Mini-reviews Westerns (3 of 3) + ranking of marathon

Stagecoach (1939)
John Wayne western directed by John Ford. The drunkard (Thomas Mitchell) is the character I remember most vividly. Not a personal favorite, but it does pretty much everything well. The stuntman who threw himself under the stagecoach was a brave man.
John Ford’s first collaboration (of over 20) with John Wayne, and his first Western shot using the gorgeous Monument Valley of the Southwest. The film is also widely considered to have single-handedly elevated the Western into respectability.
Rating 8.0





True Grit (2010)
Well-written, just annoying that difficult to hear what Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon are muttering with those heavy accents(subtitles are a good idea). What it does differently to other westerns is the feisty girl who befriends the Jeff Bridges character. In terms of memorable scenes, there’s the moment at the beginning when she negotiates, which is quite funny. Action scenes I feel are nothing remarkable. The cinematography of the film is pretty great, and the language also transports you back to the era. A worthy attempt by the Coen Brothers.
Favorite quote: “If those men wanted a decent burial, they should have gotten themselves killed in summer”
Rating 7.5





Magnificent Seven (1960)
Decent and maybe a bit overrated. A remake of Seven Samurai (1954). I wouldn’t go so far as to call Magnificent Seven a great western. The opening is memorable, but the only other scene I remember vividly is the knife throwing moment with James Coburn. Perhaps the reason it's remembered is the ensemble cast, the title, and the truly iconic main theme.
Yul Brynner’s has top billing, yet his performance is bland and robotic(LOL he would later play a robot in 1973's Westworld).
Toshirô Mifune did a superior acting job in Seven Samurai in the role of the 7th member of the group. Chico (Horst Buchholz), a young, would-be gunfighter, is ok, but just doesn't have the same charisma as Mifune.
Favorite quote: “A dollar bill always looks to me as big as a bed spread”
Rating 6.8





The Big Country (1958)
A big epic, that lives up to its title, starring Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston. I liked it, a bit overlong, but has plenty of twists and turns. The ending is somewhat ambiguous. The main theme gives me chills, definitely among the best ever in a western, which fits with an epic movie. The music was nominated for an Oscar, and should be played loud.
Rating 8.0




Companeros (1970)
A lot better than I expected. From Sergio Corbucci, the director of Django (1966). He's a very visual director, and so is his film Companeros: Melons on heads, the banana peel and silver dollar scene, buried in the ground except his head, taking photograph which turns into a shooting, the villain with a falcon on his arm. You could watch it without audio and still follow the story.
Rating 8.0





Keoma (1976)
Also known as Django's Great Return or The Violent Breed. Considered the last great spaghetti western, directed by Enzo G. Castellari (who also helmed 1978’s The Inglorious Bastards)
The haunting soundtrack impressed me. The film does a good job of capturing the landscapes and dusty Old West, unfortunately the pacing is poor.
It picks up the last half hour, the scene of riding two horses at once was a stand-out, so too was the moment when he says he’ll spend four cents on the merchandise because that’s the price of four bullets, counting, and revealing a man behind each finger. The ending scene with the screaming woman is also effective. There’s a Christ allegory within the story. Also, watch out for the Donald Sutherland look-a-like.
Interesting to see slow-motion action scenes, before John Woo invented "gun fu" in the 80s. I guess Sam Peckinpah was at it too in 60s and 70s.
Favorite quote: “We all exist so man can fulfill his destiny, why do you want to change mine?
Rating 7.0





Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
The parts may be better than the whole. The best thing this Sam Peckinpah western has going for is the soundtrack. The opening credits are quite inventive. The opening shoot-out by the house was the best action scene. There’s a blurring of hero and villain, with Kris Kristoffersen as Billy The Kid(the outlaw), and James Coburn as Pat Garrettl(the law).
Features several Bob Dylan tracks that play during the movie, most notable is Knocking on Heavens Door, which was actually written for the movie. (On a side note, isn’t that what director Baz Luhrmann has been doing the last few years, using modern music in a historical context)
Dylan himself has a supporting role, his performance I felt was a bit of a distraction from the main story, like they were cashing in on his popularity at the time by having him in a few scenes. In fact his presence almost overshadows the uneven story. Feels like Dylan is playing himself to some degree, by giving philosophical answers to simple questions, such as, who are you? and what’s your name?
Favorite quotes: “I could live anywhere, I could leave anywhere too”
“Mexico might not be bad for a couple of months.” “Depends on who you are”
Rating 6.8





McCabe and Mrs Miller (1971)
Robert Altman western. The decision to use Leonard Cohen music from the 1960s, in a western set in the past, apparently was hip in the early 1970s, with Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) also going in that direction, with a Bob Dylan soundtrack.
A brave move to use natural lighting for many scenes, so it does come across as quite dark. It achieves an authenticity in costumes and production design. I found the actual story quite underwhelming and dull, which goes for atmosphere rather than an intricate plot. So if you want action and adventure, I’d skip this western.
Roger Ebert wrote:
“Few films have such an overwhelming sense of location. Presbyterian Church is a town thrown together out of raw lumber, hewn from the forests that threaten to reclaim it. The earth is either mud or frozen ice. The days are short and there is little light inside, just enough from a gas lamp to make a gold tooth sparkle, or a teardrop glisten. This is not the kind of movie where the characters are introduced. They are all already here. They have been here for a long time. They know all about one another.”
Rating 7.3





Little Big Man (1970)
Directed by Arthur Penn, starring Dustin Hoffmann and Faye Dunaway. A coming-of-age saga which is quite novelistic in the storytelling approach.
The best thing it achieves is giving a voice to the Indians, a more human and nuanced depiction of them, than other westerns I’ve seen.
The tone of the story is larger than life, in a Forrest Gump kind of way. Different to most westerns, but as a whole an entertaining film. You could watch it as a comedy, definitely not for everyone. I had difficulty rating the film, I liked it, didn’t love it.
Rating 7.3





Tombstone (1993)
Good for pacing, yet a bit heavy-handed. Basically good guys vs bad guys, very mainstream, with a star-studded cast.
I wouldn’t call it the definitive depiction of the Wyatt Earp story on screen, but I think it was more entertaining than the uneven My Darling Clementine (1946).
Val Kilmer is the stand-out as Doc Holliday, although the friendship between him and Wyatt Earp is not really elaborated on(except a scene at the very end)
Johnny Ringo showing off with his gun followed by Holliday doing the same with his cup was a funny scene.
Favorite quote: “You look up and you think God made all of that, and he still remembered to make a little speck like me”
Rating 7.0




Red River (1948)
Directed by Howard Hawks. Often cited as the best western of the 40s. Ranked #5 on AFI’s list of Top 10 westerns. Stars John Wayne.
I didn’t like the corny music, which is a bit dated and unintentionally amusing. The best thing about it is fast-talking funny man Walter Brennan(who would later play a similar character in Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo)
All those animals storming ahead is a scary sight. Moving cattle over vast distances is similar to the story in mini-series Lonesome Dove (1989).
I was surprised how trigger-happy and erratic John Wayne’s character is, it didn’t take much for him to kill.
Favorite quote: “Now wait man, you aren’t going to take a man’s only set of teeth, are you? What are you going to do with them?” Indian: “My name now Two Jaw Crow”
Rating 7.2





Shane (1953)
Directed by George Stevens. An influential, if somewhat average and dated western by todays standards. Was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, and won an Oscar for cinematography, really is a beautiful mountainous backdrop.
The theme of prejudice towards a new guy in town is still relevant today.
The bar brawl is probably the standout scene. Not sure why reviewers are raving about Jack Palance’s performance, he’s good, but he barely has any scenes at all.
As Dan at Public Transportation Snob mentioned in his review, the ending with the boy running is also a scene that you remember.
Favorite quote: “Where are you bound?” “One place or another. Some place I’ve never been”
Rating 6.5





The Gunfighter (1950)
Gregory Peck stars in this overlooked western, as the fastest gunslinger in the West, Jimmy Ringo. About how his reputation makes him an easy target for trouble. He gets a lot of unwanted attention from the townspeople.
Rating 7.8



Ranking of Western marathon (my scores in brackets)

1.) The Wild Bunch (1969) (8.5)
2.) Django (1966) (8.5)
3.) The Naked Spur (1953) (8.4)
4.) 3:10 to Yuma (2007) (8.3)
5.) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) (8.0)
6.) The Man from Laramie (1955) (8.0)
7.) High Plains Drifter (1973) (8.0)
8.) Companeros (1970) (8.0)
9.) The Big Country (1958) (8.0)
10.) Stagecoach (1939) (8.0)
11.) Winchester '73 (1950) (8.0)
12.) Way Out West (1937) (8.0)
13.) Go West (1925) (8.0)
14.) The Gunfighter (1950) (7.8)
15.) The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) (7.8)
16.) Lonesome Dove (1989) (7.6)
17.) Duck, You Sucker (1971) (7.5)
18.) True Grit (2010) (7.5)
19.) The Great Silence (1968) (7.5)
20.) High Noon (1952) (7.5)
21.) The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) (7.5)
22.) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) (7.3)
23.) The Searchers (1956) (7.3)
24.) Little Big Man (1970) (7.3)
25.) Red River (1948) (7.2)
26.) Tombstone (1993) (7.0)
27.) Keoma (1977) (7.0)
28.) Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) (6.8)
29.) Magnificent Seven (1960) (6.8)
30.) Shane (1953) (6.5)
31.) My Darling Clementine (1946) (6.2)
32.) Bend of the River (1952) (6.0)





So that about rounds up this marathon I've been on! I bid farewell to the Old West. It was fun to explore a bunch of classics of the genre, and understandably feeling like I need a break from westerns right now.

Have you watched any of these? Agree or disagree with my verdicts above? Which are the best films you've seen this month?


Mini-reviews: Westerns
(1 of 3)
(2 of 3)

Mini-reviews: Westerns (2 of 3)

3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Russell Crowe makes for a sinister baddie and the pacing of this western is excellent. My favorite part is the last half hour. A keeper that I look forward to revisiting in future. Among the best modern westerns I’ve seen. A remake of 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Rating 8.3







Go West (1925)
The friendly cow that keeps following Buster Keaton about, and meal times at the ranch, were the highlights. That ending was impressive, god knows how difficult it must have been to set up. An under-appreciated comedy western.
Rating 8.0







Way Out West (1937)
I haven’t watched a lot of Laurel & Hardy, if this is what I can expect, I’ll definitely be looking up more of their stuff. Basically great for the entire hour it lasts. Scenes that stood out: Removing the family locket from around his neck, and his head is too fat to get it off, wading through the pond, the dance number, tickled in bed, eating the hat, the mule on a rope, head in the trap door, and stuck inside a piano.
The only weakness was the opening scene, which didn’t really fit with the rest of the film.
Rating 8.0







The Naked Spur (1953)
Wow, this didn’t feel like an old movie at all, it had the pacing of a recent film. Stars James Stewart, in one of his western collaborations with director Anthony Mann. They made 5 westerns which are talked of as classics of the genre:
Winchester '73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), The Far Country (1955), & The Man from Laramie (1955).
The Naked Spur is a film where the group of characters share an equal screen time, they go on an adventure through the mountains. Beautiful scenery, and one of the better westerns from the 50s, which at 90 minutes never gets boring.
The only thing I have against these Anthony Mann westerns is there's a hostility and violence towards the Indians, and seldom any understanding, but maybe that's how it was back then?
Rating 8.4






Winchester '73 (1950)
Anthony Mann/James Stewart western. As the title indicates, the main character in the film is actually a gun. Great photography at night of horses riding. Memorable scenes: shooting contest, the card game, the twist ending.
Favorite quote: “He taught quite a few folks how to shoot, only trouble was he taught em how, he didn’t teach em what to shoot at. Maybe he figured a man should know that, without telling. Yeah, that was his big mistake, he lived just long enough to find out”
Rating 8.0






The Man from Laramie (1955)
Anthony Mann/James Stewart western. Loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear, an engaging and well-told story of a stranger (James Stewart), who refuses to listen to those who warn him to stay away from their town.
Favorite quote: “I can’t rightly say any place is my home.” “But everybody should have some place to remember and feel like they belong to?” “I always feel like I belong where I am”
“I thought sometime we would have more to say to each other than just Hello”
Rating 8.0







Bend of the River (1952)
The weakest of the Anthony Mann/James Stewart westerns I saw. The scenery is great, which you would expect from this director, but not as entertaining or gripping as The Naked Spur (1953), The Man from Laramie (1955), or Winchester '73 (1950). There’s a lack of urgency to the story, so the movie, even at only 90 minutes, drags quite a bit. A somewhat tedious watch. The twist ending in the last 5 minutes was surprising.
Favorite quote: “So, following that star?” “Sometimes it’s better than having a man with a star following you!”
Rating 6.0







The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Very short western at only 75 minutes, about taking the law into your own hands. I liked the conflict of the story, and the photography of riding along the mountain edge. But a lot of superfluous dialogue in the first 40 minutes.
The film improves about half way through. A good western, albeit a bit preachy.
Favorite quote, about liquor: “Warms you up though, like fire creeping in the short grass, I guess I’ll just let her spread a little while”
Rating 7.5






My Darling Clementine (1946)
The title song is great, and good performances. It starts off well, Henry Fonda riding into town, but the story is uneven after that-and struggled to hold my attention. Not the best version of the Wyatt Earp tale. The villain lacks personality.
Rating 6.2







The Searchers (1956)
It has its memorable scenes, such as the battle by the river, shooting the Indian through the eyes who is already dead, or the Indian woman given as a gift, and John Wayne laughing about that. Plus the scenery is spectacular. I can’t say I was as impressed by The Searchers as others have been. It feels like a film another generation have fond memories of, but I found myself falling asleep on several occasions from boredom. The film does have something to say about racism, which is still a hot topic. While anti-hero Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) is the most interesting character, unfortunately I wasn’t as drawn to the characters as I had hoped.
Rating 7.3







Duck, You Sucker (1971)
Sergio Leone directed western. Also known as A Fistful of Dynamite. Quite violent, yet with surprising developments, and well worth a watch, if you like the director’s other work. However it does feels as if Sergio Leone is on autopilot and hasn’t added much new here to his bag of tricks, so I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece.
There’s an unforgettable opening scene on a stagecoach with close-ups of wealthy people’s mouths and eyes, who discuss the peasants, calling them animals and halfwits, which stayed with me.
There's also a bridge scene that is surprisingly realistic, and the introduction of the James Coburn character is memorable too.
You could argue, however, that the main characters, played by James Coburn and Rod Steiger, are a little too close to the ones from The Good The Bad and Ugly (1966), which is what prevented me from giving it a higher rating.
Ennio Morricone’s score is top-notch.
Rating 7.5







Lonesome Dove (1989)
6-hour TV miniseries based on the Pulitzer prize winning novel by Larry McMurtry.
A slow-building and dialogue-driven western. The first 30 minutes are quite boring, but I decided to stick with it, since it has popularity and acclaim. Despite the cliffhanger ending to first episode, I honestly feel the mini-series is a tad overrated and long-winded, but that could just be me who is not used to the pacing of a mini-series. It wasn’t as gripping as I had expected, and tested my patience, yet worth it, as the last 90 minutes is the best part, and very powerful.
The mini-series has its moments, the insulting barman, the army wanting to take the horse without permission, the boy who is bitten by snakes in the river, the scenes where Robert Duvall character must defend himself in the desert against Indians, the bandits who steal the horses, the attempted robbery with girl throwing rocks, and of course the ending which I won't reveal.
Favorite quote: “I figured if you didn’t come on your own accord, then I didn’t have any use for you anyway”
Rating 7.6


Agree or disagree? Any thoughts on the above titles? Seen any westerns this year?

Mini-reviews: Westerns (1 of 3)

The Wild Bunch (1969)
Directed by Sam Pekinpah, so I expected it to be violent. Bloodbath, especially at the beginning and ending of movie.
The back story flash-backs are a bit similar to Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy.
Entertaining western, which is as good as Leone’s work, which it aspires to be. I was wondering who the villain is, and maybe the wild bunch we follow ARE the bad guys.
William Holden wasn’t wild enough, though, perhaps he was supposed to be the quieter member of the group.
The machine gun out of control, that was pretty hilarious, which I would label morbid humor.
Rating 8.5





High Plains Drifter (1973)
Considered among the best Clint Eastwood westerns.
A somewhat dubious character (Eastwood) is hired to protect a town, whether he is exploiting or helping the situation is ambiguous. Again Eastwood plays the man with no name. The tone of this western is quite edgy and controversial, does he rape a woman? Or did she allow it? I didn’t like the way women were treated in the film, but this may also be due to how women were depicted on film in the 70s.
Smarter than most westerns, and it stays with you a long time after the credits roll. It asks how much would you surrender to protect your town. Yet it isn't all dark, with a certain amount of humor sprinkled in, especially from Eastwood.
Favorite quote: “The only problem you’ve got sheriff is a short supply of is guts, you people don’t need me”
Rating 8.0





The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
John Ford western. Lee Marvin sure is one mean villain, I’ll say that much. Plus memorable characters played by John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Edmond O'Brien, and others.
Quote: “What kind of lawyer, the man who should function as both judge and jury, takes the law into his own hands?”
Rating 8.0




High Noon (1952)
Gary Cooper was old enough to be Grace Kelly’s father, but let’s forget that.
Does a good job of building suspense, which culminates in a classic shoot-out. Compared to other westerns, this doesn't have as many action scenes, though.
Rating 7.5





Django (1966)
The inspiration for Django Unchained, for my money Sergio Corbucci’s western is superior to Tarantino’s.
The death count is pretty high, but you keep watching, to find out what will happen to these characters. The story feels iconic, and the main theme is fantastic.
Rating 8.5





The Great Silence (1968)
Sergio Corbucci directed western. Stars Jean-Louis Trintignant (from Amour) and Klaus Kinski in a story about bounty hunters.
The film is pretty good and has a few nice details, the brilliant score by Ennio Morricone, the snowy mountain scenery, guns not working in the cold, the mute throwing the matchstick in the whiskey, shooting holes in potatoes, and Kinski’s menacing performance.
A slow-building western, without the big action scenes and urgent storytelling of Django (1966).
Favorite quote: “Calm down friends, since when are wolves afraid of wolves?”
Rating 7.5





The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Often in conversation as among the best Clint Eastwood westerns.
The manhunt story has been done before in other movies, but the story is entertaining. I felt I had been on a journey with these characters.
If you’ve enjoyed Dollars Trilogy, this is a similar style, and worth watching. Features possibily the longest dialogue scene Eastwood ever did in one take.
Clint Eastwood basically plays...Clint Eastwood. He sure did a lot of spitting in this western :)
Rating 7.8



Which are your favorite westerns? Any thoughts on the above titles?