Category: Western Movies

THE WILD BUNCH REMAKE

La Golondrina / Soundtrack The Wild Bunch / Jerry Fielding

“Hmmmm …”

The big talk in Western Film these days is the News about the ‘Remake of The Wild Bunch’.
(I’m a bit slow on the draw so I just herd about this recently)

It’s a shocker to be sure.
Here’s one Newsbit:

‘The Wild Bunch’ Remake Hoping to Recruit Michael Fassbender, Jamie Foxx, Peter Dinklage for Director Mel Gibson

Posted on Monday, May 20th, 2019 by Chris Evangelista

https://www.slashfilm.com/wild-bunch-remake-cast/#disqus_thread

wild bunch remake cast

Proving that there are indeed second, third, and even forth acts in Hollywood, Mel Gibson is being given the keys to a major motion picture yet again. The controversial actor and filmmaker is set to helm a remake of The Wild Bunch, and some heavy-hitting talent is already lining-up to work with him. Michael Fassbender, Jamie Foxx, and Peter Dinklage are all in talks to join the Wild Bunch remake cast, indicating that Warner Bros. wants to put together an impressive cast for this contemporary remake of the violent Sam Peckinpah Western.

Mel Gibson can often be an excellent actor and a strong filmmaker. But he’s also a highly controversial figure known for misogynist, racist remarks and actions that many feel should disqualify him from being attached to major projects. Gibson was a bit of a pariah for a short period of time, but it’s clear that time has ended. Warner Bros. has booked him to direct their Wild Bunch remake, which features a script by Gibson and Bryan Bagby.

And now, Deadline says Michael Fassbender, Jamie Foxx, and Peter Dinklage are all in talks to join the cast of the film. Nothing is officially in place yet, but word has it the movie will begin production this fall. This Wild Bunch is a contemporary remake of Sam Peckinpah’s classic 1969 Western, which was set in 1913. Here’s the original synopsis:

In this gritty Western classic, aging outlaw Pike Bishop prepares to retire after one final robbery. Joined by his gang, which includes Dutch Engstrom and brothers Lyle and Tector Gorch, Bishop discovers the heist is a setup orchestrated in part by his old partner, Deke Thornton. As the remaining gang takes refuge in Mexican territory, Thornton trails them, resulting in fierce gunfights with plenty of casualties.

Hollywood has been hoping to mount a Wild Bunch remake for a few years now. Tony Scott was originally set to helm a version, but his 2012 suicide ended up putting the project on hold. Since then, a remake with Will Smith possibly set to produce and star popped up, along with one directed by Hands of Stone filmmaker Jonathan Jakubowicz. Neither incarnation came to pass.

While Gibson, a filmmaker who doesn’t shy away from movie violence, seems like a good fit to remake this violent Western, I can’t help but feel this is a film we really don’t need, no matter who ends up being cast in the project.

Mel sure knows how to kick up some dust. I can’t see this project as a mere Western yarn – and it’s pretty obvious by the casting that this is not going to be a carbon copy of the original. The inclusion of Dinklage and Fox certainly tells us it’s to be pretty different right away – and Gibson has said it will be a different angle from a Social/Political viewpoint. There’s plenty of scepticism, of course, and it does seem like a daunting task. We’ll just have to wait and see. 

All the Major players in the original production have passed.
Including Sam himself.

April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981
January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012
July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982
June 13, 1918 – April 8, 1996
November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973

Meet the New ‘Bunch’

This whole thing is riding on Mel. 
Here’s hoping.

Chuck’s Ghost


Ghost Riders in the Sky by Cash Grass

See this guy!?

Charles Bronson right?
But Charles Bronson died in 2003. Didn’t he?
‘Fraid so.

This guy is Robert “Bronzi”.
Who just happens to look exactly like Charles Bronson! (below).

And they’ve been exploiting this likeness for a while now.
Most recently in this Western:

Here’s the Trailer/Preview:

Ratings weren’t favorable.“2.7” outta 10! 
Bang! Yor ‘one shot’ dead.

Even Chuck’s ghost couldn’t save this thing.

But Bronzi isn’t just some ‘one trick cowpoke’
trying to ride Bronson’s pony.

Related image

Internet Movie Database Mini Bio

Hungarian born performer Robert Bronzi is world traveled actor and professional horseman with a love for the wild west and classic American film. Bronzi has worked as a Carpenter, Horsetrainer, Musician and former Military Service Member. Professionally Trained Actor at Maria Mezey Theatre School (Budapest) as well as stuntman, acrobat and Judo Player. Robert speaks multiple languages including English, Spanish and Hungarian. With a film resume building, Bronzi has honed his craft in Live Performances and Wild West Theme Shows, including ” Fort Bravo ” Almeria, Spain ” Port Aventura ” – Costa Dorada, Spain, ” Rancho Texas Park ” – Canary Islands. and Feature Films, The Seven Gallant, Death Kiss, Escape From Death Block 13 and most recent has signed to to play ” The Dago ” in Knighted Entertainments upcoming comedy feature Mat Rats.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Katrina Gellet
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8459909/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Obviously and interesting guy who has some chops and paid some dues.
Ride on Bronzi!

Let’s just hope this doesn’t start a trend of ‘look alike’ Actors mimicing other Cowboys.

 

The Call of the Wild / Jack London

“A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog,
when you are just as hungry as the dog.”
– Jack London

Wikipedia: John Griffith London (born John Griffith Chaney; born in San Francisco on January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916 was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first writers to become a worldwide celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories “To Build a Fire”, “An Odyssey of the North”, and “Love of Life”. He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as “The Pearls of Parlay”, and “The Heathen”.

London was part of the radical literary group “The Crowd” in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of unionization, workers’ rights, socialism, and eugenics. He wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, The War of the Classes, and Before Adam.

Buck was a St. Bernard/Scotch shepherd mix breed.

The Legendary Chilkoot Pass between British Columbia and Alaska
 Klondike Gold Rush / The Legendary Chilkoot Pass between British Columbia and Alaska

Counting my Blessings ….

Most people in this world don’t have what I have.
Some are lucky to get even one meal a day. 
Yet I live in opulence. A Wonderful home. A Wonderful companion. 
Many Blessings. Too many to count.
But I try.

So I truly do give thanks. 
And like to express Good Will to All.

And I Thank you all for coming around this year.
I hope that I’ve offered something
that adds something to You and your day. 

My pleasure. My honor. 
And may we all pass our good fortune on to others.

Blessings of the Season to You . 

Burt Lancaster – Western Film Great


Theme from The Gunfight at OK Corral 

John WHO?

Two blogs I follow (and I don’t follow that many) recently spotlighted Burt Lancaster. Cindy Bruchman over at ‘Cindy Bruchman‘ has Winter Project: Burt Lancaster. While John Charet over at Cinematiccoffee posted Sweet Smell of Success. Two Classics!

I was saying to Cindy that I consider Burt Lancaster to be among the Top Western Movie Stars of all time – appearing in so many Classics that I’d place right up there with John Wayne.
Permit me to prove that.

Image result for poster for the professionals

The film received three nominations at the 1967 Academy Awards. Writer and director Richard Brooks, for Best Director and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) and cinematographer Conrad Hall, for Best Cinematography.

The film won two Motion Picture Magazine Laurel Awards in 1967, for Best Action Drama and Best Action Performance for Lee Marvin. In Germany, it was one of only four movies to receive a Golden Screen Award (the others were Doctor Zhivago, Marvelous Angelique
and You Only Live Twice) in 1967.

Burt Lancaster Western Filmography

1951 Vengeance Valley 
1954 Apache / 1954 Vera Cruz
1955 The Kentuckian / 1956 The Rainmaker
1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral / 1960 The Unforgiven
1965 The Hallelujah Trail / 1966 The Professionals
1968 The Scalphunters / 1971 Lawman
1971 Valdez Is Coming / 1972 Ulzana’s Raid
1976 Buffalo Bill and the Indians / 1981 Cattle Annie and Little Britches

Not all gems – but the red ones are definite Classics.
Others are notable.
A very impressive Western Film legacy.

 You want good Writing?
How about great Writing.

And great Actors to deliver it.

And if you’ve never seen The Rainmaker … 
Shame on you. 

"That old softspot." - Vera Cruz
“That old soft spot.” – Vera Cruz

Sourtoe Cocktail founder dies …


The Spell of the Yukon / Robert Service / Hank Snow

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
– Jack London

THE CANADIAN PRESS/DARRYL DYCK 

DAWSON CITY, Yukon — The founder of the legendary Sourtoe Cocktail in Dawson City, Yukon, has poured his final glass of the well-known whisky and pickled human toe drink.
Dick Stevenson, the former bartender known by his nickname Captain Dick, has died. He was 89.

Related imageStephen Lancaster, manager of the Dawson Hotel, where the Sourtoe Cocktail tradition continues, said Saturday patrons at the Sourdough Saloon and members of the community are deeply saddened by Stevenson’s passing Thursday in Whitehorse.

“When I walked into the bar last night, it was quite a sad feeling knowing that we lost somebody who was really important to the history of the place,” he said. “We are quite sad about it and want to honour him somehow, and we’re trying to figure out some way of doing that.”

Lancaster said the saloon has records of more than 93,000 brave customers who are members of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club started by Stevenson.
“You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch the toe,” says the club membership motto, which involves drinking a shot of whisky from a glass that also contains a pickled human big toe. Lancaster said he expects the club to reach 100,000 members this summer.

Image result for sourtoe cocktail cardStevenson fit the image of a Yukon gold prospector, with his beard, cap and friendly and spirited demeanour, said Lancaster.
“He’s exactly like he looks,” he said. “He’s a fun, friendly guy you just want to talk to and hear his stories. We almost want to have a moment of silence to honour what he’s done here.”

Stevenson came up with the drink idea in 1973 after finding a frost-bitten human toe preserved in a jar in a cabin he purchased.
Lancaster said the Sourtoe Cocktail tradition will continue with Stevenson in the mix — his will asks his two big toes be preserved for future drinks.

So long Pardner

FLU … again.

I slept for 18 hours yesterday.
Not sure that’s my record, but that’s quite a nap. 
When I woke up my bedding was soaked from sweat.
That used to mean my Flu was breaking. But I’m not so sure this time.
It’s been 4 days.
Rose caught it first. Coughing and vomiting. 
I’ve coughed so much my ribs and back are aching. 
Fever, headaches – it’s got it all.
At least it didn’t reach pneumonia.
That’s when you know you’re really in trouble.
I hope to go back to work tomorrow. 

 

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 coming to PC on November 5


Ringo / Lorne Greene

I’ve been waiting for this. 

Warning! Extreme violence. Killin’ and stuff. 

Image result for Red Dead Redemption 2 PC images

Image result for Red Dead Redemption 2 PC poster

Saddle UP!

Short trip …


Steamboat Whistle Blues / John Hartford with Norman Blake, Vassar Clements, Tut Taylor, and Randy Scruggs.

Thank you to all followers. 

Heading out for about 4 days.

Back soon. 

 

Promise

Vikings … The End …


i am the only one

Though it was definitely graphically gory at times, I liked this Series.
It has a lot of good things. Great Writing, Characters, Dialogue, Action …
It was an all around high quality production.
So I watched it the first 4 seasons.
Until they killed off this guy:

Travis Fimmel

It’s unquestioned STAR.

Vikings creator and writer Michael Hirst said that Fimmel 
was supposed to be knocked off at the end of Season One,
but he was popular that he wrote him back in for three more seasons.
Smart.

The Series is still excellent.But after Season 4 Ragnar’s large ghost hung over the Series
like a dark cloak that couldn’t keep the reign out.

Did you ever hear my lecture on

Star Power?

It’s short.

NEVER CREATED. ONLY DISCOVERED.

There’s no formula.
If you find it, exploit it.
Flaunt it.
Star Power turns crap into Gold.
Don’t throw it away.

This means the Vikings might well have died after Season One 
if they had killed Fimmel off at that time.

But after Season Four they wanted to do something different.
They figured the other Stars could carry the axe.

And they’ve done a great job.


They’re good.

Even gorgeous.


But they aren’t Fimmel. 

OK Floki … Loki? …. ??

Waiting for

The Last Kingdom

You’re our last hope Alexander.

So what do we really know about the Vikings???
Well … we figure they didn’t really wear horns on their helmets.
Other than that we know as much about them as we do
about the Mayans. Next to nothing.
As this video shows.

My personal question is:
How did a relatively small group of people defeat
army after army, country after country
and could have conquered all of Europe if they’d wanted to?
What superior warfare tactics/strategies did they know
that made them so formidable?
???

‘Westerns on the Blog’ Silverado / 1985

I just recently discovered Simon’s Western blog.
He’s doing some nice work over there.


Silverado Theme
The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra / Raine

Westerns on the Blog

A blog dedicated to western movies

http://westernsontheblog.blogspot.com/
https://westernsontheblog.blogspot.com/2019/09/silverado.html

Silverado

September 17, 2019

Along with Clint Eastwood’s Pale Rider, Lawrence Kasdan’s Silverado was supposed to breathe new life into the western genre in the mid-eighties. It failed to do so. Reviews were positive, the film was even nominated for two (minor) Academy Awards, but moviegoers where underwhelmed. It did a lot better when released on videocasette and was one of those movies that drew Hollywood’s attention to the new market.

The film’s story is classic western stuff: A cowboy named Emmett saves a man called Paden, who was left behind in the desert by bandits who had stolen all his possessions, including his horse and (worst of all) his hat. Emmett and Paden head for the town of Silverado, were Emmett was born. En route they pick up Emmett’s younger brother Jake, a womanizer and gunslinger, who invariably gets into trouble by courting the ladies and shooting their lovers (in self-defense, of course). They are joined by a fourth man, Mal, a former slave turned farmer, who is looking for the murderers of his father. The town of Silverado is dominated by the McKendriks clan, long-time enemies of Emmett’s and Jake’s family. The sheriff is one of Paden’s old ‘pals’, a guy with a very dubious background, and Mal also thinks the men he’s looking for are hiding out in the town of Silverado …


Silverado is a lot of fun to watch. The mosaic script with four leads and multiple storylines may cause some confusion, but there’s plenty of action and in spite of a running time of more than two hours the movie is over before you know it. But if a movie aspires to revive a moribund genre, it must shed a new light on traditional genre elements, and this is exactly what Silverado fails to do. Like I have stated before, movies reflect as much the time in which they were made as the time in which they are set. If Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch was the prototypical American western of the late sixties, Silverado is the prototypical American western of the mid-eighties. It was not only made in the 80s, it breathes the 80s. No surprise if you know director Lawrence Kasdan contributed to the scripts of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire strikes back. He called his own movie his ‘Western Raiders of the Lost Ark’.

The Sixties were a period of change and turmoil, and the best westerns from the late Sixties, early Seventies, were preoccupied with themes such as the closing of the frontier and the transition to a new era (The Wild Bunch, Monte Walsh), the outlaw as a folk hero (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid) or the plight of the red man (Soldier Blue, Little Big Man, Ulzana’s Raid). The excessive violence in some of these movies was often interpreted as a reaction to the Vietnam war. It’s significant that several movies from the period featured juvenile character who were exposed to dangerous situations (The Culpepper Cattle Company, Bad Company).


Those movies weren’t all masterpieces, but they were thought-provoking, and dared to be dirty and violent. The American society was re-inventing itself, and so was that American genre par excellence, the western. The eighties were a decade characterized by a new national (nationalist) awareness. It also was a typical ‘bourgeois’ decade, hostile to true art. Don’t get this wrong: Art has no specific political color, it can be either left-wing or right-wing, but it is by definition challenging, thought-provoking. Like Roland Barthes stipulated in his classic study Mythologies, bourgeois society has two ways of dealing with art that challenges its nature: it either denies it, or tries to convert it. Silverado is very much a conversion, bourgeois style, of what the western had been in the previous decades. Instead of challenging and thought-provoking, Silverado is reassuring; it’s crammed with action, but it’s never dirty or nasty, it’s all clean fun for the entire family. People who usually do not love westerns, tend to love it more that fans of the genre. The four leads are fine (especially Costner, who still was some kind of ‘coming man’ in those days), but their motivations and actions are purely rhetorical. No wonder some of the supporting actors steal the show: Jeff Goldblume is well-cast as a perfidious card player and Brian Dennehy is a true delight as the corrupt sheriff of Silverado. There are also a nice cameo appearances by Linda Hunt and especially John Cleese as a sheriff who’s definitely not from these parts.

(1985 – Dir: Lawrence Kasdan – Cast: Kevin Kline (Paden), Scott Glenn (Emmett), Kevin Costner (Jake), Danny Glover (Mal), John Cleese, Jeff Goldblume, Rosanna Arquette, Brian Dennehy, Linda Hunt)

Nicely done Simon. This is a Favorite of mine. I’ve got to get it up there soon. Every time it’s on TV I can’t help but watch it. You’re right about hopes of reviving the popularity of Westerns. That may never happen. BUT I still say that most Directors and Actors want to do a Western some day. And they will. So Westerns are not dead. The main problem (IMO) is that some folks seem to think they have to re-invent the Western. Why? We still have a ton of great stories, yarns and great Western literature to draw from. All Movie worthy. Yet some are getting it right: ‘Unforgiven’, ‘True Grit’ ‘The Revenant’ … Westerns are still coming and always will. 

Ride on my friend. 

BIANCA!

– 19 years old
– Failed to qualify for the US Open on 2 previous attempts.
– Ranked 159th in the World before the Tournament
– Ranked No. 243 in the World Last Year
– Odds makers overwhelmingly picked Serena Williams to beat Bianca
– Bianca wasn’t listening

Truly amazing stuff.

Attention Donald Trump: Canada for Sale

Dear Mr. Trump / Mr. US President, 
We heard about your failed attempt to buy Greenland.
(Some people are so unreasonable) 
However Fear Not!
Canada is wide open!
Most everything in Canada is already owned by outside Countries. 
(No other Country in the World would permit this, but we’re pretty easy) 
SO! Help yourself!
Below I’ve listed some deals you might be interested in. 
BUT you better hurry!!!! 
Because somebody else will probably snap them up
while you’re procrastinating.
Here you go!: