Posts by Phantomstranger

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  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    'The Wild Wild West: Season Two'
    -Robert Conrad, Ross Martin


    By season two 'WWW' , was firmly set as a "sci-fi/fantasy" western , and these episodes truly reinforced that idea.


    1) The Night Of The Raven.
    The first appearance of arch villain Dr. Migellto Loveless, in the second season. This episode seems inspired by 'Land Of The Giants' or 'The Incredible Shrinking Man'. Dr. Loveless invents a powder that shrinks James West to doll size.
    Very entertaining episode.


    2) The Night Of The Big Blast
    Ida Lupino guest stars as mad scientist Dr. Faustino who reanimates corpses and makes them look like West and Gordon in an attempt to asassinate government officials.
    A mostly Artumus Gordon story and it's nice to see Ross Martin stretch his acting muscles as the lead.


    3) The Night Of The Returning Dead
    Sammy Davis jr guest stars as a stable hand who has a mysterious power to control animals. He uses this power to help West and Gordon investigate a murder and a ghostly rider.
    Fun episode. Plenty of action and a good story.


    4) The Night Of The Flying Pie Plate
    West and Gordon are escorting a shipment of government gold, when a mysterious flying'pie plate' lands and three beautiful green woman emerge.
    Veteran character actor William Windom appears in this absolutely ridiculous, but fun comic book style story.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    'Curse Of The Undead' (1959)
    -Michael Pate, Eric Fleming


    Plot:
    Mysterious Gunfighter for hire Drake Robey is really a vampire, and it up to the town preacher to save it's citizens and his girlfriend.




    Phantoms Review:
    This is one of my annual Halloween movie treats. It appeals to both the horror and western fan in me. While it's definitely a "B" movie, the film treats it's respective genres very respectfully.* It's smartly written, has a great atmospheric feel to it , and has a wonderful, spooky music score. Filled with recognizable western character actors, who do a fine job. This film is worth watching.

  • Last Non Western You Watched

    Dr.Syn, Alias The Scarecrow (The Scarecrow Of Romney Marsh)
    -Patrick McGoohan
    Plot:
    In eighteenth century England, the mysterious masked rider known only as The Scarecrow, leads a band of rebels against the Kings oppression and Navel press gangs,
    Phantoms Review; One of my all time favorite films. Plenty of swashbuckling action, thrills, humor and drama.
    The writing, acting, cinematography and direction are top notch.
    Patrick McGoohan and the entire cast are superb. Simply put, this is a great movie.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Two episodes from my favorite TV series:
    'The Wild Wild West'
    -Robert Conrad, Ross Martin
    1)'The Night Of The Eccentrics'
    Plot: West and Gordon investigate a league of assassins called The Eccentrics , who are plotting to kill Mexico's president.
    Phantoms Review: First episode of the second season and the first to air in color, and they made good use of it. Bright colorful sets , costumes and villains. Character actor Victor Buono is the group's mysterious leader Count Manzeppi , and he seems to be having a blast playing him.
    Entertaining story and adventure make this one of the shows best episodes.
    2)'The Night Of The Golden Cobra'
    Plot: West is brought to an Indian sultan, now living in a palace in the Midwest, and is forced to train his sons in the art of combat.
    Phantoms Review: Despite , the great Boris Karloff as the guest star, this is only a mediocre episode. Some good fights, but the story is only ok.
    Not great, but still fun to watch.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    'The Virginian' (2014)
    -Trace Adkins


    Phantoms Review:
    Decent, if unremarkable, retelling of the classic western. The cast does a good job, especially Ron Pearlman as Judge Henry, the scenery is nice, but the film was made on a low budget and at times it shows. Keep your expectations low, and you should enjoy this film.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    'Curse of
    The Undead' (1959)
    -Michael Pate,(from 'Hondo') Eric Fleming (from ' Rawhide')


    Plot:
    In a small western town, young women are dying from massive blood loss, the Carter's family ran4is being terrorized by a ruthless land baron, and a mysterious gunslinger with an aversion to sunlight has just ridden inyo town.



    Phantoms Review: I thoroughly enjoy this movie. While it's definitely a "B" movie with a preposterous plot ( a vampire western! ) it's quite well made and handles it's respective genre's with dignity. The script is well written, the acting fine and the cast is made up of several well known western character actors. Beautiful black and white cinematography and some truly spooky music make this a mostly overlooked little gem.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    'Pale Rider' (1985)
    -Clint Eastwood
    Plot:
    A mysterious stranger protects a small prospectors village from a greedy mining company


    Phantoms Review: I love this movie. Eastwood's next to last western and his last turn as a "man with no name" . While this film is basically a 'Shane' remake, Eastwood makes it his own, with his cool, calm, possibly supernatural"Preacher". Great traditional western action, fine acting and some magnificent cinematography make this one of the last great westerns.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    "Dead In Tombstone" (2013)
    -Danny Trejo, Dina Meyer, Anthony Michael Hall, Mickey Rourke


    Plot: IMDB
    A gang overruns a small mining town murdering their own leader Guerrero in a cold blooded power grab.Sentenced to an eternity in hell he finds himself confronted by Satan himself offering a daring proposition: deliver the six souls of his former gang and he will escape damnation. With time running out, he sets out on a brutal rampage to avenge his own death.


    Phantoms Review: As I've said in earlier posts, I love horror movies, along with westerns, it's my favorite genre, and whenever these two meet I'm interested, sadly, though , most of the hybrids are ...well...crap.
    Surprisingly, " Dead In Tombstone" is actually pretty decent. While it's obviously done on a low budget, it's well acted, has plenty of bloody action and a good ( if very simple) plot.
    Dina Meyer is drop dead gorgeous, Danny Trejo is tough and scary looking and Anthony Michael Hall makes for a good villain. Mickey Rourke is virtually unrecognizable as the devil because ( to be blunt) he's gotten so fat.
    If your not expecting too much, it's a fun movie.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    " Forty Guns" (1957)
    -Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Gene Barry


    Plot:
    Powerful ranch owner Jessica Drummond, rules over Cochise County, Arizona with her hired guns.That is, until U.S Marshall Grif Bonnell and his brothers show up, ready to bring law and order back to town.


    Phantoms Review: Well made " B" western. Plenty of action, decent plot, well acted and some nice cinematography. My only complaint about the film is the very ending. It just didn't seem right to me. Stanwyck's character seemed to change to much from the way the character seemed at the beginning of the film. Other than that it's an entertaining film.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    The Twilight Zone: episode 72
    "The Grave"
    -Lee Marvin, Strother Martin, Lee Van Cleef, James Best
    Plot:
    Old west bounty hunter Conny Miller vists the grave of a gunman who he failed to track down to prove he was never afraid of him but gets more than he bargained for.


    Phantoms Review: One of my all time favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone. Spooky, atmospheric and wonderfully acted. The cast is made up of some great western actors and the story is terrific.
    A bit of western movie trivia, Lee Marvin, Strother Martin and Lee Van Cleef teamed up again a few months later to costar in " The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    "Maverick" (1994)
    -Mel Gibson, James Garner, Jodie Foster


    Plot:
    A gambler, a lawman and a con woman head to a poker championship, where conning is the name of the game.


    Phantoms Review: I love this movie. One of the few tv show to movie adaptations, that actually works. The movie makers are able to capture the feel of the tv classic, without doing a carbon copy imitation. The acting is terrific, the humor spot on, and the story is very entertaining. A wonderful movie.