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Reviews
The Vanishing Virginian (1942)
A 10-Star Rating...But With a Warning
Don't watch this film if you are an avowed or sub-conscious Marxist who is significantly distressed and trigged by the fact that not every decade in American history was like the enlightened 2000s, who is disturbed at the fact that not everyone in history thinks exactly like we do today and who is distraught at the fact that race and gender relations needed to naturally develop and improve within a context of relative social stability over a great deal of time - rather than be immediately overthrown in a 'glorious revolution'.
However, if you are a person who is able to put aside their presentist bias, you may thoroughly enjoy this delightful portrait of a southern family in the early 20th century.
Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
A Most Bizarre Plea for Pacifism Ever
This film had me enthralled to the end as, it seemed, it was going to be a film about overcoming gross and grotesque cowardice in order to do what must be done to preserve the lives that (relatively) good people are building. Nope.
My synopsis: A psychopath rides into a three-building 'town' in the middle of nowhere and proceeds, unhindered by the spectating citizenry, to rape/murder a prostitute and kill half the population before burning the three buildings to the ground and then riding off with a laugh into the sunset. Another prostitute is urged by Fonda's character, the 'mayor' of the 'town', to distract the psychopath so that he can get a clean shot at him without having to actually face him. Even the prostitute remarks about the cowardice motivating his 'plan'. But the whole thing goes South and Fonda skedaddles with his tail tucked in his crotch and leaves the prostitute to be raped and maimed by the thug.
The rest of the film is the town, with some newly arrived residents, trying to rebuild and reclaim a place for itself while Fonda and the prostitute await the return of the psychopath - an event they know is in their future. He doesn't disappoint and proceeds to rape, kill and burn again until Fonda manages to get a few bullets into him - but only after the thug runs out of bullets and it's safe for him to do so.
Then the nadir: Fonda's character carries the thug's body to the prostitute, who's been begging him to grow a pair of balls since the first assault, and condemningly flings it down in front of her self-righteously shouting, "Is that what you wanted, Molly!? Is that what you wanted!?" Yeah! It's what we all wanted - but now we're being chastised and shamed for it. At this point, what we want is for Molly to shoot the mayor. But, alas, the thug isn't quite dead yet and stirs a little - at which point a young boy in the room levels a shotgun to finally do what the mayor should have done two hours ago. But the mayor, horrified at the thought of a young boy shooting a psychopath, grabs the barrel of the gun so the boy won't harm the psychopath any further - and winds up directing the shotgun blast at Molly who takes a belly full of buckshot and dies. For some reason, the boy doesn't fire the second barrel at Fonda while screaming, "Enough already!'
The films close with Fonda and the boy, a day or so later, happily looking on as the town, again, sets about rebuilding in the hope that no more psychopaths will fancy burning it down again.