ForgotPassword?
Sign Up
Search this Topic:
Forum Jump
Oct 18 11 9:44 PM
Oct 18 11 10:02 PM
Oct 22 11 7:30 PM
Nov 8 11 4:23 PM
NATURALISTIC! UNCANNY! MARVELOUS!
Nov 9 11 1:07 PM
Rick wrote:GONE WITH THE WEST is, indeed, a weird thing. As you say, it's primarily a comedy, but Stefanie Powers starts off the movie being gang-raped in the middle of a western street as the townspeople gawk and cheer, and spends the rest of the movie as a silent, traumatized -- but somewhat playful -- victim. But, still, it's mainly a comedy. Very, very weird.
Nov 12 11 3:49 AM
Dec 29 11 9:29 PM
Jan 10 15 2:00 AM
Jan 10 15 7:29 PM
Feb 5 15 3:03 PM
Feb 5 15 3:10 PM
Grant wrote:There's also the short-lived SF western show with Rod Taylor (what is its name?).
Feb 5 15 3:37 PM
Feb 5 15 7:20 PM
Feb 6 15 1:13 AM
Rick wrote:Just saw a pretty late-in-the-day "fake ghost" B-western. RIMFIRE from 1949 features gambler The Alabama Kid (Reed Hadley) being tried and found guilty (in one of the oddest "legal" trials in movie history) and then immediately hanged for a crime he didn't commit. And, actually, a crime -- cheating at cards -- that wouldn't seem to call for capital punishment.Anyway, just before he's hung, Hadley tells the assembled townsfolk that he's innocent and that they'll carry the guilt of their actions for the rest of their lives. He doesn't exactly pronounce a curse on the town...but pretty close to that.After the hanging, various townspeople who were somehow connected to the hanging are killed with playing cards left on the bodies. Even more, before being shot, each of them hears a voice pronouncing their doom. The audience also gets to hear that voice which, though filtered through an echo chamber, certainly sounds for all the world like the dulcet baritone of Reed Hadley. I was sure early on that there wasn't really going to be a ghost seeking vengeance, but after two or three killings, and hearing what definitely seemed to be Hadley, I began to wonder.Of course, it all turns out to be a nefarious scheme carried out by an unlikely character (and one who seems not really qualified to have produced that voice). There is a lovely misleading moment about 15 minutes before the movie ends when we're clearly supposed to think that the murders are being done by the one character I thought actually might be able to approximate Hadley's tones.Oddly, though the audience is aware that Hadley was an innocent man, the townspeople never learn this, and we fade out with them still believing justice has been done. Odd.So, not a horror film, not a real ghost, but very reminiscent of those B-oaters from the '30s where fake ghosts turned up with great regularity.
Again, JUDGE ROY BEAN with Paul Newman is full of weird moments, including all-out fantasy ones, and this reminds me of one. This isn't exactly a SPOILER but it's giving away a very good line.
Tab Hunter's character is describing his hanging to the audience DURING the hanging, but (like other characters) he's also speaking in the afterlife. His last line is something like"My only wish was that it would be carried out neatly. It was."
Feb 6 15 1:21 AM
Lawrence Fechtenberger wrote:Grant wrote:There's also the short-lived SF western show with Rod Taylor (what is its name?)."Outlaws." It is on the list. As for "Terror in a Texas Town": I presume this made the list because of the title. It is an eccentric film in some ways (most obviously, in that the hero uses a harpoon instead of a gun), but there is nothing literally fantastic or horrific about it. And, "Duel in the Eclipse"? I can only suppose you included this based on the Sinister Cinema catalogue ("It's very moody and feels like a Euro-horror film in spots."), but that is merely typical Sinister Cinema hyperbole*. There is nothing moodier or more horrific about this than any other spaghetti Western. Well, as the title indicates, the climax occurs during an eclipse, so for a couple of minutes it is literally darker than the norm, but that is literally all there is to that claim. *The company tries to make everything it carries seem like a horror or science fiction movie, whatever its contents. Take, for example, the SC description of the old English detective movie "The Living Dead," originally and more appropriately known as "The Scotland Yard Mystery": "An evil doctor puts people in a death-like state to collect their insurance money." Actually, it is about a gangster who helps criminals fake their deaths in order to evade the police.
Guide to Resources on CHFB
Feb 12 15 6:31 PM
amanaplan1 wrote:Not sure if these were mentioned or if they qualify, but: RED GARTERSDEATH CURSE OF TARTU A MAN CALLED HORSE (at least I thought it was weird, if not in the supernatural or horror film sense)THE TRAVELING EXECUTIONERBLAZING SADDLES (well, at least it's, um, different)THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACKJOHNNY FIRECLOUDSTAR CRASH (with Western gunslinger robot)SPACEBALLS (the Han Solo parody is named "Lone Star" and is clearly a Western take-off, as was Han "Sorry about the mess" Solo himself) THE MAN WITH GOLDEN GUN, the 1974 James Bond flick, is supposed to be a kind of Western inversion, referencing "HIGH NOON" among others. The villain is ostensibly Bond's counterpart, "The Fastest Gun in the East," and is obsessed with killing the gunman he admires most, hence, his showdown/duel with 007. I've read that Jack Palance (SHANE) turned down the role, which eventually went to Christopher Lee (who recently did HANNIE CAULDER). The script was considered too short and not "Bondian" enough, so the "energy crisis / solar power" subplot was added/emphasized. At least, that's what I read. The 1968 "Noon Doomsday" episode of TV's The Avengers liberally, er, borrowed so many references from HIGH NOON I'm surprised no one got sued.
Feb 12 15 9:36 PM
I didn't see THE PHANTOM KID (1977) on the list. Never saw it, but it is a cheapjack rip-off of BUGSY MALONE with kids playing the lead roles in a western. The masked hero doesn't pack a gun. He does have a magic harmonica which freezes the bad guys.
At least one from NIGHT GALLERY starring Forrest Tucker
Which reminds me of Vincent Price suspected of being a vampire on an episode of F TROOP.
What about THE REMARKABLE ANDREW? Set in modern times, but the ghost of Jesse James shows up.
Feb 12 15 9:55 PM
Feb 13 15 8:59 AM
gene phillips wrote:If we include SF films with western motifs, you gotta include BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS for "Space Cowboy," even apart from the movie's inspiration (swiping?) from MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.
Feb 14 15 7:40 AM
Share This