Director: Don Siegel

Cast: Eli Wallach, Robert Keith, Richard Jaeckel

Before moving on to the “A” list and making classic actions films like, Charley Varrick, Madigan, and being a mentor to a fledging director named Clint Eastwood, Don Siegel was a “B” film director. He made classic “B” films like Riot in Cell Block 11, Baby Face Nelson, The Killers, and a little science fiction classic called Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The Lineup fits neatly into the “B” category. Based on a TV series that ran for six years back in the 1950’s The Lineup is an action packed thriller. The TV show, like the movie, was filmed on the streets of San Francisco and was a precursor to latter San Francisco cop shows like The Streets of San Francisco. The show starred Warren Anderson as Detective Ben Guthrie and Marshall Reed as Inspector Fred Asher, both, recreating their roles in the movie, though Reed’s role is small in the movie. According to his autobiography, “A Siegel Film” he also directed the pilot for the TV show.

A porter tosses a disembarking ship passenger’s luggage through the open window of a waiting taxi. The taxi quickly speeds of f along the San Francisco docks crashing into a truck before hitting a police officer. Before dying, the cop shoots the cab driver. All this happens before the opening credits role in this early Don Siegel action thriller. After the credits finish, two police inspectors Ben Guthrie (Warren Anderson) and Al Quine (Emile Meyer) arrive to investigate the scene. They find a gun and a syringe lying next to the dead body. The police confiscate the stolen luggage and back at the station, find a hollow Chinese sculpture stuffed with a bag of pure heroin. The police conclude the local mob is using innocent unsuspecting businessmen and tourists to smuggle heroin into the country.

To ensure safe delivery of the remaining smuggled drugs, the mob brings in Dancer (Eli Wallach), a psychotic crazed killer, and his partner and mentor, Julian (Robert Keith) from Miami, to retrieve the remaining three heroin packages. The first two jobs go smoothly, at least for Dancer, though not so well for the two carriers. The third pickup turns out to be more of a problem. It involves a mother and a young daughter who have come to San Francisco in hopes of reconciling with their husband/father. The package of heroin is hidden inside a Chinese doll the young girl’s mother purchased for her in Hong Kong. While on the ship, the little girl found the package and used it to powder the doll’s face. By the time they were stateside the heroin was all gone. Dancer, ever trigger-happy is ready to shoot the two however Julian, the more level headed of the two, explains that their employer may not understand or believe what has really happened here. He may think they are trying to cheat him and subsequently he and Dancer could become the hunted instead of the hunters. They decide to forcible bring the mother and child to “The Man” to help them explain what happened. They meet at an ice skating rink, which was originally the location for the final drop off for the exchange of heroin and money. Unfortunately, The Man does not understand. Wheelchair bound, he sits there as Dancer explains what happened. Finally, he says, “You’re dead.” Dancer continues trying to explain but “The Man” tells him “No one has ever seen me. You’re dead!” Enraged, out of control Dancer pushes the wheelchair bound drug lord off the balcony of the ice skating rink plunging to his death…on ice, a scene reminiscent of “Kiss of Death with Richard Widmark. In the meantime, the police have been following Dancer’s deadly trail and slowly have been closing in on him and Julian. The film ends with an exciting car chase through the streets and highways of San Francisco cumulating a thrilling and deadly finish.

Siegel moves smoothly back and forth between the police investigation scenes and the criminals. The police scenes are standard 1950’s TV fare, flatly filmed and rather dull. The two police inspectors seem a little too old for the job and very Jack Webb like in their roles. Much better and holding up well are the crime scenes where most of the action is. Credit this to Siegel who started out doing montage sequences at Warner Brothers. Acting honors go to Eli Wallach, Robert Keith and Richard Jaeckel who are all very good in their roles as Dancer, Julian, who seems to have a disdain for women, and MacLain, their professional getaway driver, with a drinking problem, who in the end is the reason they get trapped. However, it is Wallach who is the stand out as Dancer, an unrefined, short-tempered psychopathic killer. The Lineup was only his second film. He first appeared as the Italian husband in the Elia Kazan/Tennessee Williams film Baby Doll. Wallach would go on to have a great career and today is best remembered for his roles as Calvera the Mexican bandit in The Magnificent Seven and Tuco in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Shot on location, historic scenes of San Francisco are plentiful. Siegel would return to San Francisco some thirteen years or so later with a little film called Dirty Harry. Though many of his films are or have been available on home video, some important ones remain unavailable. Baby Face Nelson, Riot in Cell Block 11, Crime in the Streets are among some of his best and among the missing in the home video market. Writer Stirling Silliphant, best known for The Poseidon Adventure, In the Heat of the Night and The Towering Inferno, wrote the screenplay.

This post originally appeared on my personal site but since I have been called upon to lead Vaulting Sky I take up the challenge of facing ridicule and exposing myself to bodily harm on this, our feature blog. Alone and shivering I creep forth, compelled by some dark force to step out and proclaim that the films listed at the end of this post are the greatest westerns ever made.

What prompted this seedy daring? Our need for lists and cataloging, foolish ego and the plain old fact that if one has a blog it might as well be an interesting and occasionally hilarious read. Without this what is the point of blogging? The very fact that we are here in the blogging universe says to the world, “Hey, look at me. I may not be pretty but, darn it, I exist!

Then there is the fact of the Western. It is an invented art form and perhaps, along with jazz, the only art forms to be almost wholly formed on American soil.

The Old West as it comes down to us in the movie art form called “The Western,” is mostly myth. We all know or have caught hints that Wyatt Earp was considerably less than his self-generating reviews which were ripe for the pickings for an America hungry for heroes (When isn't America hungry for heroes?), and the horrors of the Native American ordeal in this country are now widely known fact.

Yet Hollywood found a way to express itself most powerfully by taking the dime-store myths of quick-draw, gun-slingers and Indian Fighting he-men and blowing them up into epic heroes while burying beneath the vast landscapes and sun-blasted exteriors the fears, the desperate hopes, and the yearning for role models that might teach us how to be good people in a world gone gray from compromise.

A man could walk alone in a movie western and declare the hard truths of black and white though, beneath this gritty, rock hard exterior lay a man wrestling with fears and doubts just like the rest of us.

And no movie star did this better than the much maligned, much hated, much under-rated John Wayne an actor whom, in his element, was as great an artist as Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, James Cagney, Burt Lancaster, Anthony Hopkins, Kirk Douglas, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Al Pacino, and Robert Ryan.

In Wayne we have an actor that carried the whole world in his eyes and much of that world contained all the hurt and pain that would subdue any thousand men, let alone one, lone hero. But more on Wayne, later.

You will note the presence of Eastwood, Bronson and Scott, but neither Cooper, Flynn nor Ladd made the list. Their Westerns are certainly interesting but they lack that complete package that would put them on such a list as this. Script, direction, and acting must all combine to make a memorable western and while I do enjoy “Shane,” “They Died With Their Boots On,” and “High Noon,” they are not works of art, or those works that repay careful attention and grow richer upon repeat visits.

An aesthetic statement?

Yes.

A shabby one?

Yes.

Scary?

I scare myself!

Thus, without further ado here are, in my throttled, beaten down, kicked and cudgeled opinion, the greatest westerns ever made (and below the list an attempt at commentary on each of the films):

1. "The Searchers"

2. "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"

3. "Ride the High Country / "The Wild Bunch"

4. "Red River"

5. "My Darling Clementine"

6. "Once Upon a Time in the West"

7. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"

8. "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"

9. "Rio Bravo"

10. "Stagecoach"

Hang on, a commentary, for what its worth, follows:

1. "The Searchers"

(Ford Dir., Wayne, Hunter, Miles)

Stop. I know the rage. I know the blows. I understand the frustration. But stop.

There is one thing we have to understand. There will never be an answer for John Wayne the creature, the man, the symbol, the poster boy, the devotee, the siren, the patriot, the loon, the lunk-head, the icon. There can only be a serious appraisal of John Wayne's movies by serious people. Wayne was said to be a bore, a racist, a misogynist, a goon, a coward, and a draft dodger. It is known that he escaped service from not one but two "patriotic" wars. (I understand the need to fight WWII but WWI?) At any rate, this small aside simply shows us the baggage that already attends to the Duke even before we might consider Wayne as Donposa has, rightly in my opinion, called him: one of the very greatest artists that America has ever produced.

Wait I have just taken a huge guzzle of Trader Joe's excellent Harris Tawny Port the better to ward of the cudgeling I suspect is my due for having uttered, for some, such profound nonsense. No, I am not drinking straight from the bottle. Besides the bottle is not even in a brown bag which, as we all know, is the only proper way to bottle-guzzle. And I am not "snifting" from a big fat jar passing as a glass. You John Wayne haters will stop at nothing. Nothing!

Further:

I am not a member of the John Birch Society nor have I ever aspired to be.

And, finally, no I am not some vile, backseat goon screaming out "Bomb, bomb, bomb, / bomb, bomb Iran."

I am a mere fan, perhaps soon to be an ex-fan but I warn you: the authorities have been alerted. If anything happens to me this blog will go dark--so there.

With such a safety net in place I can now, loudly, er, make that quietly but with some measure of conviction, proclaim that the greatest Western ever made is John Ford's "The Searchers." Wait. Ok it was the alarms but my security cameras only picked up a strange looking man in a hoodie rifling through my neighbor's Infinity Q45. I will say this about that: "I'm glad it's not me!"

Back. "The Searchers." It is terrifying. No, not because John Wayne enters the frame, (Stop it haters!), but because it starts in mystery and ends in mystery and you cannot imagine an end for any of the main characters. What has gone on before the movie's legendary final shot is mostly horror and the anticipation of horror. Even attempts at humor are bathed in a glow that breeds horror around the next bend. It is a movie of massacres and crushed young love and thwarted hearts that burn with rage at memories too painful to dwell on and too precious to totally still.

"The Searchers" is searing in the vile racism breathed by its main character, Wayne's Ethan Edwards, the unreconstructed Confederate (Yes, a Johnny Reb!). But "The Searchers," on the other hand, is unapologetic also about its stern condemnation of this same man's hate, his sometimes boorish behavior and his eventual "turning."

"The Searchers" is lurid in its great action scenes in that they are played out with hatred as their real base.

Wayne's character is one of only three film roles where Wayne disappeared and a towering figure of world class art emerged, hideous warts and all. The other two film roles were: Tom Dunston in "Red River," and Captain Nelson Brittles in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." Here are characters that rival Cagney's Cody Jarrett and George M. Cohan; Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs and Commander Phillip Francis Queeg; Brando's Don Corleone; Al Pacino's Michael Corleone; Russell Crowe's Captain Jack Aubrey and John Nash; Denzel Washington's Trip and Malcolm X; Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle, Johnny Boy, Jake LaMotta, Jimmy Conway, and young Don Corleone. In short Ethan is allowed to be himself without any interference from the "star" playing him.

"The Searchers" is screaming. It is a shout heard across endless deserts and lonely mountain-ringed plains. Ford's eye misses nothing and the vast, glorious landscapes that he captures become, in themselves, characters and players in this greatest of American epics.

You know the plot. Some adore it; others scowl when they speak of it.

Mystery, unrequited lust, love never achieved, a life consigned to wandering, massive defeats, the greatest scene of impending doom ever captured on the screen. Desperate battles, Revenge--strangled. Burning passions. Seemingly unquenchable hatreds. Towering crescendo. Mystery again.

Max Steiner's score is one of the greatest ever produced by Hollywood and Stan Jones' title song, sung by the venerable Sons of the Pioneers (Roy Rogers' old group), enters the memory and the heart like it is brain matter and heart tissue.

There are a few films that might equal "The Searchers" as the greatest film ever made but none, however, surpass it.

2. "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"

No one begrudges “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” its towering status as one of the greatest movies of all time. Indeed it may be the second most outrageous “great” film ever made. If, to stray for a moment, “Chimes at Midnight,” where Orson Wells attempts to cram pieces of the two Henry IV plays, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Richard II, and Henry V into a tidy epic with a showpiece battle scene thrown in for good measure for a total package that runs just under two hours (The result: A stupendous triumph!), is the most bold and positively insanely outrageous of the great movies, then TGTBTU, with its epic Civil War backdrop and its characters lust for gold, is right up there in its class.

TGTBTU is a Western that takes to the extreme the possibilities inherent in the genre. It is a film of lean, angular poses and sharp colors. Its dialogue is often terse and pointed so that lines ricochet around the memory for quite awhile before becoming spent. Eli Wallach’s Tuco is given some room to run gloriously around like a firecracker forever lit without igniting, but the film draws its strength from the iconic poses of Clint Eastwood’s Blondie and Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes. They bookend Tuco’s nervous energy with their tall, rail thin frames. They are all about looks and poses and they both possess a serene languor that while quietly breathing menace it is yet a menace with verve and a real sense of style.

A quibble might break forth about which of the two Sergio Leone masterpieces might hold sway if put into a locked room with a bottle of Gran Patron on the table between them. I believe “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” would emerge from the room, bloodied but victorious.

The key is its entertainment value. TGTBTU repays countless viewings. One never tires of its mysteries. Its use of its hero Blondie is subtle and assured. Blondie may be a jackal but he is a jackal with a heart, not of gold, mind you, but a with a heart nevertheless. It is Blondie who sees Tuco’s humiliation at his priestly brother's hands and wisely keeps this to himself; it is Blondie who has sympathy for the Union Captain forced into senseless battles for worthless objectives; and it is Blondie who covers the dying Confederate teen with a warm coat, offers him a smoke, and stays with him until he perishes.

But Blondie is not, by any means, soft and emotional. He is a thug and as greedy and as opportunistic as either Tuco or Angel Eyes. And from this stand Eastwood and Leone never yield (although there are rumors that Leone kept wanting to change the script on the set but Eastwood, wisely, refused) for a moment. Thus it is after the Confederate youth dies that Blondie coolly takes the same cigar that the youth sucked on and lights a canon that is calmly aimed at the fleeing Tuco!

“Once Upon a Time in the West,” is certainly Charles Bronson’s greatest film and he is as iconic as Eastwood in some ways. But Eastwood looks as if his whole persona was built for leans and poses. Bronson has a scrambler’s look–he’s Blondie in Tuco’s body and clothes. OUATITW is a tad more moving. I don’t know what it is but I get teary-eyed when Bronson looks at Claudia Cardinale and says: “Now I gotta go,” and he leaves with both of them knowing they will never see each other again.

Henry Fonda’s villain is sublime in OUATITW. It is a late triumph for the old time mega-star and he brings to the role of the wicked Frank the same conviction that he brought to his very best heroic films. He is relaxed, funny and wholly, and unapologetically, murderous.

But OUATITW falls off with the Cheyenne story line that features Jason Robards. Here the movie sags a bit and though Robards is his usual excellent self he isn’t given much to do. The witty lines, the cool poses, the sense of frame owning is denied his character. Is this a case of one star and story line too many? Perhaps.

Even Morricone’s superb soundtrack seems to meander with Cheyenne’s character and that is something unheard of on a Morricone score.

Finally, the OUATITW story of how the West was settled and the epic glory of the first Western railroads is a wonderful one but Leone makes much more use of the Civil War backdrop in TGTBTU. The throwaway scenes are downright jaw dropping. There is, for example, the magnificent scene where the retreating Rebs flow through town as canon shots boom all around them. Meanwhile the real action is the hunt for Blondie by Tuco and his men going on upstairs in a hotel. And what can one say about the great shot of Union soldiers shooting a deserter as Blondie and Angel Eyes ride into town looking for the buried gold that everyone wants. As the war swirls around them, Blondie, Tuco and Angel Eyes are reside in their own parallel universe

Enough! In the end taste will out and if someone prefers “Once Upon a Time in America” over “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” they are, in the end, on as equally a solid piece of ground as I believe I am.

Finally, there is the late, great Leone, the fabulous Italian filmmaker, the master of framing and a visual poet on par with Vidor, Mann and Scorsese. In his hands the Western was both poetry and music. Landscapes, characters, ideas all flow by, now in tumultuous riot, now in quiet concert and with Morricone’s head spinning scores accompanying his vision, Leone pulled off that rare thing that only great artists are able to pull off: he created two works that triumph both as crackling entertainment and as profound art.

3. "Ride the High Country / "The Wild Bunch" (tie)

(Peckinpah Dir., Scott. McCrea [Country]; Holden, Ryan, Borgnine, Johnson, Oates, O'Brien [Bunch]:

Two towers from Peckinpah.

Both made in the 60's. "Ride the High Country" could stand here alone and be fine. Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea two of the old stars of Hollywood had moved on late in life when they were called upon by Sam Peckinpah to have one more last chance to star in a Western. It turns out that these mighty veterans knew the worth of the project they were getting into. McCrea is an old, epic lawman fallen on hard times who picks himself up and takes a dangerous job transporting gold from a mine to a bank. This job restores McCrea's pride and confidence and we begin to a late flowering in the old, veteran lawman whose moral code has now been revived. Along the way he partners with his old buddy Scott who was also a lawman veteran but a one who has gone further to seed. Indeed Scott plans to rob his buddy and take the gold!

There may be no more moving Western, save one, than this. Scott and McCrea have never been more towering and Peckinpah's relaxed storytelling and beautiful landscapes capture eloquently the poetry of shifting emotional landscapes. The dialogue is to die for and the movie is full of electrifying set pieces. Yes, it rocks!

By the way, there is only one other great Western ending in the movies that tops the one that ends this masterpiece. Once you watch "Ride the High Country" you will see that I do not speak falsely.

"The Wild Bunch" is the adventure of a gang of thieves whose days of glory are, as William Holden's gang leader Pike says "closing fast." Now, on the surface, the Bunch are mere murderous, thieving louts. They are ruthless. William Holden, Ernest Borgnine (yes, Mchale himself!), Warren Oates and Ben Johnson, play the core gang members. Sam Peckinpah, the director, sets up the gang's M.O. early when the Bunch bursts into a bank at the start of the film and Holden tells his gang of the innocents gathered there:

"If they move--kill 'em!"

On the surface this is not a bunch to take to heart. But Peckinpah keeps our attention on the Gang and as we learn that it functions like a family of outsiders taking their whacks against authority, they not onoy grow upon us but become, yes, endearing! Never lovable they are, nevertheless, men we come to admire for their own sense of right and wrong.

Of course they are also hunted. There is a relentless pursuit of this aging outlaw gang let by ex-Pike partner Robert Ryan's Deke who clearly has not heard of the "stop snitching" campaign now currently littering our urban streets. Ryan's Deke is a broken hood who just wants to lie down and rest. His only chance to escape prison for good is in corralling his old partner and as the weary bounty-hunter/betrayer Ryan is at his very best!

Holden the gang leader? Yes, the mighty Bill! The same William Holden of Billy Wilder's excellent triumphs "Sunset Boulevard," and "Stalag 17." The same William Holden of "Born Yesterday." The same William Holden of "Sabrina." The same William Holden of "Bridge on the River Kwai." Yes, that glorious William Holden.

And he is truly magnificent as one of those heroes who could care less about the outside world and the people in it, but grows towering and inspiring as the leader of his own little universe in which the gang revolves.

Along with Holden and Ryan, Peckinpah also stars. The now celebrated slow motion scenes of mayhem that Peckinpah submitted his audiences to were not properly appreciated in 1969 when the film came out. They are now. And the final walk to the Armageddon shootout must be seen, (I know this is a truly tiresome cliche but here it is gainfully employed), to be believed.

"Ride the High Country" and "The Wild Bunch" could, on their own, top any Greatest Westerns list. Sadly, they cannot here. They are towers. They are at the very highest heights of world cinema and modern art but, incredible as it may seem, two other works must, to this lone blogger at least, be ranked ahead of them.

It is a terrible case to make and I understand this full well. But I shall try to do just that over the coming few days. And I shall tremble all the way knowing that the only supports upon which I might rely are my own judgment and my own daring--shaky as both are.

4. "Red River"

(Hawks Dir., Wayne, Clift, Dru, Brennan, Ireland):

Hawks at his greatest. "Red River"s was John Wayne's breakout film, the film that made Hollywood gasp. Wayne, when broken early, can be one of the very greatest of artists and Donposa is right to point this out. Here he has a tragedy early in life and it profoundly affects his desperation years later as he must move a sea of cattle to the North through Indian territory, drought areas, thieves, and bushwhackers, or else go broke and lose everything.

This is the film that really understood the possibilities of the epic "dark" Western. The real key to this film is how Wayne bitter and despairing one moment can be heroic and epic the next. His Tom Dunston is one of the very greatest characters in the movies.

5. "My Darling Clementine"

(Ford dir., Fonda. Mature, Brennan):

The best of the "OK Corral" epics with Henry Fonda as a wonderful, laid back Earp, Victor Mature as the sick but deadly Doc Holiday, and Walter Brennan as the nasty and murderous Pa Clanton. The scene where Fonda and Cathy Downs, as "Clementine," take their slow walk to the Sunday Dance as the bells clang and flags flap gently in the wind, is one of the greatest in all of the cinema. Girls? Don't worry. You'll see what I mean.The black and white photography is stupendous and Ford is totally on his game. Magnificent!One of the greatest lines in the cinema belongs to Brennan's Pa Clanton:"If you pull a gun--kill a man!"

6. "Once Upon a Time in the West"

(Dir. Sergio Leone; Starring Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, and Jason Robards).

This dark Leone masterpiece is languorous in its pacing and not for all tastes. But it never fails to move if you stay with it. Bronson has never been better and Fonda is absolutely lights out/bonkers as, guess what, one of the greatest movie villains ever! Bronson, a man not given to many words, rides into town to settle a score from long ago. Cardinale arrives from Italy as a mail order bride only to find her “husband” killed by the evil Fonda and his gang. Robards is an outlaw who gets pinned with the murder of Cardinale’s husband. Everything comes together in the end and everything, surprise, works gloriously. The great Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack is almost as towering as his kick-in-the door triumph of a score for “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.”

This is a towering work that, in a fair world, might even be considered a top five film. Alas in such a world where great Westerns used to be the norm and not the exception, "Once Upon a Time in the West" must be content with this: a second tier berth in a first rate list.

Cruel world!

7. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"

(Dir: John Ford; Starring John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, and Lee Marvin).

Late, glorious Ford. Wayne, the Old West, and Stewart, the New West, vie for Miles’s hand. Hovering over everything is Marvin’s superb Valance, a first rate thug to-end-all-thugs. Wayne, however, towers over all and reigns supreme not only as a hero, but as a desperate man who suddenly finds that the world has passed him by. Ford, now indoors, no longer has the majestic sweep of the land that so graced his other Westerns but, for all of that, he has crafted a most intense and highly rewarding drama.

This is a great film if for no other reason than the fact that John Ford with his wild interiors was already pointing to his final masterpiece "Seven Women."

8. "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"

(Dir: John Ford; Starring: John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson).

The greatest of all cavalry movies. Wayne is an old and grizzled veteran who must lead his men on one last dangerous patrol through hostile Indian territory. Ford brings his “A”-eye to the glorious landscape and Wayne is typically fine. Dru and Agar are the young lovers. The depiction of post-Civil War Cavalry life is fascinating with rifted brevet officers, once commanding hundreds of Civil War volunteer troops, now reduced in rank to Sergeants and Corporals. One ex-Confederate General has even joined up the new, smaller, U.S. Army as a private! Great fun.

9. "Rio Bravo"

(Dir: Howard Hawks; starring John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, Dean Martin and Walter Brennan).

The best of the late Hawks/Wayne Western combine which would yield box office hit after box office hit. Wayne, a drunken Martin, and a grizzled Brennan hold a killer for trial against various attempts to free him. A youthful Dickinson is Wayne’s love interest and she is glorious! She is the Helen of whom Marlowe wrote:

“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?”

Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

10. "Stagecoach"

(Dir: John Ford; starring John Wayne).

Ford’s first iconic Western with Wayne making his first real impression as a star. A stagecoach, filled with colorful passengers, finds itself under Indian attack. Thrilling but only a hint of what was to come with the Ford/Wayne combo).

]]> http://almeriaclips.wordpress.com/?p=154 Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:35:01 +0000 almeriaclips http://almeriaclips.wordpress.com/?p=154 Ha pasado más de una semana, desde que algunos pudimos disfrutar de un hecho casi irrepetible, como eran las emisiones de la Trilogía del dolar en los mismos escenarios donde fueron rodados.
Esta convocatoria que trajo hasta Almería a decenas de aficionados al western, ha generado un monton de post en blogs, en foros, etc.. asi como una cantindad ingente de fotos y videos del evento.

Gracias a Almeria_Cine podemos disfrutar de un resumen en dos partes de lo que ocurrio en el parque natural hace una semana.

Si disponeis de mas material subido a youtube, flicker, o cualquier web podeis pegarlo en los comentarios para poder tener un amplio muestrario para la gente que no pudo estar.

El Cortijo del Fraile

Reparto principal:
Eli Wallach ... Tuco
Clint Eastwood ... Rubio
Lee Van Cleef ... Sentenza / Ojos de ángel

Fotografía:
Tonino Delli Colli

Música original:
Ennio Morricone

Montaje:
Eugenio Alabiso
Nino Baragli
Joe D'Augustine

También conocida como:
El bueno, el malo y el feo

Palabras clave:
1860s, Action, Adult Situations, Adventure, American Civil War, Amputee, Anti Hero, Army, Assassin, bad-guy, Bandit, Bathtub Scene, Betrayal, Blood, Bounty Hunter, Bounty Hunters, Bridge, Brother Brother Relationship, Buried Gold, Buried Treasure, Catholic Mission, Cemetery, Child Murder, Civil-War [US], Coat, Compassion, con/scam, Contract Killer, Cult Western, Death, Deep Focus, Dehydration, Demolition, Desert, Double Amputee, Drama, Duster, Dynamite, Epic Western, Exploding Bridge, Explosion, Fall From Height, Famous Opening Theme, Famous Score, Firing Squad, Friendship, Fugitive, Gold, Good Versus Evil, good-guy, Grave Robbing, Greed, Gun Fu, Gun Store, Gunfight, Hanging, Hitman, Honor, Hotel, Humorous, Impersonation, Interrupted Hanging, Irreverent, Kindness, Legless Person, Lone Wolves, lynching, Male Nudity, Man With No Name, Marauder, Marksman, Mexican Standoff, Moral Ambiguity, Murder, New Mexico, Noose, Not For Children, Nude With A Gun, One Armed Man, Outlaw, Outlaw (Gunfighter) Film, outlaw [Western], Paraplegic, Part Of Trilogy, partner, Political Unrest, Priest, Prisoner Of War Camp, Public Execution, Quirky, Revisionist Western, Robbery, Sabotage, Satirical, Saved From Hanging, Scam, search, Sequel, Shooting Gallery, Shot In The Chest, Shot In The Face, Shot To Death, Showdown, Skeleton, Small Town, Spaghetti Western, Spit In The Face, Stagecoach, Stolen Money, Texas, Thirst, Torture, Tough Guys, Train, Treasure, Treasure Hunts, Trilogy, U.S. Civil War, Very Little Dialogue, Violence, Vulgarity, Warrior, Western, Western Violence

(Ennio Morricone - The Good The Bad & The Ugly (main title)

finishing up this tribute to one of themusicologist's all time favourite films with the final scene....guns drawn for the finale. don't know how many of you remember the film in detail but this is shot in the centre of the graveyard. Il Buono has written the name on the stone and it's waiting there for the victor to claim...as a piece of atmospheric cinema it ranks up there with the best of 'em and even though I have seen it many times it always has the same sense of drama and anticipation. A large part of that is down to Ennio Moricone's film score and I would like to pay tribute to the man, (who's film scores are enough for me to watch any film), by including his work here on the last day.

I won't lie to you it's been hard work this week searching through the vaults for diverse tunes that try to capture the essence of the film but most definately worth the effort and something I will be looking at doing again. I have a few ideas for alternative soundtracks so look out for them filed under the 'soundtrack' category.

(The Gaturs - Gator Bait)

we've already heard from 'il Buono' and 'il Cattivo' over the preeceding three days and now it's time for 'il Brutto' whose 'nom de plume', (Angel Eyes), seems to be well known to banditos like Tuco Ramirez.

Lee Van Cleef, (il Brutto), was a true veteran of the western genre first appearing in 'High Noon' with Gary Cooper in 1952 he went on to feature in many more such as 'Gunfight at the OK Corral', 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance', 'How The West Was Won', (along with Eli Wallach), and the second in the 'Dollars' trilogy 'For A Few Dollars More'.

as a measure of the mans on screen qualities his name, (along with Clint Eastwood's), was hijacked by Reggae DJ's, (MC's), and claimed as stage names, (Josey Wales too), so you can understand the huge impact these films and actors had on Jamaican music in particular.

todays slice of the musical pie is a quality piece of early 70's New Orleans Funk by little known outfit The Gaturs featuring the keyboard skills of none other than Soul Singer supreme Wilson Turbinton A.K.A 'Willie Tee' whose Mod classic 'Walking Up A One Way Street' is sublime and will definitely get an outing on themusicologist some day...Until then hold this..

(Roland Alphonso & The Beverleys All Stars - The Cat)

day three of the goodbad&ugly theme serves up a pivotal piece of dialogue . it's the bit where Tuco and, (an almost dead), Blondie stumble across the dying Bill Carson who, with his dying breath, tells our man 'Il Buono' the elusive name on the grave.

the music, courtesy of one of Jamaica's greats Roland Alphonso, (along with the Beverly's all stars), was released in the UK the same year as the film 1967..maybe it's just me but I can hear the echoes of the spaghetti western influence creeping in.

This movie does not exist. It never happened. If you ever come across a DVD or VHS tape labeled "Godfather III" it's an obvious error, feel safe to throw it away and continue on with your life.

Últimamente me ha dado por ver westerns por que creo que es uno de los géneros más chidos del cine y esta película en particular lo tiene todo, comenzando por que en ella salen Steve Mcqueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Eli Wallach y Yul Brinner (dense un rol por wikipedia o por el Internet Movie Database para saber quiénes son estos weyes y de ahí sacarán una lista de películas que son de lo más recomendable)

Me da la impresión de que esta es una de esas que de tan buenas generan clichés para la posteridad, un grupo de "guns for hire" se reúnen para hacerle el paro a un pueblito indefenso (1er cliché) de este lado de la frontera que se ve asolado por un villano muy pero muy malo, que cada que se viene la temporada de cosecha les cae y les tranza toooda su comida manteniéndolos en la extrema pobreza, y bueno, para variar los mexicanitos del mentado pueblito son así campecinitos (2do cliché) a los que les da rete harto frío ponérsele a los trancazos al maldito Calvera (Así se llama el malo).

Total que los campecinitos le piden a Chris (líder de los buenos) que les haga el paro y este junto con el chingonsísimo Vin se proponen juntar banda para entrarle a los madrazos por el bien de la justicia, reúnen a un grupo de foragidos bien cabrones, está el wey que se las dá de muy pistola pero la neta se está "miando" de miedo y al final se redime (3er cliché), el chingón corazón de pollo que cobra un buen de lana pero cuando se entera que la bronca es con sus "paisanos" (resulta que este wey es mitá mexican y mitá irish) se apunta for free (4o cliché), el wey que hace todo nomás por deporte (5o cliché), el chavito sacalepunta que por emoción quiere jugar a los vaqueros (oootro cliché) y así total comienza la aventura que por cierto no está nada mala, para ser una película filmada en el 60 está poca madre!

Tan chida y memorable es la película que seguro han escuchado el tema musical sin saberlo, se acuerdan del tema de "Bienvenido al mundo marlboro" de los comerciales? ah pus ese es el tema principal de la película...

Cuál es tu película de vaqueros favorita???

O título nacional ficaria bem melhor num outro contexto. Mostrando que nossos sentimentos nos acompanharão sempre; e para onde formos. Como também, seguindo em paralelo as nossas carreiras profissionais. Estarão presente quer seja para nos deixar alegre ou triste; surpresos ou não; desejando ou não... O fato é que toda forma de amar nos motiva a seguir em frente. O amor existe, querendo ou não. Agora, parece que quem "traduz" os títulos por aqui, prefiram "contar" o filme; ou pelo menos fazem força para isso.

Em relação ao filme... Se não fixarmos na idéia que as mulheres só serão felizes casadas (Com alguém ao seu lado e numa de: felizes para sempre!), está aqui um bom divertimento.

O porque disso? É que o roteiro mostra que mesmo querendo ir para longe daqueles que as enganaram, essas duas personagens, bem sucedidas profissionalmente, encontram um novo alguém. Não que veja algo errado nisso. Mas deixa a impressão que o lado profissional não basta. Nem tampouco a liberdade conquistada traria satisfação. Há quem não queira uma relação duradoura. E isso também é válido para nós mulheres. Não é só com os homens que há essa fuga de um altar. E se por vezes queremos "férias" de algo próximo, não tem que ser necessariamente de algo que nos deixou mal. Pode ser apenas uma saída da rotina. Evitar um estresse.

Continuando com o roteiro... Com um forte sentimento de rejeição as duas personagens, pela internet, combinam a troca de casa por uns dias. E às vésperas do Natal. Me perguntei se seria para realçar uma vontade ainda maior de constituir uma família.

Esse tipo de transação - trocar as residências por um período - a princípio assusta a personagem da Cameron Diaz. Talvez pelo padrão elevado de vida; ou mesmo pela violência que vê, que ressalta nos filmes na sua Agência (Fazem trailers de divulgação dos longa-metragem.); ou mesmo do que vê pela tv. Mas acaba cedendo por querer tanto "sair", afastar-se da desilusão. Mas terá um impacto ao ver onde se meteu...

Para a personagem da Kate Winslet, uma jornalista que assina uma importante coluna de um jornal, que mora num local pequeno, na Inglaterra, essas férias ainda mais em Los Angeles, veio em ótima hora. Mas só irá se dar conta da diferença de padrões de vida entre elas, também quando chegar na casa da outra.

O deslumbramento de uma, com a surpresa da outra, proporcionam gostosas risadas!

Em alguns textos, eu costumo ressaltar certas químicas entre dois atores resultando numa dobradinha gostosa de se ver. Não sendo necessário ser o par romântico. Nesse filme, essa química deu-se com a Kate Winslet e Eli Wallach. O personagem dele é um Roteirista dos velhos tempo de Hollywood. Famoso, em sua época. Os dois fazem o melhor desse filme. São cenas cativantes!

Como a que ele diz para ela:

"Eu vejo que você é uma mulher protagonista, mas por algum motivo está agindo como a melhor amiga. Você deve ser a protagonista da sua própria vida!"

Como também em abordar o que tem mais valor nos filmes atuais. Um tema interessante que poderia ter sido melhor explorado. Enfim, Eli Wallach, foi um coadjuvante que roubou a cena! Ou, o filme.

Ah sim! Não poderia deixar de citar outro coadjuvante que fez bonito: Jude Law. Nem tampouco o seu irresistível queixinho!! Uau!!

Para quem curtiu "Alguém tem que ceder" (Something's Gotta Give), assina Direção e Roteiro desse, a Nancy Meyers. E mesmo com todos os clichês, eu recomendo "O Amor não Tira Férias" (The Holiday). Nota: 09.

Por: Valéria Miguez.

O Amor não tira Férias (The Holiday). 2006. EUA. Direção e Roteiro: Nancy Meyers. Elenco: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Eli Wallach, Edward Burns, Rufus Sewell, Miffy Englefield, Emma Pritchard, Sarah Parish, Shannyn Sossamon, Dustin Hoffman, Lindsay Lohan, James Franco. Gênero: Romance, Comédia. Duração: 138 minutos.

Amanda (Cameron Diaz), ricca autrice di trailers cinematografici vive a Los Angeles. E' stata mollata dal fidanzato ed entra in crisi.
Dall'altra parte del mondo, nel Surrey inglese, Iris (Kate Winslet), correttrice di bozze, è sull'orlo della fine del proprio rapporto col fedifrago Jasper (Rufus Sewell) ed entra in crisi.
Entrambe vogliono una svolta per la propria vita.

La prima cerca un luogo lontano dove stare da sola a riflettere e a rimettere insieme i cocci della vita sentimentale, la seconda pure e per poterlo ottenere pubblica su internet descrizione e foto della splendida casetta in cui vive offrendola alla pari per un'altra casa "lontano da lì" in una vacanza di due settimane.

A questo punto senza conoscersi, le due invertono i ruoli (come logistica) e l'inglese si ritrova incappottata in una megavilla con i tutti i comfort (piscina, gadget tecnologici, servitù) mentre l'americana in tacchi a spillo su una stradina ghiacciata che porta nella deserta brughiera dell'Albione.

A questo punto entrano in gioco il fratello (Graham/Jude Law) dell'inglese Iris e un amico di Amanda (Miles/Jack Black)... cosa succede poi è abbastanza facile da capire... :)

Il film ha un tocco lieve ed è anche divertente; le storie incrociate sono un po' squilibrate verso quella di Cameron Diaz (forse attrice più di cassetta) ma personalmente mi è piaciuta più quella della Winslet dove il contorno di personaggi è più interessante e c'è anche una sottostoria con un ex-sceneggiatore in pensione davvero divertente (il bravissimo e quasi centenario Eli Wallach). Bellissima la sequenza (per me che amo il cinema) di Miles che canticchia le varie colonne sonore dei film in videoteca...

In sostanza una buona commedia dove non s'inventa niente di nuovo ma che si fa vedere e svolge il proprio compito in modo egregio. Non male per una serata in relax.

Voto: 7

Ciao, J

I wonder if there's a part of New York that's still like that. Or how to bring it back out again. It would appear that surrounding oneself with genius helps. It really is all contacts in the acting world. So-and-so knowing so-and-so, dropping parts, stepping into others. I've got to remember that. Bridge-burning will get me nowhere.

Still there's a level of skill you must demand. I face it now in my University. I want to push, to show, to open that passion and romance that was opened for me. God, Mike Toth at the last Rooftop party, scotch glass aloft, reciting the 'band of brothers' speech from Henry V. Rousing what was left of a debauched evening and holding our spirits to the rafters on the wings of his botched and booming delivery. That was one of the defining moments. When it became a passion and not a talent. That's what I took from Mike, passion.

But who do I give it too? I've always tried to keep an eye open for someone to inspire as he did me. To pass the torch. Kate confronted me in Parker's car while we were out getting pumpkins: I keep thinking of a man to pass it onto, it could very well be a girl. It's true I do keep looking for a man. I should be more open. Part of me wishes that Kate could be that person to pass the obsession onto. But Kate has possession of something else entirely and she's easy to shirk responsibility. She'll be successful in one way or another, but she's almost done at USM. Plus she's as old as I am. That won't do.

Perhaps this is not how it will go. History doesn't have to be cicular in such small spans of time. But goddamnit I'll be damned if I don't try to stir some passion up while I'm still here. It's crucial that I do, it's important. Not just to me but for the sake of the art itself.

The quintessential western, The Magnificent Seven is a powerhouse of a film from 1960. It is a remake of Seven Samurai, the Akira Kurosawa classic, and it effectively translates to a western with seamless direction, powerful acting and a tremendous script. Directed by John Sturges, known as "the dean of big budget movies" from the 50s and 60s, The Magnificent Seven features a blockbuster cast pulling out all the stops.

Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn and more star in the western. Brynner is the man in black, known as Chris, who leads the gang of mercenaries. Eli Wallach is Calvera, the leader of a gang of bandits that is terrorizing a small village near the United States-Mexico border. Calvera steals from the people in the town and, with a gang of about 40 men, continues his reign of terror until the villagers are fed up.

Three villagers are sent to the nearby town to dispatch some weapons so that the townspeople can defend themselves. Instead, they run into Chris in the middle of a heroic act against bigotry. The villagers hire Chris and his newfound companion Vin, played to perfection by the masterful Steve McQueen, to help their situation. Chris and Vin put together a gang of their own and set towards the town.

As the film unfolds, the characters become more familiar to the audience through a witty and intelligent script and through the top-notch performances of the actors. The Magnificent Seven is as much a meditation on loneliness and the life of a gunslinger as it is an action-western. Director Sturges pieces together scene after scene of broad stroke camera shots and intense stand-offs played out by cool characters.

The Magnificent Seven would be one of the most influential westerns of all time. TV shows like the A-Team would borrow from it conceptually, as would many other films. In a bit of an ironic twist, A-Team leader George Peppard was originally selected for the role of Chris, but he was passed over after his erratic and volatile behaviour became a major issue.

Another key component of the film is the famous score by composer Elmer Bernstein. The Academy Award nominated score drives the action and plays out in each scene as the perfect accompaniment. It is essentially a constant score, guiding us through the film with large blasts of sound and sweeping instrumentals. Berstein's score is one of the finest in western film history and is certainly one of the most emulated.

With a perfect score, witty script, great performances, exciting and smart action and top class direction, The Magnificent Seven is one of the finest westerns of all time. It truly a passionate and engaging film that unravels on the screen through its use of character over standardized action and its use of a tight script over the use of the usual suspects of cinema trickery. Instead, the film is carefully and meticulously put together with a fascinating end result.

9/10