A Celebration of Western Movies… Pardner!
Kevin Costner and Modern West – “Intense”
“I haven’t lived a perfect life. I have regrets. But that’s from a lifetime of taking chances, making decisions, and trying not to be frozen. The only thing that I can do with my regrets is understand them.”
– Kevin Costner
Silverado (1985) / Dances With Wolves (1990) / Wyatt Earp (1994) /
Open Range (2003)
Kevin Costner and Modern West – “Intense”
“I haven’t lived a perfect life. I have regrets. But that’s from a lifetime of taking chances, making decisions, and trying not to be frozen. The only thing that I can do with my regrets is understand them.”
– Kevin Costner
Silverado (1985) / Dances With Wolves (1990) / Wyatt Earp (1994) /
Open Range (2003)
The Bronze Wrangler is an award presented annually by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum to honor the top works in Western music, film, television and literature.
The awards were first presented in 1961. The Wrangler is a bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback, and is designed by artist John Free.
The awards program also recognizes inductees into the prestigious Hall of Great Westerners and the Hall of Great Western Performers as well as the recipient of the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, named in honor of the Museum’s founder.
1961 The Alamo /1962 The Comancheros /1963 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance /1964 How the West Was Won /1965 Cheyenne Autumn /1966 The Sons of Katie Elder /1967 Appaloosa /1968 The War Wagon /1969 Will Penny / 1970 True Grit / 1971 A Man Called Horse / 1972 The Cowboys / 1974 The New Land / 1976 Bite the Bullet /1981 Heartland / 1984 Never Cry Wolf / 1989 Young Guns / 1991 Dances With Wolves / 1992 Thousand Pieces of Gold / 1993 Unforgiven / 1994 Geronimo: An American Legend / 1995 Legends of The Fall / 1999 Hi-Lo Country /2003 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron /2004 Open Range / 2006 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada / 2007 Truce / 2008 3:10 to Yuma / 2009 Appaloosa / 2011 True Grit / 2012 Yellow Rock …
Past individual winners have included Owen Wister, William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard, Tim McCoy, Harry Carey, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Rex Allen, John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Richard Widmark, James Stewart, Buck Taylor, Howard R. Lamar, Ben Johnson, Pernell Roberts, and Tom Selleck …
(MFW: lots of worthy films and folks on those lists. Surprised to see Never Cry Wolf (1984) on there though – not really a Western (IMO) – but a great movie to be sure. (I have a couple of ‘suspect’ inclusions on my own lists so I can’t say much). However in researching 1984 I find it truly was a bad year for Westerns. BUT one film that was made in 1984 (that I have never seen) was Draw with Kirk Douglas and James Coburn. It’s listed as a TV Movie, but you’d figure that anything with Douglas and Coburn would automatically be pretty good. ?? I’ll have to check that out.)
Strangely, in The Appaloosa we don’t get to see the Appaloosa pony all that much – the movie is not really about the horse. But I still wish they had shown him more. Truly a beautiful animal.
The pony in the movie was named Rojo.
Curiously enough, the recent film Appaloosa (2008) starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen also has nothing to do with a horse either. One wonders if the title isn’t a nod to The Appaloosa.
The history of the Appaloosa Horse breed is much too involved to put here, but the Nez Perce Indians were responsible for the North American breed.
“I guess I look like a rock quarry that someone has dynamited”.
– Charles Bronson
“When you hear a strange sound, drop to the ground”.
Where to go next … ?? There is no end of possibilities. So many great Westerns … so little time.
I’ve received two suggestions: Eastwood’s Academy Award winning Unforgiven – Academy Awards Best Picture in 1992. (Wow, was it really that long ago?)
And Open Range (2003) a worthy duster (also shot in Alberta) with Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall.
I worked as a set painter on Unforgiven which was shot near Longview, Alberta – the small Western town set was built on some (well guarded and secluded) private property. I wish I could tell you that it was a glorious experience where I smoozed with Movie Stars, Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, and Richard Harris. But it wasn’t.The set was tight and strict – high security. I never saw any of the Stars at all, but there was strict rules not to approach or talk to them unless invited.
My work has hot, dirty and tough. And even dangerous. I recall being up 3 storeys on a rickety scaffold – painting the back a building – by myself – that never even appeared in the film.
I made 8 dollars an hour – working alongside carpenters who were making 100 dollars an hour – or more.
Aw yes … the romance of film. Eastwood had a couple of henchmen whose only job seemed to be to go around kicking ass and hustling chicks on the set … who all mysteriously got better jobs. It’s not what you know …
We worked hard long days – bused in at 5 in the morning and often leaving sometimes late in the evening.
As I said, I never saw any of the Stars. There were several Locations in the area and I always seemed to working somewhere else.
Later, I got a temporary job with an outfit called F&D (Fast & Dirty) Scene Changes building the train station that was used in the movie – in a large hanger in Calgary. The station was then dismantled and shipped down to Senora California (that’s where the train was) and reassembled for some scenes that really take very little time in the movie. Clint has a blank cheque in Hollywood – his movies make money.
I hope I don’t sound too jaded – it was a worthy experience.
I’m sure I can come up with a few dozen more anecdotes surrounding my experience with Unforgiven … and I will.
Westward Ho !!!
When you do a search on Google for ‘Western Movies of 1966′ here is what you will likely find:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Professionals, Nevada Smith, El Dorado,
Alvarez Kelly, Duel at Diablo, The Shooting, Navajo Joe,
… and a few others …
A few Western Classics mixed in with a few clunkers. But, all in all, a pretty impressive year for Westerns.
Yet on most of these lists there is one glaring omission:
The Appaloosa.
Why?
The Appaloosa a a good Western. It is well directed by Sydney J. Furie and has excellent Cinematography, and it has Brando and Saxon.
It also contains one of the most famous and powerful scenes in Western Film:
The famous scorpion arm wrestling scene with the between Saxon and Brando.
I am at a loss to figure out why this movie seems to have been so overlooked? Was there a big ‘hate on’ for Brando at the time?
Or was it a case of merely being overshadowed by two of the Greatest Western Classics of All Time: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and The Professionals?
???
I hope to see it eventually take it’s rightful place.
Thot I’d trot back and fill in a bit on some of My pages. John Ford’s classic My Darling Clementine has been undated. Not all content is new, but I hope to add some fresh materials as able.
Quite a few of My pages need some work also. Such as,
The Last of the Mohicans.
Much to do …
Blood on the mind …
Vengeance in the Heart …
IMDB Trivia:
During the entire production Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando
were only on the set on the same day just one time,
despite their multiple scenes together.
This would account for the fact that it’s almost impossible to find
shots of them within the same frame.
IMDB Trivia:
Marlon Brando’s performance was mostly improvised. Arthur Penn eventually gave up on him and decided to just let him act
whatever way he wanted.
Brando unprofessional behavior became the stuff
of movie legend. But he didn’t seem to care.
How profoundly this affected his career is hard to say?
IMDB Trivia:
Jack Nicholson also didn’t like the fact that Marlon Brando used cue cards while filming. In their scenes together, Nicholson broke his concentration every time Brando shifted his gaze to the cue card behind the cameraman.
“I’d like almost anythin better ‘n bein burnt up.”
IMDB Trivia
Brando agreed to accept $1 million for five weeks work
plus 11.3% of gross receipts in excess of $10 million.
– IMDB Trivia
Nicholson agreed $1.25 million for ten weeks work,
plus 10% of the gross receipts in excess of $12.5 million.
In 1976 that was good loot.
Hell I’d go for that right now.
And retire.
“Regulator? Ain’t that like a dry gulcher?”
“Well, that’s not the softest term you could use, I’d say.”
“Why don’t we just take a walk and we’ll just talk about the Wild West
and how to get the hell out of it!”
“Damn, I don’t know why they had to put Canada all the way up here.”
“The closer you get to Canada, the more things’ll eat your horse.”
Updated
DVD Savant:
Movie: Very Good: “Even with its stellar teaming of Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, The Missouri Breaks was a big-bust movie in 1976 … Almost 30 years later, The Missouri Breaks plays a lot better … That ending is still a head-scratcher but most of the rest of the movie is a Western lover’s delight, with excellent and often hilarious dialogue between sad sack horse thief Nicholson and his pack of misfit rustlers. If anyone lets the film down, it’s Brando … “
Turner Classic Movies (TCM):
User Reviews: 4 out of 5
“The Missouri Breaks (1976) is not your usual Western. In fact, it’s not your usual anything. The words most commonly used in reviews at the time of its release were “bizarre” and “odd” and it must have equally confused audiences expecting something quite different from the inspired teaming of Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. But seen today, the film’s peculiar mixture of Western cliches, black comedy, quirky romance and revenge drama makes for a decidedly offbeat entertainment.”
Death in the wind …
In The Appaloosa Brando ingests a little Pulque (a repulsive sounding brew) in a small Mexican cantina – obviously frequented by Mexican banditos
(aren’t they all).
But he smarts his way out of a potential fracus with some nice double talk
… then rides on.
MFW: Pulque – in it’s several variations is actually said to have some medicinal qualities – with or without flies.
Excert from “Tequila’s mystical ancestor, pulque, produced since Aztec times”:
http://www.ianchadwick.com/tequila/pulque.htm
“Pulque is like beer – it has a low alcohol content, about 4-8%, but also contains vegetable proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins, so it also acts as a nutritional supplement in many communities.
Tequila’s predecessor, pulque, was made from as many as six types of agave grown in the Mexican highlands … Pulque is one of about 30 different alcoholic beverages made from agave in Mexico – many of which are still made regionally, although seldom available commercially. Pulque has remained essential to diet in the central highlands of Mexico since pre-Aztec times.”
Shameless Pulquaholics carousing in a Mexican street
(Possible Bandito on the right)
Westerns aren’t likely the first films that rise to mind when we mention
Marlon Brando.
Yet he made 3 pretty good ones:
Malden and Brando
___________________________________________________
Saxon – Brando
Scorpions for breakfast
________________________________________________
The Missouri Breaks – Jack Nicholson
Almost ‘Break’ing …
My list of Favorites is pretty long. No problem there –
‘cept gettin’ sumpthin’ dun on them.
Sooo wilst I’m trying to figure what to do next, here are a few more of My Favorites:
I know wut yer thinkin’: HEY! is that a Western?
Yep. I don’t have a swashbuckler blog.
Anyway … it’s got Catherine Zeta Jones
________________________________________________
I know wut yer thinkin’: HEY! is that a Western?
Yep. It’s got a cowboy … and a horse.
________________________________________________
I know wut yer thinkin’: HEY! is that a Western?
Yep. There’s a horse in there … somewhere.
Anyway … it’s got Katherine Hepburn. And Lancaster.
What was the question?
