The Western Film Review: A Second Look at Some Popular Western Movies

By Chuck Lewis

With this collection of reviews, fans of western movies can enjoy taking another special look at some of our favorites with western author Chuck Lewis as he offers us insight and a unique view of the films we like or even those we don't like. We might remember some of them with a nostalgia that doesn't match up with what the movie was all about. We think we know the stories, or what a good job of acting our heroes did, or perhaps gave no thought to the symbolism of the roles they played, but maybe Chuck can suggest something different.

The storylines of these movies are told here in detail and interspersed with appropriate and interesting observations. You will definitely learn while being entertained.

Most of these reviews are written with Chuck's subtle sense of humor, but all are informative and surprising at times. They offer interesting facts that never occurred to us when we first saw the movie, but all are honestly assessed with a bite that only Chuck Lewis can give us.

-Movies reviewed in Volume One-

Shane-Winchester '73-Red River-Conagher-Will Penny-Monte Walsh-The Naked Spur-High Noon-River of No Return-The Unforgiven-The Big Country-Cowboy-Stagecoach-The Wonderful Country-My Darling Clementine-Monte Walsh (TV)-Jeremiah Johnson-The Magnificent Seven-The Wild Bunch-Tombstone-Blood on the Moon-The Searchers-Colorado Territory-The Bravados.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 20, 2004
• ISBN: 9780595776122

Chuck Lewis

Chuck Lewis is a member of the Western Writers of America, is the author of When Good Men Ride, Two From the West, and others, and is a literary reviewer for True West magazine. He obviously is also drawn to western movies. He and his wife Pat reside in Wickenburg, Arizona.

Book preview

The Western Film Review

A Second Look At Some Popular Western Movies

Volume One

All Rights Reserved © 2004 by Chuck Lewis

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

iUniverse, Inc.

For information address:

iUniverse, Inc.

2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100

Lincoln, NE 68512

www.iuniverse.com

ISBN: 0-595-32809-1

ISBN: 978-0-5957-7612-2 (ebk)

Contents

Introduction

Shane

Winchester ‘73

Will Penny

Monte Walsh

The Naked Spur

High Noon

River Of No Return

The Unforgiven

The Big Country

Cowboy

Stagecoach

The Wonderful Country

Conagher

Red River

My Darling Clementine

Monte Walsh (TV)

Jeremiah Johnson

The Magnificent Seven

The Wild Bunch

Tombstone

Blood On The Moon

The Searchers

Colorado Territory

The Bravados

Appendix A

Appendix B

About The Author

To cowboying…

As long as there’s one cowboy takin’ care of one cow, it ain’t dead

…Monte Walsh (1970)

~ INTRODUCTION ~

Western movies as a popular genre are pretty much obsolete, and in spite of the hopes of those of us who are true western fans, they will never make a comeback.

Our world and lifestyle in general today doesn’t seem to tolerate anything that requires some time, thought, and imagination. Everything is too fast; fast food, fast cars, computerized entertainment and education, and immediate self-gratification for a younger generation who yell, I want everything, and I want it right now!

That demand has worked its way into films. People today have a shorter attention span for everything. Clever editing for instantaneous scene changes and frenetic action, less time telling an uncomplicated storyline, and less time to get the characters into bed, are all the elements in movies these days. These will also usually be the most successful films at the box office. The more subdued think-pieces are sometimes lost in the chaos and are seldom recognized for their quality.

But that’s exactly the way westerns are and why they suffer.

Since more westerns have been made than any other kind of movie, the themes have all just about been burned out. A new presentation with new stars and new scenery will seldom make a new version better than those that came before.

Life in the old west was pretty much the same for everybody. Yes, there were differences between storekeepers, cowboys, cavalry troopers, prostitutes, farmers, gamblers, bank robbers, blacksmiths, or riverboat men, but their world moved at a known pace and its acceptable morals throughout were known and well defined. They knew what was right and what was wrong. They all knew they would find the same values wherever they went.

Westerns are tired. The attempt to present the majesty of the country and the lifestyle is lost on an impatient audience today who want crashing automobiles, explosions, rapid-fire weapons and snappy dialogue. The single-action revolvers and lever-action rifles are too slow for them. It’s difficult for them to sit through long inactive scenes of round-ups, or the relatively slow pursuits on horseback, or the stunning scope of scenic vistas. They don’t want nostalgia, they have nothing to gauge it by. They do not get the message and cannot fully appreciate what a good western is really all about.

There are occasional movies made today with western themes that somehow have enough universal appeal to briefly attract a cross-section of the movie-going public. A certain human condition we can all relate to or the majesty of scenery that cannot be ignored, can still be presented with such scope that nobody can resist it.

All others will fail.

It is impossible, in fact not even fair, to say what the best western movie is any more than one can say who the best athlete is. Is a good football player a better athlete than a good basketball player? Of course not. It’s the old point of mixing apples and oranges. Therefore, I do not believe Dances With Wolves should be compared with Tombstone, because they are two different critters. I perceive western movies as being in several different categories, such as:

1.   Gunfighter/Adventure. (Vera Cruz; Hondo; Tombstone; etc.)

2.   Working Cowboy/Ranching. (The Big Country; Monte Walsh, etc.)

3.   Indian, both western and eastern. (Dances With Wolves; Last of the Mohicans, etc.)

4.   Mountain Man/Fur Trade. (The Mountain Men; Jeremiah Johnson, etc.)

5.   Comedy/Musical/Romance. (Calamity Jane; Paint Your Wagon, etc.)

6.   Specialized Interests, i.e. Railroad/Lumber/Mining, etc. (Union Pacific, etc.)

7.   Wagon Train. (The Wagon Master; Wagons West, etc.)

8.   Contemporary/Modern. (Giant; Comes a Horseman, etc.)

One could continue going to extremes in compartmentalizing movies even more than the above, but I use them only to illustrate the point that movies have to be defined to a certain extent before we start talking about what is best. Most lists of everything name the top ten of whatever is being discussed, but with some of the above categories I can’t get past five or even three before I feel anything beyond that isn’t even worth being on the list at all.

Such lists are always subjective, anyway. One person’s opinion of a movie might be different from another’s because of the extent of real knowledge or experience each individual might have. Some people simply might have less imagination than others, or are less romantic or nostalgic. Perhaps age difference or gender enters into it, or maybe someone just plain doesn’t like a particular actor. Yet they are all satisfied with their own perception of a movie and get their own level of entertainment from it. Therefore, their opinions are just as valid as anyone else’s, including mine. I do feel, however, that I can give you, the reader, a little more insight into a film than you will normally get elsewhere.

I have friends who wouldn’t know the difference between a Winchester and a Chevrôlet, but they like western movies for some unexplained reason. Maybe it’s the scenery, or the action, or maybe it’s the story or the performers, but whatever it is they enjoy a western. Perhaps it’s the kid in them and they can’t recognize it.

Theatrical western films are few and far between these days, and unfortunately when one is made it’s usually pretty bad. A recent one like American Outlaws was just a silly teen-ager movie with horses, and when Texas Rangers was finished it was deemed to be so bad it wasn’t even released to any theaters and went directly into video tape. Open Range has been one of the better attempts thus far, although it, too, is rife with flaws.

There are more western movies in the making as I write this and some look promising, but in the meantime it seems I keep re-watching the good old ones. Believe me, there were bad old ones, too, but nobody took them seriously, they were simply corny fun. Nowadays, however, even the bad is usually touted as being good, but we know better.

A few of the western movies made for television in recent years are also presented in this work, although there aren’t that many worth examining here. Some get a lot of hype, but whether anybody wants to admit it or not, the June, 2002, TNT movie King of Texas, starring Patrick Stewart, was one of the most god-awful embarrassments we’ve seen in a long time. Beyond that, I think it’s also fair to review only those television productions which are of a length close to a regular theatrical release. Therefore you will not find any TV mini-series epics like a six-hour Lonesome Dove reviewed here, as undeniably wonderful as that one was. That piece is in a class by itself.

Because of such diversity in western movies and the variety of them that are reviewed in this presentation, there is no best list of any kind here, and the collection also makes no attempt to keep all films of one type together.

All the movie reviews in the following pages reflect my own opinions, of course. If I think a movie is great I will say so, and if I debunk some movie that has historically been labeled as great but I think is not, you’ll hear that too, but at least I’ll try to tell you why. The choice of films is my own, too, usually at random. Most of them have some redeeming factors or some unexplainable appeal that makes them worth viewing more than once for me, and I simply enjoy talking about them with others. This leads me to give a rather complete summary of the entire plot of each film, so I hope that doesn’t spoil any surprises for anyone who hasn’t seen any individual movie that is reviewed in detail here.

There is no particular order of these movies as they appear here, and are simply arranged in the sequence in which I happened to write them. They were originally intended to be single-page inserts for an organization’s monthly newsletter, but my jawboning made it impossible to restrict my assessments to a single page; I simply had too much to say. I’ve retained the original format for each one and have kept them in the order in which I wrote them. The table of contents is arranged accordingly.

The dates shown with each movie indicates its year of release, not production. This is followed by the name of the producing studio, whether the film is in black-and-white or color, and its running time.

There are twenty-four lengthy movie reviews in this book. I anticipate many of you asking How come you didn’t include such-and-such? In return, I ask you to wait for volume two, and I will work on it as time allows. If I still keep hearing requests for more, that might prompt a third volume, but I’m not looking past the next one yet.

Starting about 1894, some incidental cowboy action scenes were cranked out by the new moving-picture machine just invented, and in 1903 The Great Train Robbery was the first American film made that had an actual storyline, varied camera placement, and cuts for story progression. It only had fourteen scenes and was ten minutes long, but it revolutionized picture-making. Although filmed in New Jersey, it was a western.

Thousands of western movies have been made since then, more than any other single type of movie, and I honestly believe I’ve seen as many of them in my lifetime as any person possibly could. As much as I love the genre, however, and as honestly as I accept each one on its own level of merit, I don’t think 90% of them are worth taking the time to review to the extent that I do here. But remember, that other 10% of several thousand still amounts to hundreds of movies!

Within these reviews I have also included some production and actor trivia that I hope the reader will find interesting. All personal data is accurate through December 31, 2003. You’ll also see that I wanted to note any military service any of the actors might have had (and I admit to an intense personal feeling for World War II), but it serves to indicate the differences between the Hollywood of yesterday and the Hollywood of today. (Oh, boy, don’t get me started on that!) Likewise, at the end of the book I thought the file containing personal quotes of some of the stars would add some entertaining insight into their personalities, attitudes, sometimes their sense of humor, as well as their views of the business and each other. I have also included a list of every actor named in all reviews and the movies they are connected with here.

Lastly, I apologize for the lack of photographs in this book. First, there would obviously be far too many of them. Also, I don’t want to be presumptuous enough to infringe on any previously copyrighted publications, and the cost and printing of stock photos offered for such works as this one make a publication too pricey for readers. This book is mostly for my amusement and yours at what I hope will be a reasonable purchase price for you. I’m sure you understand. Cowboys never have any money, anyway.

I’ve tried to re-visit some films that many of you are already familiar with, and maybe some you’ve not heard of. Perhaps you’ll be encouraged to look for some of the older classics again to enjoy them as we once did in the past, or maybe younger readers will be learning about them for the first time. For whatever reason, I hope this collection of reviews evokes some memories from the day when you first strapped on your shiny Roy Rogers cap pistol and rode your stick horse off into a dream world of cowboy adventure.

Best wishes for a clear trail!

Chuck Lewis

Wickenburg, Arizona

THE

WESTERN FILM

REVIEW

THE WESTERN FILM REVIEW

A SECOND LOOK AT SOME POPULAR WESTERN MOVIES

Number 1

© 2003 Chuck Lewis

~ Shane ~

(1953; Paramount; color; 1 hour, 58 min.)

It’s doubtful there could be anyone in America who hasn’t seen this movie by now, especially those who remember and enjoy good westerns. Based on that assumption, a detailed summary of the storyline will be omitted here. Time and space will instead be used to discuss the film as art and the players as people.

Shane’s story is one big cliché, but never has it been done better. The mysterious stranger rides into the valley where the local farmers are threatened and oppressed by the no-good ranchers who don’t want changes, don’t want fences, and don’t want dirt farmers.

The stranger with an obvious skill with guns takes sides with the farmers, is a hero for a young boy, and a distraction for a farmer’s wife. He faces up to the nasty ranchers, guns down their hired killer, and wipes out the entire nest of evil that’s been poisoning the land for new settlers. Then after doing so, the lonely man of mystery rides away to an uncertain future.

This film is a true classic for several reasons, some of which might not occur to the viewer. Beyond the story, beyond the acting, and beyond the memories we all have of certain scenes, there is the film itself as a work of art. It is a seminal film in the industry, and the business of making western movies was forever changed after the appearance of Shane. It was a true attempt at producing a beautiful, realistic, outdoor drama without the forever-perfect blue skies, bold heroism, perfectly neat hair, tailored clothing, and standard camera work of most works before this.

The director was George Stevens, who was a real stickler about every frame of film he shot, and Shane was the ultimate example. He was bold enough to continue filming during bad weather, cloudy skies, and thunder and lightning. This all serves to add remarkable drama to the movie, with patches of sunlight and shade sliding across the terrain, a fortunate lightning bolt in the background in one scene, and cold muddy streets for one shooting in town.

The fist-fight scene in Grafton’s store between Shane and the cowboy Chris Calloway, is more realistic than ninety-nine percent of anything done before or since. They each miss swings, they look awkward at times, and Calloway’s blood smeared on his face truly looks like he’d just been punched.

Later in the movie, when Shane and his farmer-friend Joe Starrett have a long tough fist-fight in the back yard of the Starrett home, the drama is intensified by the panic created in the nearby cattle and horses. Breaking fences and madly trying to evade the action, the animals are filmed with wonderful effect to add to the violence and drama of the scene. It is film-making at its best.

Filmed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with the magnificent Teton Mountains for a backdrop, the picture is a cinematic masterpiece. Atmospheric and moody with meticulous attention to detail, the story moves slowly along with down-home domestic scenes, soft lighting, and a feeling of nostalgic charm.

The movie, of course, is a romantic wail sounding the disappearance of a mythical west that never really existed. It is gorgeous in all aspects of moviemaking, and is one of the most sensitive and beautiful presentations of all that we have ever wanted the west to have been. It simply awakens emotions in us that satisfies our need for witnessing our perception of a dream that we’ve always wanted to come true.

The major actors in the film are Alan Ladd as Shane; Van Heflin as the heroic farmer Joe Starrett, with Jean Arthur as his wife Marion, and Brandon de Wilde as their son Joey. Other actors were Emile Meyer as Rufe Ryker the angry rancher, and Walter Jack Palance as his hired gunman Jack Wilson.

Some of the extra farmers were played by steadfast character actors like Edgar Buchanan, Douglas Spencer, Edith Evanson, Nancy Kulp, and many others. The single most outstanding rebellious farmer was Torrey, a pugnacious southerner played by Elisha Cook, Jr. It is he who is gunned down by Wilson in the unforgettable scene that unfolds in the muddy street in front of Grafton’s store in town.

Grafton the storekeeper, portrayed by Paul McVey, is one person who always wants a peaceful solution to all problems, and the same feeling is later shared by one of Ryker’s cowboys, Chris Calloway, perfectly played by one of our favorites, Ben Johnson.

It is difficult now to imagine any other actors in any of these major rôles, but they were indeed second choices. Originally the director wanted William Holden as Shane and Montgomery Clift as Starrett. Then it was Alan Ladd as Shane and William Holden as Starrett with Jean Arthur as the wife. Eventually the parts ended up as we have them in the final production. Some critics still say Ladd was mis-cast, but fate meant for him to play the rôle.

Jean Arthur was the oldest member of the central cast, being fifty-three years old at the time. She had been in a lot of westerns since 1924 and was a gray-haired lady who hadn’t been in a movie since 1948. But she seemed like the perfect farmer’s wife, so they put a blonde wig on her and she played her part beautifully. She ended her career with this rôle and lived until 1991 when she died at age 91.

Ladd, too, was already beyond his hot days as a handsome cinema heart-throb, and was as tired as Arthur was. He was forty years old then, but in my opinion was perfect for what the part called for as one of a dying breed of gunmen. I also think he had one of the best speaking voices Hollywood has ever had.

One little-known fact about Ladd is that he was only 5’-4¹/2" tall. This always called for short co-stars and low camera angles to help him appear taller. There were even times in his career when he had to stand on a box for closeups with other actors. And so it was in Shane, when he was often photographed from low angles for a more convincing dramatic effect.

After this movie Alan Ladd never had another part to equal Shane, although his portrayal of Nevada Smith in The Carpetbaggers (1963) was evidence that he could have been a very good character actor. He died the following year, however, in 1964 at age 53.

Alan Ladd had lived a truly pitiful personal life from childhood on up through to his death from alcohol and pills. He was also one of the many Hollywood stars who served in the armed forces in World War II. He was drafted into the Army in January 1943, but was discharged later that same year in November because of bad ulcers and hernias. I can’t hold that against him, and I salute him for his efforts. He thereafter supported home-front promotions, bond drives, etc.

Van Heflin, with a face carved from granite, was forty-three when he played Joe Starrett, and he did so with strength and dignity. He died in 1971 at age 61.

Brandon de Wilde as the eleven-year-old Joey captured the public’s heart briefly and continued to be on screen, but never equaled this rôle. He was nominated for a special Oscar for this movie. He was killed in a traffic accident in 1972 at age 30.

Jack Palance was then appearing in films under his full name of Walter Jack Palance. (Not exactly his real name. He was of Ukranian descent and his birth name was Vladimir Palanuik). At age 33 his part as Wilson in Shane changed his career. As Wilson he was—well—Jack Palance! Though he only spoke twelve lines in this movie, they were enough to get him an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for that year of 1953. He’s still with us.

Elisha Cook, Jr. was recognizable to everybody from the variety of rôles he played during his long career. From vaudeville at age 14, he moved into serious theater work, and then removed to Hollywood in 1936. He ultimately appeared in 123 films as well as many parts on television. He died in 1995 a few years after a stroke. He was 91 years old.

Our old favorite Ben Johnson had been a cowboy and rodeo performer in real life before he got into the movie business, and he was a natural. I loved to watch him. He was visiting his mother in a nursing home in Mesa, Arizona in 1996 when he suddenly had a heart attack and died. He was 78 years old.

George Stevens was nominated for an Oscar as Best Director for Shane, and the movie did win an Academy Award for best photography.

Photoplay magazine awarded Alan Ladd a Gold Medalion for his performance, and The National Board of Review named Shane as one of the ten best films of 1953.

As another observation, the screenplay was by A.B. Guthrie, Jr., (author of The Big Sky and others), based on the novel Shane by author Jack Schaefer, who also wrote the novel Monte Walsh. Guthrie was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay.

Let’s note some other stuff.

The next time you watch this movie, look carefully for a little production error at the very beginning. When Shane is first seen by the boy as a strange horseman approaching the farm, if you look fast and close to the left of Shane’s figure you can see far in the background a white bus or truck driving down a road back there. This oversight has been digitally removed in the new DVD version.

Ladd does a pretty good job handling and making a decent fast draw with a 7¹/2" Colt, a barrel length seldom used by movie heroes. The fanning of it, however, is pure Hollywood.

When Torrey gets gunned down in the town’s muddy street (which had to be freshened up a little with water hoses), and in fact all players who are shot in the film’s action scenes, a fine wire was attached to the player and the wire was fastened to a pulley and block. As the pistols roared a crewman jerked the wire and pulled the shootee backward.

The town that was constructed for this film was absolutely perfect, and the costuming of everyone in the movie is wonderful, too, as are other details of frontier life. The exceptions are the clothes worn by Alan Ladd and Jack Palance.

Remember, the basic premise of this story is that it’s a moralistic fantasy of good against evil. Shane with his blond hair, clean buckskins, nickled Colt, and gentle demeanor against a darker Wilson dressed in black with two guns and a nasty willingness to kill, are the embodiment of each faction.

The emotions at work and the suggestion of an attraction between Shane and Marion Starrett is underplayed perfectly, but the integrity of each character never allows them to admit it. The boy even senses it, however, and at the end during the Come back Shane scene, Joey tries to plead to Shane to stay by calling out, among other things, Mother wants you! I know she does!

The original book, by the way, is told in first person by the boy as he watches this entire story unfold.

Shane also has a beautiful musical score, but very few people know that the main theme music had a title and words. It was The Call of the Faraway Hills, and was recorded afterward by an unknown singer named Mitchell Torak. He remained unknown and so did the recording, but I think the music is responsible