Watching tonights Oscars, I find an unusual movie about gay cowboys. Well, I'd not be inclined to watch this movie, unless there was absolutely nothing else available (History Channel - Prophecies of Hitler, etc.) I'm more likely to look for a decent John Wayne or Jimmy Stewart Western.
That said, I just recently found this odd review of a JW movie (The Undefeated)
Amazon.com John Wayne, that pillar of machismo, was well aware that costar Rock Hudson was gay, yet he prized him as a boon companion, a fellow professional, and one hell of a bridge player. Each plays a Civil War commander who, after the ceasefire, leads a community of home folks into Mexico to make a fresh start. Hudson is a Southern gentleman; Wayne commanded the Yankee cavalry at Shiloh, where Hudson's brother died. Nevertheless, Rock, with his extended family, and Duke, with his troop of cowboys and 3,000 horses to sell to Emperor Maximilian, soon join forces to outgun banditos and beam paternally over the budding romance between their respective daughter and son (an adopted Indian played by footballer Roman Gabriel with Crystal Gayle hair). Lingering North-South animosities are celebrated in an obligatory communal fistfight in the Andrew V. McLaglen manner, and the showdown with both Maximilian's lancers and the rebel Juaristas is disconcertingly perfunctory. --Richard T. Jameson
Oh, well.
Nevertheless, I'd like to ask what you all think might be the best 5 movie Westerns, which have some relationship with the Civil War, but not OF the Civil War.
Not Civil War centered movies, but those Westerns in which the characters and/or situations involve Civil War vets, etc.
A few I can think of are:
Winchester 73
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Can anyone come up with a nice list of 5?
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
The Outlaw Josey Wales -- hands down. Chief Dan George never fails to crack me up, even after a zillion viewings. "They made my horse surrender."
The Horse Soldiers -- just to catch Denver Pyle and Strother Martin in their cracker routine.
Nothing with Errol Flynn.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Dear Ole,
Why nothing with Errol Flynn? I can think of two CW westerns he was in:
"They Died With Their Boots On." which had some CW scenes, and "Sante Fe Trail" about bleeding Kansas. Flynn as JEB Stuart, and Ronald Reagan as Custer.
As far as BEST CW westerns, "Outlaw Josey Wales" tops my list. I did a post about it somewhere else. Clint kills so many people.
"Ride with the Devil" a recent movie about Quadrill and Missouri bushwhackers is pretty good.
"She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" is a postwar Western, but it turns out that half of John Wayne's troop are ex-Confederates under assumed names.
There is an interesting but flawed Peckinpah film called "Major Dundee" Charlton Heston, a disgraced Union cavalry captain is commandant of a POW camp. When Apaches wipe out a local settlement, he recruits a pursuit team consisting of black prison guards, a platoon of Confederate POWs sworn to loyalty, a few Yankee cavalry and a half dozen civilians. They chase the Apaches into Mexico, for a long, long time. The climatic battle as they ready to recross the Rio Grande is against the French, an enemy they can all unite against. Its not as great as it could be, but its pretty good.
John Wayne in "Rio Grande" is a CW vet, with a Southern wife who hates his guts for burning down her house in the Valley during the war. Phil Sheridan makes a cameo appearance. Not the best movie.
In "Fort Apache" Henry Fonda is a CW vet in charge of a lot of other CW vets, including John Wayne. The post is like a community of displaced aristocrats, still stewing over the resentments and actions of the past. One of Wayne's sergeants was JEB Stuart's staff officer and Fonda grumbles about "Cadet Stuart" being overrated.
In the "Searchers" John Wayne is a unsurrendered Rebel, maybe for Quartill, although its not clear. In a scene late in the film, a young Army lieutenant reports to a Texas Ranger. Wayne says "turn around" to the kid, and then when he sees his back, remarks "you do look like a yankee cavalryman."
I have always loved all of the films mentioned here... despite the significant flaws of some. Even before I knew I had a familial connection to the war between the states, the power and import of the civil war resonated with me.
__________________ Chaplain Rob Stroud, USAF (Retired) Son of SgtMaj Chuck Stroud, USMC Grandson of Corporal Charles Stroud, USA Great-Grandson of Corporal Chauncey Stroud, Fifth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry
Mr. Stroud, I can appreciate your sentiment. Few western cavalry movies escape my appreciation -- only those featuring Errol Flynn.
Mr. McKeon:
Quote:
Why nothing with Errol Flynn? I can think of two CW westerns he was in:
"They Died With Their Boots On." which had some CW scenes, and "Sante Fe Trail" about bleeding Kansas. Flynn as JEB Stuart, and Ronald Reagan as Custer.
It's not the movies; I just have a congenital distaste for the man. Don't ask me why; I can't put a finger on it.
I'm not familiar with "Ride with the Devil." I'll look for it.
18th Texas: Thank you for reminding me of "The Red Badge of Courage." It doesn't really belong in this discussion. We were talking of smarmy crap masquerading within the blue/grey genre. That movie is in a class by itself. What struck me, and continues to do so, is the dialogue. Sounds fake. Isn't. Presented improperly? Perhaps. Just that bothersome niggling in the back of my head.
By the way, no one mentioned the best (outside of "Red Badge...."): Shenandoah.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Mr. Stroud, I can appreciate your sentiment. Few western cavalry movies escape my appreciation -- only those featuring Errol Flynn.
Mr. McKeon:
It's not the movies; I just have a congenital distaste for the man. Don't ask me why; I can't put a finger on it.
I'm not familiar with "Ride with the Devil." I'll look for it.
18th Texas: Thank you for reminding me of "The Red Badge of Courage." It doesn't really belong in this discussion. We were talking of smarmy crap masquerading within the blue/grey genre. That movie is in a class by itself. What struck me, and continues to do so, is the dialogue. Sounds fake. Isn't. Presented improperly? Perhaps. Just that bothersome niggling in the back of my head.
By the way, no one mentioned the best (outside of "Red Badge...."): Shenandoah.
Ole
Ole,
"Ride with the Devil" is a film adaption of Devil Knows How to Ride:, The True Story of William Clark Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders by Edward E. Leslie and is a darned good movie!
As to your 'distaste' for Errol Flynn, perhaps you are subconsciously envious of Mr. Flynn. Are you not aware of the origin of the phrase "In like Flynn" ?
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
CivilWarTalk.com -
A free and friendly Civil War community. 
CW related Westerns 
If today we must die; We die facing our enemy. 
Linear Mode
