A Celebration of Western Movies… Pardner!
Continuing …
Top Ten Favorite Western Actors
A good Western with Anthony Quinn.
Directed by John Sturges.
Debatable as a Western but …
I always sort of felt sorry for Olivier in this one because
despite that fact that he was a great Shakespearean Actor
he didn’t really have great Star Power/Charisma.
Yet Kirk and Olivier appeared together again in Spartagus.
Never seen this one.
A great Movie.
Not a great Movie.
Star Power can’t save everything.
6 to go …
My Top Ten Favorite Western Actors:
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.
Raoul Walsh
Also Starring Walter Brennan.
Kirk was 35.
Axe practice for The Vikings?
Kirk said: “It’s a bad movie.”
But IMDB gave it 5.7 out of 10.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7rky7m
Directed by Howard Hawks.
Music by Dimitri Tiomkin
Arthur Hunnicutt and Dewey Martin also appeared.
Directed by King Vidor
Richard Boone was the Badguy.
The Indian Fighter 1955 – Kirk Douglas – Bing video
Walter Matthau is the badguy.
On the Poster, Kirk looks exactly like his son Michael Douglas.
Gunfight at the OK Corral 1957 HD – Bing video
Lancaster and Douglas in their prime.
Easily one of the Top Ten Westerns of all time.
12 to go …
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’ …
Coming …
Kirk’s Filmography continued.
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
Impressive indeed.
Coming up:
Kirk’s Western Filmography Part 1
A sensitive treatment of an Iconic American event.
IMDB: “Very good story,about the individual standing up against a collective prejudice, co-written by Niven Busch (Duel in the Sun, Pursued, The Westerner) and directed by Budd Boetticher, who in later years directed many westerns with Randolph Scott. This film is full of action, very good music and scenery. Boetticher shows his special touch when there is a shootout with plenty of strategy involved.”
The Boetticher masterpiece’s IMO are “Seven Men from Now” (1956), “The Tall T” (1957), “Decision at Sundown” (1957), and “Ride Lonesome” (1959), (I have yet to see the 1958 “Buchan Rides Alone”),but for action, these earlier westerns are superior and they still have complex, conflicted protagonists (indeed, less stiff ones than Randolph Scott, though Scott’s parts were tailored to his stiffness). I don’t know why he only made one feature film after 1960 (the 1969 “A Time for Dying” which was also Audie Murphy’s last movie, in which he played another outlaw, Jesse James, having played the title role of “The Cinammon Kid” in Boetticher’s first western in 1952). http://www.epinions.com/review/Man_From_the_Alamo_Budd_Boetticher/content_583724011140?sb=1
Now where wuz I ?? O Yeah ~ the 50’s …
The 50’s is often referred as the ‘Golden Age of Westerns’ – as they were popular and plentiful at that time (may they return again).
And many Western Classics were made.
Glenn Ford made 10 Westerns during the 50’s – of varying quality
– some Classics – some forgotten.
Let’s have a look.
The first one coming down the trail is:
“Not the most memorable of westerns, The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951) … Easily seen today as a metaphor for the spreading of communism, using confused and easily led people to spread the word of communism, without truly understanding it’s perceived power amongst the public … A routine Western that goes from place to place before the guy gets his girl, and enough for Glenn Ford to flex his muscles in the west once more.”
Reasonable ratings … a passable way to spend a couple of hours.
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Also from 1951 …
Viewers rate nearly 7 out of 10 – pretty good.
One of several Westerns that you can watch for free – in full – on YouTube.
