Thread: Rate the last movie that you saw for the first time.
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Old 07-15-2023, 04:24 PM   #15037
Seanny One Ball
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“The Far Country” - 3/4

James Stewart turns up in town, annoys a nefarious, hilariously evil bad guy and spends the whole film trying to avoid his ire even if it means vulnerable townsfolk take the shit instead. He of course comes good in the end, but it’s great seeing James Stewart play borderline assholes.

“The Man From Laramie” - 3/4

James Stewart turns up in town and annoys the family that own and run it. He spends the rest of the film trying to get his own back on the bastards. The ending to this one is all over the place, but it’s a lot of formulaic fun.

“Bend Of The River” - 2.5/4

James Stewart tur… actually he’s already part of a wagon train from the start of this film and he rescues a fella who turns up in a lynching. The guy isn’t black just in case anybody gets confused by the term lynching there, the only black guy in this film is played by “The laziest man in the world” Stepin Fetchit…. Why do I feel like a really angry trap rapper is going to re-appropriate that name someday soon if not already? He’ll probably have pierced cheeks, tattoos instead of eyebrows and purple hair.
Rock Hudson makes a crack about not being “the marrying kind” in this film. I like that.


That completes the Mann/Stewart western pictures. They were as formulaic as the Randolph Scott “Ranown” cheapies were but it’s all good stuff to be honest. Every star of the Western has their own style, so it’s hard to rank them properly but very easy to point out their differences.

Randolph Scott is the most gentlemanly and oddly not the least intimidating even into his fifties.
James Stewart is the most realistic in terms of not glorifying himself with his roles. He’s downright sneaky and arguably cowardly at times.
John Wayne is the most boorish and also most intimidating, charismatic and powerful. He’s actually a very good actor in his post WW2 output, especially as his age allows him not to be presented as immortal anymore.

I’ve only got a few Peck, Widmark and a couple of Wayne films left on the list.
I even watched “The Ballad Of Lefty Brown” the other night just to see if a greenhorn like Bill Pullman could carry a Western. He did pretty well all things considered.
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