Favourite Western's

[haroldeye]

Personal fave westerns,

The Cavalry Trilogy,
The Searchers
Stagecoach

and best of all

Blazing Saddles.

[Sir Honkers]

I liked The Man With No Name series and Silverado and Unforgiven were pretty good too. But High Noon and Jeremiah Johnson are the two I can watch over and over and never tire of.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by haroldeye

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.

In The Alamo, which is more or less a western, the situation is made clear. General Santa Anna is not offering terms. It turns out in the end that Santa Anna's character does have a chivalrous side: he spares the lives of Mrs Travis and her children and even personally salutes them as they walk away, to show his respect for the courage of her husband and the garrison he commanded.

But one of the conventions of westerns is the symbolic meaning of the bugle call and the tune called El Deguello. This tune really was used in 1836 at the Alamo. From wikipedia:

"Degüello" is a Spanish noun from the verb "degollar", to describe the action of throat-cutting. More figuratively, it means "give no quarter."[1] It "signifies the act of beheading or throat-cutting and in Spanish history became associated with the battle music, which, in different versions, meant complete destruction of the enemy without mercy."

The men in the Alamo, seen through Mexican eyes, were extremely bad hats. They came to Mexico by kind invitation and pledged loyalty in return for the right to settle in Texas and be granted land. Then they rebelled and it was already (correctly) suspected that they intended to go to the United States and seek admission as a slave state. General Santa Anna had abolished slavery in Mexico and this was what triggered the rebellion in Texas. The Mexicans had refused to offer terms and would only accept surrender at discretion, which would leave Travis and his men prisoners in the hands of an army which considered them to be traitors; and traitors are hanged.

In the film, this implacable determination on the part of the Mexican Army is conveyed by the repeated playing of El Deguello on bugles. It is also conveyed by the massing of the Mexicans for the final assault. They are coming to get the garrison, not really coming to capture the fortress; and they want the garrison to know in advance that they're coming.

[scoundrel]

A silly and enjoyably lighthearted western spoof which offers a pleasant way to fritter away an hour and forty minutes. Kenneth More gives a very charming and engaging performance as the reluctant sheriff, an Englishman who knows so little about the Wild West that he cannot tell when he is being menaced and challenged to mortal combat and doesn't even know he is not supposed to sell guns to the Indians. Instead, he starts from the premise that the various feuding parties in the lawless town of Fractured Jaw are all reasonable people who are merely misguided, and that the obvious solution is for the two feuding ranches and the local hostile Indian tribe to sit down, talk things over and share the water rights equitably. As for the guns sold to the Indians, well, they promised not to use them in war against the town, and Sheriff Jonathan Tibbs has great confidence in their word, much more than in the given word of most of the white characters. In fact, he has made an alliance with the tribe even before he knows he needs to, because when he could have slain the chief in fair fight, he merely gave him his tomahawk back and requested a cessation of hostilities. The chief remembers this generosity later when Sheriff Tibbs is his prisoner and feels able to negotiate and make peace with a man who chose to play fair when the advantage was on his side, and who therefore can be trusted.

Poor old Jonathan is the youngest son of a troubled family firm of posh London gunsmiths and has decided that the solution for a firm which needs to sell more guns is to go where there is a market for guns and get selling. Sadly, the beautifully handmade London shotguns aren't what ranchers engaged in border wars really need. But one of the craftsmen in London has designed a wrist harness for a derringer two shot pistol which makes the pistol appear in the hand ready to shoot if the wearer flexes his wrist correctly. It's not entirely perfected and can easily produce the pistol accidentally when the wearer wants to shake hands; but in Fractured Jaw when Jonathan Tibbs is repeatedly being confronted by ranch gunmen, this defect becomes an advantage, rapidly impressing his potential enemies with the knowledge that, however unusual, this is a fast gunman with a lethal close-range weapon and nobody to take lightly.

The comic courtship of Tibbs and "Miss Kate" (Jayne Mansfield), singer and saloon keeper who also runs the towns hotel, is also a pleasant diversion. It works quite well, in that it isn't that hard to see why they like each other. She likes him as a handsome chap who is extremely respectful; even though he has red blood and his attraction to her is clear enough, he is impeccably courteous and makes no assumptions about her character or morals, treating her exactly as he would behave towards an Englishwoman of good background. There's a bit of singing in which Jayne Mansfield supplies the lead entertainment in her own saloon; dubbed by Connie Francis apparently, which is a bit of a pity because Jayne Mansfield could actually sing.

There is an enjoyable scene where she lures him off to a secluded riverbank, ostensibly to teach him to shoot an American six shot revolver decently. In reality, she wants to take advantage of him, and of course (she's Jayne Mansfield for heaven's sake) she gets exactly what she wants. Despite giving him several opportunities, he remains decorous until she directly orders him to kiss her, which he does enthusiastically but very carefully, making absolutely sure she feels 100% safe and in control. She's no trollop, but she's not made of china either and being treated so respectfully by a man who clearly desires her is actually a new and exhilarating pleasure. It isn't because Sheriff Tibbs doesn't know exactly who she is in this town or that she is neither a virgin nor a wife; it's because he knows all that and really likes her as a person as well as a woman. These are new feelings for both of them and Jayne Mansfield played this aspect of her woman-of-the-world character very well and with charm.

Miss Kate is making all the running, but she is choosing well, even though she is comically exasperated by Tibbs's lack of savvy and local knowledge, and openly reproaching herself for her folly in choosing this fool. It's not folly. Sheriff Tibbs is kindhearted, brave and a man of honour who will protect her and her future children, even though she herself is deadlier than any male and doesn't actually need to be protected. His feet will not stray, and he will do exactly as he is told inside the house. He will make a good husband and she is aware of this and has decided to beat the other women to the prize.

It's not Shakespeare, but its good wholesome entertainment with a ravishingly pretty heroine who looks exactly how women are supposed to look and yet is also a tower of strength and nobody's doormat. I like this film.

[-Wizz-]

[Sir Honkers]

Originally Posted by -Wizz-

I'd forgotten about this. It was a great western, really quirky.

[-Wizz-]

[davedebris]

Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. Strother Martin and his crazy laugh while Lee Marvin whips Jame Stewart to show him you aren't a man without a gun John Wayne doesn't get the Girl! .

[rodak]

The Confederates robbing the gold shipment on the Union train is worth the price of admission all by it's self..

Rio Lobo

[tomesing]

Buffalo Bill (1944)




tomesing