Check him out in Layer Cake, if you haven’t already. Great performance as a UK crime-boss.
Saw Run Of The Arrow yesterday, from 1957… Sam Fuller’s masterpiece about ‘indian politics’, civil-war politcs, and personal honour. Fuller is John Ford’s equal here, when it comes to understating the nuances of indian-life, cavalry-life, and the mixing of the 2. Every scene conveys exactly what it needs to convey. Overt melodramatics are completely absent. Any other director would’ve lingered and preached and ‘explained’. And the scenery is breathtaking. -There’s even a pre-Lawrence Of Arabia overhead-shot of hundreds of indians storming-through the cavalry encampment, with individual clashes happening, individual fires raging… It stars Rod Stieger, Ralph Meeker (the film was part of his birthday-marathon), Charles Bronson, and Brian Kieth. Jay C. Flippen plays a role in the beginning that should’ve received some sort of award. The so-called final bullet fired in the Civil War plays a shrewdly ironic ‘part’ in the movie-thread. -A bravado job by Fuller, with a high re-watchability rating in-my-opinion.
Coroner Creek (Enright / 1948)
Good old fashioned Randy Scott fare with our hero exacting revenge from a blonde scar faced villain who had caused the death of his bride to be. This is an old school style American western but a good one and has the odd surprise for a film of this vintage. The fist fight between Scott and Forrest Tucker after Tucker has stamped on Randy’s gun hand is quite brutal for the time and features a rare head butt from the hero. Something I always like to see in cinematic fisticuffs. 
[quote=“Stanton, post:9159, topic:141”]Really? Flacidly? Lifeless?
I competely disagree.
Yes it is a romanticised version, well, it is the legend the film shows. I think this is a very good western, with fine directing, and the Northfield shoot-out is an excellent action scene.[/quote]
I thought the Northfield shoot-out was tame even for its era - the script was more focused (too much I felt) on Jesse’s romantic life as opposed to the his banditry. The film did pick up towards the end, but I think it should have been a lot better. I much prefrere Nicholas Ray’s The True Story of Jesse James (1957), which covers much the same ground.
Philistine!
1950, Colt .45… Randolph Scott, Zachary Scott… this film was probably why I always got those-two mixed-up till I was about 12.
It’s awful. But mildly enjoyable. The opening is hilariously inept:
In a sheriff’s office. Zachary is in a jail-cell. Randolph is bragging about his 2 Colts to the sheriff… spending half the explanation actually pointing them at the sheriff. The sheriff asks: " Weren’t you the Cavalry Officer whose entire column was wiped-out in Texas by the Mexican Army, and who shot-his-way-free by using these guns? " Randolph affirms that he was. (Imdb-reviewers confirm that the .45 wasn’t invented till 25-years after the Texas/Mexican ‘war’) The sheriff suddenly decides to release Zachary for trial… Randolph leaves the guns on the desk, and simply turns his back to them. Zachary insults the sheriff, who over-reacts and slugs Z onto the desk… Z grabs the guns and shoots the sheriff. -But doesn’t shoot Randolph, who’s obviously way more dangerous. A deputy rushes in, sees them… Zach ducks out the back-door as R lunges at him, but the deputy shoots R instead. More guys rush-in to chase the now fully-armed Zach, but the deputy stops them with: " Don’t worry about him. We have his (unarmed) accomplice. " I almost thought the deputy was ‘the accomplice’ by the way it was scripted.
A calendar-montage shows the passing of several months… Then we’re back in the same office. Randolph is in the cell. The sheriff, who’s just standing in the middle of the room, suddenly decides to release R from jail because of ‘a lack of evidence’. R walks out of the cell wearing his empty gunbelt from the previous scene, like he’s been wearing it in the cell the whole time Ludicrous.
A couple scenes later, Zachary is pointing the guns at 4 indians… but only fires 3 shots before riding-away. -Which Randolph hears, and rides to where the sound came from. When he arrives, 4 indians are lying motionless. Immediately, one of them simply arises unhurt. Ridiculous.
Zachary Scott’s performance of sheer-evil is the saving-grace of the film. Amazing how much he and Lee Van Cleef resembled each-other in the 50’s. Alan Hale Sr. plays a bad-guy, for once. A corrupt sheriff. -Who innocently deputizes Randolph by merely handing him a badge without being sworn-in. Surreal.
I’ve just watched The Return of Frank James (1940), the sequel to Henry King’s Jesse James (1939). This one is directed by Fritz Lang and is far from his best Westerns, let alone anywhere near his greats. Henry Fonda is good as Frank and Gene Tierney is radient in her first film, aged 19. Henry Hull, unfortunatly, returns from the first movie and again over-acts madly. There are only three authentically Langian scenes: the hold-up, the horseback chase between Bob Ford and Frank and the final climactic scene in a stable. The rest is as annoymous as a TV movie.
[quote=“kit saginaw, post:9166, topic:141”]
A couple scenes later, Zachary is pointing the guns at 4 indians… but only fires 3 shots before riding-away. -Which Randolph hears, and rides to where the sound came from. When he arrives, 4 indians are lying motionless. Immediately, one of them simply arises unhurt. Ridiculous.[/quote]
Zachary certainly thought he managed to kill two indians with one bullet, but one of them tricked him ;D -
Charles Bronson used to kill three guys with one bullet in Villa Rides (not to mention Indiana Jones killed four Nazis with one bullet - if i remember it correctly)
[quote=“tomas, post:9168, topic:141”]Zachary certainly thought he managed to kill two indians with one bullet, but one of them tricked him ;D -
Charles Bronson used to kill three guys with one bullet in Villa Rides (not to mention Indiana Jones killed four Nazis with one bullet - if i remember it correctly)[/quote]
lol, this was more like sloppy direction… reminiscent of ‘singing-cowboy’ violence. Aiming directly face-to-face, yet only shooting the gun out their hand, etc. The scene was a ‘setup’ for Zachary’s gang to disguise themselves as indians, but all they did was stick a few feathers in their hats. And the indians’ horses were saddled like non-indian horses. Insane.
LOL, looks like great fun
Jonah Hex (Hayward / 2010)
The fact that I picked this one up for £2 at Sainsbury’s about 6 months after its initial release tells you it was not the box office smash Warner’s would have hoped for. In fact I don’t think it got a theatrical release over here at all. Just went straight to video and that is a rarity for a big Hollywood studio film. They have our multiplexes in their back pocket and can usually push any old shit through that they want. So I went into this one with mixed feelings. I’m not usually on the same page as the majority of modern cinema audiences so its commercial failure could mean it was more up my street. On the other hand, the director’s only previous credit was at the helm of Horton Hears a Who. :o
Anyhow, I finally gave it a go yesterday and while it is far from the worst film I’ve seen recently it just didn’t click enough to be something I could say I really enjoyed. That’s not to say it doesn’t have some pluses. Josh Brolin is just fine as the disfigured, mystical protagonist and John Malkovich, although clearly acting on autopilot, can always be counted on to put in a solid shift as a deranged bad guy. But the storyline sailed far too close to that of the Will Smith Wild Wild West thing to appear anything other than trite and thought up in about twenty minutes over a latte somewhere. Deranged ex Confederate officer seeks revenge on the Union by unleashing an anachronistic super weapon so President sends in only man who can save the day. Sound familiar? Even the ‘touching the dead to bring them back to life for temporary interrogation’ angle just reminded me of the TV show Pushing Daisies and that can’t be a good thing for a film that is aiming for a dark, horror western vibe.
Despite that, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and went along for the ride but found everything moved just a bit too quick. Not just the impact aesthetic editing in the action sequences (I’ve talked at length before as to why I hate that stuff) but also just through the storyline in general. There’s no twists here, no pauses. It’s almost as if they couldn’t be bothered putting tab A in slot B so shoved it in slot F instead to get it done quicker. In fact, one thing you can’t say about this film is that it overstays its welcome. When I read on the back of the DVD that its running time was only 79 minutes I thought this must be one of the shortest films made in recent times I’d ever seen. Forget that. 79 minutes includes 10 minutes of closing credits. This film only runs for 69 and at that length is little more than a TV episode.
I won’t comment on whether or not the film is a worthy adaptation of the comics. I’ve read a couple but am far from being an authority on these, or comics in general for that matter. But as a stand alone film I can see why it wasn’t the big success the producers would have hoped for. There are decent moments but they are far too few and far between to keep me really engaged. But sometimes you get what you deserve and I can’t help but feel that if Warner Brothers had taken a bit more care putting this together they could have have got a much better return for their $47 million or whatever it was they wasted on it.
Phil´s insight is quite precise on a qualities of this “film”
okay, i hope i won´t sound like a party pooper, but i think, Jonah Hex is a horrible movie 
few things are good, like mounted machineguns, but all in all this is a waste of time
i know, one can´t resist it, i also didn´ t and was bored to the death
i read Jonah Hex comics from time to time, i mean restarted series, not an old ones,
and i just say, if you want some harsh western adventure, forget the movie and read the comics
by the way, i don´t know why Jonah has mystical powers in the movie, i didn´t notice he had some in comics :-
“creative” duo Neveldine/Taylor probably made that up
highly unrecommended
I like old JONAH HEX comics quite a lot (and some of the more recent ones too), but I haven’t got around to seeing the film yet. Judging from Phil’s and other comments I’ve read so far, it’s not something I should do really soon. The only encouraging thing is that it’s too short and it might not be as painful as it seems. And we’ve all wasted much more time for similar or even bigger flops in our life, haven’t we?
could be fine to read some old Jonah Hex issues
i think, one of the series featured him in some sort of postapocalyptic western world, but haven´t read that
the great treasure hunt rating: 2/5
SANTIAGO(1956) Alan Ladd…Lloyd Nolan, Director Gordon Douglas.
Glad to see it finally after some 30 years or more. Ladd plays a gun runner interested only in money and wichever side can pay the most. Lloyd is good as a slimy heavy, and an all around good cast. Plenty of action, recommended.
[url]http://picturepush.com/public/7068172[/url]
Whispering Smith (1948)
-Alan Ladd, Robert Preston
Plot: IMDB
Legendary railroad detective Luke"Whispering" Smith becomes convinced that old friend and colleague Murray Sinclair(who happens to be married to Smith’s Ex-Sweetheart) has joined a criminal band to loot the railroad.
Phantom’s Review: This is a Great movie. Alan Ladd is perfectly cast as the hero. Robert Preston does a superb job as the happy go lucky friend who goes bad and Brenda Marshall as the woman who loves them both. Beautifully filmed in Technicolor. Solid action and story. Good supporting cast and direction. A classic for western fans
Five Savage Men aka The Animals ( 1970) cheap and shoddy western that was made a year before the similar plotted and better film " Hannie Caulder" where a schoolteacher is taken from a stagecoach by robbers who have their way with her, then strip her naked and leave her staked out. she is rescued by an indian, who brings her back to health and accompanies her when she hunts down the five men and kills them. stars: Michele Carey, Henry Silva, Keenen Wynn, John Anderson, Joseph Turkel. 4/10
Re viewed Drummer of Vengeance.
A man on the revenge path for the people who killed his family. Made in the 70’s, but no comedy in this one. Makes a change for a 70’s one, as so many were just a bit to silly. Viewing a better print you notice Craig Hill. Lot of killings before you know fully what is going on, but this is a simple revenge story. Yet another western that uses some of the score from The Hellbenders. The U.K video title of this one is An Eye for an Eye, which sums the film up.
And God Said To Cain My public domain print was terribly dark, but the story shone through, I thought. Really enjoyed the film, and liked seeing Kinski in (an anti) hero role for once!