Shemp Howard Meets John Wayne! ("Pittsburgh", 1942) (video)

Shemp Howard enjoyed a successful solo career in movies...

 
...before returning to the Three Stooges to replace ailing brother Curly.

Here he shares the screen with fellow Hollywood icon John Wayne...

...as well as Marlene Dietrich and Randolph Scott.

Shemp could hold his own with anyone on the screen.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!
 

Shemp Howard Meets John Wayne! ("Pittsburgh", 1942) (video)

Wyatt Earp and "The Walk" To The OK Corral ("Tombstone", etc.) (video)

Just about any story of Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the OK Corral must feature "The Walk."

"My Darling Clementine" (1946)
"Stories of the Century: Doc Holliday" (TV, 1954)
"Gunfight at the OK Corral" (1957)
"Hour of the Gun" (1967)
"Star Trek: Spectre of the Gun" (TV, 1968)
"Wyatt Earp" (1994)
"Tombstone" (1993)

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Wyatt Earp and "The Walk" To The OK Corral ("Tombstone", etc.) (video)

The True Measure Of A Man: William S. Hart, "Wagon Tracks" (1919) (video)

Western legend William S. Hart plays a heroic yet humble wagon train leader.

The people and animals are consumed with thirst, the nearest water miles away.

Yet he shares what precious water he is given...

...a noble sacrifice for which he asks no reward.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

The True Measure Of A Man: William S. Hart, "Wagon Tracks" (1919) (video)

How "Tombstone" Should Have Ended (video)

 

"Tombstone" is pretty much the perfect Western...right?

Well, maybe and maybe not. Because after much extensive research and development... 

...we have come up with a way to actually improve the ending of this classic. 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

How "Tombstone" Should Have Ended (video)

THE GREAT SILENCE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 5/12/18

 

In 1968, the same year Italian director Sergio Leone unleashed his western masterpiece ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, his compatriot Sergio Corbucci (DJANGO, NAVAJO JOE) gave us this very different take on the usual "spaghetti western"--THE GREAT SILENCE, aka "Il grande silenzio" (Film Movement Classics).

It's a fascinating change of pace from the usual lurid, bombastic entries in the genre with sweaty men fighting and dying amidst much sound and fury in the blazing heat of the desert.  Corbucci's film takes place in a snowbound setting with dark figures riding their horses over plains of stark white or walking down the streets of a town glazed with frost.

Like the setting, everything's muted in this film, including its hero, The Great Silence (French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, ...AND GOD CREATED WOMAN, Z, IS PARIS BURNING?).  His backstory, seen in familiar flashback form, tells of him having his throat cut as a child by the same bounty hunters who just killed his parents as his father was surrendering to them. 

Silence, with his rapid-fire automatic pistol (the story takes place near the turn of the 20th century), is a hero who's also atypical in that, in addition to having deep feelings, he isn't the stoic, emotionally distant figure we see in Clint Eastwood's self-centered mercenary. In fact, he's a bit of a white knight, avenging women whose men have been murdered by bounty hunters. (Although he's not above charging a fee for his services.)

This time, in another departure from Leone, all of the bounty hunters in the story--namely, sadistic thrill-killer Loco (Klaus Kinski, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE) and his motley cohorts--are the bad guys, preying upon a haggard group of outlaws hiding out in the mountains until word of their amnesty comes through from the government. 

Some decide to give themselves up and are picked off, while the rest will eventually be lured to town only to fall into the bounty hunters' ambush.  It's here, with Silence going up against Loco and his crew as they hold their captives hostage in the saloon, that the film's shocking finale will take place.

But before that, Corbucci lingers upon Silence's increasingly fond relationship with the beautiful widow Pauline (Vonetta McGee) after she pleads with him to avenge her husband's murder by Loco.  Their scenes are thoughtful, contemplative--a respite from the bursts of bloody violence that erupt from time to time.

We also follow the tale of seriocomic sheriff Gideon Burnett, played by Frank Wolff (the ill-fated "Brett McBain" in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST) who is tasked by the governor to solve the bounty hunter problem but finds it quite a handful.  How Loco manages to outwit him as he's being transported in chains to the nearest prison is almost enough for him to earn a smidgeon of our admiration.

More than anyone else, this is Klaus Kinski's film.  In the cheerfully vile Loco he gives us a delightfully low-key villain, and deftly underplays the role.  Loco never heard of "dead or alive"--his pleasure is in luring errant felons into surrendering and then gunning them down with great satisfaction. 

This tendency will reach its peak in the film's final sequence, which suddenly turns into a bloodbath as the story ends on an incredibly nihilistic note.  I was floored by it, and left unsure how I felt about the movie as a whole as the final music of Ennio Morricone's haunting score began to swell.  And I don't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing.

Corbucci filmed two alternate endings (included in the Blu-ray extras), one of which is exactly how I wanted the film to end.  But regardless of all that, THE GREAT SILENCE is a haunting, beautifully-rendered, and very offbeat western that should stay with you for some time after experiencing it. 


Buy it at Film Movement Classics

Tech Specs:
New 2K digital restoration
1.85:1 widescreen
Italian and English soundtracks, English subtitles
Stereo

Extras:
"Cox on Corbucci"--Alex Cox pays tribute to the maestro
"Western, Italian Style"--1968 documentary on the Italian film industry, western style
Two alternate endings
Illustrated booklet with the essay, "Ending the Silence" by Simon Abrams
Original and new trailers

THE GREAT SILENCE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

VERY Risque' Joke in 1934 John Wayne Western "BLUE STEEL" (video)

It may not seem like much now, but in 1934...

...this would've been a pretty daring scene.

The punchline DEFINITELY would've raised a few eyebrows.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

VERY Risque' Joke in 1934 John Wayne Western "BLUE STEEL" (video)

Estelita, Charlita, and John Wayne* (video)

*(And Howard Hawks and William Beaudine)

Cuban actress Estelita Rodriguez appeared with John Wayne in Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" (1958).

In 1966, Estelita co-starred in "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter"...which was directed by William Beaudine.

Beaudine had earlier directed Bela Lugosi, along with Sammy Petrillo and Duke Mitchell in "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" (1952), featuring actress Charlita.

Beaudine also directed "Billy the Kid Meets Dracula" in 1966--again with Charlita. 

And in 1967, Charlita appeared with John Wayne in Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" remake, "El Dorado." 


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Estelita, Charlita, and John Wayne* (video)

Shatner Vs. Shatner: Duel To The Death ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

For half-breed twins Johnny Moon and Notah (William Shatner)...

...mortal enemies in a clash of good against evil...

...the time has come for a duel to the death.



Which Shatner will win?


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Shatner Vs. Shatner: Duel To The Death ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

Clint Eastwood's Sci-Fi/Horror Film Origins (Video)

Clint Eastwood made his big screen debut as a jet squadron leader in "Tarantula" (1955).

And later that year, as lab technician Jennings in "Revenge of the Creature" (1955).

Four years later Clint would find TV success as Rowdy Yates in "Rawhide."
And in 1964, he finally hit it big in the Italian western "Fistful of Dollars."

But it's still fun to remember him as a young bit player in 50s sci-fi/horror flicks.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Clint Eastwood's Sci-Fi/Horror Film Origins (Video)

"TOMBSTONE" (1993): Rain Blooper

Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) hears the shot when his brother Morgan (Bill Paxton) is gunned down. 

After Morgan's dramatic death scene, Wyatt wanders out into the raging thunderstorm.

But while it's pouring down cats and dogs on Wyatt...it's dry as a bone right down the street!

 

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having a little fun with it. Thanks for watching!

"TOMBSTONE" (1993): Rain Blooper

THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST -- Movie Review by Porfle

(This is part three of my look at the "Don Knotts Reluctant Hero Pack", a two-sided DVD containing four of Don's best-known movies: THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT, THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST, and THE LOVE GOD?)

The years 1966-68 saw the appearance of three Don Knotts comedies in quick succession--THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT, and 1968's THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST--each of which dealt with Don's nervous-guy character by placing him in hazardous situations that forced him to somehow overcome his natural cowardice. In the latter entry, he was swept all the way back to the rip-roarin' Old West of 1870, complete with gunslingers, outlaws, and marauding Indians. Which, I would think, would be a pretty nerve-wracking place for a coward to be.

Don plays Jesse W. Haywood (a nod to Don's actual name, Jesse Donald Knotts), a dentist whose dream is to spread dental health throughout the West. After a rib-tickling main titles song by The Wilburn Brothers, the film gets off to a rousing start as we see Jesse trying to examine a fiercely-unwilling patient, Miss Stevenson, during his final "pass-or-fail" dentistry exam, which turns into a UFC-style fist-flying brawl. "How's it going, Haywood?" asks rival dental student Phelps ("Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"'s Greg Mullavey, in one of this film's few running gags), to which Jesse responds "Fine...just fine" even as his fingers are being chomped. Once he gets his diploma, he bids a tearful farewell to his mother (Ruth McDevitt), then hops a train and it's westward ho.

Meanwhile, the notorious bandit Penelope "Bad Penny" Cushings (Barbara Rhoades) has just been captured after a long career of cattle rustling, stagecoach robbing, etc. But the sheriff (Ed Peck) offers her a deal--she must go undercover and travel West on a wagon train suspected of carrying smugglers who are supplying rifles to the Indians, and if she discovers their identity and nabs them, she'll get a pardon. But there's a catch--no unaccompanied women are allowed on the wagon train, and the agent who was to pose as her husband (John Wayne stock player Ed Faulkner) just got killed. So she needs to find a husband fast. Guess who she picks? Right--the duded-up, derby-wearing "tender ninny" (as she sneeringly refers to him during their first encounter), Jesse.

Her seduction of Haywood, when she comes to him for a feigned dental complaint and lets her cleavage do the talking, is still high on my short list of things that jump-started my puberty. Whether dressed in denim and rawhide and packing six-guns, or tarted up like a dancehall girl, Barbara Rhoades made my hormones yell "Yee-haaa!" But enough of my personal problems...

On the way West, the wagon train is attacked by Indians. Penny secretly disposes of them all, but Doc Haywood mistakenly thinks he's the big Indian fighter. So as soon as they get into town, he buys the standard black gunfighter outfit and goes swaggering around, revelling in his new status as a dead-shot Indian fighter. But the rifle smugglers (Don "Red" Barry and "The Addams Family"'s Uncle Fester, Jackie Coogan) hire a feared gunfighter named Arnold the Kid to challenge Doc Haywood to a shootout. Can you guess what happens?

Finally the truth comes out and Jesse realizes he's been duped, which leads to a great "Don gets drunk" scene in the local saloon. But just as things look their worst, Penny is kidnapped by the rifle smugglers and taken to a nearby Indian camp, and Jesse realizes he's her only hope. So he sobers up, straps on his six-gun, and goes to her rescue, resolving to save her from the bad guys even if it means dressing up as an Indian maiden and getting hit on by some horny Indian dudes. And when she finds out how brave he really is, Penny at last finds herself smitten by the "tender ninny", giving hope to all of us nerds who always dreamed of having the hottest babes in school fall for us somehow.

Once again, the cast is populated with familiar faces. Jim Begg of THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN reappears as a deputy who lives for excitement ("I just love this kinda stuff!" he exclaims in another running gag). The great Carl Ballantine ("McHale's Navy") and a surprisingly-young Pat Morita play storekeepers who cheat Jesse out of his every last cent as he attempts to equip himself for the journey West. Frank McGrath of THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT reappears as one of the people on the wagon train. MASH's William Christopher shows up as a hotel clerk, Eddie Quillan (the elevator operator from THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN) is a train porter, and Burt Mustin makes his third straight appearance in a Don Knotts comedy. Legendary character actor Dub Taylor even shows up as Penny's outlaw accomplace early on, before he decides to go to Boston to open up a little dress shop.

As in Don's previous two flicks, James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum ("The Andy Griffith Show", THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT) are involved in the screenplay, along with Edmund L. Hartmann and the redoubtable Frank Tashlin, in this update of Bob Hope's classic comedy THE PALEFACE. Vic Mizzy is on hand once again to provide an appropriately lighthearted musical score. THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN'S Alan Rafkin ably directs. And aside from Fritzell and Greenbaum, the "Andy Griffith Show" connection here includes an appearance by Hope "Clara Edwards" Summers.

A worthy addition to the Don Knotts oeuvre, THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST is an endlessly fun romp that should please his fans. It's Don Knotts at his best, and that's pretty much as good as it gets.

THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST -- Movie Review by Porfle

Modern Vehicle Blooper in "THE SEARCHERS" (John Wayne, 1956)

As Ethan (John Wayne) and Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) watch the cavalry soldiers cross the river...

...a modern vehicle can be seen in the distance at upper right, traveling left-to-right. 

The driver stops to watch the cavalry cross the river--not something you see every day.

Originally posted on 1/15/18
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Modern Vehicle Blooper in "THE SEARCHERS" (John Wayne, 1956)

TWIN SHATNERS: Five Different Ones (video)

If one William Shatner is good...

...then two William Shatners is great!

And we were treated to this at least five different times:


Star Trek: The Original Series, "The Enemy Within" (1966)

Star Trek: The Original Series, "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (1966)

Star Trek: The Original Series, "Whom Gods Destroy" (1969)

"White Comanche" (1968)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)


Read our review of "White Comanche" HERE!




Originally posted on 12/29/19
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

TWIN SHATNERS: Five Different Ones (video)

John Wayne Loses His Toupee In "NORTH TO ALASKA" (1960) (video)

 

While John Wayne rarely wore a toupee in his private life...

...he was never without it in his later films and personal appearances.

But we get a rare glimpse of his thinning pate in NORTH TO ALASKA (1960)...

...when a punch from Ernie Kovacs sends both hat and hairpiece flying.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

John Wayne Loses His Toupee In "NORTH TO ALASKA" (1960) (video)

How "Tombstone" Should Have Ended (video)

 

 

No matter how great a movie may be, it can always be improved in some way.  

 Here's how the classic western saga "Tombstone" would have been better if the writers had only thought the ending through a bit more.

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

How "Tombstone" Should Have Ended (video)

Two-Woman Shootout From "JOHNNY GUITAR" (1954) (video)

(Spoiler Alert if you haven't seen the movie!)

 

In "Johnny Guitar" (1954) Joan Crawford plays gun-totin' bar owner Vienna.

Mercedes McCambridge is Emma Small, a fierce rival who hates Vienna's guts.

It's inevitable that these two will have a guns-blazing showdown.

Which they do, finally, in the classic final scene.


Read our review of the film HERE

Originally posted on 2/12/20
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Two-Woman Shootout From "JOHNNY GUITAR" (1954) (video)

Two Modern Vehicle Bloopers In "Shane" (1953) (video)

It's one of the great westerns of all time...with two great modern vehicle bloopers.

The first one has been erased from the movie...but can still be seen in the trailer.
Look right past Shane as he approaches the Starrett ranch.

The second one happens later when Joey is talking to Shane. 
Look through the open window right behind Joey, right over the top fence rail.

And to think, the people in those vehicles never knew they were in this movie.

Originally posted on 9/10/18
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Two Modern Vehicle Bloopers In "Shane" (1953) (video)

Modern Vehicle Blooper In John Ford's "Fort Apache" (John Wayne, 1948) (video)

Right around the one-hour mark in John Ford's western cavalry classic "Fort Apache" (1948)...

...the camera pans right along a line of mounted Indian warriors. 

When it stops, watch the lower right of the screen...

...to catch a modern vehicle driving by in full view.  Oops!

Originally posted on 6/1/19
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Modern Vehicle Blooper In John Ford's "Fort Apache" (John Wayne, 1948) (video)

John Wayne: The Singing Cowboy (video)

John Wayne as "Singin' Sandy"?

Here are some of the attempts by various movie studios in the 30s to turn John Wayne into a singing cowboy.  (Dubbed, that is.)

Scenes used are from:

"Riders of Destiny" (1933)
"Westward Ho!" (1935)
"Lawless Range" (1935)
"Man From Utah" (1934)

Originally posted on 11/26/18
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

John Wayne: The Singing Cowboy (video)

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #45: Ferry Crossing, "True Grit" (1969) (video)

Grizzed old lawman Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne)...

...and a callow Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell)...

...forbid young Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to join the hunt for the man who killed her father.

But the determined girl is not so easily left behind.

Originally posted on 7/28/19
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #45: Ferry Crossing, "True Grit" (1969) (video)