HF Westerns

[RedRover]

Mr. Redford's Westerns included "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), and "Tell them Willy Boy is Here" from the same year...

And of course "Jeremiah Johnson."

He also did a couple of the so-called "neo westerns" including the "Electric Horseman" (1979) and "The Horse Whisperer" (1998).

 

[rebel brit]

Just watched 'The Outlaw Trail' narrated by Robert Redford. Fascinating stuff such as the actual location of the Hole in the wall gang hideout and how they were able to avoid capture.

 

[RetiredCanuck]

I thought maybe we could have some fun with a poke at Hollywood's version of the Old West. Please add your own gems if you like.

Things I learned from Western films and television.

You can wear the same outfit every day in a 15-year TV series.

You can ride the same horse every day in a 15-year TV series.

A widow, a 10-year-old boy and a 70-year-old grandfather can run a cattle ranch on their own.

Colt 45s and Winchesters were standard issue any time after 1830.

Horses could gallop at full trot for 20 miles.

Apaches could be found anywhere from California to Missouri.

Ranchers can raise 1000 head of cattle in the middle of a desert.

Towns with no industry or source of water can flourish in the desert.

Towns of 500 people have 1 outhouse behind the livery stable.

90% of people getting a serious gunshot wound survive.

Most Native American tribes can speak broken English.

You can fire 11 shots from a Colt Peacemaker without reloading.

If you shoot someone dead in the street, nothing will be said or done if the other man drew first.

Civil War films get classified as Westerns, although most of the action took place in the Southeast.

Zippers were on clothing 50 years before they were invented.

Regardless of what do for a living, you must wear cowboy boots.

A man rides in from the desert, tired and parched. He ties his horse up 3 feet from the water trough, without letting it drink. He goes into the saloon, gets in a gunfight and is taken to jail to await the hangman. Three days later, he breaks out of jail and his horse is still tied up where he left it.

You can go into a saloon at any time of day, order a meal and get a steak and baked potato three minutes later.

Arizona had a state penitentiary 35 years before it was a state.

California had US Army troops and forts in the 1830s.

Sheriff's office routinely had large sums of cash on hand to pay off bounty hunters.

 

[damYankee]

I thought maybe we could have some fun with a poke at Hollywood's version of the Old West. Please add your own gems if you like.

Things I learned from Western films and television.

You can wear the same outfit every day in a 15-year TV series.

You can ride the same horse every day in a 15-year TV series.

A widow, a 10-year-old boy and a 70-year-old grandfather can run a cattle ranch on their own.

Colt 45s and Winchesters were standard issue any time after 1830.

Horses could gallop at full trot for 20 miles.

Apaches could be found anywhere from California to Missouri.

Ranchers can raise 1000 head of cattle in the middle of a desert.

Towns with no industry or source of water can flourish in the desert.

Towns of 500 people have 1 outhouse behind the livery stable.

90% of people getting a serious gunshot wound survive.

Most Native American tribes can speak broken English.

You can fire 11 shots from a Colt Peacemaker without reloading.

If you shoot someone dead in the street, nothing will be said or done if the other man drew first.

Civil War films get classified as Westerns, although most of the action took place in the Southeast.

Zippers were on clothing 50 years before they were invented.

Regardless of what do for a living, you must wear cowboy boots.

A man rides in from the desert, tired and parched. He ties his horse up 3 feet from the water trough, without letting it drink. He goes into the saloon, gets in a gunfight and is taken to jail to await the hangman. Three days later, he breaks out of jail and his horse is still tied up where he left it.

You can go into a saloon at any time of day, order a meal and get a steak and baked potato three minutes later.

Arizona had a state penitentiary 35 years before it was a state.

California had US Army troops and forts in the 1830s.

Sheriff's office routinely had large sums of cash on hand to pay off bounty hunters.

Why would any town need more than one outhouse when nobody ever went?

Add to your list,
People could ride a horse for days and never stop to "refresh" themselves or take care of their horse.

One shot from any weapon handled by the good guys would knock down two to three "Injuns" and their horses, which would miraculously get up and trot away.

Wagons and stagecoaches had great suspension and a comfortable ride, buckboards were especially soft.

When someone was shot in the torso they would bleed through the mouth.

Every town had a blacksmith (because horses need shoes) but you never see a cobbler because people don't?

 

[Pollaco]

No matter how many Indian braves,Mexican banditos, or other bad guys get shot there's always a big or bigger crowd of them at the end of the fight.

 

[Pollaco]

Have you ever noticed that some Western Heros were tossing Dynamite several years before it was even invented? . Certainly before it ever became commonplace in America

 

[Library Lady]

I'm surprised you gents haven't noticed that all of the saloon "waitresses" were really good looking and many had a heart of gold.

 

[RetiredCanuck]

Have you ever noticed that some Western Heros were tossing Dynamite several years before it was even invented? . Certainly before it ever became commonplace in America

Good one I missed. And no need for blasting caps either. Just light a slow fuse off a cigar and let 'er rip!

 

[scooter748driver]

Late to this thread, but here are my favorite westerns (in no particular order):

True Grit (remake) - for me the language/speech makes the movie. I think Jeff Daniel's does a great job as well.

Unforgiven - I like this movie for the humanity portrayed at times; allowing Davy's friends to take him water after being shot, William Munny allowing noncombatants to clear out; etc. I also like that the "hero" is flawed and failed character.

Fort Apache - John Wayne, Henry Fonda, et al, and a story where pride and duty are followed to the grave. Plus, Shirley Temple is just cute as all get out.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - again, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin all do a great job, but especially Marvin. A story of friendship and loyalty.

For A Few Dollars More - for the final shootout scene and the cool, unwavering and steely eyed Lee Van Cleef. The chimes playing "Carillon" are eerily attractive.

Hostiles - I recently discovered this and it's become my favorite western movie. Christian Bale conveys so much with a look or a quiet grunt and is outstanding IMHO. Slow with great character development, it's a story about forgiveness and redemption. How, at the end of the day, we're all people and have more in common than we allow for. Watch it.

 

[Cornpone and Molasses]

As far as a Western movie, Anything with Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. I also enjoyed the Netflix series American Primeval quite a bit.

 

[Sbc]

Dust hardly ever ruined actor's makeup

 

[MAJOR DUNDEE]

Perhaps the most disturbing element in my favourite genre is the fact that they use uncorrect weapons (at least in 80% of the films), and specially, that NOBODY at the time seemed to care, even people that might be interested or at least concerned by real west stories.

Take Gary Cooper for example, a native from Montana, raised partly on a ranch, and surely a well educated man, with possibly a certain knowledge of the weapons of the era....
How could he accept to handle a Colt model 73 in a film that's supposed to be located around 1840 (Distant drums), 1848 (Garden of Evil), or 1863 ( Vera Cruz) ?
I think that I would have bring my own guns on the sets...

 

[MAJOR DUNDEE]

There are some "Films Noirs" who are very close in some case to the Western genre, I've just discovered "The Trap" starring Richard Widmark as the good , and Lee J.Cobb as the ugly one...

It's very good, and the set is a classical Western town (I don't recognize it for sure, but it's been seen before), the plot is also a classic Western story, cars and planes might just figure horses and a train or boat for example...
Funny fact, their car is out of water (because of a bullet hole), and they must desperatly find a water point : classic Western theme.
Highly recommended classic film

 

[damYankee]

Speaking of westerns that portray the humanity, how about Ford's Three God Fathers (1948) starring Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz and Harry Carey Jr, with Ward Bond and the usual Ford cast members. Pedro was such a great actor, underrated here in the states.

 

[Pollaco]

Perhaps the most disturbing element in my favourite genre is the fact that they use uncorrect weapons (at least in 80% of the films), and specially, that NOBODY at the time seemed to care, even people that might be interested or at least concerned by real west stories.

Take Gary Cooper for example, a native from Montana, raised partly on a ranch, and surely a well educated man, with possibly a certain knowledge of the weapons of the era....
How could he accept to handle a Colt model 73 in a film that's supposed to be located around 1840 (Distant drums), 1848 (Garden of Evil), or 1863 ( Vera Cruz) ?
I think that I would have bring my own guns on the sets...

I am most curious how you arrived at 1863 for the movie " Vera Cruz".Weren't the mercenaries in Mexico just after the American Civil War ended in 1865 ? But you are right about the weapons. Almost every revolver and rifle in the movie hadn't been developed yet.

 

[MAJOR DUNDEE]

You're right, former civil war soldiers could rent their warfare knowing after the USCW only, not 1863 for sure.

 

[Dusty]

 

[61Cadillac]

Here is a thought, how many of those older westerns and movies like Gone with the Wind were filmed with authentic Civil War surplus used for firearms, costumes and other props? I imagine the prop houses of Hollywood probably scooped up gobs of surplus at next to nothing prices back in the day.

 

[archieclement]

Today's westerns seem almost a different genre than classic one.

Traditional westerns clearly had good and bad......most new stuff has everything grey or darker.

Edit added- I have no problem with most tales are being told from one perspective, which will have one good, one bad.

Using ACW, a tale told or based from or on one sides perspective would necessarily have their side good, the other bad. Trying to portray both good or both bad is some bizarre modern Hollywood invention.

 

[TallTallMan]

I started watching Jerimiah Johnson. I like shooting and stuff, but the calm, snowy atmosphere is a nice change.