3 Westerns Reviews

[Scott]

RED RIVER (1948) - Now I can see why people like films directed by Howard Hawks. I wasn't sure after watching RIO BRAVO, but this one sold me on his ability as a director. The cattle scenes are well shot and John Wayne and Montgomery Cliff are very good in this great Western story involving a cattle drive.

HONDO (1953) - John Wayne at his best and he's in good shape in this one, quite energentic. The indian battle scenes are some of the best in Western movies. Camera angles really pick up the whole thing. Solid John Wayne film.

WARLOCK (1959) - This is a 2 hour film with alittle to much dialogue. Henry Fonda saves this film as you can see him almost in his Frank character from ONCE UPON THE TIME IN THE WEST. Well done. Anthony Quinn is also in this film as Honda's partner. He seems out of place and dosn't add much to the film.

These are my list of films to view. Based on whats available at the rental stores.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
How the West was Won (Western)
McCabe and Mrs Miller (Western)
Andrei Rublyov (1969)
Navajo Joe (Western)
Cable Hogue (Western)
Mountain Men (Western)
Purgatory (Western)
Yojimbo (Kurasawa)
Kugemesha (Kurasawa)
Donavans Brain
Vamp (Grace Jones)
Birth of a Nation (Film History)
Bad Girls (Western)
The Angel and the Badman
Stagecoach
Support Your Local Sheriff
Nevada Smith
Gangs of New York
About Shmidt
Lonesome Dove
Adromeda Strain
Diabolique (Truffaunt)
Showgirls
Caged Heat
Puppet Master III & IV
Jason Goes to Hell
Prophecy II & III
Lepracaun II & III

Searching For These:

A Bullitt for the General
The Great Silence
Companeros
Keoma
Fist Full of Lead (a.k.a. Get your Coffins Ready, Sartana is Coming)
Texas, Adios
El Topo
The Holy Mountain
Coffin Joe Trilogy
The Man in the White Suit
On The Beach (Flix showed it recently, but I missed it)
Four of the Apocalypes
Rooster Cogburn
Cahill: U.S. Marshall
Rio Lobo
Mclintlock
Chism
The Undefeated
Johnny Guitar
Destry Rides Again
Ox Bow Incident
I Spit on Your Grave
Last House on the Left
The Brain from Planet Arnous
Cannibal Women in the Avacado Jungle of Death
Island of Death
Zombie Holocast
The Giant Claw
The Gore Gore Girls
Blood Feast
Flight to Mars
Rocketship X-M
Color Me Blood Red
Nude on the Moon
Flying Guillotine
Story of Ricky
The Monster that Challenged the World
It Came From Beyond Space
Invasion U.S.A. (50's version)
Wild Wild Planet
Mexican Wrestling Movies

29 films available at the rental store and 41+ that I must find or purchase.

[Neville]

Do your brain a favour and don't watch "Bad girls". If you do, read Ken Begg's thoughts about it afterwards on Jabootu. They are priceles and acurate.

[yaddo42]

I've always like "Warlock" because Fonda is the lead, but he's not a cut and dry good guy. He's a marshal who is slowly corrupted by his pal Quinn. I look at it as an early prototype for the revisionist westerns that came out in later decades.

"Nevada Smith" is okay, but very long and nothing special unless you want to be a McQueen completist. "Tom Horn" is not a great McQueen movie, but I enjoyed it more than NS, plus he does a better acting job and is more believable than in NS which he was really too old for the role.

When you watch "Yojimbo" you should make it a double bill with it ssequel "Sanjuro". More of a comedy than the first one, but it has some great sword fight sequences. and Toshiro Mifune has a great time playing a character he is obviously fond of and comfortable with.

I would also recommend "Big Jake" over "Chisum" or "Cahill: US Marshal" for latter day John Wayne movies. If you've seen "Rio Bravo" then "Rio Lobo" and "El Dorado" (which is not on your list) will both give you deja vu. Howard Hawks basically recycled the story from "Rio Bravo" twice. "El Dorado" at least has the fun of watching Robert Mitchum and the Duke playing off of each other. You might try "The War Wagon" with Duke and Kirk Douglas if you haven't seen it, instead.

[The Burgomaster]

Scott wrote:

"HONDO (1953) - John Wayne at his best and he's in good shape in this one, quite energentic. The indian battle scenes are some of the best in Western movies. Camera angles really pick up the whole thing. Solid John Wayne film."

This movie was originally in 3-D, so the camera angles during the action scenes are very important. I would like to see the 3-D version some day.

[Scott]

I didn't know that about HONDO Burgo. Thanks for the info.

Yaddo I have seen BIG JAKE and ELDORADO and like them both, but for some reason I didn't lie RIO BRAVO. I think EL DORADO is better than RIO BRAVO. I remember THE WAR WAGON when I was younger and I might catch this one again when the chance comes along. I have many John Wayne western films to see yet and some I should see again since I watched them 30 years ago. Lately I've seen:

The Shootist
Big Jake
El Dorado
Rio Bravo
Hondo
Red River
True Grit

[BoyScoutKevin]

As a side note, "Hondo" was based on the story "Gift of Cochise" by the late western writer Louis L'Amour. This would be the first of his many novels and short stories turned into westerns.