David's Guide to Westerns - Latest articles

The Dead Don't Hurt (2023)

Sun, 07 Jul 2024 09:19:08 +0000

Written/produced/directed by Viggo Mortensen. It details the relationship between a French-Canadian woman and a Danish semi-hermit (played by Mortensen).

I was slightly mixed on this. The characters are interesting and well-played, but I thought the story was ultimately fairly slight. That slightness was hidden a bit by the film jumping around in the timeline. Bits of the plot were also fairly similar to the miniseries “The English”, which I think covered the material a bit better (although wasn’t all that similar in tone).

I think it’s worth worth watching, but isn’t my favourite film ever.

The Mercenary (1986)

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 20:31:36 +0000

Classic Spaghetti Western set in the Mexican revolution. Franco Nero is a Polish mercenary hired by some Mexican mine owners to protect their silver. He arrives to find the mine has been taken over by a revolutionary band led by Paco (Tony Musante), and so ends up working for them. For reasons that aren’t completely clear Curly (Jack Palance) takes a dislike for both of them and tries to hunt them down.

The main story is the classic theme for the revolutionary Western – Paco starts out of something of an opportunistic bandit, albeit one with a genuine dislike of his rulers. He gradually becomes more idealistic and committed to the cause, partly due to the influence of his love interest (Giovanna Ralli), partly out of dislike for Nero’s completely cynical and mercenary attitudes, and partly as he sees the consequences of his actions on the towns he “liberates”.

There’s a lot to enjoy here. There’s a wonderful whistled Morricone theme song, there’s great locations and action scenes. The final duel in a circus ring is classic (and someone unusual for Sergio Corbucci). My one criticism is that it resorts a little too often to the “surprise from off-screen” to advance the plot – for example help turning up to dig Paco out of a hole. But that’s a minor criticism of a hugely enjoyable film.

Sergio Corbucci’s later “Companeros” is very similar, sharing a lot of the same cast and plot, and is also well worth a watch.

I have a German Koch Media DVD (with English audio). Quality is excellent, although a Blu-ray disk is now available too.

The Harder They Fall (2021)

Sat, 07 May 2022 08:33:42 +0000

An interesting, very modern-feeling Western. It’s set in an “alternate” west that seems to consist of parallel, almost completely segregated white and black towns (and mainly set in the “black west”). In fairness, the west shown in films is largely fictional anyway and I don’t have a great knowledge of how and where black Americans lived in the old west, so for the sake of this film I’m happy to take this setting at face value. The plot concerns Nat Love (Jonathan Majors), who is shown as a child in the introduction watching Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) gun down his parents. Unsurprisingly this sets up a revenge quest.

In terms of tone, it’s a fairly violent, quick-paced action film. It largely doesn’t take itself too seriously (there’s a nice visual joke about the white town, for example) and definitely isn’t pretending to be a great work of art.

The plot seemed to me slightly meandering as we see Love reform his old gang, and Buck get released on his way to prison and then take over and extort a town. However, there was a nice twist at the end which was unexpected (at least to me) but which I felt added to the film rather than just being a “surprise”. The characters were largely interesting characters and well-acted – just slightly let down by a plot that doesn’t quite seem to flow naturally. The characters were very loosely based on real historical characters (with the emphasis on “very loosely”). Given that it was largely fiction I wasn’t sure that this added much.

I think this was released directly to Netflix and it’s well worth watching there. Enjoyable and brings something different to the genre without being an absolute classic.

Series: Desperados

Sun, 17 Apr 2022 14:47:54 +0000

Series of Western stealth games

Desperados III (2020)

Sun, 17 Apr 2022 14:47:20 +0000

The Desperados series is a set of stealth strategy games where the player controls a small group of characters (each with their own unique abilities) from a top-down view. The aim is largely to pick-off enemies without being detected. In this third instalment the hero (John Cooper) goes up against a local mining baron (DeWitt) and his henchman (Frank) against whom Cooper has a (somewhat predictable) personal vendetta.

The plot is not phenomenally innovative but does the job – it has provides an authentic old-west feel that’s largely an excuse to hang the gameplay onto. The level design I generally really liked: there’s a decent variety of locations which all have a unique and interesting “western” atmosphere. The one semi-complaint about the plot/setting was the character Isabelle. I didn’t really like her supernatural voodoo abilities as they didn’t really fit with the straight western setting. On the other hand the abilities were generally pretty interesting from a gameplay point-of-view but just slightly jarring from a setting point-of-view.

The gameplay is the main point here – the stealth mechanic is enjoyable: at times it gets a bit repetitive (you’re mainly repeating the same tricks to distract/lure an enemy out of sight of other enemies so that they can be knocked off). However there’s a decent variety of other options for the more creative player (i.e. not me!). There’s some interesting combinations that open up with Isabelle’s “link” and “take over” abilities (much as I didn’t like the premise of the abilities). There’s also some amusing secondary challenges – one that I enjoyed was a level with a railway running down the middle, where enemies could be dispatched by tricking them into standing on the line and being run over.

It’s always a tricky balance with this kind of gameplay between having a “right” way to do it with interesting set-piece solutions and letting the player come up with their own solutions. Generally I think the game got this roughly right - using secondary optional objectives (“badges”) to hint at the set-piece solutions but with generally enough freedom not to be forced to follow them.

The is an excellent entry in the series and probably the one to start with (it’s been a while since I played the first game but my suspicion is that it’s probably a slightly “better” game, but a little dated at this stage). Definitely enjoyable and well worth playing.

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Sat, 04 Dec 2021 21:04:58 +0000

Although it good very good reviews I wasn’t a huge fan of this. It isn’t a conventional western. It deals with two rancher brothers (Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons): the first a driven and successful rancher but largely just a jerk, while the second is likeable although lazy and largely seems to be coasting on his brother’s work. Plemons marries a local widow (Kirsten Dunst) whom Cumberbatch dislikes. The first half of the film is largely about the escalating tensions between them. In the second half they’re joined by the widow’s effeminate son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and the rest of the film focuses on his relationship with Cumberbatch.

The latter half of the film is better than the first half I think – there’s an interesting twist at the end which is well set up. However I found whole thing (and first half especially) a bit slow and tedious. It’s clearly very well-made, and the new-Zealand locations look excellent. I think mainly it didn’t fit what I was looking for in a Western.

Although not a traditional Western I suspect it is worth a watch. It’s almost certainly a better and more interesting film than I’m giving it credit for. It definitely isn’t a straightforward traditional Western though.

My Name is Pecos (1966)

Sat, 04 Dec 2021 21:01:30 +0000

Although it’s clearly very low budget, this is an excellent minor Spaghetti Western. Robert Woods plays the titular “Pecos” who arrives in town seeking vengeance against a gang who hate Mexicans. The local townsfolk live in fear of the gang, but that doesn’t prevent them from doing a little doubled-dealing and trying to get rich themselves. The mood is somewhat bleak throughout as the few remaining “good” townsfolk are brutally picked off one-by-one.

There’s nothing phenomenally original here (except possibly the racial inversion of the Mexican hero fighting the white gang) but it hits all the right notes for a minor Spaghetti Western and is watchable and (fairly) polished despite its budget. The town undertaker (long a staple character of the Spaghetti Western) is a nice touch, actively double-crossing just about everyone in this case.

Naming a small and underpopulated border town “Houston” suggests the producers hadn’t really looked up their geography though…

Colt in the Hand of the Devil (1972)

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 13:15:04 +0000

During the introduction, our hero (Robert Woods) is saved from one of the prison guards by a fellow prisoner who is then executed. He goes to to his saviour’s home-town and spends the rest of the film investigating the circumstance of their wrongful imprisonment. William Berger (who I always like as an actor, but often question his judgement in choosing roles) plays the town’s saloon owner, who is mixed up in the villainy.

This is a fairly unimpressive low-budget spaghetti Western. The story suffers a bit because we don’t really understand the hero’s motivation (superficially it’s pretty obvious, but it’s all based off a ~2 line conversation in the intro, and it’s all taken as so implicit that it’s never really believable). The general production is also quite weak - it fails to set up much of a sense of place, or a sense of continuity. One of the little things I noticed was that it the delineation between different scenes isn’t obvious, so you spend the first 10 seconds of each each scene trying to work out if you’re still in the last one.

So not hugely recommended.

Robert Woods

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 13:13:49 +0000

Sometimes credited as Robert Wood

Tombstone (1993)

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 18:50:56 +0000

The key characters in the gunfight at the OK Corral were undoubtedly larger-than-life, and Wyatt Earp put a lot of effort into embellishing his own legend in his later years. Therefore there’s always the temptation to ham it up a bit in films depicting them. Tombstone really goes for it, with Val Kilmer giving a wonderfully over-the-top performance as Doc Holliday, Kurt Russell giving a slightly more restrained performance as Wyatt Earp (assisted by Kurt Russell’s moustache).

It’s all great fun to watch, and I think a moderately accurate retelling (at least compared to some of the 1940s and 50s efforts: the main events are broadly in the right order and involve broadly the right people). There isn’t a great deal of subtly present. While Hour of the Gun (for example) too a deeper look at the “extrajudicial” nature of the Earp’s revenge quest, here they aren’t really portrayed as anything other than justified heroes.

One plot thread that I thought trailed off and was largely left unresolved was Earp’s laudanum-addicted first wife who just leaves town and he forgets about. Having looked it up though, this seems to be basically was happened in real-life, so I can’t really criticise it (even if it comes across as a dramatic omission).

There’s a couple of interesting cameos from some old-school Holywood starts: Robert Mitchum does a short narration at the start of the film, and Charlton Heston playing a notable rancher.

I terms of films depicting the same events, I think marginally prefer My Darling Clementine (which is pretty fictional, but an absolute classic), and Gunfight At The OK Corral (I think is more similar in spirit to this one, but again, a bit loose with history). Tombstone comes a very respectable third though, and is absolutely worth watching alongside these two.

The Last Frontier (1955)

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 10:01:09 +0000

Not my favourite Anthony Mann Western. The plot concerns a group of trappers who sign up as scouts at a frontier army fort (Victor Mature playing the main character out of the three). The fort is commanded by an unsuccessful but egotistical Colonel (Robert Preston) who hopes to advances his flagging military career with a risky attack on some nearby Indians.

The most interesting part of the film is the villain of the piece, the Colonel, who is obviously disappointed to be sent out west when the real action is in the civil war, and seems to be driven by the idea that a single “against the odds” dramatic victory will make his name.

However, in my mind Mature’s trapper is the least successful part of the film (which is a shame, as the main character). His motivation for working with the cavalry seems sketchy, and especially his motivation for wanting to enlist as a solider (rather than a civilian scout). He is advised against this by a friendly captain (Guy Madison) who is obviously right on the issue. However the least convincing part of the film is his romance with the Colonel’s wife (Ann Bancroft). It’s easy to see why relations between the Colonel and wife are strained, but the romance with Mature never really makes sense or is justified. Mature just ends up coming across as sleazy (borderline rape-y) which plays badly for the modern viewer, but also doesn’t seem like it was ever a convincing characterisation.

It definitely isn’t terrible – it’s well-made and watchable. But it seems to miss the mark on the “flawed hero”-character that Mann managed so well in his films with James Stewart.

Hour of the Gun (1967)

Sat, 13 Mar 2021 09:45:58 +0000

In contrast to many films on the subject, this opens (rather than closes) with with famous gunfight at the OK Corral, and the remainder of the film spends time following up on the recriminations afterwards. Unlike many of the earlier films (including director John Sturges own effort on the subject) this one broadly tries to get the history, which is both a strength and a weakness.

An amount of historical accuracy is probably a good thing: it’s a little silly to be watching a film based on real events that’s largely completely fictional. Where it falls down slightly is that the real events don’t necessarily make a hugely satisfying plot: it’s more a list of people that Wyatt Earp kills and the story ends when he’s finished.

On the positive side, James Garner is excellent as Wyatt Earp (which is good, since the film mainly focuses on him), creating an outwardly “heroic” facade even as he gets increasingly caught up in his own revenge quest. Jason Robards is similarly good as Doc Holliday, acting a moral contrast to Earp - he’s more morally neutral and presents that honestly to the world. He does only seem to remember to be ill when necessary for the plot though, which I found slightly unconvincing (but of course I have little idea what real TB symptoms are…).

As with basically anything by John Sturges it’s a well-made high quality film, and one that I enjoyed. I do generally prefer the less honest, more fictional, earlier films on Wyatt Earp though. But a different perspective on the story is still very welcome.

Three Amigos (1986)

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 19:30:35 +0000

Three recently fired series Western stars end up travelling to Mexico to do what they think is an in person performance, when they’re actually being recruited to protect a village against a bandit gang. It’s much the same plot as was later used in Galaxy Quest (to greater effect), where a bunch of actors are mistaken from the characters they play.

I thought it was a decent, light-hearted comedy Western. There’s a few bits that don’t make sense if you think about it too much: they seem to be both singing cowboys and silent movie stars? I haven’t seen enough early series Westerns to really comment on the accuracy of the parody – no doubt when this was released in the mid-80s there were substantially more people who’d grown up watch the originals. None the less the comedy is amusing throughout, contrasting the over-the-top stage personas of the three main characters with the more gritty “real world”.

From a plot point-of-view it ended slightly quickly. It went almost straight from them being inept, out-of-their-depth actors to somehow bumbling their way into the bandit fort, without really going through a stage of adapting to being the role of real western heroes. I think this would have been a more conventional bit of story-telling, and would probably have made a more satisfying plot. It’s enjoyable for what it is though, and so I broadly recommend it.

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 19:10:43 +0000

Definitely a classic but one that I’ve always been slightly mixed on. As an action film it’s great fun, with hordes of Eli Wallach’s bandits terrorizing a Mexican village while the team of seven hired guns fend them off. However, a lot of the characters feel a bit thin to me (obviously a consequence of having seven main characters). The leader of the bunch (played by Yul Brynner) has a decent role, and I think good use is made of Charles Bronson as an hired gun who has fallen on hard times and Robert Vaughn as a dandy running from his past. However most of the rest end up looking the part but not having a whole lot of depth. Horst Buchholz gets a bit more to do as the stereotypical overly-cocky young gunfighter, but does play very close to the stereotype.

In summary, it’s enjoyable to watch with excellent action scenes (including a memorable not-quite-action scene where Brynner and Steve McQueen escort a coffin past a bunch of racist townsfolk, establishing their characters) and one that I’ve come to enjoy more over the years. It does suffer from my general dislike of films with titles “The Something Some-Number” (largely because I think I enjoy a more detailed look at fewer characters).

I have a DVD that came in a collection with The Big Country and The Long Riders (which are both decent but seems a slightly odd combination. The picture’s pretty decent but the sound seems a little muffled in places – I suspect better versions are available now.

Drums Along The Mohawk (1939)

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 19:01:16 +0000

I’m never 100% clear whether US War of Independence films (like this one) should quite be considered Westerns. However.... Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert play a young couple whole move to the Mohawk valley to set up a farm. The valley is soon heavily raided by Indians under the pay of the British Tories.

It’s quite an interesting and satisfying film. It feels a lot more modern than its 1939 release date would suggest. In the first three quarters of the film there’s the interesting choice not to show much of the action – instead Fonda’s character (and the other men) leaves to go off to war and we largely see it from the perspective of the women waiting for then. Similarly the birth of the couple’s child is seen from the perspective of Fonda waiting (although showing the actual birth would be very unusual choice, I’m pretty sure the comparison of the two is deliberate).

John Ford’s typical humour is present, although in a more toned-down form that I think works better than in some of his later films. I quite enjoyed the joke of Arthur Shields’ preacher character slipping advertisement for a local store into his sermon in full religious tone, for example.

Recommended, even if not quite a Western.

Ride Lonesome (1959)

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 18:54:26 +0000

Another excellent Western in the “Ranown” series. Here Randolph Scott plays a bounty hunter who is bringing in a young outlaw. He is finds himself unwillingly accompanied by a pair of “semi-outlaws” (Pernell Roberts and James Coburn) who also have an interest in the bounty, as well as a recent widow (Karen Steele) whose husband ran the stagecoach way station. The group are pursued by the brother of the bounty (Lee Van Cleef).

Clearly a lot of the plot themes are familiar with the other entries in the series, especially Comanche Station, which also feature a group of outlaws attempting to take over Scott’s bounty. In some ways this is one of the most optimistic of the series: the Roberts and Coburn are only looking to take the bounty being doing so gets them an amnesty and the chance of starting their life afresh. Unlike the similar characters from other films they aren’t inherently evil and are acting mainly out of desperation and a lack of any other way to reform. Despite this optimism Scott’s character doesn’t really get a happy ending – he achieves his aims but it doesn’t seem like this is really going to let him move on.

Unsurprisingly, an excellent film. The blu-ray version as a part of the collection with the others in the series looks excellent too.

Decision at Sundown (1957)

Sun, 07 Jun 2020 11:01:10 +0000

Randolph Scott turns up in the town of Sundown hoping to kill the corrupt town boss (John Carroll) who he blames for the death of his wife. Definitely not the best of the Scott-Boetticher Westerns; however I on this viewing I found it a much more enjoyable film that in remembered. Compared to the other films they made together, the town-based setting feels a bit restrictive, and means the focus is scattered around a number of fairly stereotypical citizens rather than really exploring the character of the hero and villain.

What does work well is the interesting twists they put on the basic “stranger rides into a small town and takes on the local semi-criminal boss” theme. Exactly what Carroll’s villain has done to the town is never really explored, but it’s clear he probably isn’t a “good person”. None-the-less, he isn’t really responsible for the death of Scott’s wife, and thus the revenge quest isn’t really justified. The best bits of the film are in the second half, when it begins subverting the fairly generic premise. Scott is increasingly irrational and unhinged as he pursues his revenge while ignoring other characters’ pleas about the morality of it. Meanwhile Carroll shows he isn’t entirely the cowardly villain hiding behind his henchman, making a last-ditch stand mainly for the (probably futile) purpose of trying to restore the fear the townsfolk had for him after his status has fallen away.

It isn’t an absolute classic in the way some of the other Scott-Boetticher films are, but it’s still a very good film with a lot to enjoy.

The Grand Duel (1972)

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 17:53:16 +0000

A high-quality “minor” spaghetti Western. Like many successful lower budget films it succeeds by choosing a small scope and interesting characters to tell a focused store. Here Lee Van Cleef plays (former) Sheriff Clayton who is working to protect the younger gunfighter Phillip Vermeer (Alberto Dentice). Vermeer has been wrongly convicted of the murder to a prominent businessman (the father of the three main villains), has escaped, and is largely looking to go out seeking revenge in a blaze of glory.

A highlight is the dark-comic opening, set town besieged by a large horde of bounty-hunters, all with itchy trigger-fingers and all looking to kill Vermeer.

On the (slightly) negative side, I felt it went on for a little too long. The first half was definitely the best half, and by the last 20 minutes or so it seemed like we’d mostly figured out the remaining plot twists so some of the interest had gone. The camp, syphilitic villain also doesn’t play too well to modern eyes, I think.

All in all though, it’s a good late-period Spaghetti western that’s worth seeking out. I’ve yet to see a version with good image quality, but hopefully it exists somewhere.

Bury Them Deep (1968)

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 17:50:19 +0000

The reviews I could find on the internet seemed fairly negative about this. I actually mostly enjoyed it, with the proviso that it’s obviously a low-budget, mid-tier spaghetti Western so you do have to look past the obvious limitations.

Craig Hill plays cavalry Captain Norton, who is entrusted with recovering a stolen gold shipment. He’s asked to pick men for this assignment and he picks the convicted, soon-to-be-executed cavalryman “El Chaleco” (Ettore Manni) (a bit of plot so cliched that I can’t actually remember where they took it from). Together the hunt down the gold shipment which was taken by an American gang led by “Billy Gun” (whose relationship to El Chaleco is revealed in a “shocking” revelation). There’s also a rival Mexican gang after the gold.

It’s obviously all fairly predictable and there’s a number of issues. Some of the action scenes are spliced in from other films. There’s a mixture of locations ranging from “quite good” to “the same damp gravel pit three times” (I’m not sure if it’s literally the same pit, but it might as well have been). There’s an extended scene with a snake that’s a little laughable rather than scary, and which ultimately ends unsatisfactory with a rescue from passing strangers.

What lifts it somewhat is the two main characters, that are both well-defined, likeable, and well-played. A lot of these low-budget films live or die on whether you care about the characters and I thought both Hill and Manni did a pretty good job here. It isn’t actually a good film, but if accepted for what it is then it’s perfectly watchable.

The Badlanders (1958)

Wed, 04 Mar 2020 15:35:45 +0000

A watchable but ultimately slightly mediocre film. Basically a Western adaptation of The Asphalt Jungle, it has Alan Ladd as “Dutch”, a mining engineer being released from prison after being framed for a crime, and Ernest Borgnine as another prisoner released at the same time. Together they plan to rob a mine (owned by a corrupt mine owner who had a part in both of their sentences) then sell the gold back to said mine owner.

I haven’t actually seen The Asphalt Jungle (or read the book of the same name) but I have skimmed the wikipedia page, which makes me eminently qualified to comment on the differences between it and this film. I think the issues with this film come from adapting it both too strictly and too loosely.

On the “too strictly” front: there’s characters that have a limited part in this film (the “femme fatale” mine owner’s lover who tries to seduce Ladd and “Sample”, the shady go-between for Ladd and the mine owner) that seem to have plots that don’t quite finish and it’s not clear what purpose they serve in the film. It looks like they were more significant characters in the source material and remain in this because the story wasn’t quite distilled down enough.

On the “too loosely” side, the ending seems quite disjointed and doesn’t really fit. The Asphalt Jungle looks to have a much bleaker ending. This film appears to follow the “bleaker” plot until quite late, then add “and everything was resolved in a big old-west-style shoot-out and they all lived happily ever after”. It isn’t quite as jarring as I make it seem: ultimately it does fit the genre. However when I was watching it it seemed slightly odd, and in hindsight (having read about the film it remade) it makes sense why.

With all that said, it is an broadly enjoyable watch. Delmer Daves is always a talented director (I particularly liked the way he shot the old abandoned mine workings) and makes the most of the story given. The lead actors do their job well. It just feels like something that could have been excellent but missed, rather than a bad film.