Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 4th, 2005
Hondo is something of an oddity among John Wayne films. For starters, it was a western not directed by Howard Hawks or John Ford, but by John Farrow, a director Wayne only teamed up with one other time in his career (a WWII film called The Sea Chase). This is also a very tightly edited film, clocking in at just 83 minutes, including an intermission! Though he had certainly performed in his fair share of westerns by this time, Hondo came a couple of years before the release of the long series of w...sterns that John Wayne is most famous for.
The film, based on a short story by Louis L'Amour, tells the story of a drifter and his dog that come upon a woman and her son living alone on the plains, and becomes their protector against the Native Americans that roam in the area. When the woman's estranged husband shows up, however, trouble starts, and this basic western story becomes something that deals more with tolerance secrets and lies than with ropes and cattle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 28th, 2005
Synopsis
The film begins with the gunfight at the OK corral, making this something of a sequel to director John Sturges’ earlier film that ended with that famous battle. Here we see the aftermath, as the vengeful Ike Clanton (Robert Ryan, doing the Robert Ryan Villain thing) arranges for the shooting of the brothers of Wyatt Earp (James Garner). When legal means of redress prove fruitless, Earp progressively becomes more and more of a vigilante in his quest for vengeance, just as his best friend and ...oted gunslinger Doc Holliday (Jason Robards) becomes more concerned with the law.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2005
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During the crippling drought of the 1930s, con man Burt Lancaster arrives in a small town, promising to make it rain (for, of course, a small remuneration). Present here too is Katharine Hepburn, apparently doomed to spinsterhood. She will blossom under the care of Lancaster’s charming rogue.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 13th, 2005
Synopsis
Lee Van Cleef, often a villain, incarnates a sneering hero in Sabata (1969). He uncovers skullduggery at the highest levels in a small town, and proceeds to blackmail the crooked, sadistic, and rather effeminate Colonel at the head of the criminal racket. Plenty of gadgety gun battles are involved.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 19th, 2005
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Charlton Heston is the title character, a Union officer who determines on his own hook to track down a group of Apache raiders. He gathers together a ragtag group of raw recruits, criminals and Confederate prisoners, and heads off to Mexico. His second-in-command is Confederate officer Richard Harris, and the two men have a long history of mutual hatred and respect. Heston forges ahead despite all obstacles, and despite the costs both to his men and to the civilians they encounter.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 12th, 2005
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One of the unique parts of the Western film genre is the lore behind Buffalo Bill. And while the western has faded as a favored film genre through the years, it’s still the subject of various films, stage plays and other adaptations. This particular film tells the story of a white man living in the West who was sympathetic to and friends with the Native Americans, Bill Cody, who later became a scout for the Army and was the head of a sideshow in the later years of his life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 21st, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 6th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 23rd, 2004
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Cate Blanchett is rearing her two daughters in 19th-Century New Mexico. The youngest isa pleasant tomboy, the eldest is a whiny young woman who wants fine things (they seem to havebeen lifted straight from Mildred Pierce). Appearing at their home one day is TommyLee Jones, Blanchett’s father who walked out when she was a little girl. The stiff, unforgivingBlanchett wants nothing to do with him, until her eldest daughter is kidnapped by a roving bandwho sell women into prosti...ution in Mexico. Jones and Blanchett set off on a rescue mission.Their adversary is a powerful Native American Brujo, and our heroes will be up againstmagic as well as bullets on their quest.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 20th, 2004
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