Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2003
Synopsis
John Wayne is brave scout leading an enormous wagon train of settlers through hostilecountry to their promised land. All the expected trappings of the western epic are present andcorrect: cliffs, storms, battles, stampedes, the works. The western was already very wellestablished as a genre by the time of this 1930 release, having flourished during the silent periodas well, but here is where Wayne comes to prominence. Due the film’s lack of success (becauseof an early widesc...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 28th, 2003
posted by Marc Atonna
Film
Mitchum and Wayne are joined by a very young James Caan in this western tale of a few very talented fighters fighting a group of evil businessmen and cattle barons. Mitchum is the drunken sheriff who trades one crutch for another. Wayne plays an old friend with a fast gun and a bum right arm. Caan is a young expert with the knife, but needs a shotgun to hit the side of a barn.
The first hour introduces the bad guys and establishes the relationships and weaknesses of the good guys. ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2003
Synopsis
Robert Mitchum is Jeb Rand, and he keeps having memory flashes of an incident from hischildhood. Something happened to kill his family, only he doesn’t know what. He is taken in bythe Callum family, and we find out that Dean Jagger, patriarch of the Callums, has vowed to killevery last Rand on Earth. Mitchum’s estrangement with his foster brother, and his love for fostersister Teresa Wright, only serve to precipitate tragedy and gunplay. The wrap-up to all this is toopat an...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 22nd, 2002
Synopsis
Wayne is veteran Lt. Col. Yorke, bedevilled by the fact that the Apaches attack and thenretreat across the Rio Grande, while the cavalry can’t pursue into Mexico. Further complicatinghis life are the arrival in camp of his young son as a fresh recruit, and his estranged wife(O’Hara) wanting to bring sonny home. This isn’t the greatest of Ford’s westerns, largely becauseof its meandering plot. But it does have those great Monument Valley vistas, and it is goodfun.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 21st, 2002
Synopsis
The story unfolds in something close to real time. Gary Cooper is on the point of retiring asMarshal of a small town. He is also about to leave, accompanied by new wife (and pacifist)Grace Kelly. But then a villain from his past returns with vengeance in mind. Cooper turns to thetownspeople for help, but nobody wants to know. Released during the McCarthy witch hunts, thefilm invites (and rewards) political analysis. But it is also a damn fine suspense film.
Audio...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 1st, 2002
Long before tough cop Dirty Harry made our day, Clint Eastwood defined the modern western with his Spaghetti Westerns. It is no surprise that a Western would define Clint Eastwood as an Academy Award winning producer and director. Unforgiven is unlike any movie Eastwood has ever done. It is loaded with extraordinary actors surrounding his own stellar performance. Names like Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, and Richard Harris are rarely found in such supporting roles. Unforgiven also sets itself apart from Eastwood’s previous films in the way it portrays the West that Eastwood glorified for so many years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 30th, 2001
Intro
This was the last of the notable Rat Pack films. No more Sinatra and Martin after this, only dire stuff with Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford.
Synopsis
We’re in pretty familiar territory here. Call it Rat Maverick. Sinatra and Martin are cowboys engaged in jocular warfare over big money and the riverboat scene. They don’t really want to kill each other. Victor Buono and Charles Bronson, on the other hand, DO want to put paid to our heroes. Anita Ekberg and Ursula Andress provide...
