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Holden Pike
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"If they move, kill 'em."
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« Reply #587 on: July 04, 2008, 12:11:35 AM » |
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I have not seen that Holden. How was it?
It suffers from poor made-for-TV quality in direction, cinematography, score, etc (it was made for Ted Turner's TNT cable network). Kilmer does a Brando-ish mannered thing that doesn't really work, though not as over-the-top and silly as his weirdness in Tombstone. Some of the small supporting parts are welcome like Wilford Brimley, Michael Parks and Rene Auberjonois, but the actor cast as Pat Garrett, Duncan Regehr, is very bland. This is Gore's third bite at the William Bonny apple, as his stage play on the subject from the 1950s was the basis for Arthur Penn's The Left-Handed Gun (1958) starring a young Paul Newman as The Kid. Gore's is a relatively modern, sympathetic psychological take on the legend and not overly concerned with the history. But few movies are. For me Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) is the best version of the tale - flawed but full of Peckinpah's poetry that simultaneously busts and rebuilds the mythology. There's a decent documentary from a couple years ago, Requiem for Billy the Kid (2006), narrated by Kris Kristofferson (Peckinpah's Billy), that does a nice job of recounting much of the Billy the Kid lore, in film and in general. For anyone at all interested in William Bonny, it's worth a look. Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid is watchable but certainly nothing special. |
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« Last Edit: July 05, 2008, 06:53:48 AM by Holden Pike »
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"We're not gonna get rid of anybody. We're gonna stick together, just like it used to be. When you side with a man you stay with him, and if you can't do that you're like some animal, you're finished. We're all finished."
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Holden Pike
Member Extraordinaire
Offline
Posts: 2046
"If they move, kill 'em."
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« Reply #588 on: July 05, 2008, 06:48:57 AM » |
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 Gun Battle at Monterey (1957)Pretty standard but watchable '50s B-Western. The movie opens with two men on horseback entering a cave on the beach somewhere in California. These two men, Max Reno (Ted de Corsia) and Jay Turner (Sterling Hayden), have just robbed a bank in Monterey. Turner is an honest man, a quasi-gunfighter looking for some quick cash. The robbery was well-planned and they didn't have to shoot anybody, but the $5,000 take is all Turner was looking for. When Reno realizes he doesn't have a new partner to perpetrate more crimes with he shoots Turner in the back twice and leaves him for dead in the surf. A local Mexican woman (Pamela Duncan) finds him, nurses him back to health and falls in love with him. He's in love too, but now that he's healed he must find Reno and exact his revenge. She makes him promise NOT to kill Reno out of revenge, which he begrudgingly does. Reno has made his way to a small town and with his loot as a stake cheated at poker to get the deed to a saloon from an ineffectual proprietor who he promptly kills before the ink is even dry on the bill of sale. The saloon's unscrupulous and opportunistic second in command (Lee Van Cleef) goes along with the killing because he thinks with Reno at the helm there's a lot more money to be made. Into town comes a tall stranger with a couple holes in his back.... The stuff on the beach in the first part of the flick is nice (reminded me of Marlon Brando's One-Eyed Jacks a bit), and I'm a big Sterling Hayden fan so I'll watch him in anything, plus it's always great to see Van Cleef as well. Everything is pretty rushed (the movie is not even seventy minutes long) and there aren't too many surprises along the way, although the last couple scenes are a fairly unusual conclusion that belies the film's title and ends on a comical moment. If only the entire movie had looked for such fun options. But, you can do worse. |
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« Last Edit: July 05, 2008, 06:52:51 AM by Holden Pike »
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"We're not gonna get rid of anybody. We're gonna stick together, just like it used to be. When you side with a man you stay with him, and if you can't do that you're like some animal, you're finished. We're all finished."
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