Howdy!
I love Westerns.
... and the intent of MyFavoriteWesterns.com is to celebrate Western Movies/Film - old and new.
This site will eventually show my top 30 favorite Westerns - or more. I will have original graphic work with regular updates.
All this - and more ...
Yee Haw ... !!
- jcablerta / Moderator / Administrator
Well … I couldn’t just gallop past the Gunfight at the OK Corral
without a few parting shots – so to speak.
Deal me in …
I figure that the ‘Definitive Film’ on this most famous gunfight
in the Old West will never be made.
Why? Because even though some folks think they’ve got it all figured out
there’s just too much conflicting testimony –
even among professed eyewitnesses.
Some don’t even agree on just which ones wuz the Badguys?
– the Earps or Clantons?
Amongst all known or unknown facts however, only one thing IS clear:
Them Earps had had enuf of them Clantons.
Stirring the pot:
One thing does make me wonder?:
I’ve seen it said that Ike Clanton didn’t have a gun.
That the Earps had disarmed him earlier in the day?
So … if you were going a gunfight …
wouldn’t you bring a gun?
Kirk made 18 Westerns so I’m going to run them in 3 parts.
I reworked all the images.
Most of these early Westerns can be seen in full for free
on a few different sites on the net. Some can be downloaded as well.
The image quality varies from poor to excellent.
David Bowie playing his song Heroes at the Bridge School Charity Concert / 1996
Life Magazine is currently running a Front-Page story on the
first Superman Movie starring Christopher Reeve.
But I wonder, however if they aren’t missing
the REAL Supermen story.
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Short Hills, New Jersey, dedicated to finding treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders.
The organization’s mission statement states, “The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.” Since 1982, it has distributed over $138 million to spinal cord researchers, and $28 million to nonprofits that aim to support better quality-of-life for people with disabilities.
History
The foundation was started in 1982 by Henry Stifel, whose son had been injured in a motor vehicle accident. Its original name was the Stifel Paralysis Research Foundation, and it was later renamed the American Paralysis Association (APA). In 1995, the actor ChristopherReeve became quadriplegic as a result of a horse riding accident. Reeve sought out the help of the APA and raised funds for it. In 1996, the foundation was renamed the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation and then the Christopher Reeve Foundation.
After Reeve’s death in October 2004, his widow, Dana Reeve, assumed the chairmanship of the Foundation. Dana Reeve herself died 17 months later, in March 2006, of lung cancer.
On March 11, 2007, the Foundation announced that it had changed its name to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation on the first anniversary of Dana Reeve’s death. As of 2020, all three of Christopher and Dana Reeve’s children serve on the foundation’s board of directors.
Superman #2:
Michael J. Fox
“Our single, urgent goal: Eliminate Parkinson’s disease in our lifetime.” Over $1 billion funded in research programs to date.
https://www.michaeljfox.org/
Awards:
2000: Honoured by the Family Television Awards for Acting.
2000: Inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame, located in Toronto, Ontario, which acknowledges the achievements
and accomplishments of successful Canadians.[91]
December 16, 2002: Received the 2209th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of his contributions to the motion picture industry, presented to him by the Chamber of Commerce.[92]
I’ve seen very few Actors who looked as comfortable
‘in the saddle’ as Kirk Douglas.
(Maybe Ben Johnson).
He looked like he was born there and lived there.
This is what happens when you love what you do.
It shows.
And Kirk was a consummate Craftsman/Artist in his profession.
When he took a role, he owned it.
He wasn’t just Acting – he became that character.
He was ‘all in’.
And I figure that if you were going to work with Kirk,
you better get ‘on board’ pretty fast – or get lost.
He wasn’t fooling around.
Well … not much anyway.
I once found a pic once of Kirk standing on his horse looking around.
Now I can’t locate it.
I’m not sure he was copying Tom Mix, who was seen to do
this a while back. Probably not.
Tom Mix was a real Cowboy of course,
and could do most any horse stunt he wanted.
Digressing …
Did Tom Mix actually jump over Beale’s Cut in California?
He said he did. But the film footage that would have
proven it was lost in a fire.
I believe he did though because it’s known
that other riders had done this jump.
So it definitely was possible.
If not foolhardy.
But some folks
just seem to be ‘larger than life’ …
I am no expert on Western Movies/Film.
Don’t pretend to be.
Just a fan.
Feel free to disagree with anything – and everything – I say.
“Obey the voice within – it commands us to give of ourselves and help others.
As long as we have the capacity to give, we are alive.”
– Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas was/is indeed an Iconic Western Film Star.
He made 18 Westerns.
(Bet you didn’t know that.)
Most every one is watchable.
Some are Western Classics:
Along the Great Divide / 1951 The Big Trees / 1952 The Big Sky / 1952 Man Without a Star / 1955 The Indian Fighter / 1955 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral / 1958 Last Train from Gun Hill / 1959 The Devil’s Disciple / 1959 The Last Sunset / 1961 Lonely Are the Brave / 1962 The Way West / 1967 The War Wagon / 1967 There Was a Crooked Man / 1970 A Gunfight / 1971 Posse / 1975 The Villain / 1979 film The Man from Snowy River / 1982 film Draw! / 1984
“You haven’t learned how to live until you’ve learned how to give.”
– Kirk Douglas
But first … a bit of a Bio:
The Bronze Wrangler Award
AWARDS / ACHIEVEMENTS
Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1984.
Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter on 17th January 1981. This is the highest US honor a civilian can receive.
Received a UCLA Medal of honor 14 June 2002 from the University of California, Los Angeles, during school’s graduation ceremony for theater, film and television students.
Previous recipients include former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and actors Laurence Olivier and Carol Burnett.
AFI Life Achievement Award: 1991 Accepted AFI Life Achievement Award Academy Awards: 1996 Honorary Award for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community 1995 nominated for Honorary Awards 1956 Lust for Life nominated for Best Actor 1952 Bad & the Beautiful nominated for Best Actor 1949 Champion nominated for Best Actor Berlin International Film Festival: 1975 Posse nominated for Competing Film New York Film Critics Circle Award: 1956 Lust for Life won for Best Actor 1951 Detective Story nominated for Best Actor
President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980.
Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1970.
Awarded the American National Medal of Arts in 2001 from
The National Endowment of the Arts.
“Unknown to many, Kirk has long been involved in humanitarian causes and has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the US State Department since 1963. His efforts were rewarded in 1981 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1983 with the Jefferson Award. Furthermore, the French honored him with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. More recognition followed for his work with the American Cinema Award (1987), the German Golden Kamera Award (1987), The National Board of Reviews Career Achievement Award (1989), an honorary Academy Award(1995), Recipient of the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award (1999) and the UCLA Medal of Honor (2002).” IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000018/bio
Helped break the Hollywood blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo, a member of the “Hollywood Ten”, to write the screenplay.
Despite widespread criticism from many in the industry, including John Wayne and Hedda Hopper, Douglas refused to back down and Trumbo received a screen credit under his own name.
When presenting Douglas with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement at The 68th Annual Academy Awards (1996) (TV), Steven Spielberg thanked Douglas for his courage.
His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6263 Hollywood Blvd.
Has a street named after him near Palm Springs International Airport: Kirk Douglas Way. (2004)
____________________________________________
Kirk Douglas / Author of books: The Ragman’s Son: An Autobiography (1988, memoir) Dance with the Devil (1990, novel) The Gift (1992, novel) Last Tango in Brooklyn (1994, novel) Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning (1997, memoir) My Stroke of Luck (2002, memoir) Let’s Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning (2007, memoir)
___________________________________________
He knew he wasn’t perfect.
That’s what made him great.
When you read Dune you realize why it’s so been so captivating
to so many people.
It’s Spirituality.
It Rings True. It’s inspired.
That’s rare Art.
That’s also why it so hard to interpret.
It’s like the Christian Bible.
Nobody is going to agree upon ANY one interpretation.
Yet to me all interpretations of Dune -including each Mini Series –
have been well done and entertaining.
I found them enjoyable and they did at points
they captured some of that Spirituality.
BUT …
I liked the first part of the current interpretation. It’s very good.
I’m certain the second part will also be well done and entertaining.
BUT …
If you haven’t read the books all this will likely mean nothing.
You are free to merely enjoy the cinema.
But if you have read the books …
Big Iron / 2020 Colter Wall written by Marty Robbins
“You sit in your tepee and dream and then you go to wherever the dream may take you. It might come true. You wait for real life to catch up.”
–Burt Lancaster
IMDB (Internet Movie Database) says that Burt Lancaster made 16 Westerns. That’s wrong. Desert Fury (1947) ain’t no Western.
Just because a movie is made in Sedona AZ
or somebody is wearing a Cowboy hat
doesn’t make it a Western.
So … let’s say about 15 Burt Lancaster Westerns.
Did you know that?! (I didn’t.) But I regard 5 of them to be Western Classics.
Here’s my list:
The Gunfight at the OK Corral / 1957 Definitely one of the most
influential Westerns of all time
Vera Cruz / 1954 Lancaster and Cooper
Wa do ya want?
The Professionals / 1966
One of the Top Ten Westerns every made.
The Unforgiven / 1960
One of the most controversial Westerns ever made.
And some said that Hepburn doesn’t look very native.
But it’s Hepburn – so all is Forgiven.
The Rainmaker / 1956
Some say this isn’t a Western.
But it’s got Hepburn.
So let it rain.
“I walked out of class one day and I never went back.”
-Burt Lancaster
In no special order: My First Western Star is Burton Stephen Lancaster But he’d definitely be near the top.
Born in New York, New York, U.S,A.
November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994
As a kid in the 1930s New York, Burt learned to Act
in local theatre productions in also studied Circus Arts –
eventually becoming a Circus Acrobat and Trapeze Artist.
He seemed ‘custom made’ to be a Action Film Star.
But it also helps to have a ton of Charisma/Star Power.
Burt’s first Action Film: The Flame and the Arrow / 1950
Yes … well … not an auspicious beginning to be sure …
(Burt’s swordfighting skills need a bit of work too.)
But his second Action Film The Crimson Pirate / 1952
opened the flood gates to Stardom.
Heave Ho and up she rises!
Question?
Can you identify this kind of ship for me
that was used in The Crimson Pirate ?
Saw some guy claim he could list the Greatest Western Stars of all time.
I figured that was a pretty presumptuous claim
since the list of Great Western Movie Stars is very long
and goes back quite a ways.
Right back into the 1920’s and 3o’s.
And since I wasn’t around in those years and
my own Western Movie education is lacking thereof,
I’m not sure how such a claim could be made?
Many of the Great Western Stars of of the early era should
most certainly appear on any such list. Western Stars like
William S. Hart
TOM MIX
BUCK JONES
To name just 3 …
Incredibly, some of these guys – like Buck Jones –
are almost forgotten.
Shouldn’t happen.
Soooo …
I certainly wouldn’t attempt to name the Greatest Western Stars of All Time.
BUT …
I can definitely name 10 favorites …
Rose’s idea of going to Vancouver in early Spring
was an stroke of genius. Brilliant!
(Of course it was only early Spring in Calgary –
Spring had been going on since January on the ‘Coast’)
BUT when we got back, all hell broke loose over there:
Forest Fires, Floods, Chinese spies … all manner of mayhem! …
… that we avoided by going early.
AND on the way to Vancouver we made a nice Rest Stop at a unusual Park near Revelstoke.
A Park called Beaver Lodge Bike Park:
A small Park within a BIG Park: Mount Revelstoke National Park.
You know … I think a lot of countries in this world
could easily fit inside some of Canada’s National Parks.
They are BIG. HUGE!
But what else are you going to do with all these Mountains??? British Columbia (BC) itself is mostly mountains.
All mountains.
Look at that thing!!!!
Mountains upon Mountains!
They should just make BC one HUGE National Park: ‘British Columbia National Mountain Park’!!! Just toss in a couple of valleys …
… and a beaver.
But ‘first things first’ …
We head for the toilets.
(Probably why we stopped here)
And look at this toilet!
Pristine.
Must be some good Glamping around here.
NEXT: Rest Stop at Revelstoke National Park … Part Two
including Slug Licking !!!
Well … I couldn’t just gallop past the Gunfight at the OK Corral
Deal me in …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM0AWZDkNYc&t=4s&ab_channel=Dylan%27sEntertainmentchannel
It doesn’t matter what country or what rink we play in …
Most of these early Westerns can be seen in full for free
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Short Hills, New Jersey, dedicated to finding treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders.
Well … not much anyway.
Adios Lee
