260. The Naked Spur (1953)

Running Time: 91 minutes
Directed By: Anthony Mann
Written By: Sam Rolfe, Harold Jack Bloom
Main Cast: James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker, Millard Mitchell
Click here to view the trailer

HUNTING FOR A GREAT WESTERN

FYI, the cast list that I've included above is actually the entire cast of the film, as the movie featured only five actors, which is something I normally am a sucker for. Read on to see if I was a sucker for it this time around...

Jimmy Stewart is Howard Kemp, a bounty hunter searching for Ben Vandergroat (Ryan). As the film gets underway, Kemp happens upon Jesse Tate (Mitchell), a gold prospector who claims to have seen a fresh campfire the night before. Kemp offers Tate $20 to lead him to where he spotted the evidence and Tate bites, thinking Kemp is a sheriff. The two quickly find Ben, who is taking cover on top of a mountain and causing rock slides whenever his captors get too close. As they're trying to figure out a way to get to the top of the mountain safely, the two men are happened upon by a third party, Roy Anderson (Meeker), a dishonorably discharged soldier, who offers his assistance. Anderson managed to climb up the opposite side of the mountain and take Ben by surprise, coming up behind him. This allows Kemp and Tate to come up the easy way (the path where Ben was causing the rock slides), however, before they can, a woman, Lina Patch (Leigh), takes Anderson by surprise. However, Kemp manages to get to the top and hold his gun on Patch, this incapacitating the fugitives. In turn, Ben blows Kemp's cover, letting the cat out of the bag that Kemp isn't an officer of the law and also lets them in on the fact that there's a $5000 reward for his capture. Kemp, who wanted to take Ben to justice alone, so that he could collect the five grand and buy back the farm he once owned, now may have to share his reward dollars with his two helpers. Dissension ensues...

SPOILER ALERT!

This one was a - say it with me - TOUCH NUT TO CRACK! First of all, it starts out by leading us to believe that Stewart would end up being the bad guy, because foreshadowing led me to believe that Ryan's Ben Vandergroat would turn out to be innocent. So I go in assuming Ryan will end up a free man and live happily ever after with Janet Leigh and that I'd have to endure a movie where Jimmy Stewart plays the heel. Now, don't get me wrong, the idea of Stewart playing a villain sounds a bit enticing. However, I just wasn't buying it. I like my Jimmy Stewart to be a good guy, sorry. Anyway, screw all that, because I was wrong anyway. Over the course of the film, Janet Leigh's Lina Patch ends up falling for Kemp (and vice versa) and somehow by the end of the movie, they're in love and she's convincing him not to take Ben to justice...EVEN THOUGH BEN IS DEAD!

Now this was also a big problem for me, because Howard Kemp's motivation throughout the ENTIRE film is the $5000 reward, so that he can buy back his farm. He gets shot in the leg, he nearly falls off a cliff, he nearly kills himself, all so that he can get this money and get his farm. AND THEN, because Jamet Leigh says so, he decides not to use Ben for monetary gain - even though he's already been killed and even though Ben uses her as bait to try and lure Kemp into a trap, clearly turning out to be the bad guy that Kemp knew he was all along. Let's just all say it together - THE ENDING WAS F'N STUPID!

Otherwise, I suppose it was a fine western, I guess. Like I've stated many times before, I just don't think I'm a western type of guy - unless we're talking about omelets. Even the best westerns are merely mediocre in my eyes. If pressed to pick the best ones from THE BOOK, I'd say that Silver Lode and Hombre come to mind as being really entertaining. Two really obscure ones, I know, but two that I really dug. Oh and don't forget the Leone westerns which are two of the best movies I've seen from THE BOOK period - head & shoulders above all other BOOK westerns and probably all other westerns in general, as a matter of fact. As it pertains to the Mann westerns and more specifically his collaborations with Stewart, I'd have to call the entire trio a huge disappointment. I'd heard such amazing things about the Mann/Stewart westerns and while Winchester '73 did manage to garner a '7', upon my initial viewing, I have a feeling that it wouldn't hold up to that rating if I rewatched it today. They were all fine, don't get me wrong - but far from what I'd call "great".

RATING: 6.5/10  Call it "Winchester '73", "The Naked Spur" and "The Man from Laramie" in that order, from best to worst, when ranking the Mann/Stewart westerns.

MOVIES WATCHED: 970
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 31

October 5, 2015  4:23pm

329. Man of the West (1958)

Running Time: 100 minutes
Directed By: Anthony Mann
Written By: Reginald Rose, from the novel The Border Jumpers by Will C. Brown
Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur O'Connell, Jack Lord
Click here to view the trailer

MAN(N), I'M JUST NOT THAT IMPRESSED

Sorry for the delay. After the episode I had on Sunday night and my little visit to the E.R., I think I may have contracted a cold from the hospital, as I've been pretty miserable since Wednesday. A steady diet of DayQuil and NyQuil for this guy and today, I finally dragged myself out of bed to write about Man of the West. Don't expect Shakespeare here folks...

The film started out just fine. An aging Gary Cooper riding into town on a horse, a mysterious stranger to the townspeople. Someone recognizes him and he shrugs them off, saying his name is "Wright" and heading to the nearest train station to purchase a ticket to Ft. Worth. On the train, he's engaged by yet another man, this time changing his name to something different altogether. From the get go, we know something is amiss, Cooper's character carrying a bag, presumably full of money, and lying twice about his name. We don't know if he's good or bad and that's when a band of outlaws jump the train during a stop and rob it. Cooper's character, whom we later learn is named Link Jones, is knocked out by one of the bandits and Link along with Miss Billie Ellis (London) and another man with a sprained ankle are left behind as the train pulls off. Knowing the nearest town is a hundred miles away, the trio wander. Link eventually leads them to a small homestead, where he tells them he once lived. He seems not to know if the residence is occupied now, so he goes in for a closer look, stowing his two companions away in a nearby barn. It turns out that the homestead IS, in fact, occupied by the men who robbed the train and furthermore, the men are from a gang that Link used to belong to. Remember, it's a small world after all. It turns out that Link used to be an outlaw, but has since reformed himself, almost getting sick to his stomach at the thought of his old life. Link pretends to be back in the fold, as the outlaws pretty much hold the trio hostage, eventually....well, eventually doing things that would spoil the story...

SPOILER ALERT!

I honestly can't pinpoint why I didn't like this, as the plot was actually pretty good and the actors were on point. The only thing I can think of, is that I think it's finally time to admit that I just do not like westerns. Like sci-fi, there are a few exceptions to the rule (Once Upon a Time in the West, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), but for the most part, I'm just not a western type of guy. The whole thing just seemed to old fashioned for my taste and even saying that this was "old fashioned" is kind of stupid, since most westerns ARE old fashioned - that's one of their key traits. Like I said, this started out just fine. It was almost a mystery movie, in that we didn't know what Gary Cooper was or even who he was. Was he a good guy or a bad guy? Where did he get all that dough? All signs seemed to point to him being a baddie and then at about the twenty minute mark, we find out that - no, he USED to be bad, but now he's good. This was just a boring revelation, if you ask me. I'd have liked to see the movie draw out even more with the audience in question. Have us believing that Link is a bad guy right through the train robbery, having the outlaws recognize him and leave him alone, since he used to be a part of the gang. If they leave him alone, then we're convinced he's one of them and when the train speeds off and leaves them behind, we're now worrying for the state of Julie London and Arthur O'Connell, because they're now alone with an outlaw. Hell, keep us believing that Link is a bad guy, even as he saunters up to the homestead and reunites with his former gang. He pretty much pretends to still be one of them anyway, so as long as we're all pretending, leave us out of it. Then, when Link goes to the barn to collect his two companions, maybe it's here that he comes clean? And when he does come clean, maybe we, the audience, don't really believe him. Keep us in suspense, give us doubts. Instead, we got the answers right out of the box and the rest of the movie ended up being pretty flat & dry, not unlike it's scenery.

Oh, but how awesome was Lee J. Cobb? I always keep an eye out for the 12 Angry Men cast and I'm always pleasantly surprised to see them turn up in other movies. I can still remember being surprised when Martin Balsam showed up in Breakfast at Tiffany's, that Lee J. Cobb showed up in The Exorcist and now showing up in this. I always love to see those twelve actors - I'm always impressed by all of their talents. Cobb here was a powerhouse and about the only 100% enjoyable thing in the whole film. I can give or take Gary Cooper and the rest of the cast was sort of *meh*. Julie London though? What a looker and I'm shocked I haven't heard more from her.

RATING: 5/10  Call it down the middle and leave it at that. There's one Mann left and I'm hoping The Naked Spur turns out to be the cream of the Anthony Mann crop.

MOVIES WATCHED: 961
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 40

September 5, 2015  2:21pm

295. The Man from Laramie (1955)

Running Time: 104 minutes
Directed By: Anthony Mann
Written By: Philip Yordan, Frank Burt, from story by Thomas T. Flynn
Main Cast: James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp, Cathy O'Donnell, Alex Nicol
Click here to view the trailer

WHEN IN DOUBT - JIMMY STEWART

I should preface this whole thing with a short story. I sat down Saturday night to watch Beat the Devil. At about the six minute mark, I decided that I just wasn't in the mood for Bogey and decided to save that one for another night. Ultimately I decided that I wasn't in a movie mood at all and threw in the towel. The next night (Sunday) I decided to try another movie while my wife was working the late shift at work. This time a Jimmy Stewart western called The Man from Laramie. It certainly proved that I'm a Stewart man as opposed to a Bogart man....

Will Lockhart (Stewart) along with his traveling companion Charley are delivering supplies to the town of Coronado. Lockhart is coming from Laramie and as a secondary mission is tracking a group of Apache who gunned down a Calvary unit, killing Lockhart's brother in the process. Upon getting the supplies to Coronado, Lockhart first meets  Barbara Waggoman (O'Donnell), whom he has eyes for and a cranky Indian who run Waggoman's General Store. The store and the town are all owned and overseen by Alec Waggoman (Crisp) - Barbara's uncle. Not wanting to return to Laramie with empty wagons, he inquires to Barbara about picking up some sort of cargo. She directs him to the salt flats where she tells him the salt is free for the taking. While shoveling salt into his wagons, he is approached by Dave Waggoman (Nicol) - Alec's son - who berates him for stealing salt, burns his wagons, shoots his mules and roughs up Lockhart. After Lockhart pays off his men, including Charley, he goes back to Coronado to try and recoup his losses. He approaches Alec who agrees to reimburse him for his lost property and send him packing out of town. It turns out that Alec has been dreaming of a stranger who comes to Coronado to kill his son and he's pretty sure that Lockhart is the stranger. Of course, the only man Lockhart is looking to put down is the Apache that killed his brother. Meanwhile, the Waggoman clan deal with a power struggle between the old guard (Alec) and the new blood, Vic (Kennedy) and Dave and Alec deals with his recent diagnosis that he's going blind.

SPOILER ALERT!

Despite the fact that this film was able to get me out of a Bogey movie (temporarily) and make me appreciate Jimmy Stewart even more, it can still be filed under the heading of "nothing special" and another western that just didn't do it for me. Honestly, when I think of all the westerns from THE BOOK that I watched (and not counting the Leone westerns, which feel like something more special than your typical westerns), the only ones that really stick out are Silver Lode and maybe Stagecoach (which is probably due a rewatch by now). I've seen so many westerns that I've just had to endure and while this was better than that and I'd call the time spent an easy two hours, it was still pretty typical stuff from out on the dusty trail.

Was anyone else REALLY disappointed by the ending? I mean, Vic turns out to be the big villain? That just seemed to obvious. Of course Vic was crooked and in fact, it didn't even seem right when he made friends with Stewart's Lockhart just five minutes after Vic's cohort beat him up. I would have much rather seen Charley turn out to be the bad guy or even that cranky Indian from the general store. Come to think of it, that's a loose end that's never tied up, as we're shown this sneaky, disgruntled Indian a few times throughout the picture, yet we're never really told what his deal is. I guess we're just supposed to buy that he's suspicious of Lockhart because Lockhart is looking for Apache. It wouldn't have taken much more creativity from the mind's of the writers to really spruce this script up and provide something a little more cutting edge and unique for this 1955 western. As it is, it's pretty basic and sure, the whole thing where they shoot Lockhart's hand at point blank range is BRUTAL, but not shocking enough to make this stick out.

They definitely "had me" throughout and never lost me and the acting was top notch. Did anyone else think that Arthur Kennedy looked a lot like Kiefer Sutherland? All the more reason he should've been a heel from the get go! Stewart is can't miss as far as my tastes are concerned and Donald Crisp and Alex Nicol turned in fine performances too. The lead actress could've been stronger, sure, but she wasn't really a central character so it's forgivable. The actress that deserves the praise here is Aline MacMahon for her portrayal of the sassy, yet caring Kate Canady.

RATING: 6/10  Nothing to see, but nothing to hate on either. I have one Stewart/Mann collaboration left and I'm hoping it's a little more special than the two I've seen, although Winchester '73 was quite good in retrospect.

MOVIES WATCHED: 853
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 148

October 6. 2014  8:01pm

226. Winchester '73 (1950)

Running Time: 92 minutes
Directed By: Anthony Mann
Written By: Borden Chase, Stuart N. Lake, Robert L. Richards, from story by Stuart N. Lake
Main Cast: James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Stephen McNally, Millard Mitchell, Dan Duryea
Click here to view the trailer

ONE IN ONE THOUSAND? NOT QUITE, BUT STILL REALLY GOOD!

Ahh, how nice it is to revisit the great Jimmy Stewart after such a long time. I was beginning to think that the endless supply of Humph' Bogart movies would never end. The duo of Jimmy Stewart and director Anthony Mann produced eight Westerns and this is my first and it was quite good.

The film revolves around, get this, a Winchester '73, repeating rifle, said to be a one in one thousand gun. Upon the movie's opening, it is the Fourth of July and we're in Dodge City, where a shooting competition is set to be held, where the winner will receive said rifle as a prize. The favorite to win it all? Dutch Henry Brown (McNally), the outlaw of the hour. However, that's before Lin McAdam (Stewart) rides into town, alongside his sidekick High-Spade Frankie Wilson (Mitchell). It seems that McAdam knows of Dutch Henry Brown and is even anticipating his participation in the shooting contest, knowing that Dutch Henry wouldn't miss competing for such a prized rifle. From the minute they set eyes on one another, Lin and Dutch Henry are like two rabid wolves being held at the collar by town Marshall, Wyatt Earp. It becomes obvious that the two men have a history, but the details are yet to be revealed. The shooting competition comes and goes and when it's all said and done, Lin McAdam shoots a hole through the center of a postage stamp to claim the Winchester. However, before he can have his name engraved on the butt, Dutch Henry steals the gun and makes off with it. From there, it's a horse race through the wide open plains, as the gun falls from hand to hand, including an Indian trader, an Indian chief and another skeevy outlaw. Meanwhile, the Indians are all riled up & ready to scalp and Lin is hot on tail of arch nemesis Dutch Henry Brown.

SPOILER ALERT!

Can I just give a sarcastic "way to go" to Netflix for putting on the synopsis sleeve to this movie that Lin and Dutch Henry are brothers. I mean, that's kind of a big spoiler and becomes a big reveal at the end of the film and they just slapped it on there, as if it was no big deal. Had I watched the movie without knowing that, it would've given me a little extra added interest in the final act. As it is though, I was pretty into this movie! The movie kicks off with a fantastic hook: a shooting competition. It serves to get the viewer invested in the picture, sets up a strong hero in Lin McAdam and a worthy villain in Dutch Henry Brown. I think as long as we're talking about the characters, I might as well go ahead and start gushing now about the STELLAR cast, half of which I'd never heard of. I'm not only talking about Jimmy Stewart, who was great, but also Stephen McNally (Dutch Henry Brown), Dan Duryea (Waco Johnny Dean), John McIntire (Joe Lamont), Will Geer (Wyatt Earp), Millard Mitchell (High-Spade Frankie Wilson) and Jay C. Flippen (Sgt. Wilkes). These were all FANTASTIC supporting players and did their part to make this movie one to remember. I mean, even the character names are outstanding, as names like Waco Johnny Dean, High-Spade Frankie Wilson and Dutch Henry Brown could only exist in the confines of a Hollywood Western. Oh and I haven't even mentioned the fact that this movie comes complete with Tony Curtis in a very early role and Rock Hudson as an Indian Cheif!! I think I've realized that nine times out of ten, I'll take a B Western over popular, mainstream Western any day. It seems that the ones where the story is a little bit toned down and simplistic are the best ones and I'm thinking of this and "Silver Lode", among others.

The script was also really good and if I'd have to complain about anything, it'd be that the movie DID, sort of, lose a little bit of steam in the second act. I also wasn't crazy about the Steve Miller character or the actor portraying him. It's not that the actor was bad, but he was definitely overshadowed by better talent. I also really, really dislike Shelley Winters for some reason and NEVER buy her as a beautiful lady, coveted by multiple men. I think I always remember her character in "A Place in the Sun" and how annoying she was. That was a great performance by her, that ruined her for me in all other films. But anyway, back to the script, which was indeed a little piece of gold. It was filled with little subtleties, things that the characters never mentioned, yet somehow we just knew what they were talking about. For example, Lin giving Lola the gun and telling her (without saying it) that the last bullet need be saved for herself, in case she was captured by Indians.

RATING: 7.5/10  When I finished this last night, I was thinking '9' initially, but I think '7.5' is more suitable. A definite one to consider when TOP 20 time rolls around.

MOVIES WATCHED: 715
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 286

August 20, 2013  1:01pm