Archive for the 'Western' Category

Shane

Published
by
Chalupa
on September 6, 2008
in Based on a novel, Civil War, Drama and Western
. 2 Comments

Released in 1953, Shane is one of the “classic” Westerns that a lot of people know about.  The first time I was aware was in 1998 when The Negotiator came out.  If you haven’t seen it, Spacey and Jackson reference this in the film.  I’ve always wondered what the film was about and I finally saw it.

This isn’t the kind of Western you’d see when thinking about a classic Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson film.  It’s also not one of the Western musicals that I can’t stand.  It’s just one of those wholesome stories that’s common of that era.

Checking out IMDB, I saw that Shane is played by Alan Ladd who also starred in the show Branded.  That’ll mean something to all of you Lebowski fans.  Van Heflin was in the original 3:10 to Yuma and Jack Palance, the fitness guru, is also in this film.

I have to admit I wasn’t super impressed , but I didn’t dislike it either.  A guy named Shane comes to town and starts helping out the Starrett family.  Shane then stands up for them when some “bullies” start pushing them around.  Eventually everything comes to fruition and there’s a gun battle at the end.  Pretty much your standard Western flick.

I’d say definitely watch this if you want to know what people are talking about if the film is ever mentioned.  If you’re not really into Westerns, older films, or just don’t care, you might not get into this one.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 5, 2008
in American Civil War, Based on a book, Based on a novel, Based on a true story, Crime, Great Depression, Narrated, Trains and Western
. 2 Comments

This movie is one that I’ve been wanting to watch for a while. I’m a big fan of Westerns and their derivatives.  Other drawing factors were the Oscar buzz surrounding this film and the performances by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.  I’m glad to see Casey getting some recognition.  I think he’s a very qualified actor and it’s good that he’s making a name for himself other than Ben’s brother.

In my opinion, there seem to be two main types of Western films.  I’ve always labeled them in my head as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood when in reality they’re both on the same side.  I think the real line should be drawn at the musicals.  Many old films in this style include lots of singing, and maybe even some dancing.  These are the ones I’m really not a fan of.  I more into the shooting, the bank robberies, the jail breaks, and the action.  The Assassination of Jesse James incorporates a lot of these elements.

If you don’t know about Jesse James, he was an American outlaw during the mid to late 1800s.  As I’m sure you can guess by the title, he was eventually assassinated and then became one of the legends of the “Wild West.”  I think it would be fair to argue most people don’t know much about his life other than he was an outlaw.  I really enjoyed this film because it gave a small peak into his life that most would never know.

As I mentioned before, there were some amazing performances by Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt, but it’s fair to mention they weren’t the only stars involved in this film.  Rounding out the cast are Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, Garret Dillahunt, and Paul Schneider.  Roger Deakins was even nominated for Cinematography, along with No Country for Old Men, and Affleck was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

The only drawback I can think of for this film is the length.  I still don’t understand why some can’t sit through a longer movie if it’s worth watching, but it’s fair to mention just so you know.  I would highly recommend this to any fans of the Western genre.  I would put it on par with 3:10 to Yuma.

Rating: ★★★★½

3:10 to Yuma

Published
by
Chalupa
on September 24, 2007
in Crime, Drama, Remake and Western
. 0 Comments

If you’re into Westerns I think you’ll like this movie. If you’re not into Westerns, you might still like this movie. I’ve always thought of myself as a big fan of the Western genre. I think when push comes to shove I’m really just a big fan of Clint Eastwood. It’s always fun to see good vs bad…and even the ugly sometimes.

One of my fellow co-workers is considered an expert on the Western genre. He even has a book titled Westerns and American Culture, 1930-1955. This guy knows his stuff. One day I was talking to him about movies and to my horror the man hates Spaghetti Westerns and he HATES Clint Eastwood. The guy loves John Wayne. To me, John Wayne is the Jackie Chan of Kung Fu movies. If you couldn’t tell, I’m more partial to the likes of Jet Li and Bruce Lee. Anyways, I’ve kind of guessed that my co-worker isn’t a fan of the bad guys winning, little character development and little morality. Well, I think he just might like this movie because it’s not lacking in those areas.

I haven’t seen the original, but I read that it has a different ending. I’ll have to Netflix-it and see what I think. If you’re not familiar with the plot, it’s about a man who lost most of one leg in the Civil War and is trying to earn some money so his family doesn’t lose their land to the railroad. In order to earn $200, he volunteers to help escort a hardened criminal to a train station to put that man on the 3:10pm train to Yuma Prison.

I’m sure you can guess that everything doesn’t really just run smoothly. What kind of movies do? This terrible menace to society starts off by being all nice and polite. He even tries to befriend almost everybody. Don’t let him fool you though, he’s still a cold-blooded murderer. However, he doesn’t just kill on a whim. He does things for a reason. On the way to the train, the first man we see Ben Wade kill pretty much deserved it. In fact, before this little trip, he had recently burned down Dan Evans, the volunteer’s, barn. It was still a smoking pile of timbers when the group left town. Ben figured this guy deserved it, and he did. As the group treks across the open country, more and more of them don’t make it to the end, but you see a friendship growing between Ben and Dan.

This is where the character development happens. Dan is a good man, plain and simple. Dan does the right things for the right reasons. Ben notices he doesn’t belong on this trip. Dan has a family to take care of and not much to take care of them with. Ben knows that Dan is just doing what he can to take care of his wife and kids. I think that’s why you start to see a deep respect grow between them. I’m not going to tell much more about what happens because I can’t give too much away.

So you may be wondering who’s in this. Ben is played by Russell Crowe. Personally, I can’t think of a single movie this man has been in that I didn’t like. Dan is played by Christian Bale. Some other highlights are Ben Foster, Alan Tudyk, and Peter Fonda and Luke Wilson. Definitely a great group of actors. I’m continually impressed by Crowe, Bale and Foster in just about everything they do.

I’m so glad I saw this in the theater. It was an experience worth every dollar I paid to see it. This will be making its way into my top 10 for the year. I highly suggest you give it a chance if you are able.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 9, 2006
in Adventure, Crime, Drama, Forgiveness, Kidnapping, Mexico, Neo Noir and Western
. 0 Comments

I unfortunately missed this one in the theaters, but luckily netflix came through for me. This movie stars Tommy Lee Jones(Pete), Barry Pepper(Mike), Julio Cedillo(Melquiades), and Dwight Yoakam(Belmont). Tommy Lee Jones also directed this movie. This is his second movie to direct and I think he did a wonderful job. This movie has ‘three burials’ in its titled because it’s about a man that was buried three times. A mexican migrant worker is accidently shot by a border patrol officer and the officer tries to cover it up. The body was later found by the authorities and the victim’s best friend, Jones, starts his own investigation. Jones goes on his own personal vendetta to track down the man responsible and make the killer realize exactly just what he has done.

I think I was first drawn to this movie by the title. Then I was drawn to it by the setting, actors, and then by the story. This is a great story about having to face the music when we screw up. This is also a movie about intense friendship and loyalty. I’d like to think I would be willing to do the same thing for my friend.

After Jones tracks down the man responsible, they go retrieve Melquiades’ body and proceed to transport to his hometown in Mexico. It takes them a while to actually find the town and once they do, they immediately go to work. First they repair Estrada’s house. They then post a sign so anybody coming by will know what they’ve found. Lastly, they bury Melquiades Estrada for the third and last time.

It’s not quite over yet though. Pete now makes Mike beg for forgiveness. At first Mike tries to shirk this one final responsibility given him, but things don’t work out the way Mike would like. Even though nothing can be done to bring Melquiades back, and the whole thing was an accident, Mike is still responsible. I really felt like personal redemption was gained by the end for Mike. Some of this can be painful to watch, but I think it needs to be that way. So much of our culture today glorifies death, killing and violence. Many people view hispanic people as just “spics” or “wetbacks” and would probably even voice their opinion in support of Mike’s actions. I would like to think that these kinds of people would really feel this way if put into Mike’s shoes.

I also get the feeling that Pete is like a “ghost of Christmas past”. In the same way that Scrooge is made aware of the consequences of his actions, Mike is made aware of the consequences of shooting Melquiades. Mike also repents of his actions and comes out on the other side of his wild adventure a changed man. I’m not sure if this was done on purpose, but I think it could lead to some great discussion.

There’s definitely some objectionable content in here, but this is a film very much worth watching.

Serenity

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 1, 2005
in Action, Adventure, Based on TV Series, Future, Sci-fi, Space, Thriller, War and Western
. 2 Comments

If you’re a fan of the late TV show, Firefly then you’ll love this movie. If you haven’t heard, Joss Whedon, the writer/director, made this one for the fans. I thought it was a great movie but if you haven’t seen the series then there’s a lot of things that just don’t make too much sense. Mostly because you don’t have all the backstories and explanations.

The movie and TV series are based on a couple of old soldiers from a galactic war who fly around with their friends in an old firefly-class ship.  It’s even shaped like a firefly.  The story is heavily Western/cowboy based.  They are essentially outlaws because after the war was over, they ended up being on the wrong side.  As they travel from planet-to-planet picking jobs here and there, they run into their fair share of adventures while trying to keep a low profile and stay off the Alliance’s (the totalitarian government) radar.

Being futuristic, it’s interesting to see a mesh of American and Asian, specifically Chinese, culture.  They also talk about “the Earth that was.”  Nobody actually lives on Earth anymore.  Everybody had to populate new planets as resources became scarce.  Another interesting feature is that even though the story is futuristic, it’s very much realistic.  People wear “normal” clothes and there aren’t unrealistic technologies like tractor beams and laser guns.

If you like the movie or just need more of the story, I’d highly suggest renting/buying the first season of Firefly.

Rating: ★★★★½

The Alamo

Published
by
Lij
on June 3, 2005
in Based on a true story, Drama, History, Remake, War and Western
. 1 Comment

I didn’t really want to see The Alamo when it came out. The previews didn’t make it look all that great, and the story isn’t really my favorite story in American history. In fact, I wasn’t all that familiar with the story anyway.

But lately I’ve decided to see if I like Patrick Wilson as much as I suspect that I do, so I’ve been renting the few movies that he’s in. The Alamo was one of them.

I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. It was a nice historical drama. Nothing spectacular, but nice. I wouldn’t put it at the level of The Patriot, one of my favorite American History war dramas, but it was pretty good.

Billy Bob Thorton was fine in it as Davy Crockett. The moment where Crockett plays his violin with Santa Ana’s men is probably completely fictional, but it was a nice movie moment. Jason Patric did a nice job as Jim Bowie, a character I’d heard of but never really known much about.

As for Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston — he wasn’t really a major part of the movie until after everyone at the Alamo was dead, but you can see why Texans love Sam Houston. Actually, this movie lets you know why Texans love Texas.

Historically, The Alamo wasn’t exactly right on. However, I do know a bit more about the story and am willing to find out more. It’s an entertaining movie that makes Santa Ana the bad guy instead of the Mexican army, that makes heroes out of people who wouldn’t normally be heroes (like Travis, the Patrick Wilson character), and that questions heroes that are already folklore in their own era (Davy Crockett).

I wouldn’t rush out to rent The Alamo, but I wouldn’t warn you off of it, either.

Ned Kelly

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 10, 2004
in Australia, Based on a novel, Biography, Drama, History and Western
. 2 Comments

Last night I picked up Ned Kelly, previously viewed, at Blockbuster and then watched it with some guys on the deuce. This movie is about an Irish guy, Ned, who becomes an outlaw while trying to stick up for his family. The movie takes place in Australia in the 1870’s or 1880’s. The cops basically rule the land and do whatever they want…so if you get on their bad side you’re screwed. Eventually Ned, his brother, and a couple friends start robbing banks to give the money back to their friends and family so they can pay bills, mortgages, etc and basically survive. Pretty soon a bounty is put on their heads, they are declared outlaws, and the crown sends a big bad lawman, played by Geoffrey Rush, to bring the men to justice. Towards the end of the movie there’s an interesting shootout where the 4 outlaws have created steel plating so deflect the police’ bullets. Reminded me a lot of when those guys had flack jackets and AK-47’s and robbed a bank out in CA. They walk out of a building, the cops open fire. They just stand there. The cops get confused. They open fire and start taking them out left and right til they have to reload and then go back inside. Besides the whole pseudo modern Robin Hood theme going on, there is the issue of unjust imprisonment and unchecked governmental authority. Definitely something worth checking out.