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Author Topic: A few B western favs  (Read 2328 times)
pinkandbluefilms
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« on: March 13, 2009, 10:06:39 AM »

The western may or may not be a lost genre, but the B western is unlikely to ever be resurrected. Unfortunate too, as Saturday afternoon western round up and ordering those 8 mm Johnny Mack Brown oaters was something akin to unadulterated magic.
A list of personal favs.

1. NO MAN'S LAW. A silent (pre-Laurel) Oliver Hardy as a bushwhacking, low down murdering rapist. Barbara Kent's skinny dipping scene gets oliie all worked up and later he tries to do in James Finlayson! Quite erotic and surprisingly character developed.

2. Rider of Death valley. No collection is complete without Tom Mix and most Mix fans consider this to be his greatest (although I would rank  "Sky High", "Flaming Guns" adn "Just Tony" as highly).

3. In Old Santa Fe, Tombstone Canyon, Between Fighting Men, Lone Avenger. I have more Ken Maynards in my collection than anyone else and not sure why. Brother Kermit (Red Blood of Courage) was a far better actor and by all accounts Kne was a drunken ego maniac who everybody hated and he go so fat in the latter years, I'm sure he gave horse tarzan a hyrnia. but, there's something there. These are my favs. gene Autry co-starred In Old Santa Fe and, indeed, got hs start here. Tombstone is a moody horror western. All these are Ken at his best. Avoid the later films at all costs.

4. Riders of the Whistling Skull. Speaking of horror westerns...Bob Livingston and gang come across a skull temple, a devil worshiping cult and mummies. Has to be seen to be believed. Fast paced fun and popcorn with a ton of butter.

5. Phantom of the Range and Riders of the Plain. Speaking of mummies, Tom Tyler, did his share of B westerns, in addition to being Karloff's wrapped successor. Phantom has the benefit of the gorgeous Beth Marion (every B western kid's first love).

6. Everyman's Law, Lawless Frontier, Courageous Avenger, Desert Phantom, etc. Johnny Mack Brown was a household favorite and our very first 8mm from Castle FIlms was Lawless Frontier. Everyman's Law co-stars Beth marion (can't get too much Beth). Courageous and Desert are both horror westerns.

7. Desert Justice and Lawless Vally. Two underrated actors . Jack Perrin in Desert and Lawless with George O' Brien.

8. Wild Horse Phantom. Buster Crabbe had to be the oddest B western star of all. Here he stars with Kermit Maynard and  big giant vampire bats.  A party film.

9. Phantom Empire. Speaking of party films. Gene Autry in a singing cowboy sc fi western serial!

10. Ghost Patrol, Bulldog Courage, Outlaw Deputy. Tim McCoy was probably the best of the B western actors and later had his own tv show in smei retirement. Ghost Patrol is another sci fi western and lotsa fun.

11. My Pal Trigger, Roll on Texas Moon, Carson City Kid. Had to list Roy Rogers. The earlier films are best for a pre-virginal Dale Evans (she was actually was sassy and sexy once) and the later ones, especially those directed by Witney, downplayed the songs and upped the action quota. Carson City has Bob (Of Mice and Men) Steele as a wonderfully heartless scumbag (Steele was always best in villainous roles).

12. Bushwackers and Lust to Kill. Admittedly, I prefer 30's westerns (and 30's horror) best. The 40s became a bit too sanitized and unimaginative programmers. The 50's had a few decent B westerns. These are two. Bushwackers has Dorothy Malone and Lon Chaney jr, looking more rubbery than usual and hamming it up in the best  bad acting he could muster. Lust to Kill is a gem! 50 foot woman Allison Hayes and J.R. Ewing's papa in a drive in classic. You just have to have the hotdogs, hamburgers, popcorn, nachos, bad pizza and pepsi when watching these.   
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Javakoala
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« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2009, 10:49:03 AM »

I came to the Western genre late in life due to opposing my dad, who watched the things religiously, for decades. When I did dip into them, it was through Spaghetti Westerns. It was love at first viewing.

While a lot of the ones I love are considered classics, you have to admit that the sub-genre as a whole is mostly exploitation filmmaking.  Violence, nudity, cruelty and shot on a cheap budget became the standard once these things caught fire.

"The Great Silence" is probably my favorite after the Leone/Eastwood films. Pure evil and NO moral compass by the time you get to the end.  Even though I knew how it ended before I saw it, I was still floored.

"Django" is great fun that improves with repeat viewings.  An incredible display of wholesale slaughter of good and evil.

And of course "Cutthroats Nine" is pure exploitation with the most "WTF" ending I've seen, and a LOT of those scenes crop up in Spaghetti Westerns, but this was the wildest.
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peter johnson
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« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2009, 01:18:47 PM »

"Phantom Empire" -- bwha-ha-haaa!! -- My favorite comedians, The Firesign Theatre, have been parodying this gem in one form or another for about 40 years now -- You really can't watch this thing without snorting & giggling.  Not a sane film, by any stretch --

Speaking of comedians, Ken Maynard was also a favorite of Jonathan Winters, and he parodies Maynard in a number of cowboy sketches on his old vinyl comedy albums.

"No Man's Law" sounds fantastic -- I have to find it now.  Oliver Hardy always impressed me as having range.  This raises the issue of casual nudity in old silents, too,  and not just foreign films.  I remember seeing "Micky" on the big screen, an old Keystone Studios feature from 1915 & in its day, considered most definitely a "family" film.  "Micky", while tomboyish, is most definitely a girl, and most definitely a naked one in the ol' swimmin' hole sequence.  The scene is shot from a discreet distance at first, but ends with a waist-up closeup that makes it clear there are no body stockings or anything else involved.

Little or nothing is made of the scene in writeups of the film, and there was no public outcry when it was shown in its day -- maybe because it was "wholesome" & most kids did swim naked in 1915 -- but for the fact that this is clearly an adult actress pretending to be a child.  Go figure.

Some of the nudity and partial nudity in pre-Hays films is as unadvertised as it is unexpected --
While not a silent, have you ever seen an uncut copy of Laurel & Hardy's "Sons of The Desert"?  The lads go into a nightclub to hear a singer.  While the singer is singing, about a dozen topless hula girls appear on either side of him, and start hula-ing away -- there are several cuts back to the boys at their table enjoying the show.  The gals are onscreen for a good long while, so there's no mistaking what's going on.  This scene is, of course, diligently chopped out of TV versions of the film, but I also notice it missing from VHS copies & collections.  Don't know who would have an unexpergated version of it these days --

peter johnson/denny crane
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pinkandbluefilms
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« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2009, 03:24:58 PM »

"Sons of the desert" is a delightful film and one of the few Laurel & Hardy features that captured the spirit of the shorts.

The Pre-Hays code films are wealth of discovery within themselves and I personally have a passion for the pre-Hays films of Barbara Stanwyck.

I remember Winters spoofing Maynard on a couple of his television specials and it was a delight and , yes ,  Phantom Empire is a hoot! Glad you remember it.

My all time favorite series of westerns is the Bud Boetticher/Randolph Scott chamber westerns, leaving the best, Comanche Station for last. I will take those even over the great John Ford westerns and I'm glad they finally got around to releasing the Boettichers on dvd.

Others (A westerns) high on the list are John Ford's "The Searchers" of course, the Sergio Leone westerns, The Anthony Mann westerns, and Don Siegel's  sublime 'The Shootist'

peace


"Phantom Empire" -- bwha-ha-haaa!! -- My favorite comedians, The Firesign Theatre, have been parodying this gem in one form or another for about 40 years now -- You really can't watch this thing without snorting & giggling.  Not a sane film, by any stretch --

Speaking of comedians, Ken Maynard was also a favorite of Jonathan Winters, and he parodies Maynard in a number of cowboy sketches on his old vinyl comedy albums.

"No Man's Law" sounds fantastic -- I have to find it now.  Oliver Hardy always impressed me as having range.  This raises the issue of casual nudity in old silents, too,  and not just foreign films.  I remember seeing "Micky" on the big screen, an old Keystone Studios feature from 1915 & in its day, considered most definitely a "family" film.  "Micky", while tomboyish, is most definitely a girl, and most definitely a naked one in the ol' swimmin' hole sequence.  The scene is shot from a discreet distance at first, but ends with a waist-up closeup that makes it clear there are no body stockings or anything else involved.

Little or nothing is made of the scene in writeups of the film, and there was no public outcry when it was shown in its day -- maybe because it was "wholesome" & most kids did swim naked in 1915 -- but for the fact that this is clearly an adult actress pretending to be a child.  Go figure.

Some of the nudity and partial nudity in pre-Hays films is as unadvertised as it is unexpected --
While not a silent, have you ever seen an uncut copy of Laurel & Hardy's "Sons of The Desert"?  The lads go into a nightclub to hear a singer.  While the singer is singing, about a dozen topless hula girls appear on either side of him, and start hula-ing away -- there are several cuts back to the boys at their table enjoying the show.  The gals are onscreen for a good long while, so there's no mistaking what's going on.  This scene is, of course, diligently chopped out of TV versions of the film, but I also notice it missing from VHS copies & collections.  Don't know who would have an unexpergated version of it these days --

peter johnson/denny crane
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pinkandbluefilms
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« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2009, 03:32:00 PM »

You've got me on "the great Silence" and will have to search that.
'Django" was definitely in the spirit of Leone. Franco Neor is still (!) one of the busiest actors around and he even co-starred with Deneuve in Bunuel's "Tristana".

You have me again on Cut Throats Nine, dammit.

peace


I came to the Western genre late in life due to opposing my dad, who watched the things religiously, for decades. When I did dip into them, it was through Spaghetti Westerns. It was love at first viewing.

While a lot of the ones I love are considered classics, you have to admit that the sub-genre as a whole is mostly exploitation filmmaking.  Violence, nudity, cruelty and shot on a cheap budget became the standard once these things caught fire.

"The Great Silence" is probably my favorite after the Leone/Eastwood films. Pure evil and NO moral compass by the time you get to the end.  Even though I knew how it ended before I saw it, I was still floored.

"Django" is great fun that improves with repeat viewings.  An incredible display of wholesale slaughter of good and evil.

And of course "Cutthroats Nine" is pure exploitation with the most "WTF" ending I've seen, and a LOT of those scenes crop up in Spaghetti Westerns, but this was the wildest.
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Javakoala
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« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2009, 04:26:45 PM »

You've got me on "the great Silence" and will have to search that.

Sergio Corbucci did "The Great Silence".  He always had a vague political influence in his films, even when he was doing this "lone avenger" style film, but he nailed the dirty and savage ways of bounty hunters. Very nice. Available (or was) from Image Entertainment with the alternate ending included as an extra.

"Cut-throats Nine" is a nice (well, that's a poor choice of words) change from the Western comedies that were being churned out in Italy at the time. I guess the director and writers figured they had nothing to lose. I have no idea if this is available legally.  I had to buy a VHS off Ebay.

And the supposedly only official "Django" sequel, "Django Strikes Again", left me cold. Took forever to get going and then it turned into "Rambo".  Anchor Bay had a version of it out, but there may be a better version out there.
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metalmonster
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« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2009, 04:03:28 PM »

does JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER count as a western?
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Javakoala
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« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2009, 04:19:47 PM »

does JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER count as a western?

There's more gun-slinging than monster-mashing, that's for sure.
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