Runtime: 80 minutes
Directed by: Samuel Fuller
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger, John Ericson, Gene Barry
From: 20th Century Fox
What in the heck is going on with Turner Classic Movies? I have to ask this now as recently there was a massive problem and they weren’t able to screen Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (thank goodness I have that on physical media and have watched it before) then last night I decided to DVR both Jailhouse Rock and this film when they played on the channel. You see, Spielberg saw those two movies at the drive-in as a kid so he was present to talk about them both. He gave comments about how he knew director Samuel Fuller personally and said he was as stubborn as a mule when it came to his opinion but strongly put over his oeuvre of work.
Ben M. then pitched it to the movie… only there was a black screen for a few minutes then an entirely different movie played! I didn’t even bother to fast forward to discover if this kerfuffle was fixed (or what it was that they were showing instead); disgusted, I went to YouTube as there are multiple copies of this around in HD quality. I blame the guy that runs Warner Brothers Discovery-someone I only refer to as Voldemort.
This won’t be the only 50’s Western I’ll discuss this month but I’m glad to have cleared some space off the DVR… plus see something from a great director along with an uncommon genre effort where the lead is a badass woman—played by the legendary Barbara Stanwyck.
She is the matriarch of the biggest ranch in the county & rules the roost far more than the town’s cowardly sheriff. Her brother is an absolute menace; former gunslinger Griff Bonnell and his brothers roll into town and well, they aren’t going to put up with such poppycock. They stick around in town, there’s romance (including Griff and Stanwyck’s character, Jessica), and more that I dare not spoil.
Stanwyck does stand out as a badass* who is like Johnny Cash in that she’s always in black (but rides a white horse); there are other highlights, such as Dean Jagger’s cowardly sheriff and Barry Sullivan as Griff. Fuller also directs the heck out of this at times; there are some tremendous shots-including a tremendous opening minute-a thriller scene that literally has a cat jump scare, and two things I haven’t seen in a Western before: a big tornado scene &… more than one scene of multiple men in a public bath! They’re all in different wooden washtubs, but unexpected, it was.
Thankfully at least Spielberg’s comments beforehand played. It was fascinating hearing him give some thoughts on the movie—including how he didn’t like “the talky bits” as a child, which is understandable. His opinion of course is different now. The movie isn’t full of action scenes; rather, the action we do get drives the story and the various plot beats. If you enjoy a darker take on the genre and/or the main participants, this is worth a watch.
* Turns out, she did something badass IRL during filming. Her stuntwoman didn’t want to perform the task of being dragged by a horse because “it was too dangerous.” Stanwyck did it herself and only received some bumps & bruises.
No comments:
Post a Comment