Reviews

It was interesting for me to see this first of the Hopalong Cassidy movies last night. I saw a distinctly different Hopalong than those later movies I have seen. This one had a hard look in his eye that was most menacing and at one point, he was about to draw his gun on his own man, which made for a completely different Hopalong than the one which emerged in time. He actually resembled men of the REAL OLD WEST instead of the watered-down, lip-stick sissy version most of Western characters in the movies had--such as Gene Autry.

I remember last year I got to see the very first episode of Bonanza--the TV Western series. I noticed the same thing there how the Cartwrights were hard, rough and even deadly (the way men were in the REAL WEST) and, having watched the series over several years, I noticed they too mellowed with time.

Otherwise, I certainly enjoyed this first issue of Hopalong Cassidy. He was certainly my HERO as a small boy of 5-6 back in 1953-1954 when I first started watching him on TV. And it was good to view this one.

I won't bother with the plot. Others have already done that. But the point I made is one that clearly stood out to me about this very first movie in the series.

I confess I was somewhat shocked at the role Patricia Neal played in this movie. She was the dastardly darling all the way through right up to the end. And to someone who has been a "loving" fan of hers since he was 13 and saw her in The Day the Earth Stood Still--that was a shock.

The plot is very good. She arrives in town to find herself in the midst of a feud between two families. She immediately seeks out a young man from the richest family and seductively (which she is excellent at) works her way into his heart. He marries her and she is given deed to half the ranch. When her husband brings home an even richer man who owns a railroad in hopes of getting him to financially back the ranch, she convinces her husband to leave the job to her. Instead, she seduces him into falling in love with her also and talks him into buying out her husband. He agrees.

Suddenly, they find themselves totally alone as all the hands have quit the ranch. So she sends for a gunman she met by chance at the very beginning of the Western. He brings in his "boys" and they begin to take over the ranch. Finally there is the ultimate showdown between Neal, Morgan (her husband) and the gunman (Cochran).

And as I said: Patricia Neal is the dastardly darling right up to the very last breath. The role would have better suited Barbara Stanwyck or Betty Davis. But Patricia Neal it did not suit even though she did a fine job (as always). While I have seen her in many movies I shall never be able to accept her in any villain role. The Western is very good and well worth any amount of money paid to obtain it but it is just not the kind, sweet, adorable feminine Neal I am used to in movies.

Yes, it's true. There is a 1950's Coca-Cola sign atop a building in this Western movie. About 5 minutes into the movie, Rory Calhoun and some Mexicans rob a bank and there, behind them atop one of the buildings, is a 1950's time period Coca-Cola sign visible for all to see. I checked the history of Coca-Cola signs and find this one was not a style until the late 1940's and, since the movie was made in 1955, it is obviously not an original 1914-1915 time period sign (which is when the movie was supposed to take place). So one wonders who was in charge of the scenery for this Western.

Otherwise, the Western is good. Calhoun plays a mercenary who is fighting for Pauncho Villa and helping the cause to raise money for guns and ammunition. Roland is one of Villa's main men who is responsible for delivery of the gold they steal to Villa. Winters, as lovely as ever, is a school teacher who wants to fight for the cause because she believes in it.

The gold gets stolen off the train and is taken by mule train to where it is to be delivered to Villa. But Villa is not there when they arrive and Calhoun wants the gold for himself. Then it becomes a struggle between him and Roland.

There's plenty of action and definitely a very good plot. The acting by the stars is good and believable. It's a Western certainly worth watching--despite the Coca-Cola sign.

This is an interesting Western. It has all the essentials of the modern day women's liberation warnings.

A pretty woman back East is reading romance novels and pines for lovers and adventure. She decides to head West over the mountains where she arrives at a ranch. She begins to mingle with the cowboys hoping to meet one that will sweep her off her feet like in the romance novel. But alas.

Ultimately she ruptures the male bonding of the ranch hands by her disturbing presence and is sent home to her father.

When she arrives back at home she furiously rips up her romance novel.

Moral of the Western: Stay Away from Romance Novels!

This is a Western of a totally different kind. First off, it is a silent movie complete with a narrator (so you don't have to read those cue cards) and sounds of gun fire, horses, music, etc.

But what made the movie intriguing to me was that it starred the actual son of the famous Missouri outlaw--Jesse James Jr. He played two roles: First as himself and then, in the flashback portion (which is most of the movie) he played his father. Now we are talking about a star playing his father who was an outlaw and that star was 7 years old when, while playing in another room of the house, heard the gunshot that killed his father in the living room. As a boy, he knew the two men who were in the room with his father that dreaded April morning in northwestern Missouri. But his mother had ushered him into a back room to play with his sister when the two "cowards" came that morning so he didn't see his father shot but came into the room immediately after the gunshot. He saw his father lying on the floor and blood pouring from the back of his head. He watched as his mother cradled her dying husband--begging him not to die. He heard her cries and screams as the spirit of his father slipped from him and his mother realized the man she loved was dead. He certainly must have loved his father in those first 7 years and have been loved by his father in turn. So we are talking about a boy who grew up and idolized his father because his mother told him things about Jesse that no others knew. So his view is from that perspective. Thus a bit of background about the main star of this movie.

The plot: Jesse James Jr. is at home and talking with a writer about their co-authoring a book about his father. A young man arrives and meets his daughter. He later returns and (though time must have elapsed) wants to marry his daughter. Jesse Jr. gives him a book about his father and tells the young man to read it and then, if he still wants to marry the granddaughter of a famous outlaw, OK. So now comes the flashback about what the young man is reading.

It begins with Jesse joining up with Quantrill before the War of Northern Aggression (Civil War) began officially. It carries Jesse through the war years and then his attempt to settle down after the war and live a normal life. It details the fact that he was continually harassed by carpet-bagger governments. It gives many details about Jesse's kind nature toward the people in the area and why they loved him. It works its way up to where that "dirty little coward" murdered him in the back and the flashback is over.

Then the young man (reading the book) is given the chance to marry the daughter of Jesse James Jr. Did he? You'll have to view the movie and see for yourself.

The quality of the movie was really good compared to silent movies. I recently bought the video from Movies Unlimited and will certainly watch it again and again. For in my view, it gives me information about Jesse James that no other movie can ever give--a son's view of his father whom he loved.

An army scout captures Wingfoot--an Indian who works for the cavalry--who is wanted for murder. He brings him into the fort but the Indian, along with Lee Van Cleef, manages to escape. So Carey has to go after them. A no-good man and a woman, which he claims to be his wife, are rescued by Cleef and Wingfoot after their stagecoach is over-turned in an Indian chase. That's when Carey manages to catch Wingfoot/Cleef and takes them to a relay station where an old timer agrees to help take them back to the fort. Suddenly, before they can leave, they find they are surrounded by the Indians who want Wingfoot because the murder he is wanted for was their chief. Now Carey, the man and woman (who turns out to be Carey's former girlfriend), the relay manager and the two outlaws are trapped. There's lots of shooting and even a few times of catching the relay station on fire before the finale.

The acting in the movie is labored. It seems none of the actors/actresses were comfortable in their role nor had they learned their lines. It was really pitiful. But that was not the worst.

One of the most ridiculous things about the movie, other than the contrived, forced acting by all, is the use of fake rocks which are held up in front of the camera during the chase scenes and continue to move back and forth as though whoever was holding the picture could not hold it still. The "rocks" were there to highlight the front portion of the scenery and make it look "rocky" to match the mountains in the far background. But they certainly LOOKED super-imposed! It REALLY cheapens the movie. Were it not for the fact I taped it off cable I would not spend money to buy it on video/DVD.

An Indian scout warns the settlers around the army post they are in danger from Indians and he is proved right. Twenty-seven year old Castle fills out her tight-fitting shirt and jeans and makes her presence known as she breaks her engagement with an army officer and falls for Calhoun--who, as a scout, rescues her and the commander after the raid. But the rescue is only temporarily as, on their way to the nearest fort, they are attacked again by Indians led by Lee Van Cleef. He and his fellow Indians want the commander for what he did at Sand Creek. It was there, in history, that the Federal army slaughtered Indian women and children without giving them a chance to surrender. Calhoun wants to keep him alive and take him to the fort for court-martial so to help stop future slaughter of Indians.

It's a typical 50's Western but one of the good ones--perhaps because of Rory Calhoun (who was always good) or Peggy Castle who made cowboys glad they were men. Or both!

The Proud Ones is just that: A Western about the proud men of the Old West starring Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo and a host of other good performers. The plot is simple: A lawman is trying to keep peace in town when the trail drovers arrive. One of them, a young cowboy with two sixguns on his hips, has a grudge against the lawman because the lawman killed his father a few years earlier in another town. Ryan, playing the lawman, takes the youth under his wings and trains him. Eventually, he comes around. But that is not the main problem. Ryan, suffering a wound, is having trouble with his eye-sight and it's effecting his work. That will pose a great problem before the movie ends.

Robert Ryan has always been a great actor. He plays the tough, hard character in nearly every film and does it as though it were as natural for him as eating dinner. And he comes through in amazing style in this Western as the lawman.

It's a really good Western with some solid Western action and, for those who are Western fans, it is one well worth viewing over and over. For the mainline theme is: How much will a man/woman do in order to retain their honor and pride? It's a question each of us have to face in life and this movie offers some good feedback about the answer.

I strongly recommend the movie to all.

Once more, in this film as she had in her earlier films, Ingrid Bergman proves she was "A PERFECT ACTRESS!" In this film, "Inn of the Sixth Happiness," she plays Englishwoman Gladys Aylward who knew that China was the place where she belonged. Not qualified to be sent there as a missionary she worked and saved her money until she had enough to go on her own. Once there, she meets up with people who manage to help her through her first days. Then, she is nearly all alone and must make it or leave China. She stays. Eventually, just as WW2 is breaking out, she rescues over 100 children and takes them to freedom.

Again, I repeat, it clearly shows Ingrid Bergman as a perfect actress. She shows her talent and charm all through this film and it is one everyone in the family can watch and appreciate. I highly recommend it.

This is, undoubtedly, the Greatest Jesse James movie ever made by Hollywood. By that I am referring to historical accuracy and not necessarily anything else. I was amazed at how they continued to stick to the historical data with only a few, and very few, changes for the purpose of "drama." Also, Cash and Kris made a great two-some of the James brothers. I've seen Cash in some other movies he made but this was his best ever. He had me believing he really was Frank James. And Kris is almost always good in his movies. And he made a fantastic Jesse James.

The movie plot deals with the final days--1877 to 1892--of the James brothers and the events that shaped and molded their lives. It goes an extra ten years after Jesse was murdered by the slime bucket coward "whose name does not deserve to even appear here!" And shows clear up to the day when the back-shootin' little gutter snipe was blown into hell by an American hero named Ed Kelly in Crede, Colorado. Certainly it could not have happened to a better piece of white trash.

We are all waiting to see what Brad Pitt can do. Now I am convinced he will really have to be FABULOUS to beat these two actors and, although I think he is a wonderful actor, I'm not sure he can even come close to The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James.

The plot is simple: It's based around 1876 in South Dakota and the Custer/Wild Bill Hickok events. Farmer plays Calamity Jane, although they never use the tag "Calamity" when speaking to or about her. One varied notice from other films, she's not in love with Wild Bill in this one but a saloon owner (Broderick Crawford) and then winds up killing him.

This is a typical early day Western with lots of shootin', ridin', Indians, outlaws, and, of course, duo love interests which rival each other. It's a really good Western based upon that and comes even with some comedy (Andy Devine). It was well worth the money I paid to get it and I will certainly watch it again later.

I won't speak about the historical points because, although there are a few of them (such as Wild Bill getting killed) they are not anywhere close to accurate.

Rather, I bought the video because it had Francis Farmer in it. I'd never seen a movie with her until yesterday when I viewed two of them. I was most curious about this beautiful woman whose mother had her mutated.

I gave this movie an 8 simply based upon Francis Farmer's acting in the movie. She was a great actress. I say that now based upon viewing two of her films this past week (Son of Fury). Criminals, like those who did what they did to this wonderful woman ought to be damned but time has taken them, as well as she, from our presence so we can. I notice she only made 15 films before they cut her brain. I would have loved to have seen more movies with her and, no doubt, had they not had their way, she would have made many more.

About the only redeeming quality is Joseph Cotton and, in this instance, that is not saying a lot.

But what really gets me is: About 30-40 minutes of this film is footage from another western made 11 years earlier--"Sitting Bull (1954)." In this movie, the Indians ride down on Custer from what could be northern California Sierra Nevada's or even somewhere in South Dakota while the 7th cavalry is riding through the arroyo's of southern New Mexico or western Arizona and they combine the footage from both films to make it look like they are fighting one another. The footage from Sitting Bull is also used in many things such as the escape from the stockade by the Indians and also various scenes when the Indians are shot and fall off their horses. One Indian, for instance, falls off his horse and practically rolls right into the camera on Sitting Bull and that same Indian, on the same horse, falls off again in this movie and practically rolls right into the camera. I have them on video back to back and am able to view them so it makes it really easy to detect the same scenes from the earlier movie being used.

It's cheap and shoddy!

Howdy: This one was good or average, I ought to say, but better than 99% of the spaghetti westerns.

A gang of outlaws are going to rob the bank at 1 p.m. which is when the wedding ought to be over and most people lulled into nothing-ville from the after wedding party. But the wedding is running late. When they do rob it, and only four of them do because they are going to betray the others before they arrive in town, they get caught. They escape, of course, and are chased by a posse that resembled more the keystone cops than a real posse. (Example: When they are chasing outlaws and they arrive at the spot where the outlaws went into the rocks, they turn around and don't even bother to check the ground for horse tracks.) The characters were unreal and unbelievable. Yes, it was a low budget black and white job so what can we expect. Or can we expect more? After all, other westerns like The Ox-Bow Incident and High Noon were also black and white and those were excellent. But they had such greats as Gary Cooper and Henry Fonda and this one only had some "almost" greats.

Anyway, I video taped it and will watch it again when it rolls around as I watch my video tapes in order. And I will enjoy it because it is a western and I am a lover of westerns--even if they are severed with spaghetti.

Charles Frank, who plays the "new Maverick" rides into town. He's a young dashing man just like his two uncles. The three set out to capture the train robbers and return the gold for the reward. Garner, of course, always does a great job as Bret Maverick and when one thinks of "Maverick" they think of James Garner. Jack Kelly is back as his brother Bart and again does another good job. Susaan Blanchard plays the young love object in the movie and she is definitely a pretty woman which any young man would enjoy courting with the one exception of a "fiesty tongue." Which appeals to the new Maverick and he never lets it get him down as he goes after her. One of the funniest, in my view, scenes is when Bret Maverick has to borrow some money so he can play Poker Alice (played by a charming and beautiful Susan Sullivan). Imagine a professional gambler having to borrow money to play a hand...LOL Anyway, I would watch the movie again and would recommend it to those who for years enjoyed Maverick.

Certainly this proves beyond a shadow of doubt that Patricia Arquette is what she is promoted to be: An ACTRESS! This is undoubtedly her finest moment of Acting and she certainly deserves the credit for her work. Never in any of her other movies, with the possible exception of Holy Matrimony, has she been totally believable and authentic.

PLot: A young woman finds herself in southeast Asia and is suddenly thrown into the political havoc of the countryside. She witnesses mass murder and totalitarianism and escapes.

It is one movie that you MUST see or you have not seen all of Hollywood's finest. I rank it 58 in the top 100 films of all time.

Thanks Bob