Western Movie Rambles

[JackFavell]

I thought that Scott would have been more careful about tying up those bad guys too. And I was surprised at how easily they dispatched Pecos, with no comment or even stopping to take a breath. One minute he was there, and the next he was dead, and everything just went on. I did like that they left his final wish unsaid. That felt real.

[FrankGrimes]

*I remember now. I admit I was a bit skeptical about that scenario, at how sloppily Scott and Pecos tied up the bad guys and then didn't even bother to run off their horses, so they managed to get free and ride after them in under a minute it seemed. That part was a little too easy.*

 

I agree. I was thinking that while watching. So, yeah, that was much too easy and on the weak side of storytelling.

 

*Was he? I don't remember. I've seen worse on episodes of "Gunsmoke", I guess I'm becoming hardened to western violence. *

 

The truth comes out! You're much more violent than me!

[movieman1957]

Between the Long Black Gloves, Frozen Ropes and other comments you must look over your shoulder a lot.

 

 

[rohanaka]

 

And the hatpins.. let's not forget the hatpins!

 

 

 

 

 

[MissGoddess]

> {quote:title=FrankGrimes wrote:}{quote}*I remember now. I admit I was a bit skeptical about that scenario, at how sloppily Scott and Pecos tied up the bad guys and then didn't even bother to run off their horses, so they managed to get free and ride after them in under a minute it seemed. That part was a little too easy.*

>

> I agree. I was thinking that while watching. So, yeah, that was much too easy and on the weak side of storytelling.

>

 

It actually isn't that big a deal, I know in stories like this (action, westerns, etc) you have to get things moving and that's the important part. It's still a good oater. How can it be otherwise with such a team?

 

> *Was he? I don't remember. I've seen worse on episodes of "Gunsmoke", I guess I'm becoming hardened to western violence. *

>

> The truth comes out! You're much more violent than me!

>

 

Sometimes I'd like to be! And you're a self-confessed coward so a baby lamb is more violent than you!

[wouldbestar]

I stumbled onto *Whispering Smith* this evening and discovered a treasure. There were so many recognizable actors, the story was good and the color beautiful. I'd never seen Brenda Marshall in color before and they made her a dark redhead to capitalize on it. Those folks who question her acting should see this film; she proves she can. In a totally unexpected casting piece of casting Donald Crisp is a "baddie". Of course Alan Ladd is great and with Robert Preston makes a fine pair of antagonists. This was my first time enjoying it but you can trust me not the last. Don't miss seeing it.

 

rohanaka: You were not being ignored; it was a careless click which has been corrected. Sorry about that!

 

Edited by: wouldbestar on Apr 4, 2012 11:11 PM

[JackFavell]

I haven't seen Whispering Smith yet, but I wonder if Miss G has, since I think she's an Alan Ladd fan.

 

I used to wonder about Brenda Marshall, I thought she was not a very good actress and not very pretty. Forgive me, I've since found out very differently, having seen her in several movies over the last year, she really is much better than I thought, and is very beautiful. It helps when you see her in more than just one movie - for me it was The Sea Hawk that prevented me from realizing her talent. She's really quite a marvelous actress and I am a lunkhead for judging her on one movie alone.

[MissGoddess]

Yes, I've seen *Whispering Smith* before (and I have a copy of the novel)...a good railroad detective story featuring old friends who become adversaries (Robert Preston was specializing in these roles for a while) Frank Faylen as an albino is worth the price of admission alone!

 

The colors are gorgeous. This movie would seem to me in hindsight more than any other to point to Ladd's being cast in *Shane* five years later.

[movieman1957]

Though I've seen both I thought Brenda Marshall was gorgeous though only serviceable in talent. But, I'm quite sure I haven't seen enough to know for sure.

 

I saw "Smith" a few years ago and was more focused on the relationship between Ladd and Preston. The film looked nice but sadly I don't remember much about Marshall.

[fredbaetz]

MissG, you are so right about Frank Faylen's role of "Whitey" DuSang. I wish they had given him more screen time. Faylen was such a great character actor. From "Sgt York" to "Yankee Doodle Dandy" to "The Lost Weekend" { his role of the effeminate ward nurse "Bim"} to his "Ernie" in Capras "It's A Wonderful Life" all the way to his last film "Funny Girl" he always delivered the goods. Even in his part of Herbert Gillis in the "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillas" TV series, he stole every scene he was in.

His daughter Fay was Regis Philbins first wife.

 

I always liked "Whispering Smith', not a classic like "Shane" or "The Seachers", but it was a beautiful color western and as likable cast. This was Ladds first Western and first color film.

[wouldbestar]

For those of us holding down our forts Wednesday while the rest go *"Westbound"* it's Randolph Scott Day. The Movies are:

 

*Trail Street*

*The Stranger Wore a Gun*

*Carson City*

*The Man Behind the Gun*

*Colt .45*

*Thunder Over the Plains*

*Fort Worth*

*Belle Star*

 

Many of these are new to me so this is a treat. I only wish *Buchanan Rides Alone* was part of the mix so I could see it.

 

Add to that the Peter O'Toole interview afterwards and we've got a great consolation prize. I'll just remember the theater from last year and it will be almost like being there. Thanks!

 

Edited by: wouldbestar on Apr 7, 2012 1:38 PM

[CineMaven]

Peter Bogdanovich weighed in on "COMANCHE STATION."

 

http://blogs.indiewire.com/peterbogdanovich/comanche-station

[movieman1957]

Thanks for the link. If anyone hasn't seen the mentioned "The Killer is Loose" then you should. It is typically compact and tense.

[wouldbestar]

Thank you, Maven. This is one of my favorite Scott Westerns because of the beautiful color scenery, actors like Claude Akins and Nancy Gates-who really knew how-a great story and an ending you don't see coming but fits entirely. Peter Bogdanovich picked a great one to write about.

 

I've seen *Legs Diamond* as most Ray Danton fans have but never heard of *The Killer is Loose.* It's one I'll look for.

[wouldbestar]

; Has anybody else noticed this gaffel from *Westbound?*

 

The Putnam mansion has a building to the left that serves as a carriage house which would have been common in such affluent residences. The thing is that the entrance looks more like the aluminum siding on a modern day garage than the wooden one you'd see back then. In one scene Andrew Duggan opens it by sliding it to the left but you almost expected him to click a remote and it open from the bottom. I can't believe I'd never noticed this before and it really sticks out.

 

Another Scott movie, *A Lawless Street,* is on Encore Westerns tonight at 8:00 EST. Angela Landsbury is his co-star which is what makes it unusual; Jean Parker is also in it. It's very good and anyone who's not seen it and is a Scott fan should.

 

Edited by: wouldbestar on Apr 13, 2012 1:54 PM

[movieman1957]

You're right about the barn and the way it opens. I never thought of it so much as a mistake as it was just different. I was quite surprised when it did slide open. I've watched a lot of westerns but never seen anything like it.

[wouldbestar]

I just found a little Columbia gem from 1956, *Reprisal,* on Encore Westerns this afternoon. Loner Guy Madison buys a ranch which the Native American-hating bullies who run the town use for grazing. He orders their cattle off his land making enemies of them then learns they lynched a brave and young woman on it. We then find out his grandfather is the tribal elder which he wants kept secret as N/As can't own property. One of the bullies is trying to make a young tribeswoman his mistress while his brother would rather see her dead. All of this leads to the townspeople, including a woman who loves the rancher, having to confront their own hatreds and decide what justice really is.

 

This was the third time in 24 hours I've watched Michael Pate be a lowlife villain in a western film and, as usual, he nailed it. Edward "Chief" Platt was even nastier and the women were played by Felicia Farr and Kathryn Grant who were both overshadowed by more famous husbands-Jack Lemmon and Bing Crosby-but showed they belonged on the screen as well.

 

This is not as dark as *Devil's Doorway* but states a similiar case. Many townspeople-including the bullies-have lost family members to the "Indian wars" and are still bitter while some are too afraid of the bullies to speak up but there is decency underneath waiting to come out. We all know who the real "civilized" folks are even if we wonder how they can be. It's worth the watch.

[JackFavell]

If it's like Devil's Doorway, I'll probably like it. That theme seems to strike a chord. Thanks for the tip, WBS!

[movieman1957]

I caught Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan and the great Gabby Hayes in "Trail Street." It involves a land grab by the local bad guy played by Steve Brodie and Robert Ryan trying to help the local land owners, sort of. Scott is on hand as Bat Masterson to try and stop the violence and solve a murder of one of the locals.

 

Typically solid performances from Scott and Ryan. Ryan is fun to watch because this was before he became the nuanced performer he would later grow to be. The odd thing is this is as much Hayes' movie as anybody. Playing Gabby Hayes as always het gets as much if not more screen time than anyone else. (Good for us.)

 

Save for a romantic subplot, that as usual, slows things a bit it's an okay picture with a pretty good shootout in the climax.

 

No new ground turned here but I will say it makes a run for the ugliest outfits ever worn by a saloon girl.

 

[MissGoddess]

Chris,

did you see Gabby this morning in *Gold is Where You Find It* on TCM? He had a kind of small role, it was a big cast, but there's no mistaking Gabby for anyone else. While not exactly a western, the timeframe is the same but the story is about big gold mining interests vs. ranchers and farmers in California. i've always liked this early Technicolor drama with a sensational cast staring with Claude Raines, providing gravitas as the patriarch of a wheat ranch who is leading the cause of the local growers against the Golden Moon Mine, of which George Brent is the foreman and engineer. Of course, Raines has a beautiful young daughter played by a very vivacious Olivia de Havilland (she had so much energy in her early roles) who Brent falls in love with. Tim Holt plays Olivia's brother, in one of his "George Amberson" type roles, spoiled and reckless but with that touching youthfulness he managed to hold onto for nearly a decade. Russell Simpson has a nice role, his picturesque, stoical mien an asset to any rural or pioneer saga. Barton MacLane is also on hand to provide some muscle, as usual. Harry Davenport, Sydney Toler, Margaret Lindsay and Willie Best round out the cast.

 

It's not Gone with the Wind or The Grapes of Wrath, far from it, but a very entertaining show.

 

Tim Holt and Olivia take time out from filming Gold is Where You Find It to look at pictures.

[CineMaven]

Fine cast. I wish I had known Margaret Lindsay was in it. That would've put me in front of my tv set.

[MissGoddess]

It was a different sort of role for her. She was playing older than she was, a sort of vain, frivolous sort of woman. It was a real departure from what I've seen her do, especially in the thirties.

[movieman1957]

I completely missed "Gold." I should know better as I used in one of my programming challenges.

 

Some may think Gabby is silly and maybe he is but I admire people who can play that kind of character. They play dumb but they are not as dumb as they come off. They never get the girl, not seriously anyway. Undyingly loyal and a tad bit silly but the movies wouldn't be the same without them.

 

Knowing Geoorge Hayes was quite opposite of "Gabby" makes him even more admirable for his talent.

 

Edited by: movieman1957 because I'm dumb.

[JackFavell]

I managed to miss Gold is Where You find it, though the listing caught me eye. I had errands to run and couldn't stick around to watch. What a cast though! Lordy, this one has everybody in it!

 

As for Trail Street, I totally enjoyed it, it's a good natured western, and Gabby was wonderful. I think maybe his presence is what makes it so much fun to watch.

 

Stripes with pom pom lace up shoes? A fashion don't.

 

[wouldbestar]

WB turned this movie into one of its 15 minutes or so shorts with Robert Shayne in the George Brent role-TCM shows it now and then. I came in towards the end but recognized it at once and want to see it all. When I turned in Gabby Hayes was telling a young Black man that "If we hadn't lost you wouldn't be running loose" so I assume he played a Southerner but told the honest truth.

 

Randolph Scott alert! *Ride Lonesome* will be on later tonight at 9:30 or 9:45. I'll be turned in to see it all the way through as you all have talked about it so often.

 

I was totally surprised by the ending to *Ride Lonesome* but liked it. I'll say more tomorrow. In the meantime, stay awake or set your machinery for* Fort Massacre *at 2:45 in the morning. This is a Joel McCrea you're not used to and the story is about how unbridled hate corrodes decency. My alarm is set.

 

Edited by: wouldbestar on Apr 23, 2012 11:28 PM