Appaloosa (2008) Film Review - Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons

Plot Summary - There's trouble brewing in the old west town of Appaloosa, New Mexico where a rancher/bad man named Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and his pack of desperadoes keep ridin' into town and taking "advantage" (harassing women, buying food and goods without paying, peeing on the saloon floor, shooting people, you know). Two expert gun men /pal-lookalikes get hired by the town as peacekeepers - as new city Marshal and deputy, Virgil (Ed Harris) and Everett (Viggo Mortensen) are given a free hand at taking over and setting the laws of the town. When a young cowpoke comes to town and points the finger at Bragg as the murderer of a former town marshal, Bragg is thrown in jail, then put on trial - but our marshal and deputy have quite a bit of trouble in their efforts to get this guy tried, convicted, and hopefully hung. The marshal also gets a bit sidetracked by new gal in town, widow Mrs. French (Renee Zellweger), who makes a play for him - and other men too.

Review - Set in 1882, this atmospheric, character-driven western really sets a time and mood in it's old west town setting, where wind blows the dust off the dirt main street through town, cowboys on horseback roam, and lawmen and lawbreakers confront each other in the streets and saloon at gunpoint. The film is really done in the style of an old-fashioned, classic western. The story was entertaining, the film went by real fast - it did seem like a story that had a lot more to say, and it is made from a novel so I guess that's true - I really would have liked this one to be about an hour longer to really put a bit more meat into the relationships between the characters. Jeremy Irons is real good in this, as usual (yes, I'm a fan). I am a sucker for a good western - I liked this a lot. Rating - 9/10 stars

The Texan (1930) Film Review - Cinecon 44 Screening

Plot Summary - Early talkie western starring Gary Cooper as the Llano Kid, wanted dead or alive. On a train headed for Texas, he steals a passenger's ticket, then pretends he is a Mexican who speaks no English when confronted by the passenger and train conductor. Well, that passenger decides our man is the perfect candidate to help him with an evil scheme he's been brewing up. He knows of a very wealthy lady in Mexico who is offering a $1,000 reward for the return of her beloved son who she hasn't seen since he ran away from home at the age of ten after getting a scold from mama over the new mermaid tattoo he got on his arm. The son would be twenty-five years old now - the same age as the Llano Kid! And it's not just the reward he's after - apparently the old lady has saved a stash of gold to give to her son on his return. So - the Llano Kid is brought to her home and pretends he's the long, lost son, and well - the old lady falls for the scam hook, line, and sinker (gosh, you would think she would recognize her own son, after all he was ten not an infant when he left home). She pampers him, cooks him what she hopes to be a meal of standard American dishes - apple pie, doughnuts, and pickles - and gives him constant love, hugs and kisses. The Llano Kid is a sort of quiet lone wolf and not used to all this bother - but yes, she does give him the key to her secret locked cabinet hidden behind a painting, where rests a chest filled to the brim with sacks of gold. After a few months our man begins to like his new life on her fancy ranch - and sparking with his pretty "cousin" Consuelo (Fay Wray) who also lives there doesn't hurt one bit. Soon he begins to change his mind about going through with the idea of running away with the loot, which he is meant to share with the man from the train - and won't he be mad if he doesn't get his gold!

Review - A pretty good film, this moved fast with interesting plotline and well done acting - the print looked nice. Gary Cooper looks oh so young and handsome in this, though he is seriously long-legged and thin. Rating - 7/10 stars

Man of the West (1958) Film Review - Cinecon 44 Screening

Plot Summary - In which rawhide-vested, black cowboy-hatted Link Jones (Gary Cooper) - the strong, silent type - gets mixed up with a gang of seriously rotten men out in the Old West. Riding a train to Fort Worth, his long legs barely fitting into his seat, with plans to use his bag of gold (donated by his small western town) to hire a schoolmarm to bring back to the town. But when bad men try to rob the train while all the "able-bodied" men are off board and loading up lumber (hey, shouldn't these guys have gotten a comped ticket since they had to work?!), three of them - Link, a friendly gambler, and a pretty singer (Julie London) - get left behind when the train breaks away. A hundred miles to the next town, looks like they'll have to walk - but wait, Link knows of a secret farmhouse hidden nearby. They go there only to find the train robbers and Link's aging, crazed in the head, uncle (Lee J. Cobb) there - a very bad man who steals, murders, and the like with his band of three desperadoes. In his younger years, under the tutelage of Uncle, Link was once part of that no-law world of bandits - but he set off on his own to seek a new life, and now lives in happiness with home, wife and kids. Uncle corrals him back into the gang, and let's put it this way - these guys are a real bunch of slimy, dirty cretins. Link fakes cooperation to protect his new pals from the train - but there's little he can do other than uncomfortably sit and watch as one of the men (Jack Lord) forces the girl to undress in stripper style (first the shoes, then the stockings, then the jacket, etc.) as he prompts the poor, distressed woman on brusquely shouting "take off your clothes!" while the bunch of men all sit and stare. Meanwhile, this lonely gal begins to fall for Link - but he's a strong-willed man with family values now. Lots of fights, gun battles, killings, and grave-digging at gunpoint to follow.

Review - Screened on the opening night of Cinecon 44, this entertaining western, directed by Anthony Mann, was a treat to see in very widescreen, CinemaScope splendor. The cinematography is visually interesting and included nice looking color, many of the scenes are actually quite dark, night scenes. The plot is compelling - Lee J. Cobb does a good job playing the grizzled and whacked older uncle to Cooper (Cobb was in reality ten years younger than Cooper!). Of course, Gary Cooper is weathered, yet still very handsome in this; Jack Lord, of Hawaii Five-O, is real good as perhaps the baddest of the bad men - - of course, it did seem like one of the main reasons they put in the stripping scene was to show off Julie London's body - I'm sure the men watching appreciated this (don't get too excited, she's still wearing lots of 1800's undergarments). Quite a good film. Rating - 8/10 stars