Posts from Gorch in thread „What Was The Last Western You Watched?“

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    I want to correct my error in reporting that the Universal box set of 5 westerns is in Blu-ray. It's not. It's DVD format. No one is more disappointed than me, but sorry if I raised false hopes. At least Carl will be happy.



    Bill

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Arthur, can't recall if this was already posted, but Twilight Time has announced a blu ray release of "Major Dundee" early next year. No word on which versions or what any extras might be involved. I've met Nick Redman who is producing this and he is a righteous Sam Peckinpah fan. He and his partners were even nominated for an Academy Award for their documentary - "The Wild Bunch: A Study in Montage".


    Here's hoping.




    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Universal is planning to release a box set of five widescreen westerns next year. The release date isn't announced yet, but the titles are:
    Horizons West
    Saskatchewan
    Dawn at Socorro
    Backlash
    -and -
    Pillars of the Sky.



    Oh, the last western I watched was "Duck You Sucker" aka "Fistful of Dynamite". This was the restored director's cut and is a 100% improvement over the short version. Seek it out.


    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    "The Scalphunters" was on the Encore Western channel, and even though I have it on DVD, we enjoyed it in pan and scan while we prepared dinner. Great stuff.
    I guess that just the familiar dialog and music reminded us when we saw it while dating.




    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Walt Disney's "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" with my grandson who is isolated from school due to the croup (whatever that is).


    Jeff York as Mike Fink and Kenneth Tobey as Jocko somehow manage to steal this from Fess and Buddy. Grand Larceny, first degree.


    My daughter called tonight to complain that her son won't stop singing "I'm Mike Fink, King of the River". That makes up for the years of abuse I suffered from hearing "My Little Pony".




    We deal in lead, friend

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    "I need dough, and plenty of it." are the words of Fred C. Dobbs in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre".
    Wasn't sure that this qualifies as a western since it takes place in 1925, but decided that all the trappings and Mexican banditos nudge it into that genre.


    Great movie, with timeless performances and one of the best endings ever. I ran this after watching Spielberg's "War Horse" just to cleanse my mental palate.



    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Welcome to our Duke family, BillLongley. I don't mean to be pedantic, but I think that your reference to Katy Jurado and Slim Pickens was "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", not "The Wild Bunch".
    I viewed the Director's cut of Garrett this morning. There are actually three existent versions: the Director's cut, the theatrical edition, and Paul Seydor's version which contains some scenes from both versions and deletes others.
    The scene with a wounded Pickens and a grieving Jurado, shot at sunset with "Knock, Knock, Knocking on Heaven's Door" is just heartbreaking.



    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Heck, I forgot to say that the last western I viewed was "Revolt at Fort Laramie". I have owned the one sheet poster of it for years but had never seen it. Not bad. John Dehner, Don Gordon and an uncredited Harry Dean Stanton as Federal soldiers in a Texan fort that divides into factions due to the outbreak of the Civil War. The catch is: do they hate themselves more than the threatening Indians?




    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Me too. I saw it in the original three camera Cinerama format, complete with bisection lines. It was a curved, wrap around screen and from my aisle, I had to sort of shake my head back and forth like watching a tennis match to catch the whole screen.. The three camera lines were really distracting though. The process worked best at the very end when the helicopter pulled back over the LA freeway system. I recall a distinct sense of vertigo.




    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    An old favorite, "The Scalphunters" with Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis, Telly Savalas, Shelly Winters, Dabney Coleman, Chuck Roberson and Burt's old circus partner Nick Cravat.
    This is a fun one, but only view it in the original aspect ratio. Director Sydney Pollock knows his widescreen canvas and Elmer Bernstein's score matches anything he did for Duke in the '60s.




    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    "The Last Train from Gun Hill' directed by John Sturges. This one teamed Kirk Douglas with Anthony Quinn, which must have made for an interesting lunch break on the set.
    Earl Holliman and Brad Dexter provide great support.



    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Welcome back, Dooley. "Terror in a Texas Town" has the goofiest face off since "Billy the Kid Meets Dracula".


    My last western was a bit on the odd side, too - "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean". It begins and ends with a bang, but the in between is a head scratcher, complete with a drunken bear, an albino gunfighter and a syrupy Andy Williams song called marmalade, molasses and honey.




    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Speaking of native Americans, last night I stayed up into the wee hours watching the four hour director's cut of "Dances With Wolves".
    I know that Costner isn't popular with some people, but he made a damn fine film here. This longer edition fleshes out some minor characters, particularly the Lakota, making their actions more understandable. There's a restored scene or two showing the cavalry abandoning Dunbar's post as well as a formally deleted incident on the buffalo hunt where the tribe finds carcasses slaughtered by white hunters. The Lakota are shown having a scalp dance after they kill the hide hunters and Dunbar's reaction.
    If you haven't seen this addition, which adds about a whole hour, I recommend it.



    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Stumpy, you may be right. According to Blu Ray Review, the running time is 372 minutes. However, the IMDB posts the running time as 384 minutes.
    I don't have the Blue yet, so I can't do a comparison.
    My money is on you.




    We deal in lead, friend.

  • What Was The Last Western You Watched?

    Had an itch to watch "The Long Riders", so I scratched it. This is the one with four groups of brothers playing the James, Younger, Miller and Ford brothers. The gimmick works just fine and dandy.


    The set pieces are top shelf, with the knife fight between Cole Younger and Sam Starr a real highlight.


    The Ry Cooder score is beyond criticism and David Carradine easily steals each scene he's in.


    The only flaw seems to be in the abrupt editing which suggests that a lot of connecting scenes were either written and not filmed or filmed and scrapped.


    Anyway, it is still one highly rewarding viewing experience.


    We deal in lead, friend.