Western Movies

[Inspector Abberline]

Discuss ,review or make a list of your favourite westerns,from The Great Train Robbery (1903) to Bone Tomahawk (2015) and everything in-between.

[Inspector Abberline]

Skin Game 1971


James Garner as Quincy Drew and Louis Gossett, Jr. as Jason O'Rourke are a pair of con men travelling pre civil war USA, they've worked a con where Jason is sold as a slave then Quincy helps him escape and then they split the profits of the sale and move onto another town and do the same thing there again, You don't get that many comedy films that deal with race and slavery ,and before Blazing Saddles (1974) not that many comedies that used the N word either. Compared to Blazing Saddles, The Skin Game is fairly mild in tone and humour , and doesn't come close to its sheer loonesy. But the Skin Game is kind of uncomfortable to watch at times because the whole film revolves around the slave trade and uses it for humour . Louis Gossett, Jr character Jason was born a free man in New Jersey and has to play the part of a slave so he can be sold, In fact if his character even shows any sign of being well spoken or educated he's threatened with violence, Andrew Duggan as Howard Calloway a plantation owner does this in a scene where Jason un wisely tries to talk to Duggan as an equal. So if you can get past the rather unpleasant subject matter what you got is fairly light hearted comedy.James Garner and Louis Gossett, Jr. have a good chemistry together and make a great comedy duo, something they did again in James Garners tv show The Rockford Files a couple of times. If your a fan of films like Support Your Local Sheriff! and Support Your Local Gunfighter and are a big James Garner fan like myself then you'll appreciate his cool laid back likable self. Politically correct it aint, which is why I think it hasn't had a uk release on dvd,then again it may be just another forgotten film.

[Inspector Abberline]

Ulzana's Raid (1972)

Directed by Robert Aldrich written by Alan Sharp,this is a western that tries to address the balance and show that it wasn't just the Apaches who could be brutal ,although by now Soldier Blue and Little Big Man had also covered this ground. That said the Apaches and Joaqu?*n Mart?*nez as Ulzana,and his war party are pretty damn mean bunch,and are portrayed as bloodthirsty savages who not only mutilate there enemies but in some case's cut out parts of there intestines and throw them about like they are playing beach volley ball. In fact any one who get in the way of Ulzana and his raiding party is in for a pretty sticky time,women are raped and the men usually mutilated and staked out on the ground,with one poor fella having his dead dogs tail stuffed in his gob for good measure. But its not all one sided,Aldrich shows us that the cavalry men sent out to capture Ulzana can be just as brutal,and are not adverse to mutilating the dead bodies of any Apache killed or shooting a woman rather than let her be caught by the Indians and raped. Although Aldrich is trying to redress the balance a bit, by showing that both sides can be just as brutal as each other,Westerns when dealing with Native Americans can not help themselves from being racist,and of course its always been in the best interests of American audiences to show that they are not the bad guys. Or is it an allegory for the Vietnam war? MEH At any rate its a interesting and violent tale ,with some great performances from Burt Lancaster as McIntosh the grizzled know it all tracker,Bruce Davison as Lt. Garnett DeBuin a virgin soldier who is given the job of tracking Ulzana and Jorge Luke as Ke-Ni-Tay ,McIntosh loyal scout. Joaqu?*n Mart?*nez as Ulzana has the thankless job of being the head baddie,there is very little in the way of characterisation for the Apache's,and we take it as red that they are just evil. Uk version has noticeable cuts for horse falls,but otherwise uncut for violence to humans.

[Inspector Abberline]

The Paleface

1948 Directed by Norman Z. McLeod

Jane Russell as Calamity Jane is busted out of prison by the governor and offered a pardon if she will go undercover and find out who is selling illegal guns to the Indians.Unfortunately, the man who was to be her partner in uncovering this is shot in the back.Bob Hope is Painless Potter a rather incompetent dentist who gets chased out of town for pulling the wrong tooth on a cowboy.Before you know it Calamity Jane has shot three outlaws, knocked out Painless Potter and then convinced him to marry her.Surprising for a zany Bob Hope comedy the plot and storyline is pretty good (Carry on Cowboy (1965) used a similar story except Jim Dale was a plumber, not a dentist). This was Bob Hope's first colour movie and probably one of his most famous from his solo career, featuring his hit song "Buttons and Bows" which won an Academy Award for Best Song that year. Bob Hope is at his most likeable in Paleface and Jane Russell, well even wearing a cowboy outfit can still look sexy as hell. Hope's mixture of a cowardly but arrogant wise cracking loser,is not a million miles away from Bruce Campbell ,Ash character from the Evil Dead films.
The Paleface is a colourful and fun comedy western that seemingly crams as many cowboy film cliches into its running time as possible. Its probably not often that I have a Ruggero Deodato flashback while watching a Bob Hope movie,but when the Indians tied Hopes legs to two tree's,I was reminded of poor old John Steiner's death in Cut and Run ( Inferno in diretta ),luckily for Mr Hope he does not suffer the same fate as Mr Steiner does, luckily when the ropes are cut Painless Potter shoots out of his cowboy boots and is slung up a nearby tree.Paleface is good old fashioned family friendly comedy with a great little gag at the end.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Great thread, Inspector.

Permission to join in with some reviews?

[Inspector Abberline]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Great thread, Inspector.

Permission to join in with some reviews?

Please do, I can't keep reposting my old reviews

[J Harker]

Nice review Dem, digging this western thread. Loads of films i want to see.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

Nice review Dem, digging this western thread. Loads of films i want to see.

Thanks, J.

It was a terrific idea of the Inspector.

I think i might use mod powers on his profile and turn him into a sheriff rather than inspector.

[Inspector Abberline]

The Black Bounty Killer (1975) Boss Nigger (original title)

Apart from the rather inflammatory title,the even more inflammatory theme song and the publicity it must of garnered at the time of release.Boss as my dvd box calls it,is a fairly straight forward western,in fact its A-Team style bloodless violence seems at odds with early 1970's cinema,which post Vietnam was up to its hoofs in bloodshed.Basically Boss and Amos (Fred Williamson and D'Urville Martin) are two bounty hunters,who manage to convince the Mayor and the other town councillors to make Fred Williamson the new town's sheriff. MMMMM very similar to a certain Blazing Saddles (1974) film a year previous,and to be honest you do some times feel you are watching a parody,especially whenever the Shaft style music kicks in over the soundtrack. No Blaxploitation film would be without its white bad guy,and this role is played by king of the bad guys for hire William Smith as Jed Clayton who was also killed by Fred Williamson in the film Hammer. Fred Williamson it has to said cuts a cool figure in his black leather jacket,Williamson role in this has been compared to Eastwood's man with no name,but Williamson is much more chatty and suave compared to Eastwood's more sombre gringo.D'Urville Martin who also appeared in Dolemite and a whole lot of 1970s TV and blaxploitation movies,has a more subservient role and is basically Williamson comedy sidekick,even in blaxploitation movies there's pecking order.And where would we be without a corrupt mayor stirring everything up in the background,Mayor Griffin (R.G. Armstrong, you may remember as the head devil worshipper from Race with Devil). Once you get past the films title,and the way white cast use the N word,Boss is a fairly well made western,directed by no less than Mr Creature from the Lagoon Jack Arnold,some what of a departure from his usual monster movies and TV fare he directed.The only down side to blaxploitation movies is that it gives Tarantino to many daft ideas for films.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

The Black Bounty Killer (1975) Boss Nigger (original title)

A sense of deja-vu with this review.