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Hugh O’Brian ____________ Not your average Cowboy Pt 3 The Shootist

22 Sep


the outlaw way / railbenders

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I hadn’t intended to do a post on The Shootist until I reached it via my series on John Wayne’s Filmography. But Hugh O’Brian’s passing and his role in the important Western Classic moved it up the ladder. I won’t do a full posting on it here, but there’s some interesting things about this movie and O’Brian’s involvement.

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I have to confess I’m puzzled why all these posters are different in coloration?

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“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
– origin unknown – Often attributed to Mark Twain

Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) says this:

“Contrary to popular belief, John Wayne did not have cancer when he made this film. His entire left lung and several ribs had been removed in surgery on 17 September 1964, and in 1969 he was declared cancer-free. It was not until 12 January 1979, almost three years after this movie had been filmed, that the disease was found to have returned. According to a 2014 biography “John Wayne: the Life and Legend” by Scott Eyman, Wayne had been found to have stomach cancer in 1975 but it had gone into remission before filming began on this movie.”

MFW: The contention here, of course, is that John didn’t know this was his last film/Western. I’m no detective, but I do know that almost the entire cast of The Shootist – including Director Don Siegel – were handpicked and invited by Wayne to be in this movie. Does that sound like somebody that doesn’t know this is the end of line?

the-shootist-hugh-obrian-2 Hugh O’Brian’s role in The Shootist is interesting. He seems to get a bit of preferential treatment. His role basically reprizes his previous portrayal of Wyatt Earp from his popular TV series “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” (1955–1961). Also, in The Shootist, Hugh’s character is a Faro dealer in the saloon. This was Earp’s real life side occupation when he was a Marshall in Tombstone.

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Hugh also wears the gentleman’s garb of vest and tie vest – almost identical to O’Brian’s portrayal of Earp in his popular TV series.

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Next, when John goes to the bar at the start of the final shootout scene, he pours himself a drink – and salutes only one of the three patrons in the bar: Hugh O’Brian. Ignoring Richard Boone and Bill McKinney. I’d say that’s a hell of a compliment – from the Dean of Western Heroes.

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Hugh salutes back. ‘See ya John’.

the-shootist-obrians-saluteWhen the final shootout takes place, Hugh – a true gentleman – doesn’t enter the fray until Boone and McKinney are dispatched.

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Epic stuff … all the way around.

buntline-barSo long Hugh.

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Johnny does Hockey …

9 Aug


The Good Old Hockey Game / Stompin’ Tom Connors

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In 1937 John appeared in a real head scratcher:
Idol of the Crowds – a hockey movie!

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Yes, John made an occasional non-Western,
but I never knew he ranged this far afield!?

Idol of the Crowds John Wayne 1937

I couldn’t access any video, but it looks like John
really knows what he’s doing out there!
Amazing!

JOHN WAYNE 1937 idol of the crowd

Idol of the Crowds John Wayne 1937 IMDB reviewIdol of the Crowds John Wayne 1937 Allmovie Review In the synopsis you can see that John plays a guy called Johnny Hanson. This is rather interesting coincidence, because one of my favorite (guilty pleasure) movies is Slapshot (1977) – a hockey sendup Starring Paul Newman! (believe it or not) and these amazing characters: The Hanson Brothers, who have become big Canadian celebrities.

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The Hanson Brothers – signing their real names

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John Wayne as Johnny Hanson

The Hanson Brothers deserve a Post to themselves
so I’ll get back to them later.

hocky cowboy bar 2Idol of the Crowds John Wayne 1937 chicken and a kidMeanwhile … John Wayne plays a chicken farmer who plays hockey. With all due respect to chicken farming, how does one go from
being a Western Hero to a chicken farmer hockey player?

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Those chicken farmers get all the chicks

Idol of the Crowds 1937 screencap 9hocky cowboy bar 3Sheila Bromley
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John Wayne: Life and Times

22 Jul

John Wayne LIfe John Wayne Time Magazine John Wayne Newsweek MagazineJohn Wayne American Cowboy MagazineJohn Wayne Saturday Evening PostJohn Wayne Life Magazine 2John Wayne TV Guide MagazineJohn Wayne Cowboy Legends MagazineJohn Wayne Saturday Evening Post 2John Wayne American Cowboy Magazine 2John Wayne Cowboys and Indians MagazineJohn Wayne Paris Match MagazineJohn Wayne American Cowboy Magazine 3

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John Wayne … Iconic Images / Stagecoach Run / 1936

15 Jul


dust in the wind / Melanie

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Stagecoach Run is Winds of the Wasteland – the same movie restored and colorized by Legend Films. I couldn’t find any new posters or advertising media for it though. Just a few clips.

Yakima Canutt does plenty of stunt work in this movie – plus some acting (as a badguy) – but receives no Credit on the Bill !! Those stunt guys don’t get no respect !

Lew Kelly provides a little Comedy relief inside the coach.

Stagecoach Run bannerStagecoach Run John WayneStagecoach Run Phyllis Fraser

Not sure how many stagecoach stunts Yakima Canutt performed in his career,
but there was plenty. This one is pretty tame by his standards.

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Then Yak jumps into the driver’s seat and magically transforms to John Wayne.

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Most of Yak’s and John’s stunts were seamlessly done – you honestly
believed it was John performing the action.

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But Yak’s not finished yet – he jumps onto the horses !

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Below: Not sure how this was done, but it appears
John is doing a bit of stunting himself?

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There’s a bit of a wardrobe screw-up here though as John and Yak
appear to have different colored vests on. ??

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Those Actors – always wanting to do their own stunts.

Onward …

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John Wayne … Iconic Images / Winds of the Wasteland / 1936

15 Jul


dust in the wind / kansas 

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John keeps making ’em – I keep posting ’em. John is 29-years-old now and Winds of the Wasteland being his 5th of 7 Westerns he made in 1936. Though interesting, the movies are not that great. But as long as the images and Posters are good, (and they are) I’ll keep putting them up …

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John is ‘The Man’ and his name is Billed above and before the Title of the movie.

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Winds of the Wasteland Phyllis Fraser

Winds of the Wasteland IMDB review

Winds of the Wasteland AllMovie review

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Winds of the Wasteland The End

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Phyllis Fraser (1916–2006) 

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Phyllis Fraser

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Yakima Canutt / Western Stunting 101 … The Art of Falling / Part 1

30 Jun


Ben Hur Theme / Miklos Rosza

YAKIMA CANUTT 6

Western Movie Stunting 101:
 The Art of Falling: Part 1:
Elementary Western Horse Stunting

There’s only one good thing about Falling off a horse. It’s damn easy.
(Especially galloping full speed, handling a weapon, or without a saddle)
Making it look good however – and landing safely – is another matter.

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Not a good Fall.

Bucked off

So Saddle up … or not … we’re goin’ Stunting!

Those Poor Horses

Yakima Canutt. was a Rodeo Champion, before and during his career as a Western Film Stunt Artist. He knew what Falling was all about – and it’s obvious side effects – injury and death – though he obviously Fell a lot less than most cowboys. But his experience in Rodeo is definitely what led to his place as a Western Film Stunt Master.

But getting bucked off in a Rodeo, and Falling in a Western movie, are not quite the same thing. In Rodeo you don’t want to Fall. And if you do, you aren’t very concerned about how it looks. In Stunt Falling you’re trying to Fall – and make it look good – the more sensational, the better – higher, farther, faster …. always pushing the envelope. And in Rodeo, and especially Stunting, Yak pushed the envelope big time. He pretty well invented the Stunt industry. In either case however, you still need to land safely. Not an easy thing to do.

Bronc riding

Unknown bronc rider … and unknown bronc … at an unknown rodeo

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But before we ride any further, there’s one thing that needs to be mentioned … the Horses.
Early Western Horse Stunts seemed to demonstrate a tremendous disregard for the safety of the horses.
One example: Stunt Falls from horses sometimes employed trip lines that tripped/yanked the horses down – while galloping at full speed. The Stuntman, of course, knew a Fall was coming – the horse did not. I haven’t seen any statistics, but I can surmise there was a considerable toll on the horses. This was rightfully criticized and eventually stopped. Nowadays Stunt horses are extensively trained in Falls and any other Stunts involving horses. To Yak’s credit he later took great care and pride in inventing techniques which greatly limited injury to both man and beast – culminating in his masterpiece – one of the greatest Stunt events in film history – the spectacular (and dangerous) – Chariot Race in Ben Hur (1959) – a monumental stunting achievement that took Yak two years of planning and preparation. And despite urban legends to the contrary, there is no evidence that any horses (or actors) were killed.

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Ben Hur …

Ben Hur - 1959

Ben Hur - Yakima Canutt instructing Charleton Heston

Yak gives Chuck (Heston) some pointers …

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They’re off !!!

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Joe Cannutt Ben Hur stunt

Yakima Canutt’s son Joe does the famous crash jump …

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Spiked wheels … ??

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Next:

Western Movie Stunting 101:
 The Art of Falling: Part 2:

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John Wayne … Iconic Images / The Lonely Trail / 1936

27 Jun


There’s-a-long-long-trail / robert-mandell-with-the-romantic-strings-voices

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The Lonely Trail title 2

The Lonely Trail poster

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I’m guessing you noticed that those rascals used a couple of the same posters from King of the Pecos – an annoying, but not uncommon practice in those days. Not bad posters though.

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This movie is hard to come by – I could find no clips, previews – hardly anything – just a few pics – though it appears to be shown on TCM occasionally.

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Reviews

One average Review, one friendly Review, and one trashing Review …

The Lonely Trail IMDB review

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DVD Talk
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/60347/lonely-trail/
The Lonely Trail /April 30, 2013 /
Review by Stuart Galbraith IV | posted May 26, 2013

“A Reconstruction-era Western with John Wayne battling a scurrilous carpetbagger, the meaninglessly titled The Lonely Trail (1936), is fairly good, early Republic production. Though cheap ($20,000, of which Wayne received $1,750), it lacks the sausage factory mechanicalness of many of that studio’s later Westerns. The company style hadn’t quite set yet, and the picture is fresher and a bit more adult, if creaky and less fine-tuned.
Yakima Canutt, the great actor-stuntman-second unit director who helped shape Wayne’s screen persona, plays Holden’s main henchman. In an early scene, Canutt gets to demonstrate his dexterity with a pair of six-shooters that still impresses today. And it might very well have been him doubling for Wayne in a terrific stunt where Wayne’s character leaps from a galloping horse onto a runaway buckboard.
Parting Thoughts: It looks great and, for fans of B-Western, loads of fun, The Lonely Trail is heartily Recommended.”

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“Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
LONELY TRAIL, THE (director: Joseph Kane)
“Standard Western.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz 10/4/2005 GRADE: C
Standard Western directed by Joseph Kane from a story by Bernard McConville, who also handles the screenplay with Jack Natteford. Republic boss Herbert Yates was a NYC stockbroker who went to Hollywood and began Monogram Studios. His cinema philosophy was all about the money–not giving two cents about a film’s artistic worth. Yate’s philosophy was that a film should make back at least three times of what it costs to make. In John Wayne, Yates found a dependable and bankable star. For Wayne, these cheapie films became his school where he learned how to act. This is one of those middling film where if Wayne wasn’t in it, it would be of little interest.

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The Lonely Trail lobby poster

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Screencaps

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I really had to wonder if my difficulty in finding this movie had something to do with it’s depiction of Black Americans in that era. It is clearly an outdated Social/Political depiction – even though it may be of some historical accuracy. I also wonder then, if future social climates will permit this film to return to our Libraries and Archives ?? I have to wonder.

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Etta McDaniel
From Rotten Tomatoes:
Actress Etta McDaniel made her stage debut along with her seven siblings as a member of H. M. Johnson’s Mighty Modern Minstrels, a Denver-based musical troupe. In the late 1920s, McDaniel and her older brother Sam headed to Hollywood, where both found steady work in bit parts. In keeping with Hollywood’s racial attitudes of the 1930s and 1940s, she was confined to the stereotypical roles usually assigned black actresses of the era: housekeepers, maids, mammies and African natives. Unlike her younger sister Hattie McDaniel, who eventually attained co-star billing and an Academy Award (for Gone with the Wind), Etta McDaniel spent her entire Hollywood career in minor roles.

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