HF Westerns

[damYankee]

Only a few but Treasure of the Sierra Madre was one of the best.

One of my favorite movies, a little trivia, Robert Blake played a young Mexican boy selling lottery tickets.

 

[Kurtlg]

You raise an interesting point, didn't the west begin on the eastern shores?
The first wars between the whites and the natives began as soon as the whites set foot on the eastern shores.

The first few years after contact were generally peaceful. There was a major uprising in 1622.

 

[damYankee]

The first few years after contact were generally peaceful. There was a major uprising in 1622.

It didn't take long, did it?
I guess we could say the "West" happened in stages, European colonist or settlers sailed west to a land of promise, opportunities they would never have if they stayed where they were born.
As soon as those people set foot on the shore, some wanted to go west.
But realistically I think the west as far as gun slingers and ranchers fighting sheep herders etc. started around 1870.
But historically the Spanish had settlements in New Mexico, Arizona and California long before 1870.
There's a lot of good material that hasn't been harvested yet!

 

[Kurtlg]

It didn't take long, did it?
I guess we could say the "West" happened in stages, European colonist or settlers sailed west to a land of promise, opportunities they would never have if they stayed where they were born.
As soon as those people set foot on the shore, some wanted to go west.
But realistically I think the west as far as gun slingers and ranchers fighting sheep herders etc. started around 1870.
But historically the Spanish had settlements in New Mexico, Arizona and California long before 1870.
There's a lot of good material that hasn't been harvested yet!

Yes there is. There is a lot of early western history that has been hardly covered. The very complex issue of native American tribes dealing with the influx of settlers and forming alliances with them against their NA enemies is also poorly covered .That goes back in the East to Champlain joining Huron and Algonquin warriors in an attack against the Iroquois. I am sure there were times when the Spanish in the west allied themselves with tribes to fight their traditional enemies.

 

[damYankee]

Yes there is. There is a lot of early western history that has been hardly covered. The very complex issue of native American tribes dealing with the influx of settlers and forming alliances with them against their NA enemies is also poorly covered .That goes back in the East to Champlain joining Huron and Algonquin warriors in an attack against the Iroquois. I am sure there were times when the Spanish in the west allied themselves with tribes to fight their traditional enemies.

The Spanish absolutely exploited the intertribal divisions.
One aspect that is seldom if ever presented in the number of Hispanics who sided with the Americans in the fight for Texas independence, or the fact that many of the early Texas Rangers were Hispanic, most likely descendants of the original Spanish settlers that had vast Rancheros in Texas, and even a few freeman of color.
The defenders of the Alamo was also made up of many Mexicans, ex-slaves, a few Irish, along with the better known white Americans
Through out New Mexico, Arizona and California there were Spanish descendants who wanted US statehood.

 

[TallTallMan]

I would consider a Western beeing between the end of the 1700's and the beginning of the 1900's (so for me : from "Unconquered" to " They came to Cordura"), it's location beeing the U.S, Canada, or Mexico (admiting a very few passings to other places like Butch Cassidy to Bolivia...), it may include many USCW related films also (because of their location, the way they are directed, the players..."Josey Wales" is a Western, while " Glory" can't be considered so).
At a level, we think here (Europe) that some rare exceptions can be admitted, "Lonely are the brave" and "The walking hills" are registered as Westerns, while they include cars and take place after WW2.

The Walking Hills (1949) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

A modern Western, set near the border of Mexico. A card game turns into a gold hunt when one of the players mentions that his horse tripped on a wagon wheel

onceuponatimeinawestern.com

Movies set in the 20s I count as Westerns are Killers of the Flower Moon and You Know My Name, both being about the legacy of the Old West and the people that lived in it. Both William K. Hale and Bill Tilgeman lived in "the old days."

 

[Kurtlg]

Movies set in the 20s I count as Westerns are Killers of the Flower Moon and You Know My Name, both being about the legacy of the Old West and the people that lived in it. Both William K. Hale and Bill Tilgeman lived in "the old days."

How about "There Will be Blood"?

 

[TallTallMan]

How about "There Will be Blood"?

I have never heard of this movie, but it looks cool. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

 

[Kurtlg]

I have never heard of this movie, but it looks cool. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Well acted and certainly unique. I think it starts in the late 1890s. Daniel Day Lewis is great as usual.

 

[GELongstreet]

Tried watching Warlock (1959) but despite some good actors in it I have to say I unfortunately got really bored doing so.

Also watched A Bullet for the General (1966). Like all Italo-Westerns about the Mexican Revolution it is not very pleasant but it is more on the weird side as well.

 

[Library Lady]

I watched John Ford's Stagecoach the other night and was underwhelmed. I probably wouldn't have felt that way if I'd seen it in 1939 when it came out, but coming at it from my time period, I've seen the architypes it set become tropes and I've seen John Wayne become John Wayne so it seemed old instead of the cutting edge for Westerns that it was in its time. The portrayal of Native Americans and a Mexican woman was cringe-worthy, but I guess I'll file that under Maya Angelou's comment "when you know better, do better." I liked the tour of Monument Valley, though.

 

[RedRover]

I watched John Ford's Stagecoach the other night and was underwhelmed. I probably wouldn't have felt that way if I'd seen it in 1939 when it came out, but coming at it from my time period, I've seen the architypes it set become tropes and I've seen John Wayne become John Wayne so it seemed old instead of the cutting edge for Westerns that it was in its time. The portrayal of Native Americans and a Mexican woman was cringe-worthy, but I guess I'll file that under Maya Angelou's comment "when you know better, do better." I liked the tour of Monument Valley, though.

There are three versions of "Stagecoach" on film. That from 1939, another from 1966, and the last from 1986.

Here's some clippings from 1939.

If you rode a horse to the Roxy in Tacoma, you got free Admission to "Stagecoach!"

The Duke had starred in several westerns in the years prior to Stagecoach. Four of them alone the year before in 1938(!) They were "Pals of the Saddle," "Santa Fe Stampede," "Red River Range" And "Overland Stage Raiders."

There was the 1966 remake of "Stagecoach" with Ann Margret. But the stagecoach thing was getting stale.

Enter the next year's up-gunned, and more successful, "War Wagon" (it had a Gatling mounted in it!) with the Duke and Kirk Douglas (1967).

In 1986 Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash starred in "Stagecoach" for CBS television. It was apparently intended to have been produced as a musical... but most of the musical numbers were removed...

Was Ringo Kid Best Played by John Wayne?

Learn more about the remakes of Stagecoach.

www.insp.com

 

[TallTallMan]

I bought my dad Wanted: Dead or Alive Seasons 1 and 2, so be expecting a lot of that for a while

I've always wanted to see The Rebel. I'll be distracted, though, because I mainly Nick Adams for my many childhood viewings of Invasion of Astro-Monster.

 

[RedRover]

I bought my dad Wanted: Dead or Alive Seasons 1 and 2, so be expecting a lot of that for a while

I've always wanted to see The Rebel. I'll be distracted, though, because I mainly Nick Adams for my many childhood viewings of Invasion of Astro-Monster.

Before even the Rebel, or the Astro-Monster, Mr. Adams was in John Ford's "Mister Roberts" (1955) as one of the sailors. This wasn't a stretch, as he was at the time of his casting still serving as an Electricians' Mate in the US Coast Guard. Here he is standing next to Ken Curtis (later Festus on Gunsmoke, etc.)

He guest starred on a First Season episode of "Wanted: Dead or Alive" in 1958.

In 1986 "Wanted: Dead or Alive" got something of a reboot, with Rutger Hauer playing the grandson of Steve McQueen's "Josh Randall" still in the family business...

 

[TallTallMan]

Before even the Rebel, or the Astro-Monster, Mr. Adams was in John Ford's "Mister Roberts" (1955) as one of the sailors. This wasn't a stretch, as he was at the time of his casting still serving as an Electricians' Mate in the US Coast Guard. Here he is standing next to Ken Curtis (later Festus on Gunsmoke, etc.)

View attachment 553019

He guest starred on a First Season episode of "Wanted: Dead or Alive" in 1958.

In 1986 "Wanted: Dead or Alive" got something of a reboot, with Rutger Hauer playing the grandsire of Steve McQueen's "Josh Randall" still in the family business...

View attachment 553018

OK, I thought only Nevada Smith and The Carpetbaggers were the only Western-non-Western connections. That's odd.

 

[RedRover]

OK, I thought only Nevada Smith and The Carpetbaggers were the only Western-non-Western connections. That's odd.

In 1993 the Western TV series "Kung Fu" (1972-75) with David Carradine was followed up by "Kung Fu; The Legend Continues" (1993-97) set in 1990s Chinatown, with Carradine now playing the original Kwai Chang's grandson struggling to keep the family's Shaolin traditions, teaming up with his own Cop son Peter, who has adopted modern modes of dispensing justice... but needs some old-school help.

 

[USS ALASKA]

For those that haven't seen it, American comedian / musician / societal observer / Montana ranch owner Rich Hall made a documentary for British TV trying to explain America thru Western Hollywood films - for good or for ill - to the Brits. Rarely do I have to pause something because I'm laughing so hard...

Rich Hall's "How The West Was Lost" (2008) BBC4

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[TallTallMan]

For those that haven't seen it, American comedian / musician / societal observer / Montana ranch owner Rich Hall made a documentary for British TV trying to explain America thru Western Hollywood films - for good or for ill - to the Brits. Rarely do I have to pause something because I'm laughing so hard...

Rich Hall's "How The West Was Lost" (2008) BBC4

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

I've gotta see this one.

 

[MAJOR DUNDEE]

They host "Sugar Colt" on TV in a few minutes, never saw it before...it seems to be not so bad.

Sugar Colt (1966) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

Near the end of the Civil War, 100 Union sharpshooters go missing.

onceuponatimeinawestern.com

 

[rebel brit]

Just binge-watched the 6 episodes of 'Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War' on Netflix.
I was aware of the Gunfight at the OK Corral but not what took place the years following. Very interesting and well worth watch.