cleef and Tucker kidnap his kidnap-victim.
Van Cleef is a ferryman operating a rope-barge, to and from Mexico. Oates’ gang steals silver and 30-cases of rifles from an American-town, with intentions of hijacking Van Cleef’s barge, then escaping to Mexico. But he and grizzled prairie-nomad Tucker, spoil everybody’s plans. Brimming with action, the film successfully employs many SW character-authenticities, best exemplified by Happy (Ed Bakey). The film is easily re-watchable.
8.5 out of 10.
The Revengers (1972)
First time watched this and probably the last, it just didn’t do anything for me. With the group of actors involved in this western it should have been a lot better, more engaging, rather than the drawn-out bore that it was.
I like the throaty, funeral-dirge theme song as well as the whole movie.
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So does last caress, he just can’t help rhapsodizing about it all the freakin’ time.
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Here is an almost hour long loop of the female raspiness-equivilent, Marina Arcangeli, from Jungle Warriors.
Surprisingly nice picture with Yul as the bad guy. The story develops with a lot of talking but that is not annoying. Nice supprting actors like Pat Hingle and Strother Martin (recognized him by his characteristic voice)
Yes, a nice surprise. I liked it as well. I watched it with low expectations, mainly because i’m not really a fan of Yul Brynner, but he’s very good here:
Having a Gianni Garko marathon tonight…$10,000 Blood Money, now Have a Good Funeral My Friend…Sartana will Pay…the Complete Sartana Box Set is next on my to-buy list.
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Gun Street, 1961… Avoid this one. The first gunshot isn’t fired until 41-minutes in… and then, only to shoot a gun out of a potential burglar’s hand, who hadn’t even burgled yet. He’d just stepped-onto the porch. Nice goin’, Sheriff.
The movie is all talk. In fact, the town has telephones (which hadn’t been invented yet, judging by the historic authenticity the film portends-to). Funny there’s no telephone-poles nor wires anywhere. Oh well, the phones are there to insure more talk.
One quick, funny scene has the deputy entering a barn to round-up a posse. Then 8 cowboys run out holding guns… followed by a cutscene of the same 8 running-out holding saddles, where they enter a corral containing one horse.
All-in-all, only 4 shots are fired in the entire film. Which is a higher number than the stars I’d give it: 2-out-of-10.
Born to Kill (1967) I’ve never seen a post-silent movie that could be restructured as a silent movie as much as this film. I’m tempted to take the movie into Premiere and re-edit a scene in b&w, with added film scratches, and silent film inter-titles inserted for the dialogue. The music constantly punctuates every happening just like a 1920s film and the dialogue is sparse enough to accommodate intertitles. 
Just watched Chisum with John Wayne. Haven watched it since I was a kid and couldn’t remember it much. I thought it was a pretty bad movie. Everybody seemed bored and I couldn’t really get into any of the characters. Definitely one of Wayne’s worst. I’m surprised to see so many positive reviews.
Absolutely not!..This is one of my favorite Wayne’s westerns, very entertaining with some good action. You sound like a John Wayne hater, just like the bunch of you.
I’m definitely not a John Wayne hater but the movie is nothing to brag about. It focuses more on Billy the Kid than Chisum and the whole film felt like a TV episode that was going on too long. It’s fine if you like it but there’s much better Wayne westerns. This one was weak for me and even more so since I was watching True Grit the night before.
The Train Robbers (1973)
I’m not a hater either, but this one is a drag … seems to be more boring horse riding scenes than an average Fidani movie!
The story could have been told easily within a 30 minute TV episode … there’s just nothing to this one except nice locations good photography and familiar actors. 
Coincidental confluence of failed Andrew V. McLaglen films like Chisum and the missed potential of some John Wayne films like The Train Robbers.
Seems like both men were consciously trying too hard to create ‘classic westerns’. McLaglen constantly, Wayne occasionally.
McLaglen-films are generally ponderous, self-aware, and hard to sit-through. Whereas Wayne’s failed ones were usually films with abruptly unsatisfying endings.
Worst 5 McLaglen westerns (that I’ve watched):
McLintock! (with Wayne)
Chisum (with Wayne)
The Undefeated (with Wayne)
The Rare Breed
Something Big (which I’m struggling to watch right now and will probably review here)
The Train Robbers just seemed like an excuse to team Wayne with Ann-Margaret.
Something Big had its moments. I did get quite a few laughs throughout the first half at least. I also remember The Undefeated being a decent film with a good story but I’ll have to check it out again. I really like John Wayne, so it’s weird to be accused of being a hater but I can’t deny that he made some phony western movies. I think it’s a pity since Chisum could have been so good. The problem with it is that the music doesn’t fit. You see a gunfight and get comedy music and everything feels too light-hearted. Imagine if they actually made a darker film with Wayne! If you remove the music from some of the scenes at the beginning, you get a completely different feeling. I turned The Train Robbers off half way through. I’ll try and watch it again. McLintock? I’ve always avoided because I don’t like O’Hara and seeing her over John Wayne’s lap is enough to put me off.
I don’t think I made it all the way through this. I like every other Stewart western I’ve seen though.
Add ‘Big Jake’ (1971) to the list of Wayne turkeys … it seems to follow that too familiar pattern of Big John surrounding himself with friends, family and to a certain extent, lackeys … who stand around smiling in awe at the big man. Ok, so they’re having fun hanging out with the legend … but the cinema audience aren’t. 
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