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![]() Terrific Western: Howard Hawks behind the camera, John Wayne in front. Also the movie in which Dean Martin proved he could act, even if he was playing his typecast role of drunkard. |
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![]() Just as Goodfellas is the ne plus ultra of mob movies, Unforgiven is the apotheosis of Westerns. In classic Western form the movie endorses the ethos of the lone righteous man doing what needs done, while at the same time baldly debunking the glorification of gunfighters in the Wild West. T…
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![]() Samurai cowboys save a poor village in ye old Mexico, riding in to one of the greatest themes of all time. Fifty years on, the all-star cast impresses less than the bravura music — the Marlboro jingle still arouses. The Magnificent Seven famously remakes Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai…
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Elmer Bernstein's Magnificent Theme
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![]() The greatest Western ever? Not in my judgment. Though a darn good movie, The Searchers is too phony to make a claim for all-time honors. While dated, it remains essential viewing for Western fans, full of jaw dropping scenery, intriguing interplay, and classic cowboys and Indians horse chases.
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It's a big world out there.
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![]() First rate casting and production values can’t save this stinker from its ridiculous story. The movie is about throwing your life away for an absurd contest. Funny how life mirrors art for the unfortunates who star in it. Hackman, Crowe, DiCaprio, Stone, Sinese … what a waste of talent. In … |
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![]() Not even movie-of-the-week quality, this lame Western is miscast, trite, and just plain phony. As a Western fan, I figured it would be worth a watch. Nope. |
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![]() The myths about one of the Wild West’s most mythologized characters get burnished in this enjoyable biopic. Hollywoodized to the point of cliche, Wild Bill isn’t much for historical veracity. That leaves it free to make entertaining hay out of the many shootouts, lovers, standoffs, and saloon…
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Enjoyable if Hollywoodized into cliche
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![]() What a trip – iconic images before they were cliches, John Wayne’s star-making performance, a crisply compelling story. Legendary director John Ford’s first talkie Western warrants its status as one of the most influential movies of all time. Clocking in at a mere 96 minutes, it’s also tautly e…
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A star is born.
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![]() Greatest Western? The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence is certainly in the running, given how it plays with Wild West myth-making, features three iconic stars along with a passel of great costars and wields a humdinger of an ending. “Nothing’s too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance,” the l…
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Who's the man? You're the man.
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![]() Star power in service to a (then) unconventional story makes for a very good movie. A grizzled John Wayne, shiny Glen Campbell and sharp Robert Duvall provide the star power, while a young girl hiring a de facto bounty hunter to track down her father’s killer provides the novel story. Rescree…
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Yowza, true Western entertainment
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