Posts from itdo in thread „Who Played the Worst Cowboy, and What Was The Worst Western“

  • Who Played the Worst Cowboy, and What Was The Worst Western

    Interesting to see that while in the US Costner is considered to be going downhill, he is still held in the highest regards in Europe. I really believe the media and bad publicity harmed lots of his films. Look for instance at Waterworld. They killed the movie even before they had seen it, simply for its costs. The movie actually recouped all of that and more, doing very well in Europe - and I believe it to be a great adventure yarn. Look at "Wyatt Earp". There go Costner and Kasdan and make a western, historically accurat (even down to the last dialogue spoken in Tombstone, if you're really into that OK-Corral-story you'll know they hit it on the head). The western genre always suffered from critics who said it's un-realistic. Do a realistic western and they bury you as well. Then Costner states himself he likes doing films "for Americans, for us", and he does films such as For The Love of the Game, et cetera. He simply doesn't plan his career in terms of box-office! Message in a Bottle - ever saw a love-story with a more down-beat ending (with the possible exception of "Love Story") - I say that takes guts. And it was a wonderful movie for it. The Postman (even though I must admit I'm the only one I know) I liked for its symbolic plot, for the great photography - just well done science fiction. When I went to see Silverado (again, I was the only one - nobody else wanted to come) I couldn't take my eyes off Costner - I knew he would be around for some time now. Thirteen Days? You don't make a film like this and hope for a blockbuster. That's what I like with Costner. He makes films he thinks can be good. Not films he think will make money. But in the long run, they always do.

  • Who Played the Worst Cowboy, and What Was The Worst Western

    Yes, as you probably know, as far as Wayne was concerned, Zanuck could take his picture and... and while this was going on, there were actually other stars interested in what was probably the part with the most meat in the whole film. Charlton Heston writes in his biography "In the Arena" that he was hoping for the part - but even with his kind of star power he had to stand aside when Zanuck got Wayne.
    But about Ladd in "Hell Town" - I'm not yet sold on the idea that he really really was in in to begin with (not that I don't trust AMC - but I don't trust the Internet authors!) Variety and another movie magazine of the day actually named Alan Ladd in the role of "prospector". But since then film scholars pointed out that he never was. Probably his name was attached at some point to the picture - but as B-movies go, they were there to just make money. And when they re-released "Born to the West" as Helltown (after Ladd had made his "This Gun For Hire") they just put him on the marquee. Of course they would not check first if he was actually in it. If some footage got lost or replaced or whatever - isn't it kind of funny that those scenes are just the ones in which unknown Alan Ladd appeared?

  • Who Played the Worst Cowboy, and What Was The Worst Western

    Hello, Quirt
    In my opinion, Shane is up there with the 10 Best - and I always wondered how Wayne would have tackled the role. Stevens' style in composing and cutting is simply wonderful, even after the 10th viewing, and it certainly is quite different from, say, John Ford. While Ford made it look like everything just happens while he just happens to have a camera there, Stevens' frames look very concious. Anyway, that's the first time I heard about the Alan Ladd-story in Helltown that way - what is to source to that version? Sources have been checked and re-checked before, and I think right know they agree on it being a mistake. Couldn't this be a case like the William Holden starring in The Longest Day case? (he was signed for the Wayne-part and they started printing the press releases, so in some books, even today, Holden stars in The Longest Day).

  • Who Played the Worst Cowboy, and What Was The Worst Western

    Just so nobody will hurt his eyes looking for Alan Ladd in Wayne's "Helltown": He's not in it. That's an old mistake that keeps popping up to this day. Yet it has been prooved he isn't (not even as an extra, which he was at the time). I just received my Helltown-DVD, and Ladd's name is put prominently next to Wayne's. But after all, the classic gunfighter of the Fifties, Shane, never co-starred with that classic western-star of the century.