'Rio Grande'

Sing some harmony? Join the army!

I'd like to think that was the tagline for recruiting to the U.S. Army, for those who were not excited about seeing the sights of the American west and getting stuck by a bunch of crazy Indians.

To overcome the blues, they instead practice trick horse riding and singing five-part harmony around the camp fire. No telling how many decent soldiers were left back east because they weren't a tenor.

John Wayne starred in five films with Maureen O'Hara: Rio Grande and The Quiet Man, which was previously reviewed on this sight.

Initially, The Quiet Man was supposed to be made first, but it was the opinion of studio executives that it wasn't very good.

So, they went to work on Rio Grande, which was the final installment of John Ford's "cavalry trilogy," which starred Wayne was Kirby Yorke. It finds Yorke leading a ragtag bunch of good ol' boys and his son joins the ranks. And his mother -- Yorke's jilted wife -- comes along for the wife.

I'm sure Yorke loves that.

Anyway, they made Rio Grande and then they made The Quiet Man, which became the studio's highest grossing film.

'Silver Lode'

The plot: Dan Ballard, a well-liked member of a western town, is marrying his sweetheart Rose Evans when the ceremony is interrupted by Marshal Fred McCarty putting Ballard under arrest for supposedly killing his brother.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it's eerily reminiscent of the plot of High Noon (see below). It also had the same allegorical themes of criticizing Joseph McCarthy's (McCarty ... McCarthy) witch hunt for "communist" Hollywood folks.

Silver Lode would be screenwriter Karen DeWolf's last movie. She was blacklisted.

'High Noon'

Old westerns have the best movie posters. Always colorful and there were typically a lot of different designs. One always seemed to have some artistic value and the other were just selling the film.

I especially like this one (above).

The story of High Noon is simple: The marshal of a western hamlet is about to quit his job after getting married when a criminal, who the marshal jailed, comes back into town where his gang is already set. There is going to be a gunfight at "high noon," to settle things.

Gary Cooper's Kane feels an obligation to see the thing through. His wife, Grace Kelly, is a Quaker and sees no reason to look back now.

He stays, she stays, kills a guy and the good guys win. However, there is so much more to this film.

It is considered an allegory for individuals not standing up to the House Un-American Activities Committee, which were baiting suspected communists in Hollywood. The film itself was called "un-American" by a number of sources, including John Wayne, who later apparently complained about not getting the role.

The screenwriter Carl Foreman was blacklisted by the committee after the film was released. Foreman was almost tossed out of the production of the film until several people, including Cooper intervened and kept him on. Cooper also was instrumental in getting Lloyd Bridges a role, despite suspicion of his dealings with the communist party.

The film was a favorite of many presidents, mostly Bill Clinton and Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was also a marquee statement film for workers in Poland, who, after the film was released, plastered Cooper's likeness on posters carrying a ballot. All of this in the 1980s, 30 years after the film was released.

The film also runs in real time. It is set between 10:35 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. That's 100 minutes and the film is 84 minutes long. However, there are a constant flow of clocks and watches throughout the film that shows the real time.

'The Man From Laramie' & 'The Naked Spur'

I love that one of the notes for The Man From Laramie is that its considered a western version of King Lear. Nevermind that the only similarity is that it involves a crazy old man.

If a book or film has a crazy old man, then it's King Lear. Retarded.

These two films are just part of five western films directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart.

Made in the 1950s, these films are different. Stewart is menacing and angry. If you want the Stewart of It's a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, seek another film to watch. Stewart's Howard Kemp and Will Lockhart have histories too dark to differentiate between who they were and what they've become.

What they've become are hard-edged dusty cowboys unafraid with slightly askew values that balance between what's right and what pays their bills.

Mann's films show a west that is uncompromising and dangerous. Where life is as meaningless as the the dust on his characters' boots. It was the only realistic western films of the time and, without them, the modern western would never exist.

'Gunfight At The OK Corral' & 'My Darling Clementine'

Got to give Americans credit. They know how to mythologize.

One-hundred and thirty years ago the police force of Tombstone, Ariz. got into a 30-second gunfight against a group of local ne'er-do-well cowboys.

The fight was relatively insignificant. Not until a biography of Wyatt Earp was released in 1931 did the gunfight gain noteriaty and then John Ford directed My Darling Clementine about 15 years later, 11 years before John Sturges directed Gunfight at the OK Corral, the film that gave the incident it's well-known name.

I highly suggest going into the history and background of the actual fight. Both films are not very factual. My Darling Clementine is probably the least factual of either one. Frankly, unless you wanted the films to be six hours long, you couldn't completely go into what was going on at the time and what led up to the gunfight.

Most notably, Doc Holliday was a pretty disreputable character and he and the Earp brothers were charged with the murder of Ike Clanton. They were exonerated, but in the Arizona territory in the 1880s, that didn't matter much. The gunfight happened. Then, in retaliation, Morgan Earp was murdered. Virgil Earp was seriously hurt. This led to the Earp Vendetta Ride, a 26-day manhunt by Wyatt and Co. a year after the gunfight.

There's a ton of information about all sorts of different aspects and cultural perspectives of the time. It's hard to imagine the United States being so lawless until until the 1900s, even after. Justice is like a fine wine. It takes time to perfect.

'El Topo'

I can say with all honesty that I have never, ever seen a film quite like El Topo.

It mixes the standard 1970s western with Christian imagery, Eastern philosophy, surrealism and unparalleled violence. It's one of the most bizarre films I've ever seen and ever will see.

Yet, I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

It is directed by and stars Alejandro Jodorowsky, a Chilean filmmaker, who has had almost zero commecial appeal, but a billion dollar's worth of cult appeal from counterculture types.

El Topo wasn't available in wide release until 2007. Before that, you had to catch it in midnight arthouse screenings and Japanese laserdiscs and the such.

It's fans include every weirdo and counterculture type from Marilyn Manson and David Lynch to John Lennon, Peter Fonda and Roger Waters.

There's also been a bunch of rumors of a sequel starting in the late-1990s and through the 2000s. It was set to be called The Sons of El Topo or El Toro. As late as 2009, there's been talks of the sequel, which was rumored to star Marilyn Manson.

Jodorowsky is an interesting cat. Deeply spiritual, he's been associated with everything from the occult to Zen Buddhism and Mexican shamanism. However, he's since developed his own belief system called psychomagic or psychoshamanism. Awesome.

'Johnny Guitar'

I checked out Johnny Guitar from the library in the VHS format.

It was part of a set of films chosen by Martin Scorsese as the ones that initially inspired him to become a director. It had an interview before the film with Scorsese where he tells you why he loves Johnny Guitar. It's not that he's not sincere or that I don't believe him, but I would bet Scorsese could say the same things about 100 different films.

He notes that Johnny Guitar is a non-western in a western format. It's not gun battles, battles with bandits or Indians. There's no cattle rustling or horse thieving. It might as well have been set in the 1920s and be about gangsters.

Furthermore, it's a western vehicle driven by female leads in Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. Francois Truffaut called it a "phony Western." Pedro Almodovar used the film in Women in the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, when his lead actress is voicing Crawford's Spanish subtitles for the film. Another film overrun with powerful women.

Also, you could question the casting for this film in making the female characters overly powerful. Did they cast Sterling Hayden and Scott Brady as the male leads on purpose to have lesser actors cowering in the shadow of McCambridge and Crawford? It would appear so. They're not bad actors, but they aren't going to overwhelm the camera like Rock Hudson or Cary Grant would.

I don't know if it's a classic. But it certainly is very, very original and still very good.

A production note: Crawford was apparently very jealous of the younger McCambridge, despite the fact that three years later, the latter would play the utterly asexual sister Luz to Hudson in Giant. Conversely, neither McCambridge or Hayden liked Crawford speaking out against her after filming.

'Dead Man'

I told my friend Rajesh that I was going to watch Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man over the weekend. He told me to be sure to not watch it tired because it's a long, slow film.

I couldn't disagree more. I was thoroughly entertained. A really cool modern western: Something I've watched a lot of lately.

It was released in 1995, long before Johnny Depp would start emoting needlessly into the camera and taking the opportunity to completely overact in every scene of every movie.

And shouldn't Depp go by "John." He's not 14 anymore. Johnny, Jimmy, Joey and names of that ilk do not work after, like, 22. Hank is the only exception.

I thought the film had a wonderful pace and I couldn't believe it was two hours long. Gary Farmer is fantastic as the Native American, Nobody. Loved Crispin Glover's little cameo at the beginning. Robert Mitchum, Gabriel Byrne and Alfred Molina are great in their little roles.

It's dark and violent, much the way I view the old west. I don't think modern film could ever recreate what it was like to live in a lawless and rough part of a country that was as new as you could get.

How they captured and figured out crimes is a complete mystery. Depp's character could've killed anyone and pretty much gotten away with it by going into Canada or Mexico. But he couldn't quite get far enough away.

The modern western is the only era that at least captured what 70 percent of the desperation of the old west. Still, it's not enough.

'Hombre'

Hmm. Another film that's better than The Sting, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassady ... and The Hustler.

My assertation has always been that nobody gave a hoot about Paul Newman until he died suddenly (to us, of course) two years ago. Once he passed, everyone was coming out of the woodwork to talk superfluously about all his great films. Blah, blah, blah.

Since, no one's said a word and I've gone on to watch half his movies.

Newman, it turns out, wasn't overrated. He was just being rated for all the wrong movies. Hud is still his best. Hombre has to be up there.

'Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid'

This would've been a great film if it wasn't for all the gosh darn Bob Dylan.

What a disaster. Any killer dramatic moments of the film were absolutely ruined by Dylan's music, especially the overplayed "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" ... as someone's dying. If you're going to use Dylan, don't use that song and don't use it during an actual dying scene. Filmmaking is supposed to be creative. Not done in a way that my three-year-old could do it.

Also, Dylan, as the actor, reminded me of Pee Wee Herman when he's cast in the film of his actual adventure. He's real still and oddly looking straight into the character and at the other actors waiting for someone to tell him he's doing it wrong.

They tried to force Dylan on us and I wasn't buying.

Otherwise, a brilliant film. Love the way Sam Peckinpah uses the earthy tones like brown and then put Kris Kristopherson in that bright, light blue shirt. It jumps off the shot. Just breathtaking. He'd do the same using the greenness of the trees, the blueness of the skies and, most notably, the redness of the blood.

Another fine point of the film is James Coburn's portrayal of Pat Garrett as a torn and broken man at home, in his business and in his heart. We're led to believe that Garrett is somehow the villian here. The problem with that assumption is that the good villain doesn't know what he's doing wrong. Or maybe he doesn't believe it's wrong.

Coburn's Garrett does, and its eating him alive.

'The Searchers'

Is the western the oldest and deepest film genre?

Westerns have been around, basically, since the medium was started early in the 20th century. They've found a ton of success over the years financially and critically. And never has the western ever been down. Maybe they're not made in quite the volume as they once were, but you'll find quite a number every year.

The only genres to really compete: horror and science fiction.

Sci fi started with Trip to the Moon and has clearly become film's biggest moneymaker. Ironically, George Lucas worked in a number of references to The Searchers in his Star Wars films.

Of course, the horror genre can be traced to the Dracula and vampire films of the early part of the century and today they can't make theatres large enough to pack in enough fear-hungry teenagers.

The Searchers takes on a tricky subject. Not one of survival in the old west or circling the wagons. It's not about bandits or sheriffs. A grizzled vet of the Civil War goes on a long search for his niece, who was kidnapped by Native Americans.

The story was apparently written with Cynthia Ann Parker's abduction, which was one of a handful in the actual old west. Parker wound up spending 24 years with the Comanches, marrying, having kids and having a life before she was "liberated."

Of course, you have to consider Stockholm syndrome, which seemed to be what Natalie Wood's character was suffering from as John Wayne was taking her home.

On the surface, Stockholm syndrome doesn't make any sense. With a little thought, I could imagine how living a pretty easy life with a bunch of Indians would be OK.

'Paleface'

As a singular actor or performer in any setting, there's little doubt that no one was better than Bob Hope.

Note: I didn't necessarily say funnier. Hope is transcendant. He's not just a comedian, even though he's exceptionally funny even in these modern days of Comedy Central.

It's the delivery, it's how he controls your eye as you watch him on screen or on stage. He takes over. In sports, it's equal to Michael Jordan taking over a game or Tiger Woods just dominating a course.

It's part charisma and part a natural persuasion toward being a performer. Part just physical presence. He didn't need to perform, just be included in the shot to take over. Hope, unlike 90 percent of all these others, was absolutely born to perform.

When you think of the greats -- Brando, DeNiro, Gable -- Hope has to be included.

'Stagecoach'

Fun fact: John Ford's "Stagecoach" was the first talkie western.

"Stagecoach" is further proof that I might be an idiot. At least, when it comes to judging and appreciating films. Frankly, "Stagecoach" doesn't do anything for me. It's a cool western and all. John Wayne is John Wayne. It's adventurous and all that jazz.

Yet, it's considered one of the best films ever. Like ever, ever.

According to Orson Welles, it's the perfect way to make a film. And he watched it more than 40 times while filming "Citizen Kane." All of this according to Wikipedia, actually, so none of it may be true, but who the hell makes this shit up? Welles clearly has a different point of view of good filmmaking.

Today's filmmakers are critized as having run out of ideas. Meaning, attempts to remake films from 1970s TV shows wears people down making them think no one's doing anything original or even worthwhile.

Well, this isn't new. In 1966, they took of the "best films ever made" and remade it. With Slim Pickens, Red Buttons and Bing Crosby. "The A-Team" doesn't seem so bad.

'Shane'

I begged silently for Shane to turn around with his six-shooter and just blow that annoying kid's brains out all over the Wyoming countryside. O how I begged and pleaded. "Shaaaaaannnnnneeeeee!!! Pleeeeeeaaaassssseeee Shaaaaaaannnnnneeeeeee! Bloooooowwwwww Hiisssssssss Braiiiiinnnnnnsssssss Ouuuuuuttttttt!!"

But it didn't happen. I was subjugated to that kid's obnoxious, whiney twang of a fake country accident and insanely ridiculous facial expressions.

I don't like "Shane." For one, the kid. Two, Jean Arthur was a dog. Three, Alan Ladd was largely unconvincing of anything involving guns, cowboys, the west or anything in this movie. It surprise me not to hear that he later had big personal issues and tried to kill himself. Watching this film, it's clear he was the unstable one.

Finally, we never learn Shane's past. What is he running from? Where is he going? Is he good or bad? Why stop and help these retarded farmers? It doesn't make any sense and it's not explained.

I had a friend through elementary, junior high and high school named "Shane." His uncles would also go through the final five lines from the kid screaming at Shane to "cooooommmmmmeeeeee baacccccckkkkkkk!!!"

'The Ox-Bow Incident'

There's a sentiment nowadays that people don't know how to handle life. Circumstances, bad luck, stupidity, maybe upbringing and a shitload of other factors disallow people from living a normal life.

People try to make money without working. People win the lottery only to wind up in the news for something totally unrelated, eventually letting those funds escape through the cracks of their lives.

I generally feel this way. It came in college. It was a political science class, junior year, and the professor was lecturing on Thomas Hobbes, the author of "Leviathan," who believed in a strong central government because, for lack of a better term, people were batshit crazy and couldn't handle living life on their own terms and rules.

Thus, a government was needed to create and enforce rules because people were inherently bad and the only way to battle their carnal instincts was to govern and govern some more. This goes from the child pornographer to the airline that can save a billion dollars if it discontinues certain maintenance or regulatory actions. The child pornographer is just bad and the airline exec is always trying to boost the bottomline.

If you need a lesson in liberalism or Hobbesian theory of social contract, watch "The Ox-Bow Incident." It's a sickening story of two-bit law enforcers wrongly lynching three men obviously innocent of murdering a rancher. People need guidance, boundaries and authority or else we'd rip each other to shreds. Animals.

'Winchester '73'

I think this is a very interesting concept for a film. And it's quite a good film. It runs about 90 minutes and takes little or no time to introduce our heroes, our villains, shooting of guns and obvious contention (although, unknown) between good and bad.

Fascinating because it follows the life and times of a rifle, a Winchester won by Jimmy Stewart's character during a July 4 shooting competition in Dodge City with Wyatt Earp (a chunky Earp at that) on hand.

It's stolen by the bad guy, who sells it to an arms trader, who has it stolen by Native Americans. He's then shot down in an attack and is given to some boring guy, it's stolen (or taken) again and winds up back in the hands of the big bad dude, who is, as it turns out, is Stewart's brother. Call it delayed satisfaction because we learn nothing of the brother's fight until the very end when everything is revealed.

'The Outlaw Josey Wales'

I would think most think of Clint Eastwood as an actor first, director second.

However, you have to consider him much more as a accomplished director, which is odd because he's also considered a hard, cold son of a bitch. But that's the screen Eastwood that we know well and that he pulls off so well.

He's won two Best Director and Best Picture Oscars. That's saying something considering Martin Scorcese waiting a billion years to get one for a movie that wasn't nearly as good as 90 percent of his other movies.

Eastwood's westerns (both as actor and director), particularly from the 1970s are beautiful, gritty films that deserve a ton of attention.

'Rio Bravo'

I wonder how the casting director, director and producer went on making "Rio Bravo."

Did they just want big names and Dean Martin and Rick Nelson came up? Did they intentionally get two popular singers? Did they cast them, realize they had two singers and then write in a bunch of singing into the movie?

Seems too far fetched to be a coincidence.

Nonetheless, it's a good film. Martin looks fat and I wonder if they had him gain weight.

The best part of the film is the chemistry between John Wayne and Walter Brennan. For one, it's brilliant that Brennan rode that old-man face and frontier, prairie wind accent to a ton of success in film, particularly westerns.

However, you can tell that Wayne and Brennan probably liked each other and were prone to goofing on each other when the cameras weren't rolling. Watch this film and pay attention to their physicalness and the way their verbal jabs look like they're in the locker room snapping each other's asses with wet towels.

'Unforgiven'

Could you imagine living in the western part of the United States from the Civil War until the late 1800s? What a miserable experience.

First, guys can go around and do whatever they want with little or no repercussion. However, if you're a victim, you just haphazardly put out a bounty on the offending party to be killed and suddenly you've got a bunch of hillbilly's riding into town shooting or getting shot themselves.

If you shoot the guys trying to instill some kind of justice, that's OK because you're defending yourself.

Plus, no one wants to be sheriff because they get shot all the time.

It's miserable. Then you've got to shit in a box, drink crappy water, eat beans and then have to share crappy bedding with a bunch of other dudes who eat beans.

Furthermore, the whores in "Unforgiven" weren't good looking or anything, but there's no way whores in the 1880s in no-man's land Montana even look that good.

What a disaster the wild west was!

'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly'

I've thoroughly enjoyed the westerns I've watched as part of this project. Particularly the spaghetti westerns from Sergio Leone.

It's just that they're so well done on so many different levels. Westerns had never been so well done before and they'll never be that good again. Mostly because it's not about the technology available in film making.

Essentially, the western is worn, dirty and bare bones as the sand and grit that Clint Eastwood spits out with every long stare and knowing smirk. You don't need anything fancy to make a good western ... just a good story and good director. The acting can be halfassed and the story doesn't have to be that good, but you need a guy behind the camera that knows how to capture the setting and sell the crowd that this land is as unforgiving and hateful as hell itself. The Coen brothers nailed it with "No Country for Old Men."