I had planned on writing some punks tonight and banging on a guitar but I got sidetracked by an old film.
While cooking dinner I flipped on Netflix just to have something on and Silverado from 1985 appeared. In my opinion, it's one of the best modern Westerns and it has a great cast: Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Patricia Arquette, John Cleese, Jeff Goldblum, and Brian Dennehy plays a fantastic badass villain. My favorite of the cast is Linda Hunt.
When I first saw her in The Year Of Living Dangerously I became an instant fan. Where did this lady come from? She won an Oscar for portraying a half-Chinese man. Every time I see Linda Hunt on screen, even in a less-than-great film, it makes me happy. Silverado is one of her best roles. She acts with her face so well and Stella is a great character.
I'm a late Boomer. I grew up on Westerns. The genre faded as men like John Wayne hung up their spurs and my interest waned as I got older but when a good new Western film comes around, and it's getting rarer as the years pass, I am here for it.
The Duke's last film was The Shootist. I saw it in the theater in 1976. I was in high school and still loved Westerns... and punk rock. They totally work. I don't believe I saw another new Western film after that until Silverado nine years later. I don't recall any. The Western had ridden off into the sunset. That same year Clint Eastwood was out with Pale Rider. It was like a mini-comeback for the genre on the big screen.
After that, I have to say Unforgiven in 1992 and Tombstone and 1993 as the next box office Westerns. Gene Hackman was an amazing evil bastard. I believe Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday were a perfect match. The Quick and the Dead came out in 1995. So the mid-nineties weren't bad.
Opinions may vary. I recently watched TQ&TD, another Gene Hackman villain with Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe, and baby-faced Leonardo DiCaprio. I know it's a cheesy fucking film but I don't care what the haters say. I love it. It's just so much fun.
I give Westerns a free pass on cheese and tropes.
The Kasdens didn't mess around with the Silverado script. They used all the Western tropes. That's one reason I love the film. They have not one but two jailbreaks, a wagon train, a gunfight in the desert, a stampede, homesteads burned down, a crooked Sheriff, a gunfight at a cattle ranch, the saloon with girls, a gunfight in the streets leading to the climactic showdown, one on one, good versus evil.
There are missing tropes, there are no rampaging natives nor is there a bank or a stagecoach robbery. The wagon train gets robbed, so there's that. Of course, there's a greedy, evil cattle baron behind all the mayhem. The Kasdens used the formula and it works.
I'm having a hard time even thinking of ten Westerns of the past forty years. I've named six. I suppose I could Google it. I know that's cheating but I don't have all night. I wasn't planning this Western rant. It just happened.
Be right back.
How could I forget Django Unchained and Hateful Eight? I'm a huge Tarantino guy. I own Django on DVD and I own the original 1966 Sergio Carbucci directed Django with Franco Nero dragging his buddy's casket through the badlands. I have all three Sergio Leone - Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns.
I'm not a Dances With Wolves guy. Sorry. Great film. I saw it once. That was enough.
The remake of True Grit was tricky for me. I like everything the Cohen Brothers do but that is John Wayne's only Oscar-winning performance. How could they remake that? They did it and Jewish boys from Minnesota made it better. I own the DVD. Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin are great, but Hailee Steinfeld... WTF?
That's nine. I can only think of nine and I needed IMDb to get the last three. The remake of 3:10 to Yuma is okay. I have not seen The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford. I cannot comment on it.
Tombstone has a special place in my heart. I respect the film and I recently watched the new six-part OK Corral drama-mentary on Netflix - and I geeked out on it - but I dig Tombstone because I go there whenever we have out-of-state visitors. It's a four-hour drive max and there's a very fucking cool geological site called Kartchner Caverns along the way in Benson, AZ. The Caverns, Tombstone, and Bisbee are a great Southern Arizona long weekend. I've been four times. The old Cochise County Courthouse still has the gallows in the walled courtyard. Tombstone is total camp, it's cheesy, touristy, and it's awesome. For my money, it's way better than Sedona. I've been there too many times. I prefer Flagstaff over Sedona also. One hundred freight trains per day roll through town.
So I got no punk writing done today because of Westerns but I'm definitely working on an aggressive punk plan for 2025. More on that at a later date.
I have another movie-related blog post coming up. Humphrey Bogart's birthday is Christmas Day 1899. Every year I celebrate Bogie Week. It's just me. I'm the only person I know who does this. It's not like there's a club. If you have not figured this out... I'm a strange man. I have my passions. I always take the week between the holidays, at least nine days, twelve this year. I believe have nine Bogart films on DVD. I'll watch a few of those and I'll stream a few more to change it up.
I enjoy writing or talking about the films I love but I don't pretend to have an elevated taste or any special insights into filmmaking. I'm not some know-it-all. I have huge blindspots of no interest. I do not dig the Marvel Universe, period. I simply love Hollywood films and I know what I like.
I'll talk about my man Bogie later.