***Official 2nd Annual HTF Western Movies/TV Shows Challenge 2025*** (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

***Official 2nd Annual HTF Western Movies/TV Shows Challenge 2025***

1. Watch Western-Movies/TV Shows from midnight March 1, 2025 through March 31, 2025 (use your own time zone to set the ending time).

2. Each Western-Movie/TV show can be viewed by physical media such as DVD, Blu-ray, 4K/UHD, etc. Other means of viewing can be done either by streaming or just watching a TV broadcast such as TCM or any other TV channel and/or internet outlet/app. Recorded or not recorded doesn't matter.

3. Unlike other HTF Movie Challenges, there isn't a minimum number of Westerns you have to watch during this Challenge. Each movie/TV show episode counts as one point each.

4. The only requirement during this Western Challenge is to briefly tell us why you liked or disliked each Western you watched. Please note the viewing means by which you watch the movie/TV show. Whether it was by physical media, streaming, TV broadcast and etc. Furthermore, your opinion can be expressed in just a few sentences or even longer paragraphs as to why you enjoyed the movie/TV show or why the movie/TV show didn't work for you. Such comments serve as an incentive for other people to watch or not watch a Western they never seen beforehand.

5. At the end of the challenge, the point totals will be added up based on the one-point system outlined in number 2 above. There won't be any participation categories like there are in other HTF Challenges. At the end of the Challenge, I will simply tabulate the total number of points each participant accumulated during March. Each participant will be listed with the number of points each has accumulated during March.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Furthermore, I'm now glad they omitted Chingachgook's extended speech at the end of the movie in both versions. That extended speech in the third film version called "Director's Expanded Edition" wasn't necessary. I believe that speech about the lack of frontier dilutes the emotional impact of that sequence of the movie when it basically ends on silence and reflection between Chingachgook, Hawkeye and Cora.

Absolutely, positively agree. I loved the theatrical version of Chingachgook's closing narration for its brevity and emotion. Conversely, I really despised the extended narration which felt like a 'Dummies Guide to The Last of the Mohicans'. We just watched the film; we didn't need a primer on the themes presented during the course of the film. I was very happy when the film received a BD release that was close to the theatrical cut. Honestly, I have kind of lost track of the releases and their differences. I haven't watched this film in a long, long time but I still have fond memories of seeing this theatrically and being completely involved in the story. One of the best films of '92.

- Walter.

 

[compson]

After a gang of claim jumpers kills his father (but unaccountably flees when he arrives), Audie Murphy becomes a deputy to Sheriff Stephen McNally in The Duel at Silver Creek (1952). McNally is soon blinded by his attraction to a woman he doesn’t know is working with the gang. Don Siegel directed the film, which moves at a good clip and has lots of shooting. Despite a character’s implausibly reckless action to precipitate the climax, the movie’s an enjoyable low-budget western.

Maureen O’Hara is The Redhead from Wyoming (1952). A shady operator from her past, hoping to incite a range war, is using her to front a cattle-rustling operation. As the range storm gathers, O’Hara becomes friendly with the sheriff. The movie is unusual in that both men leading sides in the conflict are unlikeable, and O’Hara is the protagonist but has unclean hands herself. An unusual dynamic, though, isn’t sufficient to make a movie, and this one is of only minor interest.

The action starts early in Anthony Mann’s The Naked Spur (1953). James Stewart is in Colorado looking for Robert Ryan and the $5,000 bounty on Ryan’s head for murder in Abilene, Kansas. Stewart picks up two partners: Ralph Meeker, just dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army as “morally unstable,” and old prospector Millard Mitchell. When they find Ryan, they get Janet Leigh in the bargain. The five then begin the long trip to Abilene, with twists and turns along the way in this suspenseful, violent, and satisfying film. Stewart is believable as a driven and not so likable man.

 

[Mark-P]

Entry #25
Duel in the Sun, Selznick International, 1946, Technicolor. This movie is a sultry Western soap opera, with Gregory Peck playing very much against type as a womanizing bad apple, juxtaposed against good brother Joseph Cotton. Jennifer Jones is the mixed-race young woman whose father has just been executed for killing her mother and she comes to live at the plantation sparking a rivalry between the two brothers, Peck who lusts after her, and Cotton who has more honorable intentions. Lilian Gish is their prim, but helplessly naive mother, and Lionel Barrymore plays their racist, vengeful, rich father. The end of the movie gives it its title. Maybe some people find this movie disturbing, but I think it is grand entertainment all around. I watched it on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, and while it looks fairly good, it doesn’t have that Technicolor dazzle that it should if they were able to restore it from the original 3-strip negatives. I don’t know if the original negatives even still exist.
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 4.

Spoiler: Running tally

Running tally:
1. Conquest of Cochise 3-1-25
2. Westward the Women 3-2-25
3. Oregon Passage 3-3-25
4. The Tall T 3-4-25
5. Vera Cruz 3-5-25
6. Conagher 3-6-25
7. California Conquest 3-7-25
8. McCabe & Mrs. Miller 3-9-25
9. Fort Dobbs 3-10-25
10. Bend of the River 3-11-25
11. Jubal 3-12-25
12. The Law and Jake Wade 3-14-25
13. The Shadow Riders 3-15-25
14. Cimarron (1960) 3-17-25
15. Santa Fe Trail 3-18-25
16. Apache Rifles 3-19-25
17. The Big Trail 3-20-25
18. Broken Arrow (1950) 3-21-25
19. Garden of Evil 3-22-25
20. War Arrow 3-23-25
21. Northwest Passage 3-23-25
22. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean 3-24-25
23. Bad Company (1972) 3-25-25
24. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 3-26-25
25. Duel in the Sun 3-27-25

 

[Nelson Au]

Tonight I had time to view my third Anthony Mann/James Stewart western, 1952’s Bend of the River.

This is the first time seeing this film via the Kino Lorber blu ray. I had consulted the Robert Harris a few words about for Bend of the River blu ray because as the movie started, I wondered what was wrong, it looked like the films three strip was out of register. Apparently it is. Though on my 83” screen , it was considerable, it seemed mainly bad during the outdoor shots, later the film looked much better I thought. I found this very watchable after my eyes adjusted. Though it was quite a difference from my viewing of The Naked Spur last weekend.

At any rate, this was a pretty entertaining film. I noticed there seems to be a consistent element for the three Mann films, the lead character played by James Stewart has a secret, or hidden agenda. From this one viewing, it appears James Stewart was once a raider in another state. He comes along to befriend Arther Kennedy, also to have a dark past. As a heavy, I was impressed by Kennedy as I mainly remember him from Fantastic Voyage as a good guy. Like Naked Spur, the bad guy has multi-layers to his character. He seems to be a good guy, but shifts his position to suit his needs. Ultimately he is a bad guy.

On the whole I enjoyed the film. Interesting to see the cast with a few familiar faces! France’s Bavier I recognize from her most well known one from Andy Griffith show. Also surprised to see a young Harry Morgan! Wow. Also I recognized Jack Lambert. And of course, Rock Hudson in an early role. Also interesting to see Julie Adams before she did Creature from the Black Lagoon. It looked like a tough shoot, looking at all those wagons being driven across all that rough terrain looked really tough!

This makes three of the 5 westerns I’ve seen from the Mann/Stewart collaboration.

 

[benbess]

Wonderful score by Maurice Jarre. Great stunts, especially by Woody Strode and Burt Lancaster. Very witty and quotable screenplay. Fine cinematography.

My rating on The Professionals from 1966: A+

Picture quality for the blu-ray: A+

Grant (Ralph Bellamy): "You bastard!"

Rico (Lee Marvin): "Yes, sir. In my case an accident of birth. But you, sir, you're a self-made man."

 

[Robert Crawford]

See my Summary with Movies/TV Shows Grades:

136) 03-28-25: "Red River: Theatrical Release" (1948) (Blu-ray) 4/5 Stars
This classic western is about the first cattle drive that used the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Abilene Kansas on August 14, 1865. However, the movie starts off in 1851, when Tom Dunson, Groot Nadine and Matthew Garth start their ranch just north of the Rio Grande. Prior to picking out their ranch location, Dunson and Nadine had left a wagon train bound for California just before it was massacred by the Comanche. Garth, young teenager survived the Indian attack because he was chasing his runaway cow. Together they built the biggest ranch in Texas but were flat out broke due to no market for beef in Texas and the results of the Civil War. Dunson decides to round up his 9000-10,000 herd to drive them up to Missouri in order to sell them to the highest bidder. However, a conflict arises between Dunson and his crew because there are reports of the railroad being closer with a less dangerous route in Abilene Kansas. What we have is a "mutiny on the trail" scenario with hardened Dunson driving his men into the ground without any type of compromise. Eventually, Matthew Garth has to stand against his surrogate father to prevent him from hanging two members of their trail crew and to take them to Kansas instead of heading towards Missouri which has murderous border gangs.

This is another film I grew up watching back in the day. This movie was released in 1948. However, most of the filming was done in 1946 with the finishing touches completed by April 1947. The theatrical cut is the version that was shown on TV back when I was growing up. It's about six minutes shorter than prerelease version. There is controversy as to which film version was Howard Hawks favorite because he gave different answers during various interviews. So, I'm not even going to debate it here. I will say that the theatrical version with Walter Brennan's narration isn't my prefer choice. I enjoy the prerelease version more because I like reading the Early Texas diary pages as well as the longer film sequences of the stampede and the saving of the wagon train. The 2014 Criterion Blu-ray's video presentation is kind of disappointing to me while being displayed on my new OLED. I don't know the status or history of the original film elements, but this 2K restoration is lacking for me.

137) 03-28-25: "Red River: "Prerelease Version" (1948) (Blu-ray) 4.5/5 Stars
I watched the 127-minute theatrical cut before breakfast and after breakfast I watched the 133-minute prerelease version. I found the video presentation of the 133-minute version a little more pleasing on my OLED. Perhaps, better film elements? I don't know, but I did take note of slight improvement with the picture quality. Again, I prefer the longer version of the movie because I like reading the Early Texas diary pages as well as the longer film sequences of the stampede and the saving of the wagon train. There is also a talking sequence between Matt Garth and Melville, the cattle buyer. I'm giving the prerelease version a half of a point higher score than the theatrical version for the reasons I already stated.

I forgot to mention the cast of actors. John Wayne plays Dunson, Walter Brennan plays his life-long friend Groot and in his film acting debut, Montgomery Clift plays the adult Matthew Garth. Cherry Valence plays a gunslinger that joins the cattle drive. Coleen Gray plays the woman that Dunson loved, who was killed in the wagon train Indian attack. Joanne Dru plays Tess, the woman that Matt falls in love with after he rescues her wagon train from an Indian attack. It's worth noting that both Harry Carey Sr. and Harry Carey Jr. appear in this western. The older Carey plays the cattle buyer while Junior plays a cowhand that doesn't make it to Abilene. The rest of the outstanding supporting cast includes Hank Worden, Noah Berry Jr, Paul Fix and a brief glimpse of a young Shelly Winters playing a girl on the second wagon train.

138) 03-28-25: "Trooper Hook" (1957) (TCM DVR) 3.5/5 Stars
This movie was an independent production, but it deserves a physical media release of some kind. Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck made six movies together and this 1957 western was their last film project. Stanwyck plays a white woman captured by the Apache, years ago that has finally been rescued when the calvary defeats the Apache and captures their village. She has been the squaw of the Apache Chief, Nanchez and bore him a young son. McCrea plays the army first sergeant that led the defeat and capture of the village because all of the officers were killed. Once back to the Fort and civilization, Stanwyck endures overt racism from the whites in the fort and in her travels back to her white husband, who thought she was dead. A good western with some action sequences and racial condemnation on society. Earl Holliman has a good role in this film as a young cowboy that helps McCrea out during Stanwyck's journey to her husband. Also, standing out is Royal Dano as the stagecoach driver and Rodolfo Acosta as Nanchez, the Apache Chief.

139) 03-28-25: "The Moonlighter" (1953) (TCM DVR) 2.5/5 Stars
After lunch, I watched the TCM recording of this mediocre western that was actually filmed in 3-D. The Intermission Card was present in the version that TCM shown. I never particularly liked this black and white western because it's not a good film with some awful dialogue. However, I'm relatively entertained by the film because of its lead actors. Fred MacMurray plays a cattle rustler that was saved from a lynching because the mob lynched the wrong person from his jail cell. Barbara Stanwyck plays his former girlfriend, now engage to his straightlaced younger brother. Both MacMurray and Stanwyck are too old for their respectively roles. Ward Bond plays an old outlaw pal of MacMurray that gets him in further trouble. The film's title is what they call cattle rustlers that steal cattle at night under the light of the moon.

 

[Robert Crawford]

One thing I noticed this morning during my two viewings of "Red River" is that I recognized a couple of brief musical note sequences that Dimitri Tiomkin used again in "The Thing from Another World". Another great film directed by Hawks.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I had a friend over today for our usual viewing sessions. (Typically we get together to watch various streaming shows and films.) Courtesy of this very thread I purchased the Criterion Blu Ray of The Gunfighter with Gregory Peck from 1950.

For both my friend and myself this was a first viewing of the film. We both enjoyed it quite a bit for its examination of morality in the Old West. Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia has the famous quote: "You may be done with the past, but the past may not be done with you." That would be a very effective summation of The Gunfighter as Gregory Peck's Jimmy Ringo struggles to survive in a world where every would be gunfighter is looking to make a name for himself.

The film does a good job of juggling and combining various story elements and themes through its run time. My friend and I both were a bit surprised at the conclusion of the film. As has been discussed in this thread (post 184) the idea of the film containing a sense of "noir fatalism" is an apt description of the film's tone. The tension developed by the element of the passage of time felt like something one would see in a noir.

Overall a very mature film that didn't easily fall into all of the standard story telling conventions of Westerns.

- Walter.

 

[benbess]

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly was one of the first movies I got on blu-ray back in 2009. But I first saw roughly the last half of the movie when I was at a gaming convention with some high school friends all the way back in 1983, when I was 18. While we were playing Risk and Ogre the movie was playing on the hotel TV. Somehow my friends had all already seen it, but for me it was the first time, and as the ending played I was blown away by the music, the stylized parody of Westerns, the unreal marksmanship of Clint Eastwood's character Blondie, and so on. But it was a long time from then until I actually watched the complete movie on my first blu-ray player in 2009. Showing our children the end scene they too marveled at the music, the close-ups, the comedy, and so on. Since then my kids, now grown, have sometimes made little jokes to me about the title of Ennio Morricone's iconic music "Ecstasy of Gold" a few times here and there, like when one of our cats is greedy for food—"The Ecstasy of Fancy Feast" and so on. Even though the picture quality of that first blu-ray was bad I watched it all the way through few times. Then in 2014 the new remastered blu-ray came out, and I got it on sale for about six dollars and put it on my shelf. Today, eleven years later, it was still sealed in plastic until this Western challenge finally got me to unwrap and watch it.

The movie itself, however, did not quite live up to my memories of it this time around. I still love the final scenes, but getting there is a rather long road, with some homages to David Lean's Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia along the way. The element I enjoy most about the movie is the iconic score, although the movie itself is still an innovative one for the time.

My rating on The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly from 1966 is still an A-, in large part because of the music.

Picture quality for the 2014 blu-ray: A

Blondie (Clint Eastwood): "You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig."

 

[Walter Kittel]

The movie itself, however, did not quite live up to my memories of it this time around. I still love the final scenes, but getting there is a rather long road, with some homages to David Lean's Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia along the way. The element I enjoy most about the movie is the iconic score, although the movie itself is still an innovative one for the time.

My rating on The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly from 1966 is still an A-, in large part because of the music.

Personally speaking I would rate it higher; but certainly film appreciation is very subjective. I've considered revisiting it for the purposes of this thread, although I could probably just blindly describe every sequence in the film from its stylized introduction of our three primary characters all the way until their fateful meeting at the cemetery, considering how many times I have seen it over the years. I have likely seen this Western more than any other since initially seeing it on Sunday Night movies on ABC during the '70s. I think I've owned it on just about every home video media I've possessed ( VHS, Laser Disc, DVD, Blu-Ray and UHD - I don't recall if there was an HD-DVD release.)

If one is looking for a grounded film, then this is not it, with its stylized approach, its superhuman gunfighter capabilities, our characters' abilities to survive adverse conditions, etc. But, IMHO, those are all appropriate for a film designed to be larger than life. Besides Morricone's score which is one of the greats, my very favorite thing about the film is Wallach's colorful Tuco and to a lesser degree his relationship with Blondie (Eastwood). Also of note is the film's cinematography and editing which is incredibly vivid and distinctive.

Just a terrific film in my estimation.

- Walter.

 

[Doug Wallen]

33. Winchester '73 (1950) Universal Pictures. Viewed on Criterion's 4k blu-ray release from January 28, 2025.
James Stewart, Millard Mitchell, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Shelly Winters, Charles Drake, John McIntire, Will Geer, Jay C. Flippen, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, James Best, Steve Brodie, James Millican, Abner Biberman, John Alexander.
Directed by Anthony Mann.
A "Winchester '73" - the gun that won the West is the ultimate prize of a shooting contest in Dodge City. Two gunmen are able to match each other during several rounds of the tournament. Foreshadowing indicates that both men might have had the same teacher. Sure didn't notice that the first time I viewed this film. Well, I'm sure we all know how this story plays out.
Excellent cast, truly original story presentation directed by Anthony Mann. Excellent presentation on Criterion's 4k disc.
Watched on March 26th.

 

[compson]

Alan Ladd is Shane (1953), who hires on with a homesteading family (Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, and their idolizing son) as tensions with ranchers are about to reach the boiling point. It’s a great movie, a powerful story of good people vs. bad. Of course the ending’s corny, and I’m here for it. The cast includes Elisha Cook, Jr., Ben Johnson, and Jack Palance. The film was shot in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in beautiful Technicolor and received the Oscar for cinematography. George Stevens, fresh off of A Place In the Sun (1951), directed.

William Holden is a Union captain at a prison for Confederate soldiers in Arizona Territory in John Sturges’s Escape from Fort Bravo (1953). He has two concerns: the prisoners and the Mescalero Indians around them. Holden falls in love with a visitor to the fort, Eleanor Parker, who is secretly working with John Forsythe, her fiancé and the prisoners’ leader, on a planned escape. The romantic elements aren’t particularly believable, but the movie holds our interest, and the final third is terribly exciting. DP Robert Surtees shot the film in Ansco Color to be projected at a 1.75:1 aspect ratio.

 

[Robert Crawford]

See my Summary with Movies/TV Shows Grades:

140) 03-28-25: "The Burning Hills" (1956) (DVD) 2.5/5 Stars
Last night, I decided to revisit a western I've seen a couple of times over the years. This Warner western was filmed and released in 1956 with Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood starring in it. The storyline has been repeated over and over again in different variations when we have a rich and powerful landowner running roughshod over an entire valley by terrorizing and even killing smaller landowners like ranchers and farmers. The movie opens up with a rancher being shot in the back by three unidentified killers. Soon afterwards, the dead rancher is found by his brother and partner Tab Hunter. Hunter traces the killers to a town which is the rich landowner's headquarters. When the landowner/Ray Teal tries to kill Hunter with a hidden gun, Hunter wounds him in self-defense and flees his ranch. The ranch foreman played by Claude Atkins wounds Hunter as he makes his getaway. Wounded Hunter is found unconscious by a spring near an abandoned old mine by Natalie Wood. She's a sheepherder's daughter, who was previously killed by that landowner. She's also half Mexican and half White and is under constant racist taunts by the landowner's men. From there Hunter with Wood helping him is being chased by the landowner's psychotic son/Skip Homeier until we have the ultimate showdown. Homeier is so unstable; he even shoots his own foreman/Atkins in the back when Atkins tries to give him orders. Earl Holliman plays another one Homeier's gang of bad men. IMO, I think Wood was leaning on a Mexican accent a little too much. She was only 18 years old when she did this movie the same year "The Searchers" was released. Some might think she was miscast in this western. Perhaps, but she was a rising star, so I understand the casting. Hunter was fine as the man looking for justice for his brother's killing. Again, this movie is a pretty standard western I watched constantly on TV back in the day.

141) 03-28-25: "Jackass Mail" (1942) (DVD) 1.5/5 Stars
Another standard western is this western comedic movie that was released in 1942. It stars Wallace Beery as a no-account badman that is reformed by a woman played by Marjorie Main and young boy played by Daryl Hickman. J. Carrol Naish plays his partner in crime. Beery is determined to rob some gold from Marjorie Main, who runs a mail delivery service from Sacramento to the gold field towns in California circa 1851. However, despite his thieving ways, he keeps getting himself in situations where his bad intentions are turned upside down in which he becomes a hero to others. I never seen this particular western beforehand, but I have seen other Beery westerns. I know he made seven westerns with Marjorie Main. I found the movie not funny except a few scenes with Main performing with other women at a saloon she owns. There are some action sequences but not very effective ones at that. In short, this movie is bad, and I found boring as hell. It might be fine for those hardcore Wallace Beery fans which I'm not, though, I've enjoyed some of his other movies and westerns. This is probably my lowest film grade during this challenge. I just wasn't entertained by it.

 

[Nelson Au]

March 28, tonight I watched the fourth western collaboration of Anthony Mann and James Stewart, The Far Country.

I think of the four I’ve seen so far, all of which have been good, this film ranks pretty high. I haven’t seen the Man with No Name Clint Eastwood films yet. I’ve seen The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. But that was some time ago. I get a sense James Stewart is a sort of man with no man who travels the west and is on single minded endeavors, either to find someone to avenge, or to earn some big money. What makes The Far Country, and Winchester 73, so good is that Jeff as played by Stewart is wronged and tries to get justice. He doesn’t need help in this film, but has his buddy along played by Walter Brennon. Rhonda, played by Ruth Roman happens to come along and is attracted to Jeff and helps him along. But Mr. Gannon, a corrupt judge makes it difficult for Jeff. First he arrests him and then takes his heard of cattle. Later he takes all the gold claims from the gold mining town. It reaches a point where Jeff cannot allow this judge to continue in his corruption and confronts him and his minions. Most exciting.

I watched on the Arrow Films blu ray. It looks ok, tended to be very grainy at the start. My copy was the regular one I guess, it only had the film at the original 1: 185 ration. I understand there’s another version with both the 1:185 and 2.00.

It was also interesting how the ferry boat from Bend of the River is seen here again, same footage, same boat set! Also many of the same cast too.

Tomorrow if all goes well, I will finish with The Man from Laramie.

 

[Mark-P]

See my Summary with Movies/TV Shows Grades:

View attachment 249804
140) 03-28-25: "The Burning Hills" (1956) (DVD) 2.5/5 Stars
Last night, I decided to revisit a western I've seen a couple of times over the years. This Warner western was filmed and released in 1956 with Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood starring in it. The storyline has been repeated over and over again in different variations when we have a rich and powerful landowner running roughshod over an entire valley by terrorizing and even killing smaller landowners like ranchers and farmers. The movie opens up with a rancher being shot in the back by three unidentified killers. Soon afterwards, the dead rancher is found by his brother and partner Tab Hunter. Hunter traces the killers to a town which is the rich landowner's headquarters. When the landowner/Ray Teal tries to kill Hunter with a hidden gun, Hunter wounds him in self-defense and flees his ranch. The ranch foreman played by Claude Atkins wounds Hunter as he makes his getaway. Wounded Hunter is found unconscious by a spring near an abandoned old mine by Natalie Wood. She's a sheepherder's daughter, who was previously killed by that landowner. She's also half Mexican and half White and is under constant racist taunts by the landowner's men. From there Hunter with Wood helping him is being chased by the landowner's psychotic son/Skip Homeier until we have the ultimate showdown. Homeier is so unstable; he even shoots his own foreman/Atkins in the back when Atkins tries to give him orders. Earl Holliman plays another one Homeier's gang of bad men. IMO, I think Wood was leaning on a Mexican accent a little too much. She was only 18 years old when she did this movie the same year "The Searchers" was released. Some might think she was miscast in this western. Perhaps, but she was a rising star, so I understand the casting. Hunter was fine as the man looking for justice for his brother's killing. Again, this movie is a pretty standard western I watched constantly on TV back in the day.


View attachment 249805
141) 03-28-25: "Jackass Mail" (1942) (DVD) 1.5/5 Stars
Another standard western is this western comedic movie that was released in 1942. It stars Wallace Beery as a no-account badman that is reformed by a woman played by Marjorie Main and young boy played by Daryl Hickman. J. Carrol Naish plays his partner in crime. Beery is determined to rob some gold from Marjorie Main, who runs a mail delivery service from Sacramento to the gold field towns in California circa 1851. However, despite his thieving ways, he keeps getting himself in situations where his bad intentions are turned upside down in which he becomes a hero to others. I never seen this particular western beforehand, but I have seen other Beery westerns. I know he made seven westerns with Marjorie Main. I found the movie not funny except a few scenes with Main performing with other women at a saloon she owns. There are some action sequences but not very effective ones at that. In short, this movie is bad, and I found boring as hell. It might be fine for those hardcore Wallace Beery fans which I'm not, though, I've enjoyed some of his other movies and westerns. This is probably my lowest film grade during this challenge. I just wasn't entertained by it.

Robert, what do you think of the version of The Burning Hills that is streaming on MAX right now? It’s a different master than the DVD, and might even be HD, but it looks like it is cropped on the top and bottom.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Robert, what do you think of the version of The Burning Hills that is streaming on MAX right now? It’s a different master than the DVD, and might even be HD, but it looks like it is cropped on the top and bottom.

I need to take a look.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Robert, what do you think of the version of The Burning Hills that is streaming on MAX right now? It’s a different master than the DVD, and might even be HD, but it looks like it is cropped on the top and bottom.

As soon as I pulled it up, I noticed the cropping on the top and bottom. It doesn't look right because the DVD was 2.35 ratio.

 

[benbess]

From 1939 until the late 1970s Westerns poured forth from Hollywood like a river. It must have seemed during most of those years like the genre would never decline to the small numbers each year that we've seen for the past 45 years. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly seems like an apotheosis and parody of the Western at the same time. But the same year that movie was finished, 1966, more traditional Westerns like Nevada Smith were also being released. Nevada Smith is a good revenge Western with a great cast, a fine score by Alfred Newman. and solid direction by Henry Hathaway (Niagara, Garden of Evil, etc). The ending for Nevada Smith is memorable. It's well made and was solid hit at the box office. Nevada Smith cost about $3.5 million to put together in 1966, which is about $35 million in today's dollars. Right now it's available for ten dollars from Kino Lorber. Kinda a small miracle that you can have many long-gone talents working their hearts out to entertain you, and spending a small fortune doing it, for just ten bucks, with the picture quality as good as it was for the director in the studio theater.

My rating for Nevada Smith from 1966: A-

Picture quality for the KL blu-ray: A

Father Zaccardi (Raf Vallone): "Don't say what you will or won't do. Just remember when you ride out of here, God goes with you."

Nevada Smith (Steve McQueen): "I'll keep that in mind."

 

[Bryan^H]

3) Eagle’s Wing (1979)

Aside from the (VERY) gorgeous cinematography, this is a very dull tale. A trapper (Martin Sheen) is stranded in the wilderness at odds with a lone Indian. When it was over it felt like a four hour movie, but was only two. And Harvey Keitel is wasted in this film.



4) Billy Two Hats (1972)

Another western that is slow on story. Great performances by Desi Arnaz Jr. and Jack Warden as the bad guy sheriff out for blood on the trail of a redemptive outlaw, and his friend the kind “Billy Two Hats”. The real star though is the lovely Sian Barbara Allen as the sweet, and kind young lady that helps Billy in his run from the law. She starred in a stretch of classic TV shows (The Waltons, Kojack etc.) before fading into obscurity

 

[Robert Crawford]

See my Summary with Movies/TV Shows Grades:

142) 03-29-25: "Cow Country" (1953) (Max) 2.5/5 Stars
I never heard of this western before noticing it this morning while browsing through classic movies on the Max app. This western was filmed in 1952, but was released in 1953 is too slow-moving for my taste. There's too much talk and not enough action for me. We have Edmond O'Brien trying to save local ranchers from bankruptcy from a rustling scheme led by banker Barton MacLane. However, the best part of the movie by far is when Peggy Castle with dark hair instead of her usual blonde hair, horse whips one of MacLane's crooked associates because he refuses to marry her after saying he would do so. Man, she whipped the crap out of him, and I was loving every minute of that film sequence. Other than that, it's just another mediocre Allied Artists western that they distributed during that film era. By the way, the video presentation on Max was just so-so.

143) 03-29-25: "Along the Great Divide" (1951) (Max) 3/5 Stars
My second Western this morning was "Along the Great Divide" (1951) starring Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, Walter Brennan and John Agar. This was Douglas's first western movie in which he plays a United States Marshal. I always enjoyed this western as Douglas and Brennan were excellent in this movie and it's never a bad thing to watch Mayo in a movie. Anyhow, it's a revenge western with Douglas, trying to save Brennan from a lynch mob because the rich ranch owner thinks he shot and killed his son while rustling some cattle. Further complicating matters for Douglas is the deep-seated quilt inside him because he thinks caused the death of his father, also a marshal several years beforehand. Brennan notices that weakness and tries to exploit it to his advantage as well as knowing that Douglas is attracted to his daughter played by Mayo. Douglas with Brennan and Mayo as well as his two deputies played by John Agar and Ray Teal tries to cross a desert to another town with jurisdiction but has to elude another lynch mob. A good movie. The Max stream's video presentation looked better than my 2009 DVD. At least that's my perception.

144) 03-29-25: "Gunman's Walk" (1958) (iTunes HD Digital) 3.5/5 Stars
After streaming the first two westerns this morning, I decided to stream another one that I purchased on iTunes about six years ago. "Gunman's Walk" (1958) with Van Heflin, Tab Hunter and James Darren. Hunter gives perhaps his best acting performance in this film as Heflin's son, who happens to be a sociopath with a tendency towards violence especially with a gun while Darren plays the good son. A decent young man that doesn't feel the need to carry a gun nor has the racist views like his father and brother. The more times I watch this western, the more I come to despise Van Heflin's character because he kind of created that monster of a son played by Hunter. Because of those feelings, the ending scene doesn't ring true for me. However, I always thought this was a good western with a few themes that work well for this film. I read this movie was recently restored and that they're showing it at the TCM Film Festival next month. I suspect somebody will release it on Blu-ray in the coming year.