THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
09/13/02 -- Vol. 21, No. 11
El Presidente: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Power Behind El Pres: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
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Topics:
Best Western (film comments by Mark R. Leeper)
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TOPIC: Best Western (film comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The last couple of weeks I wrote some of my thoughts about on
western stories, movies, and just the legend of the American West
in general. Today most people who come in contact with the mythos
of the Old West do so through the movies. Different people seem
to have different ideas as to what are the great Western movies.
The Westerns listed below are the ones I have enjoyed the most. I
list them in alphabetical order. There will be some surprised
that none came from luminaries like Sergio Leone, John Ford, or
Howard Hawks. I don't have a single John Wayne movie on my list.
But then there can only be five films in the top five and this is
a VERY subjective list.
THE BIG COUNTRY: This is one of the most gloriously over-blown
Technicolor Westerns of the 1950s. William Wyler directs the
story of a range war going on between two old enemies, played by
Burl Ives (in an Oscar-winning performance) and by Charles
Bickford. Into the battle comes a new element, Gregory Peck, a
former sea-captain who came west to marry Bickford's daughter.
Almost immediately on his arrival Peck is tested for where he will
stand in the (very obviously important) macho pecking order. When
he refuses to play that game he is assumed to be a coward,
especially by the jealous top hand played by Charlton Heston.
(Heston nearly refused the part figuring it would hurt his career
to take a supporting role, but he was convinced it would be a good
idea to work with Wyler. Wyler's next film was BEN HUR.) The
film is beautifully held together by what has become a classic
musical score by Jerome Moross. It is interesting that such a big
film is a fairly accurate rendition of a relatively modest novel.
The novel is by Donald Hamilton, best known for a series of spy
novels.
HIGH NOON: This is just about the antithesis of THE BIG COUNTRY.
HIGH NOON is a modest, short little Western shot in black and
white. It comes very close to having been shot and edited so the
story proceeds in real time. It is Will Kane's wedding day and
the last day of his tenure as town marshall. A killer Kane sent
to prison returns to this town that Kane has often risked his life
to protect. Not one person is both willing and able to stand with
Kane against the killer and Kane comes to question the values he
has sacrificed so much to protect. Even Kane's Quaker wife wants
him to run rather than participate in violence. Gary Cooper and
Grace Kelly star. The film was directed by Fred Zinnemann who
later directed a great film with some interesting parallels, A MAN
FOR ALL SEASONS.
THE JAYHAWKERS: This film seems to have been inspired by the
career of Napoleon Boneparte and by the last part of Joseph
Conrad's THE HEART OF DARKNESS. I have been told that it is a
film popular only in France, but for once I agree with French
taste. In the years of chaos before the Civil War, a convict
(played by Fess Parker) is sent by the U.S. Government to kill the
would-be founder and emperor of a new country to be carved from
Kansas. Instead the would-be assassin falls under the spell of
his grandly ambitious quarry. Jeff Chandler plays the enigmatic
and hypnotic Luke Darcy, at once ruthless, grand, and benevolent.
This film also has a score by Jerome Moross, though much of the
score became more familiar when it was recycled as the main theme
of the TV show "Wagon Train." Parker is usually watchable, but
Chandler turns in a really charismatic performance.
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: John Sturgis's remake of Akira Kurosawa's
SEVEN SAMURAI is more fun for Americans if for no other reason
than that one does not have the language barrier. Seven
gunfighters, working nearly pro bono, ride to fight off a large
outlaw band who preys on a Mexican village. The characters are
more interesting than the plot. Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, and
Charles Bronson are in fine form, but the show (among other
things) is stolen by Eli Wallach who gives a terrific performance
as the personable bandito Calvera. (Wallach nearly turned down
this, which is probably his greatest role. He complained to his
wife he would have one scene at the beginning and then not turn up
until the middle of the film. She told him he was nuts. He may
not show up, but through the whole film he is the reason everybody
is doing what they do.)
THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES: This film was all set to be directed by
Philip Kaufman (who later directed THE RIGHT STUFF) but Eastwood
decided to direct it himself. It was a good choice and he
probably made it his best Western. While most Eastwood films to
this point were action driven, this one is character driven with a
collection of strange, but not unlikable people. Most memorable
is a great performance by Chief Dan George. The film also delves
into the meaning of being a gunfighter. Wales goes from being a
man of peace to having his humanity stripped away and becoming a
soulless killer. Then he slowly allows his humanity to return.
There are several good bits in the film, but the final scene is
classic and one I tend to replay in my memory over and over.
[-mrl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.
-- Toulouse-Lautrec
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