Cereal Monogamist

Movie Review: Western Round-Up

I watched four westerns in one day during my Summer Movie Watch, and a fifth before it was over. Recently, I watched a sixth western just for the hell of it, during TCM’s Summer of the Stars. (It was Glenn Ford day, which was also the first time I saw the amazing Gilda.)

Anyway, that’s a lot of movies to juggle for a single review; also, my recall is not so strong that I can devote tons and tons of words to all of those movies. Still, I have westerns on the brain because I've been researching Tarantino movies for my film class and his work is heavily inspired by classic westerns (including his recent WWII epic, Inglourious Basterds).

So, instead of writing standard reviews, I have commented on a few interesting aspects of the individual films I watched and will allow my readers to draw their own comparisons. Please note: Spoilers ahead, though the majority of them are 40 years or older.

High Noon
Director: Fred Zinneman
Lead actor: Gary Cooper
Lady on the side: Future princess Grace Kelly, looking out of place
Sidekick: Brash youth Lloyd Bridges
What genre cowboy: Sheriffs, frontier townsmen, bandits
Major threat: Bandits arriving on the noon train
Surprises: Dude, Grace Kelly shot that guy!
Moral ambiguity: Present
Wide open spaces: No, compressed spaces (a directorial choice which indicates the tight spot Gary Cooper is in)
Barroom brawling: None
Lone man faces a mob: Definitely
Good guys have an improbable fight immediately before one faces the mob: Yes
Would I watch it again: Yes, because it was great.

Shane
Director: George Stevens
Lead actor: Alan Ladd, looking quite blow-dried for a frontier drifter
Lady on the side: Jean Arthur! aw, but she’s old
Sidekick: a gregarious Van Heflin; also, the most annoying kid in the world
What genre cowboy: Ranchers, frontier townsmen, enigmatic and heroic drifters
Major threat: Losing the farm
Surprises: None, it was all obvious.
Moral ambiguity: Not present
Wide open spaces: Indeed
Barroom brawling: A seemingly endless amount
Lone man faces a mob: If he’s Shane
Good guys have an improbable fight immediately before one faces the mob: Yes
Would I watch it again: No, I hated it.

The Searchers
Director: John Ford
Lead actor: John Wayne
Lady on the side: Psycho sister Vera Miles, stuck at home while the men go a-huntin’
Sidekick: Brash youth Jeffrey Hunter
What genre cowboy: Texas rangers
Major threat: Injuns
Surprises: You mean he wants to KILL HER?
Moral ambiguity: Present in vast quantities (see above, re: killing her)
Wide open spaces: Indeed
Barroom brawling: None
Lone man faces a mob: Of course
Good guys have an improbable fight immediately before one faces the mob: There are no good guys, so, no.
Would I watch it again: Maybe, but only because film scholars tell me it’s important.

The Wild Bunch
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Lead actor: William Holden
Lady on the side: None to speak of, just a bunch of whores
Sidekick: Ernest Borgnine
What genre cowboy: Bandits, Texas rangers (but the protagonists are the bandits! subversion!)
Major threat: Jail
Surprises: That’s a lot of blood! But it’s that orangey kind they used in the 60s and 70s that looks really fake.
Moral ambiguity: Present
Wide open spaces: Indeed
Barroom brawling: None (Brothel brawling: yes)
Lone man faces a mob: Sort of, although the movie is on the side of the mob
Good guys have an improbable fight immediately before one faces the mob: No
Would I watch it again: Maybe, but only because I love William Holden

The academy loves Bill too!

Unforgiven
Director: Clint Eastwood
Lead actor: also Eastwood
Lady on the side: Another bunch of whores led by (former Lady Eastwood) Frances Fisher
Sidekick: Morgan Freeman, and an unimportant brash youth
What genre cowboy: Ranchers, bandits both current and former, sheriffs both crooked and not
Major threat: Gene Hackman
Surprises: Aw, Morgan Freeman died!
Moral ambiguity: Present
Wide open spaces: Indeed
Barroom brawling: Yes
Lone man faces a mob: It’s Clint Eastwood, what do you think? Punk?
Good guys have an improbable fight immediately before one faces the mob: No
Would I watch it again: Yes, because the story is complex and I could examine it again

3:10 to Yuma (the original, though I've seen the remake as well)
Director: Delmer Daves
Lead actor: Van Heflin as the goodie, Glenn Ford as the baddie
Lady on the side: Felicia Farr, who it turns out was Mrs. Jack Lemmon; here, she plays a slutty barmaid
Sidekick: None
What genre cowboy: Ranchers, bandits, sheriffs
Major threat: Not making the train before Ford’s gang gets there
Surprises: The remake changed the ending, and this one’s better!
Moral ambiguity: Present
Wide open spaces: No (again, tight spots)
Barroom brawling: Yes
Lone man faces a mob: Yes, and it’s the most poignant one so far
Good guys have an improbable fight immediately before one faces the mob: No, actually the other sheriffs wave Heflin off without much concern
Would I watch it again: Yes, because it was great.