Western Movies

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine in Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

[MrBarlow]

Soldier Blue. 1970.

This has two different stories mixed into one, Candice Bergin and Pater Strauss play the two strangers who high tail it to a fort and along the way develops a love story. The other part is the soldiers planning a war against the Native Americans. At times this felt like one if those 1950s westerns the way both leads make the film then takes a turn and then remembering this was made in 1970. The final battle is a constant 10-12 minutes of nothing being held back and showing a different side to how the west was won in American history. Director Ralph Nelson did a decent shop creating the right mood for the film that sets it up well that may seem mild then able to create perfect cinematography for the finale. This was the 115 mins version as their is a longer version that was shown to the audience and almost sparked a riot.

Soldier_Blue.jpg

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Red River (1948)

A fictional account of the first cattle drive from Texas to Missouri which amounted to a thousand miles and tells the story of the Texan rancher Thomas Dunson (John Wayne) whose cattle were driven and his surrogate son Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift) and the slow burning tension that develops between the two as things take a turn for the worse along the trail.

Howard Hawks film is an absolute classic western and an outstanding piece of cinema. When you see it it's hard to believe it was made seventy five years ago and above all without special effects. The plains rode along were real and the thousands of cattle too creating a genuine spectacle.

John Wayne is excellent, giving arguably his best performance whilst Clift in only his second role is easily his match, whilst John Ireland is also terrific as a hired gun.

Red River is a landmark movie in the history of American cinema. My only regret is that it wasn't filmed in Technicolor.

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by MrBarlow

Soldier Blue. 1970.

This has two different stories mixed into one, Candice Bergin and Pater Strauss play the two strangers who high tail it to a fort and along the way develops a love story. The other part is the soldiers planning a war against the Native Americans. At times this felt like one if those 1950s westerns the way both leads make the film then takes a turn and then remembering this was made in 1970. The final battle is a constant 10-12 minutes of nothing being held back and showing a different side to how the west was won in American history. Director Ralph Nelson did a decent shop creating the right mood for the film that sets it up well that may seem mild then able to create perfect cinematography for the finale. This was the 115 mins version as their is a longer version that was shown to the audience and almost sparked a riot.

Attachment 245311

Has anyone seen the longer cut or is it even available?

[Justin101]

I remember my mum had a VHS of Soldier Blue when I was growing up, she said it was one of her favourite films, but she also said it was too violent and I couldn't watch it. To this day I have still never seen it It's not on bluray in the UK I don't think though, is it streaming somewhere?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

Has anyone seen the longer cut or is it even available?

I have an uncut UK release - the full rape and breast slicing scene is intact - but it remains quite rightly cut by six seconds for horse falls.

They make me cringe at the best of times.

As far as i'm aware there is no longer cut at all and the rumoured work print has never been shown anywhere other than a single test screening but this could be bullshit as the only place i've ever seen this mentioned is on IMDB by an uncredited source.

Whichever though Soldier Blue is still an incredibly violent western, we're talking Italian splatter violent not simply in western movie stakes.

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I have an uncut UK release - the full rape and breast slicing scene is intact - but it remains quite rightly cut by six seconds for horse falls.

They make me cringe at the best of times.

As far as i'm aware there is no longer cut at all and the rumoured work print has never been shown anywhere other than a single test screening but this could be bullshit as the only place i've ever seen this mentioned is on IMDB by an uncredited source.

Whichever though Soldier Blue is still an incredibly violent western, we're talking Italian splatter violent not simply in western movie stakes.

Thanks im sure the version I seen was cut buts it's been many years. I agree with the horse falls wouldn't be a fan of that myself.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

The film focuses on the final months of outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), and his partner Harry Longabaugh, the "Sundance Kid" (Robert Redford). On the run from a crack team of bounty hunters thanks to robbing one too many money trains, the duo with Sundance's lover, Etta Place (Katharine Ross), flee to Bolivia to escape the posse. Naturally once an outlaw always an outlaw and even Bolivia has banks.

This is a very easy to watch movie. The over riding feeling you have whilst watching this gem of a western is of fun and enjoyment. Redford and Newman's camaraderie powers the film along until the bullet strewn climax that isn't a million miles away from Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch released the same year, yet tonally the films are so different.

So whilst Newman and Redford who are in pretty much every scene are in fine form Katharine Ross is largely under used in fact her most memorable scene involves riding a bicycle with Newman to the tune of Burt Bacharach's Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is breezy and light, the soundtrack from Bacharach definitely out of place in the western genre, in fact so dreamy were some of the sequences they border on the absurdness of Jess Franco or Italian comedies of the time. Yet somehow it all works wonderfully well, partly thanks to William Goldman's buoyant screenplay and the easy going nature of two of cinemas biggest stars.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Django Unchained (2012)

After being freed from slavery by German bounty hunter Christoph Waltz, Django (Jamie Foxx) vows to free his wife (Kerry Washington) who is a slave for a sadistic plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio) helping Waltz capture his bounties along the way who in turn train Django to be a gunfighter.

Until last night i'd never seen this Quentin Tarantino film before. I did begin watching it many years ago but fell asleep and never returned to it.

I wish i had. It was rather good. Tarantino blends the Italian spaghetti western with the classic Hollywood western then adds his own revisionist take on both mythos to create this hugely entertaining western.

Tarantino of course brings a fabulous cast with him. Not only do we have Foxx, a brilliant Waltz and the sneering smug bastard that is DiCaprio, there's also a stand out turn from Samuel L Jackson as DiCaprio's slimy butler and supporting roles from the likes of Don Johnson, Walton Goggins and James Remar plus Bruce Dern, Russ Tamblyn, Jonah Hill, Tom Savini, Michael Parks, Tom Wopat, John Jarrett and Robert Carradine not to mention Django himself Franco Nero in a brilliant self referential scene with Foxx.

Django Unchained sports all Tarantino's trademarks from snappy dialogue and blood soaked violence to a wonderfully cool soundtrack creating a love letter to his favourite Sergio's. Director Sergio Corbucci and composer Sergio Leone - Hearing The Braying Mule theme from 1970's Two Mules for Sister Sara had me grinning like an idiot as did what appeared to be a direct homage to the early snowy shootout in Corbucci's The Grand Silence.

It's not a perfect film by any means. It's perhaps fifteen minutes too long for a start and Tarantino, known for the way he allows scenes to run and run could have done with more self editing but it's biggest problem is Jamie Foxx. He doesn't seem suited to the role of Django. He's too softly spoken. When he threatens people you expect them to quiver however here they are more likely to ask him to repeat what he'd said as they couldn't hear him. Sadly when it comes to playing Django, Foxx is no Franco Nero. Foxx also falls short when sparring off against DiCaprio, Waltz and Samuel L Jackson.

So when it comes to near three hour westerns Django Unchained was good, sometimes very good but it's no The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.

[J Harker]

Excellent write-up Dem. I really like both Django Unchained and Tarantinos next Western The Hateful Eight.

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