A Few More Westerns

[Scott]

THE GUNS OF FORT PETTICOAT (1957) - Audie Murphey helps a bunch of women fight off indians. The women are tougher than the star in this one. The Indians even kill off half the women, which was rather surprising. Not a great film, but surprising.

TRIBUTE TO A BADMAN (1956) - Stars James Cagney as a mean ruthless land baron. I only seen about 30 minutes of this film, but it had my attention right away. Cagneys character is a brutal man. I'll catch the rest when I can.

HORSE SOLDIERS (1959) - I seen this one when I was about 8 years old and wanted to see it again. This is a very good film if you like John Wayne and the Calvary. William Holden also stars in this film. Well, since I really enjoyed this one I guess I'll have to see FORT APACHE and SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON again. Its been years since I've seen these films.

THE LONG RIDERS (1980) - My father in-law had just seen a biography about Jesse James, so we watched THE LONG RIDERS. The first time I seen this film I thought it was awesome. It's still very good, but it has lost some of its effect. That last bank robbery is something when you first see it.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST - Thats right I seen this one again. Before my father in-law go back home next month I'm trying bring in all the best Westerns since he likes them. This one hasn't lost its appeal. Especially the beginning and end of this film.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Seen the ending of "The Guns of Fort Petticoat" and the beginning of "Tribute to a Badman," but seen neither one all the way through.

"The Long Riders" Haven't seen it, but the conceit in thiis one, is that the brothers in the film are played by actual brothers. The Youngers by David, Keith, and Robert Carradine; the Jameses by James and Stacy Keach; the Millers by Dennis and Randy Quaid; and the Fords by Christopher and Nicholas Guest.

"Once Upon a Time in the West" Seen it. Never could cotton to it.

"The Horse Soldiers" This is my favorite of those listed. One of the few films to deal with the Civil War east of the Mississippi and based upon the real life incident of Grierson's cavalry raid through Mississippi in 1863. As an added note, Lukey, the black maid in the film, was played by tennis great, Althea Gibson.

Enjoy all the films.

[The Burgomaster]

LONG RIDERS - A very "watchable" western, with some excellent shoot outs. It has some "believability" problems though. For instance, James Remar as Sam Starr was a REAL casting stretch. But I've seen this at least 10 times and one thing I can say is it is NOT a boring movie.

[Neville]

I liked "The long riders", but I don't think it makes it to my personal western top-ten. It is well-acted and reasonably fast-paced, but somehow it missed the main target, because I didn't learn as much about the characters as I expected. The Northfield robbery scene would have save it if it wasn't so similar to the opening of "The Wild Bunch". Of Walter Hill's westerns based on actual characters I think "Wild Bill" is far better, at least for the inspired non-chronological structure and Jeff Bridges' stunning performance.  

BTW Scott, have you seen "Ride with the devil"? I rented the DVD some months ago and I thought it was very good.

[Scott]

Yes, I seen it a few months ago. About the Civil War troop that goes on a rampage of murder and such. Strong film. Well done.