Devil’s Doorway (1950) 
1/2
Good western made by one of my favorite directors Anthony Mann and this being his first western he makes good use of the scenery which adds a noir feel to it. Robert Taylor does a decent job as a Shoshone Indian returning home after serving time in the Civil War but finds very quickly that he must fight against Indian-hating white settlers.
Came across this video essay on the film mentioned and others as well, but it’s quite lengthy.
According to Richard Slotkin (p. 367), MGM got cold feet and was initially reluctant to release Devil’s Doorway:
“Both Fox and MGM planned movies for 1949–50 that would represent the Indian side of the conflict sympathetically, emphasizing the culpability of Whites in starting and perpetuating hostilities. MGM’s Devil’s Doorway […] was completed first; but its story was so uncompromising in its presentation of White greed and bigotry that the studio delayed its release until the success of Fox’s Broken Arrow indicated that the public was ready to accept it.”
Devil’s Doorway is an amazing film and my favorite of Mann’s eleven Westerns. Of course, all eleven are excellent, the one I like least is his last one, Cimarron (1960). In general, 1950 was an outstanding year for Mann, as three extraordinary Westerns directed by him were released: besides D. D. (in September), Winchester ’73 (in June) and The Furies (in July). However, as Kevin Grant writes (p. 34), “despite its significance, Mann’s first western remains one of his least known […].”
THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976)
Undoubtedly, one of Clint Eastwood’s best, with a superb performance from Chief Dan George, beautiful cinematography, an intelligent script, a rousing score by Jerry Fielding, and a catalogue of Clint ‘regulars’, including John Mitchum, Sheb Wooley, William O’Connell, John Quade, John Vernon, Bill McKinney, Woodrow Parfrey, and Sondra Locke.
"Dying ain’t much of a livin’, boy…"
Fantastic western!! I think it is Clint Eastwood’s best Western.
Just watched it the other day aswell. By far his best.
“You gonna pull those pistols or whistle dixie?”
Because of its poor reputation, I’ve been avoiding Jonathan Kaplan’s Bad Girls (1994) for a quarter of a century, but now I’ve finally watched it. Admittedly, apart from its four leading ladies Drew Barrymore, Andie MacDowell, Mary Stuart Masterson and Madeleine Stowe, it really doesn’t have much to offer: a range of stock Western scenes, directed without any verve or originality; a band of bedraggled brigands straight out of a Spaghetti Western, led by CEO James Russo (Fernando Sancho would have done it much better, of course); a few pointless, misguided references to The Wild Bunch; and little more. It’s a meretricious film but not that bad. Kevin Grant sees it as “a kind of Young Guns meets Thelma and Louise” but “too busy mining the seam of western clichés to seize the genre for feminist ends” (p. 17), whereas Lee Broughton writes that B. G. “and Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead (1995) initiated a short cycle of feminist Westerns that featured female characters who were able to challenge patriarchal order without fear of suffering punishment at a narrative level” (p. 178).
Invitation to a Gunfigher (1964). Yul Brynner provides a good performance, but overall, for me, just “meh”. Fun trivia … the Psycho house is used as one of the character’s home.
Re-watch of the True grit remake.
I re-visit this movie more often than I first expected. The Coen brothers did a very decent job transferring the story to a movie. The strong acting of both Bridges and Damon is one thing but moreover the music of Carter Burwell tilts it over to a fine movie.
The piano music reminds me of a documentary about the west I saw years ago. I can not remember which one (apparantly not from Ken Burns).
And a big hurray for subtitles! After The Godfather gave the world Brandoish, a wonderful but unfortunately completely unintelligible Italian American vernacular, True Grit exposed us for the first time to the equally incomprehensible Bridgese, the most beautiful authentic frontier gibberish since Gabby Johnson’s biscuit cutter was almost hornswoggled by some cracker croaker in Blazing Saddles … mumble, grumble, mutter, gripe … By the way, Charles Portis’s novel, on which both films are based, is really excellent, well worth reading.
Very annoying watching Jeff Bridges mutter and mumble in this version … perhaps the team forgot that this was a piece of story telling and not a historical re-enactment, where an incoherent old coot would be very likely.
Also had the same problem with some scenes in ‘No Country for Old Men’, when I first watched it with subs … I’d read the book a few months before seeing the film, and I was still confused!
The Shootist (1976, Don Siegel)
A requiem for the Old West and for the western genre. In the mid-1970s, the western genre was in decline and films were being made that symbolized this with their melancholy tone and themes dealing with the departure of the Old and the arrival of the New West. We also have the third level in this film. The aging gunman in the terminal phase of cancer is played by the biggest star of American westerns (perhaps American film in general), John Wayne in his last western role. The film begins with a montage of scenes from Wayne’s earlier films. The film becomes a meta-film, the actual John Wayne and the fictional character of the gunman mix and become one. Symbols of the new age are at every turn, car, tram, dry cleaning. The mythical figure of the gunman has no place there. His liberty and individualism belong to some past, more mystical time, now that an orderly civilized society has been established it is time for him to leave, the disease he has is incurable. But he will go how he lived, in the way he will choose: in the blaze of glory in the final gunfight (to which he will arrive like a pensioner, tumbling by tram). There are no real villains in the film, his opponents in the end are also just symbols of the mythical Wild West (gambler, herdsman, bartender, outlaw) that he will take with him. Before that, those who would like to profit from his legend would come to his door, trying to turn it into a commercial product, a colorful item. Wayne will give them all a kick in the ass, but there is not much that can be done, in the new age romance and mysticism will be sold and interpreted according to capitalist rules.
Unfortunately, mumbling and poor diction have become very popular with many actors – an annoying fact I also often notice on German-language television. Not even in my mother tongue do I understand all of the dialogues, and when mumbling and regional dialects are combined, the result is complete unintelligibility, as exemplified by Jeff Bridges’s Rooster Cogburn.
I saw True Grit twice when it was released in Europe in 2011. The first time in an Athens cinema, where it was shown in its original American version with Greek subtitles. I hadn’t read Portis’s book at the time but had already seen Hathaway’s movie from 1969, so I was able to follow the story even without understanding Bridges. After the screening, my then partner, who is Greek American and bilingual, said she was lucky she could read the subtitles because she had found it very hard to understand what Bridges was saying.
However, fussy as I am, it always gets on my nerves when I don’t have a complete understanding of a film’s dialogue. So, a month later I went to see True Grit again, this time in Vienna, without Greek subtitles, together with two friends, one of whom is an English teacher. Again, neither of us could understand Bridges. Eventually, a few years later, I spotted the Blu-ray of True Grit in a bargain bin and bought it. The English subtitles allowed me finally to understand Bridges and appreciate how funny and witty many of his lines are.
A lot of the ‘one-liners’ or funny bits, must originate from the novel, as the Coen’s made a big deal of saying they’d never seen the 1969 version … I don’t believe that for one second! Two cine enthusiasts of that age group failed to see one of the biggest movies of the 1960s era, which has played on TV near constantly all over the planet for the last half century !!! ? Naah.
The problem for me , is that so much of the dialogue is now iconic, that seeing it re-done in a new version, hurts the Coen’s film … you can’t hear, “Fill your hand you sonofabitch!”, and not think automatically of John Wayne. It’s not the same as seeing a Shakespeare play performed by another troupe of actors … it’s more akin to hearing your favorite song performed in a kareoke bar, and being asked to accept it without making comparison to the original.
I think the Coen’s were very lucky to have received relatively little flak for their cheek at, “re-imagining” a well loved classic. I’m sure too, that there’s an element of political, ‘Duke’ Wayne bashing. However, I can never really settle down and fully enjoy the Jeff Bridges version, although it’s a technically great film, it just evokes so many fond memories of the original, that it suffocates itself.
The Comancheros (1961, Mihcael Curtiz)
Midnight Run western style, by Michael “Casablanca” Curtiz. Lee Marvin steals the show as usual, in unfortunately too brief role.
If my memory serves me right, most of the good stuff in both films comes straight from Portis’s book. In terms of my personal fun and entertainment, I would put the book first, then the Hathaway movie, then the Coens movie. But I like all three.
Thanks for that … I have a paperback copy around here somewhere, which I must get round to reading sometime.
Wonder if I can manage to picture the characters without thinking of the cast of either film. I know that when I read Ian Fleming’s books, I didn’t picture any of the 007 actors from the franchise, as Bond is a much colder fish than in the film versions.
Watched Soldier Blue tonight. I felt this is much accomplished work from Director Ralph Nelson than his first western Duel at Diablo in presenting about progressive ideas, and also condemning U.S. Military for the past action.
It is tonally all over the place with romantic comedy adventure in middle but worth watching for opening battle and final sequence alone I think. And as much as I knew what is coming and felt absolutely prepared, still was horrified by the final raid, which is depicted in such a way so unpleasant, gross, raw and barbaric that I want to punch through my laptop screen.
I finally watched The Hellbenders (1967, Sergio Corbucci) and it was pretty cool. I absolutely loved Joseph Cotten trying to do his best John Wayne impression. It dragged a little at points but I loved this movie none the less.
Welcome to the SWDB, Kurtz. Sure you will find plenty to enjoy… 
Thanks I have recently gotten really into SW’s and I am just happy to find people to talk about them with.
