Category: Western Movies
Glenn Ford Iconic Images …
Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1978.
In 1942 he joined the American Marines for 3 1/2 years then transferred to the navy as a captain , a rank he held for the rest of his life.
Awarded the French Legion of Honor Medal (Legion d’Honneur), and appointed to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1992, by the French Government for service in World War II. Created to honor extraordinary contributions to the Republic of France, the Legion of Honor is France’s highest distinction.
“William Holden and I weren’t just good friends.
He was my very best friend. I feel his loss very much still.”
In 1967 Naval Reserve Officer Lt. Cmdr. Ford (then aged 51) volunteered to serve for three months as a liaison officer attached to a Marine unit, with the Marine rank of full colonel, in Vietnam, and on several occasions endured enemy shelling.In 1967 Naval Reserve Officer Lt. Cmdr. Ford (then aged 51) volunteered to serve for three months as a liaison officer attached to a Marine unit, with the Marine rank of full colonel, in Vietnam, and on several occasions endured enemy shelling.
Went on a jungle mission with a Special Forces team
during the Vietnam War.
Credited with being one of the fastest “guns” in Hollywood westerns; able to draw and fire in 0.4 seconds, he was faster than James Arness
(Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke (1955)) and John Wayne.
Ford and Van Heflin … ‘3:10 to Yuma’
He had intended to portray Hondo Lane in Hondo (1953), but backed out when John Farrow was chosen to direct. Ford and Farrow did not got along while making Plunder of the Sun (1953), causing Ford to lose interest in the role. The role was subsequently portrayed by John Wayne.
His few attempts at playing villains were not generally well-received.
Critic David Thomson complained “3:10 to Yuma” suffered because of Ford’s “inability to be nasty”.
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3:10 to Yuma / Western Classic / Delmer Daves / Glenn Ford
“What are you squeezin’ that watch for?
Squeezin’ that watch ain’t gonna stop time.”
– Glenn Ford as Ben Wade / 3:10 to Yuma
Quiet on the set! Master at Work …
One critic has noted the likely influences of German Expressionist film makers in 3:10 to Yuma. Such insight is beyond my ken – so it’s much appreciated. Other, closer to home influences, are more obvious, as from Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon and John Ford’s Classics Stagecoach,
My Darling Clementine … others.
No color? No Computer Generated Effects?
No problem.
All the unique virtues of Black and Film making are in evidence. Plus more:
high angle … low angle … wide angle … echo shots … close ups … lighting … shot framing … scene composition … dramatic use of Light/Dark/Shadow … Direction …
Nearly every shot in 310 to Yuma is crafted … seamlessly and unpretentiously integrated.
Daves knew it all – used it all …
3:10 to Yuma: Western Classic.
That’s a wrap.
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Glenn Ford … Western Star Favorite …
Going away for about 10 days …
Rose has signed us up for another Cruise.
This time it’s a 10-day Caribbean Cruise.
On this big ship:
The Enchanted Princess
WOW!
Leaving Monday.
Flying to Fort Lauderdale (5 hours from Calgary).
Jumping on Ship.
Will hit Anigua, Martinique, St. Lucia, Dominica,
St. Thomas, and Grand Turk.
I’m still a rookie at this Cruising thing so I don’t know what to expect?
Hoping the seas are glassy and sunsets beautiful!
I’m 75 now, so my travelling days may soon be over.
But I’m sure I’ll suffer through it all somehow.
*KOFF*
See you later …
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Who Wuz that Western Movie Star? … Quiz … one last Hint.
I thank everybody for their kind feedback on my annoying QUIZ!
But I did really figure somebody woulda got him right away?
There was indeed some educated guesses to be sure.
OK then … LOL! … this is my last hint:
*Drum roll*
(or at least smoke signals)
He’s not in this pic:
But he IS in this pic
That rumpled hat never gave him away eh?
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Who Wuz that Western Movie Star? … Quiz Part 2
The QUIZ:
Though I thought my previous hints would have given him away …
I’ve recieved a request for an additional hint about
Who wuz that mysterious Western Movie Star?
Additional Hints:
– Was a prominent Film Actor for over 50 years.
– One of the biggest box-office draws of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
– Five of his films have been selected for the National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress as being
“culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.
-inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
I hope these hints will be sufficient?
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2 of My Top Ten Favorite Western Stars … Quiz …
Still workin’ on a couple of
My Top Ten Favorite Westerns Stars.
One of them might surprise ya?
So I’ll start a bit of a Quiz:
First Clue:
This Star made over 25 Westerns!
Spanning about 40 years!
BIG CLUE:
Seemed to wear the same kind of rumpled cowboy hat in a lot of ’em.
???
OK … No Cheatin!
OK, OK, go ahead and cheat.
Likely won’t help none anyway.
Next Clue coming … (if necessary)
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Horizon …. An American Saga …
Only in Theatres …
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James Stewart Cowboy / Riding on …
“The great thing about the movies … is you’re giving people little … tiny pieces of time … that they never forget.”
– James Stewart
So ends my tribute to James Stewart / Western Hero
one of my Top Ten Favorite Western Stars.
I could go on and on about him because …
James made about 18 Westerns.
Several are considered Western Classics.
You decide:
“I’d like people to remember me as someone who was good at his job
and seemed to mean what he said.”
– James Stewart
Done Jimmy.
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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / Oddity No. 2: BILLING Mysteries … Part 2 … The Posters
Movie Posters in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
also seem to be different than what I would have expected.
On every poster James Stewart’s name is Billed above John Wayne’s.
You would at least expect them to be side by side? No?
Even then, Stewart’s name appears first.
And though some might argue that they appear equal in
size, color and text, Stewart’s name is still before Wayne’s.
Again, I wouldn’t expect to see this unless
it was approved by Wayne himself.
It’s possible there’s something going on here
that I don’t know about … ? Contractual agreement?
*shrug?* But there it is.
I wonder though that if The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
came out today the Poster might look like this instead:
But … you know what? Though Jimmy was unquestionably worthy
I wonder if he could have cared at all?
In any case: “This is the West, sir.
When the legend becomes fact print the legend.”
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Valentines … 2024
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Dune 2 / March 1 …
Dune: Part Two had its world premiere at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City on February 6, 2024 and is set to be released internationally on February 28, 2024 and in the United States on March 1, 2024,
by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Denis Villeneuve / Dune 3 Script Almost Finished …
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/denis-villeneuve-dune-3-script-almost-finished-1235829382/
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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / Oddity No. 2: The BILLING Mystery … Part 1 …
In Movies, Billing is a big deal.
Billing refers to Order, Place, Size, and Color of your name
as it appears on The Marquee, Posters, Advertising, Film Trailer,
and on Screen, etc. – if at all.
In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
I noticed some interesting Billing anomalies.
Between 1949–1957 and 1959–1974
John Wayne
was in the Top Ten Money Making Stars 25 times!!!
That’s a record number.
This includes 1962 when The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was made.
So you’d expect that Wayne would be Top Billed on everything, right?
Wrong.
But for some reason (unknown to me), he wasn’t.
Let’s start with the Official Trailer Preview.
James Stewart is Billed first!?
Wayne is Billed Second!:
Both Bills are the same size and configuration …
BUT Wayne’s Bill is still an obvious Second.
I doubt this could have occurred without Wayne’s approval.
Wayne had great respect and friendship with Stewart.
This was later reflected again when Stewart was handpicked by Wayne
for a nice role in Wayne’s final Film: The Shootist (1976).
And it’s notable that both Stars were Billed
ahead of the actual Movie Title Banner itself:
This reflects Stewart’s and Wayne’s Star Power of course –
They were the Draw.
However …
… on the actual Film Screen … things are different:
Wayne is Billed first – as we would have expected.
Stewart is second …
… and both are still Billed before the Film Banner:
Another interesting Billing oddity of that Lee Marvin isn’t Billed at all !!
in most any of the Movie’s advertising –
even though he plays the Title character, Liberty Valance.
Lee had not yet emerged as a Top Star.
That was soon to change.
Next:
We’re going to check the
Billing on the Movie’s Posters.
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Shōgun
February 27 on HULU
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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / Oddity No. 1
That Song …
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / sung by Gene Pitney
Written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach
It’s no secret that a popular song can be a powerful way to promote a Movie. It’s been done plenty of times. And The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a great song – and Gene Pitney was a great singer
and a popular Artist at the time.
HOWEVER …
Why pick Gene to sing the song it at all?
You’d figure for a Western Movie you’d call for a Country Music Star. No?
There were lots around.
How about Johnny Cash for instance?
I bet he would have done a great job.
YET …
… in my own research of over 20 other Artists who have done versions of the song, I couldn’t find even one that I considered was better or equal to Pitney’s! And more that a couple seemed to deliberately mimic him.
Seems he was the right choice after all.
Good on you Gene.
(Incidentally, I own quite a bit of Gene’s music.)
The 45 RPM Record Sleeve
The 45 RPM Vinyl Record
Remember those?
Possibly not.
More …
The song was never used in the Movie!
Most people don’t notice this (for some reason).
Despite spending 13 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart –
peaking at No. 4, it was never included!.
Why?
Wikipedia reports:
“Pitney stated that the recording session was paid for by Paramount (who made the Movie), and that it was midway through the effort when he found out that the song was not going to be included in the film”.
He apparently didn’t even know this until the film had
already been released!
WOW!
The song was ranked No. 36 in
The Western Writers of America’s list
of the Top 100 Western Songs of all Time.”
Amazing.
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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / Looking back …
Looking back on posts I made in 2013.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Lee Marvin
February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987
Between The Comancheros and Cat Ballou (Oscar), Marvin continued his meteoric climb to the Hollywood heights with perhaps his most famous role as Liberty Valence in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Many will agree that Lees viscous performance easily upstages Hollywood greats John Wayne and James Stewart – and perhaps establishing an iconic benchmark for Western villainy. YET, on the official poster (below) we still see Marvin billed a distant 4th behind Stewart (billed first over Wayne?), Wayne, and Vera Miles – with no notable image of Marvin – even though his character (Valance) is in the movies title !!! I’ll never figure out Hollywood marketing.
Look for another future Western Badguy superstar (yet to emerge)
Lee (Van Cleef) as one of Marvin’s henchmen.
(Above) That’s Lee at the bottom … I guess
Love him or hate him, you’d really have to search for a long time to find a lousy picture of John Wayne. This guy was charisma personified.
No lack of Star Power.
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James Stewart … The Man from Laramie
1955
I can’t say where the The Man from Laramie would place on most
Western fan lists, but because of the impact it had on me I place it high.
It is a good Western and I would guess that most Western fans
would watch it more than once. Would I call it a Classic?
Yeah … I think I would.
Official Trailer:
James Stewart stated that of all the westerns he made this one was his personal favorite. – IMDB Trivia
James Stewart and Anthony Mann collaborated on five Westerns:
Winchester ’73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952). The Naked Spur (1953). The Far Country (1954), and The Man from Laramie (1955).
Dragged through the campire.
A scene you’d only want to shoot once.
Acting. It’s easy.
Next:
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
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James Stewart … The Man from Laramie … 1955 … Pt 1
I was 7 years old in 1955.
And some images from this Movie were so powerful to me then
that they’ve stuck in my conciousness all these years:
The scene where James is roped by the badguys
and dragged through the campfire.
And, in particular, the brutal scene where
they shoot his hand.
But when I think that what we are exposed to these days – every day –
this stuff wouldn’t even make us flinch.
Is this what they call “Normalized” now? or “Desentitized”?
Makes me wonder how such things are affecting our kids …
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James Stewart … My Top Ten Western Stars … Pt. 2
Whether we like it or not, Weapons have played a monumental role
in World History. Still do. And we see no end in sight.
This should make us all wonder …
And somewhere among this uncountable tally,
are the weapons and guns of the American West.
The Winchester ’73
This is not to celebrate Weapon technology,
yet such has always been at the forefront of human endeavour.
IMFDB “Internet Movie Firearms Database” – a website I often refer to
for research here does offer quite a bit on “Winchester ’73”.
https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Winchester_%2773
I drop a few of their images here:
There she is:
Tony Curtis even gets a good look at the rifle …
OK … moving on to My Favorite James Stewart Western:
The Man from Laramie / 1955
