Westerns, or, This is what happens when I have writing utensils, no books handy and am bored

[mojave_wolf]

I've pretty much only been using this livejournal to keep up w/friends and communities for a long time now, but I wrote this when killing time in a pizza hut w/nothing to do earlier today, and going to put it here so my last post isn't ... what had previously been my last post

Comments

[disorderata]

AH AHAHAH "True Grit"

[mojave_wolf]

I cannot tell if you are a fan or hate it?

[disorderata]

I'm on the fence... Westerns aren't partic my genre, I try to regard them with a mixture of intensity and frivolity.

[mojave_wolf]

Fair enough. Intensity is always good when watching movies. =)

Intensity + frivolity? If you haven't seen them yet, you might REALLY appreciate either Cat Ballou (a comedy as well as a Western, but w/a serious plot to go w/the funny) or the first Young Guns or, something I had forgotten when making the above list, Little Big Man w/Dustin Hoffman from the 70's. It was sort of an anti-Western Western.

[anonymous]

"Hombre" with Paul Newman and "Blue" with Terence Stamp. Both interesting though not perfect. Perfect is "The Magnificent Seven".

[mojave_wolf]

I have not seen either of those two; thank you (whoever you may be) for the suggestions!!! I recently got on a Westerns kick(among other things)and have been planning on watching more. Those are jumping to the head of the list.

And yes, Magnificent Seven is a great movie. If you think it should've been first I will not argue. As said, I love all those movies and my rankings would change from moment to moment, and things like it and Dances With Wolves are so different it's really different to compare them anyway (sort of the opposite from how Rio & El Dorado are so similar in my admittedly long way back memory it's hard to separate them)

[sartorias]

I remember a couple of weird westerns in the late sixties early seventies. There was the monumentally depressing ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and the serious revenge flick VALDEZ IS COMING.

[mojave_wolf]

Hey, good to say hi again! I don't know Valdez is coming but I shall look for it; I usually like that sort of thing.

I didn't recall Once Upon A Time In the West being depressing but it's been over a decade (maybe since the 90's sometime; I'm not sure) since I saw it so memory might have blurred. I do remember that horrible line Charles Bronson says to the female lead tho, which I guess was depressing enough when you consider it was supposed to be taken seriously at the time.

[sartorias]

I only saw it the once, in summer 1969, but the depressingness stuck with me.

[mojave_wolf]

If you want weird westerns, btw, One Eyed Jacks. That is... unique.

(I had never heard of it before the Twin Peaks reference but went searching for it after; that may have given me more patience with/fondness for than I otherwise would have had, but it's certainly a little off the beaten track.)