Favourite Western's

[Mikael4e]

And the King of the Western

[wiz4r]

The wild bunch

Pale Rider

The Professionals

[ubu55]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

Am I the only person who found it hard to believe a woman could out draw a man with the weapon they show her using?

scoundrel: The key area of strength would lie in the hands and wrists. If a woman is strong enough to throttle someone, she's strong enough to be as fast and as accurate with a pistol (they aren't accurate weapons anyway) as any man.

It's a bit after the fact, but there is statistical data on the relative speeds of men & women, from Fast Draw competitions popular around the U.S. Here are results from the 2015 "Big Thicket Bushwhackers (Texas)" event:

Big Thicket Bushwackers
Texas State
Shoot date: 4/11/2015
Times posted to the right:

MEN'S
1 Delta Whiskey TX Mens Traditional 2 0.403 40
2 Short Keg NV Mens Super Senior 2 0.392 37
3 Old West OR Mens Super Senior 3 0.368 35
4 Lightnin’ Jesse TX Mens Traditional 2 0.441 33
5 Jeremiah CO Mens Traditional 3 0.466 31
6 Quick Cal NV Mens 49’r 3 0.403 30
7 Cruiser CO Mens 49’r 3 0.472 29
8 Boulder Vaquero SD Mens Traditional 13 0.365 28
9 Marshal B. K. Gunner WI Mens Super Senior 13 0.485 27
10 Mongo CO Mens Senior 13 0.517 26
11 One Shot KY Mens Senior 12 0.394 25
12 Trinity ID Mens Traditional 12 22.000 24
13 Comeback Kid TX Mens Traditional 11 0.442 23
14 Hyde Hunter CA Mens Senior 11 0.505 22
15 Boothill Bryce SD Mens Traditional 10 0.395 21
16 Red Rock TX Mens Traditional 10 0.460 20
17 Stanislaus CA Mens Senior 10 0.739 19
18 Lash NV Mens Traditional 10 22.000 18
19 K.J. Kwik MO Mens Senior 9 0.470 17
20 Gentleman George TX Mens Senior 9 0.514 16
21 Big Mark LA Mens Traditional 9 22.000 15
22 Windmill Kid TX Mens 49’r 9 0.422 14
23 The Gunslinger WA Mens Traditional 9 22.000 13
24 Texas Railroader TX Mens Senior 8 0.613 12
25 The Island SD Mens Traditional 8 0.621 11
26 Dealin Dale TX Mens Senior 8 0.404 10
27 The Breeze TX Mens Senior 8 0.570 9
28 Tex TX Junior Boy 7 0.404 8
29 Sundowner CA Mens OT 7 0.407 7
30 Ram TX Ladies Traditional 7 0.447 6
31 General Lee Missin TX Mens Traditional 7 0.469 5
32 Texas Boer TX Mens Traditional 7 0.477 4
33 Captain Kaufman SD Ladies Senior 7 0.496 3
34 Pecos OK Mens Traditional 7 0.512 2
35 Lucky 45 TX Mens Traditional 7 0.517 1
36 Okie Ed OK Mens Traditional 7 0.535
37 El Pistolero de Diablo TX Mens OT 7 0.536
38 Shane KY Mens OT 7 0.561
39 Red Lead Slinger ID Mens Shootist 7 0.562
40 No Name AZ Mens Super Senior 7 0.568
41 Gabe Garret TX Mens Traditional 7 0.661
42 Deacon KS Mens Super Senior 7 22.000
43 Huckleberry TX Mens Traditional 6 0.408
44 Nitro Kid CO Mens Traditional 6 0.418
45 Sprayin’ Lead Ned CA Mens 49’r 6 0.524
46 Skagway Sam TX Mens Senior 6 0.526
47 Diamondback Billy AR Mens Senior 6 0.596
48 Bobtown Red KY Mens Traditional 6 0.599
49 Mud Cat TX Mens Super Senior 6 0.670
50 Sie Longley TX Mens Senior 6 0.715
51 Old Man River SD Mens Traditional 6 0.925
54 Boss TX Mens Shootist 6 22.000
54 The Counselor KY Mens Traditional 6 22.000
54 Vic Torious CA Mens Traditional 6 22.000
55 Next X Hombre TX Mens Traditional 5 0.407
56 Quickstrike TX Mens Traditional 5 0.429

Ladies
1 Corkey TX Ladies 49’r 2 0.599 40
2 Short Stop Shooter TX Ladies Traditional 2 0.521 37
3 Alotta Lead NV Ladies 49’r 2 0.575 35
4 K. K. Kid TX Ladies Traditional 3 22.000 33
5 Miss Kitty AZ Ladies Senior 3 0.438 31
6 Sagebrush SD Ladies 49’r 11 0.753 30
7 Texas Rose TX Ladies Super Senior 10 0.623 29
8 Wench CO Ladies Super Senior 10 1.009 28
9 Angel Lady KS Grand Dame 10 1.077 27
10 Kansas Belle KS Ladies 49’r 9 0.714 26
11 Scarlett Bandit TX Ladies Traditional 9 22.000 25
12 Plain Jane TX Ladies Traditional 8 0.565 24
13 Lucky Lady SD Ladies 49’r 8 0.575 23
14 Nickel TX Ladies Traditional 8 0.783 22
15 Barbwire Becky TX Ladies Traditional 8 0.804 21
16 Smokin Mo CO Ladies Traditional 8 1.019 20
17 Snake Charmer MO Ladies Senior 7 0.642 19
18 Burgundy Rose TX Ladies Traditional 7 0.784 18
19 Star of Africa TX Ladies Traditional 7 1.038 17
20 Miss Christy SD Ladies Traditional 6 0.658 16
21 Caneyhead Red TX Ladies Traditional 6 0.730 15
22 Boulder’s Babe SD Ladies Senior 6 0.740 14
23 Diamond Mae TX Ladies Traditional 5 0.741 13
24 Buttercup TX Ladies Traditional 5 22.000 12
25 Blue Eyed Bandit TX Ladies Traditional 4 0.488 11
26 Cat Balou SD Ladies 49’r 4 0.673 10
27 Six Iron Butterfly CA Ladies Senior 4 0.787 9
28 Pistol Patty WI Ladies Senior 4 0.797 8
29 Silver Fox CO Ladies Senior 4 0.970 7
30 Honey Badger CO Ladies Traditional 4 22.000 6

The fastest man's time was .365, & while most of the women are above the .500 second mark, one lady posted a .438... only .073 seconds slower, & quicker than over 2/3 of the 56 males.
What can't be quantified is the steadiness & accuracy of the shooter. Seven-hundredths of a second faster alone, isn't enough to guarantee a winner.

scoundrel: I'm a man, and plenty of women are stronger than me. A lot depends on your lifestyle and what you do for a living.

Believe you're right about that... & from this photo of one of the female competitors, I'd be willing to take one for the team & wrestle her, to help settle that question properly. (mud or hot oil, please!)

[trailmaster]

My two favorite western movies of all time are the original The Magnificent Seven, and The Big Country( starring Gregory Peck, Burl Ives, Charlton Heston, Jean Simmons, Chuck Connors, Carrol Baker and many others ). I love every western movie that Clint Eastwood ever made, and all the westerns made by James Stewart, Charles Bronson, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, and off course John Wayne. There are hundreds of other actors that made westerns and I like most of them. By the way my Avatar if you don't already know is a photo of the bit part actor Robert J. Wilke who was a minor star who made more than 400 guest appearances in probably every t.v. western ever made and also made guest appearances in 50 movies.

[Mister Fide]

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
A Fistful of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
McCabe & Mrs Miller
One-Eyed Jacks (great film & the only one Marlon Brando directed)
The Quick & the Dead
Yellow Sky

[rodak]

There is a lot of this film in the Indiana Jones films.
This is a truly great Adventure/Quest/Western film.
Mackenna's Gold

[thunderfly]

Tombstone, True Grit and any western with Clint Eastwood.
It was watching The Good, The Bad and The Ugly that turned my opinion of westerns into a positive one. Before seeing this film, I never really liked westerns as a kid.

[Sir Honkers]

Forsaken with Kiefer Sutherland and his dad is my new favourite western.

[scoundrel]

Cimarron is the last of the Anthony Mann westerns. He went on to make one more important film, El Cid, in 1961. After that his films were potboilers, although The Heroes of Telemark is at least entertaining and watchable.





Cimarron is an epic story in the mould of Giant or The Big Country: but these are great films whereas Cimarron is only a good film, not a great one. The film tells a domestic story but using an epic historical backdrop. It is really about the marraige of Yancey Cravat and Sabra Cravat, who are played by the excellent Glenn Ford and by Maria Schell, an Austrian actress playing a French-American lady who have very bravely chosen a pioneer for her husband, preferring to be married to a real man even if the life will be tough, than to be married to one of the woodentops her genteel parents would like.

But marraige to Yancey Cravat is difficult for reasons she hadn't banked on. He is cast in a fairly heroic mould, and while certainly brave, she is not cast in a heroic mould. Her priority is to be a wife and mother, though she is capable in business and no dummy. If it comes up, she'll fight battles, but she gradually becomes disenchanted with her husband's idealistic philosophy of life because it gets in the way of him looking after his family and she feels more and more that his priorities are wrong. Also she is jealous by nature and does not altogether trust him to be faithful; though as it turns out this is not where his flaw lies and he never steps out on her.

The subplot of Yancey and his old flame, Dixie Lee, a lady of relatively easy virtue played with good dark comic effect by Anne Baxter, runs for at least three quarters of the film, because Yancey always avoids discussing this former relationship, much to Sabra's discontent. It is resolved in the end when, in desperation, Sabra goes to the town redlight district when Dixie now operates a "social club" and asks for news of her husband, who has now been AWOL for two years. At first Dixie adamantly refuses, but Sabra sets aside her pride and her long held enmity for Dixie and quiety, in a dignified way, begs. She doesn't even know if he is alive or dead, and it is this extreme detail which causes Dixie to relent and give reasssurance; Yancy has gone to the Spanish American War but was fine when last heard of. Sabra in return admits to her jealousy, as if Dixie didn't know, and the barriers fall, and the two rivals confide and compare notes. Its a nice little ironic moment of female bonding and as soon as Dixie concedes that she has failed to take Yancey from Sabra and given up trying, Sabra is completely disarmed and in a weird way a new friendship is born.

Yancey's real weakness (but also his strength) is his unselfish idealism. The trouble is that when you are a husband and a father, unselfish idealism isn't really unselfish at all, and Sabra has a point. However she married him because he is brave and strong and true and is insufficiently aware that this means not compromising. His other problem, and here she is absolutely right, is that he is an adventurer. Even though he has built a newspaper business which is growing and starting to prosper, the prospect of another Oklahoma land rush is too exciting to miss and he goes off, even though his wife refuses to accompany him. That's not good behaviour. This leads to his absence for five years (which counts as desertion in most peoples books) and Sabra is forced to run the newspaper herself, finding to her surprise that she can do it.

Its a very interesting drama and made so by the quality of the acting. But it misses the mark as an epic story, because the story is small scale. However there are some fine dramatic moments. Very memorable is the scene when Yancey finally settles matters with his deadly enemy, Bob Yountis, a racist redneck who is behind most of the criminal activities in the new settlement of Cimarron, and leader of the drunken mob element. Bob Yountis has roused a drunken mob against an American Indian family who had the temerity to claim their 160 acres, which for Yountis is exclusively a white privilege. Yancey sees the flames of their homestead and even though his wife is imminently due to give birth, he arms himself and goes to the fire, knowing that he is the only man in Cimarron who is willing to protect this family, also knowing who he will find there. Yountis has hanged the father of the Indian family and is gloating over his cruel crime; but he is fooled because Yancey has never taken a violent course before. Sneering and pointing a gun, he warned Yancey not to cut the man down, openly declaring that he hung the man up.

Yountis: You cut him down, I'll shoot you, you hear me?
Yancey: Yeah; I hear you. [shoots Yountis dead, then cuts the victim down.

There are a number of similar moments in which Yancey stands up for the right; but the strength of this film is that it shows that black and white is not how things work. But likewise Sabra is occasionally capable of idealism, as for example her horror and revulsion when Yountis forces the local Jewish pedlar, Sol Levy, to stand in a crucifix position with target whiskey bottles in each hand and risk death just so a drunken cowboy can shoot the bottles. It is the drunkard, himself already close to becoming an outlaw, who shows a tiny shred of pity, cheerfully reassuring Sol thet he's going to be alright, and shooting with concentration to make sure Sol is not harmed. Sabra has to watch this, but rushs forward when the shooting ends to hold the collapsed pedler in her arms like a child and protect him from further humiliation. Here begins another interesting relationship; later Sol becomes a key friend and ally, the venture capitalist who advances loan capital on mates rates to Sabra to keep her newspaper going. It is the elephant and the mouse; Sol is very sweet on Sabra (aand she knows it and uses it a little bit) but mainly he is as loyal as a dog to the first person in Cimarron who ever stood up for him. David Opatoshu plays Sol Levy, very nicely.

There is also a running theme concerning Sabra's character flaw: mild but deeply felt racism. She is in favour of humane conduct, but not totally supportive of Yancey's firm friendship with the local Indians and championing of the rights against others who try, for example, to swindle them of their oil royalties after they strike oil. Especially, she is very very against her only son forming a relationship with Ruby Red Feather and turns him out of the house, disowning him entirely, because he has married Ruby without even telling her. But at the end, when she is being feted for her service to the town as proprietor of the newspaper, she realises that she is sad.

I am a woman. Where is my husband? Where are my children? It is not worth it.

She is suddenly pining for the son she rejected and realising that she has a daughter in law she has never acknowledged, and that these crimes are now their own punishment. She has decided not to attend or speak at this gathering held in her honour, but then it turns out that her son has come to be there and brought his wife and his two small children; she is a grandmother, and never knew it because she never tried to find out. She realises that she does not deserve this reunion, but in so realising paradoxically earns the right to be a mother and grandmother again. It is a very sweet and life-affirming moment, not least when she happily embraces her Indian daughter in law, glad of the chance to do it. Having been reunited with her loved ones, she is instantly much stronger and able to thank the townspeople as in common decency she knows she must; they too deserve her affection in spite of many ups and downs in the relationship.

This is a rather good film, well acted and full of good meat. Far from being a classic, but it is a good watch.

[haroldeye]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

Ford made a memorable villiain in The Man From Colorado 1948,Playing a sadistic psychopath Who becomes Judge in a small town. Ford Who could be noble,anguished or heroic,Here is positively reptilian,Clearly hinting at His character's sexual pleasure in killing(Very Unusual for the time)


Well One Them was The Alamo 1960,Even with The Duke playing the role,They couldn't have Davy Crockett surviving.as a side note,the larest version of The Alamo is the only one to actually show Crockett dying,Bayoneted in cold blood after the battle.The truth about Crockett's demise is unclear,He may well have died fighting in the final bloody chaos after the Mexican Army came over the walls.

In those days the rules about sieges were simple. Make a deal and you lived. Go on and force the attackers to end the siege by force and you take the consequences.