HF Westerns

[Auth1443]

I have to agree. Bridges outdid John Wayne in the remake of True Grit. John Wayne was okay but he mainly played the same part (himself?) in most of his Westerns. In some earlier films like "The Searchers" or "Liberty Valance" he actually did some acting and was pretty good at it.

My problem with the True Grit remake was that I couldn't understand half of what Bridges said.

 

[Auth1443]

A couple of the kids from The Cowboys still act I think. A. Martinez was in the series Longmire and I think the Carradine guy may still do things. If you haven't seen it there is a YouTube channel called Word on Westerns . The host interviews old western actors and their families. Very interesting. Dern purposely stayed in character during the filming of The Cowboys in order to get reactions from the kids while filming. It worked. Most of them were genuinely afraid of him.

If we include TV, I'd put Longmire near the top.

 

[Auth1443]

When I was a little kid I was crazy about Hopalong Cassidy on early tv. It would be fun to watch one of those episodes now to see how dopy it really was.

Hoppy was "the man" to my generation. All 66 of his feature films and both seasons of the TV series are out on DVD and I've got them all. Also a lot of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers films. The early 50s TV westerns were kinda dopey, formulaic, and predictable. Hoppy's show was no different but a bit worse for its cheap production values. Autry put a lot of money into his TV show and the others he produced, like Annie Oakley. Some episodes were shot in color. The Lone Ranger was another favorite of that era and at least one season was shot in color.

 

[Auth1443]

One of the earliest know drawing of a Native:
View attachment 535085

This drawing shows the Indians to be a bit more muscular:
View attachment 535086

I think Natives in general were somewhat fit and muscular, but nowhere close to what we would consider muscular today, just because they didn't have the equipment or knowledge to look like say, John Cena or someone like that.
View attachment 535087

I think the early watercolors and sketches were done by John White, who was in the failed Roanoke colony. He sketched many Virginia and N. Carolina Native Americans and their towns.

 

[Auth1443]

A plot with a twist, proper technology, good actors and Claudia Cardinale. My favorite is still "Once Upon a Time in the West". I somehow feel many have yet to discover this gem?

I was pretty late coming to this one myself, but got totally hooked on it. Ennio Morricone's score and especially the theme are very effective and among my favorite film scores.

 

[Auth1443]

Watching some of the old TV westerns can be disappointing. Many don't hold up. As a youngster I had some of the toys associated with the shows. It was a transition period and me and my friends were soon more interested in WW2 era toy guns , mortars and bazookas. One show that still holds up for me is Gunsmoke , especially the early episodes. In any case we actually played outside and used our imaginations.

Gunsmoke is still effective, especially the early, grittier half-hour episodes, mostly written by John Meston and taken from the original radio show.

 

[Auth1443]

Without saying it for others), I heard how it ended in a doc. Very odd. The ending of the movie is accused of being too Hollywood, but I think its a better ending. I don't mind the sad endings of Unforgiven or The Gunfighter (a 1950 movie I adore; an unexciting, psychological adult Western).

What's funny is that the main character Jimmy Ringo is so fast you never see it, Blazing Saddles-style.

View attachment 494180

Years ago (1970s) the American Film Institute screened "The Gunfighter" and "The Ox-Bow Incident" on the same evening. It was terrific seeing these two films in pristine prints on a big screen. A different experience than seeing them on TV and really two of the best.

 

[Auth1443]

"Shoot Out" with that little girl Decky showed a differant warmer side of Peck and not just a cold-hearted gunslinger.

Peck was a real standout - The Gunfighter, the Bravados, Guns of Navarone, To Kill a Mockingbird, Spellbound, Moby Dick - many more

 

[RedRover]

Gunsmoke is still effective, especially the early, grittier half-hour episodes, mostly written by John Meston and taken from the original radio show.

My father complains that his tv channels only show the later episodes of Gunsmoke in color. He says they don't show the first 11 or 12 seasons in B/W for some reason.

William Conrad was the voice of Marshal Dillon on the radio for a long time. Later better known to TV audiences as "Cannon" and from "Jake and the Fatman." Conrad also directed episodes of a few different TV Westerns.

Here's Conrad as Matt Dillon in a promo for the Gunsmoke radio show...

Conrad on Matt Dillon:

https://soundcloud.com/thewallbreakers%2Fwilliam-conrad-on-the-historical-accuracy-of-gunsmoke

Of all the Quinn-Martin style detective shows of the 60s to 80s, I liked Cannon the best as a crumb cruncher (I watched it in syndication). Perhaps too in part as he narrated the opening of the intro to Buck Rogers!

 

[TallTallMan]

Years ago (1970s) the American Film Institute screened "The Gunfighter" and "The Ox-Bow Incident" on the same evening. It was terrific seeing these two films in pristine prints on a big screen. A different experience than seeing them on TV and really two of the best.

They both are masterpiece Alternative Westerns.

 

[TallTallMan]

My father complains that his tv channels only show the later episodes of Gunsmoke in color. He says they don't show the first 11 or 12 seasons in B/W for some reason.

William Conrad was the voice of Marshal Dillon on the radio for a long time. Later better known to TV audiences as "Cannon" and from "Jake and the Fatman." Conrad also directed episodes of a few different TV Westerns.

Here's Conrad as Matt Dillon in a promo for the Gunsmoke radio show...

View attachment 535886

Conrad on Matt Dillon:

https://soundcloud.com/thewallbreakers%2Fwilliam-conrad-on-the-historical-accuracy-of-gunsmoke

Of all the Quinn-Martin style detective shows of the 60s to 80s, I liked Cannon the best as a crumb cruncher (I watched it in syndication). Perhaps too in part as he narrated the opening of the intro to Buck Rogers!

Conrad also narrated the Rocky and Bullwinkle segments of the series.

"Tune in to our next episode..."

 

[Kurtlg]

My father complains that his tv channels only show the later episodes of Gunsmoke in color. He says they don't show the first 11 or 12 seasons in B/W for some reason.

William Conrad was the voice of Marshal Dillon on the radio for a long time. Later better known to TV audiences as "Cannon" and from "Jake and the Fatman." Conrad also directed episodes of a few different TV Westerns.

Here's Conrad as Matt Dillon in a promo for the Gunsmoke radio show...

View attachment 535886

Conrad on Matt Dillon:

https://soundcloud.com/thewallbreakers%2Fwilliam-conrad-on-the-historical-accuracy-of-gunsmoke

Of all the Quinn-Martin style detective shows of the 60s to 80s, I liked Cannon the best as a crumb cruncher (I watched it in syndication). Perhaps too in part as he narrated the opening of the intro to Buck Rogers!

My understanding is that Conrad's physique was not suitable for the TV version of Matt Dillon

 

[TallTallMan]

My understanding is that Conrad's physique was not suitable for the TV version of Matt Dillon

I couldn't sit through a fat joke every time he shows up like in Cannon.

 

[RedRover]

Conrad also narrated the Rocky and Bullwinkle segments of the series.

"Tune in to our next episode..."

Here's some of his awesome Cannon fighting style!

 

[Kurtlg]

My father complains that his tv channels only show the later episodes of Gunsmoke in color. He says they don't show the first 11 or 12 seasons in B/W for some reason.

William Conrad was the voice of Marshal Dillon on the radio for a long time. Later better known to TV audiences as "Cannon" and from "Jake and the Fatman." Conrad also directed episodes of a few different TV Westerns.

Here's Conrad as Matt Dillon in a promo for the Gunsmoke radio show...

View attachment 535886

Conrad on Matt Dillon:

https://soundcloud.com/thewallbreakers%2Fwilliam-conrad-on-the-historical-accuracy-of-gunsmoke

Of all the Quinn-Martin style detective shows of the 60s to 80s, I liked Cannon the best as a crumb cruncher (I watched it in syndication). Perhaps too in part as he narrated the opening of the intro to Buck Rogers!

I rank Mannix first ,then Cannon and last Barnaby Jones. Of course the Rockford Files may be the best of all.

 

[TallTallMan]

I rank Mannix first ,then Cannon and last Barnaby Jones. Of course the Rockford Files may be the best of all.

I've seen some of Cannon and BJ but not the others.

 

[Sivart]

I rank Mannix first ,then Cannon and last Barnaby Jones. Of course the Rockford Files may be the best of all.

Agree with you on the Rockford Files. They're pretty awesome.

 

[RedRover]

I couldn't sit through a fat joke every time he shows up like in Cannon.

His character was an imperfect man trapped in his imperfect time. But he made crime pay for it!

 

[TallTallMan]

His character was an imperfect man trapped in his imperfect time. But he made crime pay for it!

I grew up on MetTV!

 

[Kurtlg]

My father complains that his tv channels only show the later episodes of Gunsmoke in color. He says they don't show the first 11 or 12 seasons in B/W for some reason.

William Conrad was the voice of Marshal Dillon on the radio for a long time. Later better known to TV audiences as "Cannon" and from "Jake and the Fatman." Conrad also directed episodes of a few different TV Westerns.

Here's Conrad as Matt Dillon in a promo for the Gunsmoke radio show...

View attachment 535886

Conrad on Matt Dillon:

https://soundcloud.com/thewallbreakers%2Fwilliam-conrad-on-the-historical-accuracy-of-gunsmoke

Of all the Quinn-Martin style detective shows of the 60s to 80s, I liked Cannon the best as a crumb cruncher (I watched it in syndication). Perhaps too in part as he narrated the opening of the intro to Buck Rogers!

I think the black and white Gunsmoke episodes were best. They last few years of the series had some not so great episodes.