Reviews

My mother drove me to school, one morning when I was nine. On the way, she mystified me by announcing she'd pick me up early. She wouldn't say why, just smiled and said it'd be a surprise. In my family, you did't skip school for anything less than snow, illness, or death. so this was odd.

I wondered about the surprise thing all morning. At noon, Mom picked me up and drove me home. My favorite lunch was waiting on the table. I thought that was the surprise, but no, she said, something else was yet to come....

After lunch, she planted the two of us in front of the TV and told me, "There's a special movie on, this afternoon. I want you to see it."

It was "Gallant Bess."

I was a horse-crazy little girl with my own horse standing in a corral out back, but I remember being extraordinarily touched by "Gallant Bess." The adults in my life were still talking about WWII as if it'd just happened, so that seemed very close to me, too. I felt for that farm boy who lost his mare, Bess, to the WWII cause, and found her again, in what I was told was based on a true story. By the end, I was so caught up in empathizing with that young man and the horse, the ending seemed scary and amazing and is still clear in my mind's eye.

I suppose, compared to the high-tech, computer-enhanced images of today's films, "Gallant Bess" may seem mild. Those were simpler times. Maybe the acting's not outstanding, but there's a goodly amount of action and suspense.

This film impressed my mother so much that she took me out of school to see it. Once I'd seen it, I understood why. If you like a moving animal story, or if you've got a horse-crazy little kid in your house, y'all should see it, too.

A gunslinger, a farmer, a wife, a little boy, a dog, and some dastardly villains....

I first saw "Shane" from the back seat of a '51 Ford, at a drive-in theater somewhere in Montana. The movie was new, and I was about 4 years old. From that time, I remember quiet male voices and the ring of spurs. Those sounds have lived in my mind for decades.

"Shane" is a classic -- no, not a bang-bang shoot-em-up B Western, but it is a solid Western that gives fans of the genre some something to think about besides "they went thataway." The scenery (Jackson Hole, Wyoming) is grand and was even moreso on the big screen. When well known Western novelist A.B. Guthrie wrote the screenplay, he kept fairly faithful to Jack Schaefer's novel. The movie makes a reasonable attempt, for that time, to look authentic in costume and gear, and gives fans of the movies of the '40s and '50s some interesting cinematic moments (see the small things, like how the camera was used to make Alan Ladd seem more "heroic").

I'd probably recast some of the secondary roles, if I had the chance, but Ladd's soft-spoken, gentlemanly way is just right for Shane, and Jack Palance is subtly evil.

Yes, "Shane" contains a few clichés, but they weren't yet quite so cliché, in 1953. Besides, they were well done clichés, so, while you may recognize them, you probably won't mind them.

But, what's "Shane" about, exactly?...

Courage. Loyalty. Honor. Friendship.

It will leave you wishing you knew what happened next.