Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Westerns
Probably the granddaddy of genre film, influencing everything from kung fu movies to space opera sci-fi to urban crime dramas. I like a good western. Not just the "Spaghetti" ones, but some John Wayne stuff and others, as well.
Aside from the Leone films (Once Upon A Time In The West in particular), a favorite would be El Dorado with Wayne, Robert Mitchum and James Caan. This movie is about as badass as anything made by John Woo in the eighties, or so that's how I remember it. It's been a while since viewing it, though I did watch Rio Bravo, a similar, earlier film also directed by Howard Hawks, for the first time a year or so ago.
Vera Cruz was a film that played on one of the Hi-Def channels several months ago that I dug a lot as well. While there weren't any outright profanity, or obvious bleeding, I was surprised at how rough it seemed for the time it was made (mid-fifties). Also had a very cool cast including Ceasar Romero, Charles Bronson, Earnest Borgnine, and Jack Elam. The leads were good too. Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster.
Anyway, I'd watched a small bunch of westerns in the last week or so;
Take A Hard Ride pits the cast of Three The Hard Way (Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, and Jim Kelly) against the awesome Lee Van Cleef. It's a spaghetti western, but as it's been said by everyone else who's written about it, it doesn't feel like one. This is mostly attributed to the score by Jerry Goldsmith, and the mostly black cast, but I think it's mainly the fact that the cast use their own voices that makes this feel so American. Spaghetti westerns often sound like kung fu movies (I'm sure the same voices were often used). The Goldsmith score, Hal Needham's second unit direction and stunt co-ordination and the story's relatively down to earth characters don't hurt either. The one drawback is that Jim Kelly portrays a mute, so you don't get to hear his trademark "Oooooyyyy!" while he's whippin' up on some ass. Also his jogging while everybody's on horseback got really silly at one point. Other than that, I recommend it. A fun, action packed movie. Better than this trailer makes it appear...
Open Range - Got this cheap on DVD. Robert Duvall is great and so is Kevin Costner as the Badass who tries very hard not to be. I liked it. But even though I didn't need this movie to be longer than it was, I kinda wanted to know a little bit more about the bad guy. Why? Well, there came a point when it became really obvious that he was fuckin' with the wrong people, and yet he just wouldn't let up. This happens occasionally in genre stories, and when it does, I actually want to know why. Otherwise, it taxes my (often generous) suspension of disbelief.
Still, I liked it. I'll have to check out Dances With Wolves one day.
3:10 To Yuma - I got this on Blu-Ray. Some of the gunfights scared the cat outta the room, whereas in Open Range, they merely alarmed him somewhat. I hadn't seen the original, but I knew it was a remake. When I read in the credits that it was based on a story by Elmore Leonard, I was surprised as I assumed the original must've been really old. Holy crap! It is.
And so's he! I had no idea. Anyway, I mostly enjoyed this one, though I was a little confused by an odd change of heart at one point in the flick. Can't say anymore on that without giving shit away, so I won't. Though not a spaghetti western, the movie contains one of the genre's staples, identified by David Walker in an article some years back, as "the evil homosexual in white". Charlie Prince isn't dressed completely in white, but fits the part otherwise.
I'll have to hunt down the original.
Sukiyaki Western Django - This is a Takeshi Miike film, so this could be waaaay crazier than it is. It's not that crazy. A Japanese spaghetti western, with a mostly Japanese cast sounding out the English dialog. I thought watching it on a DVD that had no English subtitles was a bad idea, and it was, kinda, but I was fine. I did miss a bit of dialog, but I don't think it always mattered. I enjoyed it, and Quentin Tarantino's small role (appearing twice) was interesting but a little confusing. And the segment which explains the origin of Bloody Benten almost seems to be making fun of Kill Bill. It was fun, needlessly violent (which is neccessary), and not that crazy. I liked it.
The Proposition is a western from Australia. I haven't seen this one, yet. I've ordered the Blu-Ray and look forward to watching it.
Aside from the Leone films (Once Upon A Time In The West in particular), a favorite would be El Dorado with Wayne, Robert Mitchum and James Caan. This movie is about as badass as anything made by John Woo in the eighties, or so that's how I remember it. It's been a while since viewing it, though I did watch Rio Bravo, a similar, earlier film also directed by Howard Hawks, for the first time a year or so ago.
Vera Cruz was a film that played on one of the Hi-Def channels several months ago that I dug a lot as well. While there weren't any outright profanity, or obvious bleeding, I was surprised at how rough it seemed for the time it was made (mid-fifties). Also had a very cool cast including Ceasar Romero, Charles Bronson, Earnest Borgnine, and Jack Elam. The leads were good too. Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster.
Anyway, I'd watched a small bunch of westerns in the last week or so;
Take A Hard Ride pits the cast of Three The Hard Way (Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, and Jim Kelly) against the awesome Lee Van Cleef. It's a spaghetti western, but as it's been said by everyone else who's written about it, it doesn't feel like one. This is mostly attributed to the score by Jerry Goldsmith, and the mostly black cast, but I think it's mainly the fact that the cast use their own voices that makes this feel so American. Spaghetti westerns often sound like kung fu movies (I'm sure the same voices were often used). The Goldsmith score, Hal Needham's second unit direction and stunt co-ordination and the story's relatively down to earth characters don't hurt either. The one drawback is that Jim Kelly portrays a mute, so you don't get to hear his trademark "Oooooyyyy!" while he's whippin' up on some ass. Also his jogging while everybody's on horseback got really silly at one point. Other than that, I recommend it. A fun, action packed movie. Better than this trailer makes it appear...
Open Range - Got this cheap on DVD. Robert Duvall is great and so is Kevin Costner as the Badass who tries very hard not to be. I liked it. But even though I didn't need this movie to be longer than it was, I kinda wanted to know a little bit more about the bad guy. Why? Well, there came a point when it became really obvious that he was fuckin' with the wrong people, and yet he just wouldn't let up. This happens occasionally in genre stories, and when it does, I actually want to know why. Otherwise, it taxes my (often generous) suspension of disbelief.
Still, I liked it. I'll have to check out Dances With Wolves one day.
3:10 To Yuma - I got this on Blu-Ray. Some of the gunfights scared the cat outta the room, whereas in Open Range, they merely alarmed him somewhat. I hadn't seen the original, but I knew it was a remake. When I read in the credits that it was based on a story by Elmore Leonard, I was surprised as I assumed the original must've been really old. Holy crap! It is.
And so's he! I had no idea. Anyway, I mostly enjoyed this one, though I was a little confused by an odd change of heart at one point in the flick. Can't say anymore on that without giving shit away, so I won't. Though not a spaghetti western, the movie contains one of the genre's staples, identified by David Walker in an article some years back, as "the evil homosexual in white". Charlie Prince isn't dressed completely in white, but fits the part otherwise.
I'll have to hunt down the original.
Sukiyaki Western Django - This is a Takeshi Miike film, so this could be waaaay crazier than it is. It's not that crazy. A Japanese spaghetti western, with a mostly Japanese cast sounding out the English dialog. I thought watching it on a DVD that had no English subtitles was a bad idea, and it was, kinda, but I was fine. I did miss a bit of dialog, but I don't think it always mattered. I enjoyed it, and Quentin Tarantino's small role (appearing twice) was interesting but a little confusing. And the segment which explains the origin of Bloody Benten almost seems to be making fun of Kill Bill. It was fun, needlessly violent (which is neccessary), and not that crazy. I liked it.
The Proposition is a western from Australia. I haven't seen this one, yet. I've ordered the Blu-Ray and look forward to watching it.
Labels: DVD, HDTV, japanese, movies
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