Western Challenge (Official, May 2021)

Lammetje · #81

7. Hell or High Water (2016): 8/10

It was a pleasure to see the great Jeff for the second time this month.

Seen

1. The Salvation (2014)
2. Silverado (1985)
3. Django (1966)
4. A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
5. True Grit (2010) (rewatch)
6. Little Big Man (1970)
7. Hell or High Water (2016)

AB537 · #82

2. Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah, 1962) 7.5/10
3. The Hanging Tree (Delmer Daves, 1959) 7/10

PUNQ · #83

blocho wrote: ↑May 8th, 2021, 3:23 pm
PUNQ wrote: ↑May 8th, 2021, 5:06 am
Spoiler
1. Wild Country (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
2. Range Beyond the Blue (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
3. Black Hills (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
4. Shadow Valley (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
5. Raiders of the South (1947, Lambert Hillyer) - 3/10
6. Law of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
7. Border Feud (1947, Ray Taylor) - 4/10
8. Pioneer Justice (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
9. Ghost Town Renegades (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
10. Return of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
11. The Fighting Vigilantes (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
12. Cheyenne Takes Over (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
13. Michigan Kid (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
14. The Vigilantes Return (1947, Ray Taylor) - 5/10
15. Last of the Redmen (1947, George Sherman) - 4/10
16. South of the Chisholm Trail (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
17. The Lone Hand Texan (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
18. West of Dodge City (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
19. Law of the Canyon (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
20. Prairie Raiders (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
21. The Stranger from Ponca City (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
22. Riders of the Lone Star (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 4/10
23. Last Days of Boot Hill (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
24. Jesse James Rides Again (1947, Fred C. Brannon & Thomas Carr) - 5/10
25. Son of Zorro (1947, Spencer Gordon Bennet & Fred C. Brannon) - 4/10
26. The Sea of Grass (1947, Elia Kazan) - 6/10
27. Ramrod (1947, André De Toth) - 6/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
28. Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 7/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (5 lists)
29. Heaven Only Knows (1947, Albert S. Rogell) - 6/10
30. Cheyenne (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
31. Wyoming (1947, Joseph Kane) - 5/10
32. California (1947, John Farrow) - 6/10
33. Gunfighters (1947, George Waggner) - 5/10
34. Trail Street (1947, Ray Enright) - 6/10
35. Angel and the Badman (1947, James Edward Grant) - 7/10
36. Mexican Moon (2021, Chris Zuhdi) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
37. Promise (2021, Joe Cornet) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
38. Tyger Tyger (2021, Kerry Mondragon) - 1/10
39. Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls (2021, Joshua Kennedy) - 2/10
40. The Judge of Harbor County (2021, Al Carretta) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
41. Texas Red (2021, Travis Mills) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
42. She Was the Deputy's Wife (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
43. Bastard's Crossing (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
44. News of the World (2020, Paul Greengrass) - 6/10
45. Soldier's Heart (I) (2020, Michael Feifer) - 2/10
46. The Dalton Gang (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
47. Once Upon a Time in Tombstone (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
48. Warpath (2020, Josh Becker) - 2/10
49. Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020, Joe Cornet) - 1/10
50. No Man's Land (2020, Conor Allyn) - 3/10
51. The Pale Door (2020, Aaron B. Koontz) - 2/10
52. JL Family Ranch: The Wedding Gift (2020, Sean McNamara) - 2/10
53. The Rodeo Thief (2020, Brett Bentman) - 2/10
54. L'état sauvage [Savage State] (2019, David Perrault) - 3/10
55. Vaquero del mediodía [Midday Cowboy] (2019, Diego Enrique Osorno) - 5/10
56. First Cow (2019, Kelly Reichardt) - 4/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (1 list)
57. Bacurau (2019, Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho) - 5/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (3 lists)
58. Fire on the Hill (2018, Brett Fallentine) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
59. The Hatred (2018, John Adams) - 2/10
60. Wild Faith (2018, Jesse Low) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
61. The Decadent and Depraved (2018, Axel August & Jordon Prince-Wright) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
62. Unexpected Guest (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
63. Dangerous Venture (1947, George Archainbaud) - 4/10
64. The Marauders (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
65. Hoppy's Holiday (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
66. Bells of San Fernando (1947, Terry O. Morse) - 4/10
67. Bells of San Angelo (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
68. Apache Rose (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
69. Springtime in the Sierras (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
70. On the Old Spanish Trail (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
71. Pirates of Monterey (1947, Alfred L. Werker) - 6/10
72. Yankee Fakir (1947, W. Lee Wilder) - 4/10
73. Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947, Frank McDonald) - 4/10
74. The Last Round-up (1947, John English) - 4/10
75. The Red Stallion (1947, Lesley Selander) - 5/10
76. Riding the California Trail (1947, William Nigh) - 4/10
77. Robin Hood of Monterey (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 4/10

PUNQ, I'm wondering whether you're going to make an attempt at Mighty's all-time monthly record (301 movies). You're on a pace where you could pull it off.

I was flirting with breaking my own record which I set in the early days on Letterboxd when it was small enough to have any kind of community element, in December 2013, when I did a "A year in a month: 1937" gimmick, and managed 303 feature films, so breaking the ICM record would be on the way. Always pissed me off that I didn't manage on average 10 films a day for a month, being only 7 films shy, when attempting such a thing. Social events like Christmas and New Years Eve put an stop to that.

This would probable going to be the last chance i get to do that because the length of movies have increased on average 20-30 minutes between 1937 and 1947, so the only neglected genre that keeps their films short enough was the western before the B-western died out in around 1952-53. We'll see how the family politics works out. They might feel a little neglected. We'll see if I care or not

78. King of the Bandits (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 5/10
--- The most enjoyable Cisco Kid film starring Gilbert Roland! Someone is posing as the Cisco Kid as he enters Arizona and he has to figure out who's besmirching his good name. That gave him enough time to get into trouble while also having time for the ladies. For that's been the problem with the other films. Not enough good action, but here they fix that.

79. Vacation Days (1947, Arthur Dreifuss) - 4/10
--- One of the long forgotten movie series was The Teen Agers, a silly humored high school flavored sitcom style creation at Monogram. And for their Vacation Days (1947) they decide to go for a wild west holiday, and naturally end-up in a a lot of wild west situations. Does have time for a good share of music too, but that doesn't stop them from getting into a lot of troubles with local crooks along the way. Amusing enough if the bar isn't set too high.

80. Bowery Buckaroos (1947, William Beaudine) - 4/10
--- Then it's The Bowery Boys' turn to take a wild west trip. Juvenile humor all the way through, just what you'd expect from Leo Gorcey and the gang. Not super funny, but at least it makes for some variation to The Bowery Boys shtick.

81. Look-Out Sister (1947, Bud Pollard) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
--- Then it's black jazz musicians turn to take a wild west trip. Louis Jordan needs a rest and gets himself some ranch relaxation. Well his movie career took a permanent vacation after Look-Out Sister (1947), which is a shame. While his films weren't exactly masterpieces, they were more fun than most of the all-black cast pictures made during that period. Poor production, barely any plot, but the music rules!

82. The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947, Charles Barton) - 6/10
--- Then it's Abbott & Costello's turn to take a wild west trip. They end up being accused of killing a person and as punishment they have to take care of the dead man's wife, which is a faith worse than hanging as the wife is Marjorie Main. Not peak Abbott & Costello, but still a delightful poking at western cliches. Main plays-off the duo in a excellent way. It's a natural collaboration. Lacks a epic comic moment, but got enough of their usual funny shtick to feel satisfied.

83. Vigilantes of Boomtown (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
--- Allan Lane had taken over the Red Ryder franchise from Bill Elliott the year before, but very little had been done to improve these films. I mean, there's a lot happening, but they lack any personality so it doesn't drag you in. Simply too standard.

84. Homesteaders of Paradise Valley (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
--- Feels like there's enough happening here to draw me in, but it's all too generic. Being based on a comic book cowboy, The Red Ryder series didn't have the same care as some of the other mediums. That was the idea with kids oriented content back then. So the philosophy was, just shoot and and be done with it. No special touches to make the characters stand-out or anything. Allan Lane was fine, but there's little that make him more than random cowboy hero #353, and his little sidekick Little Beaver is close to irrelevant in these movies. Might pass as a quick fix, but that's it.

85. Oregon Trail Scouts (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
--- The positive here was that they actually had some proper interaction with sidekick Little Beaver, which automatically makes this one of the better Red Ryder flicks featuring Allan Lane.

86. Rustlers of Devil's Canyon (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
--- Back to a standard formula where there is plenty happening and little standing-out. Very typical of the Red Ryder franchise.

87. Marshal of Cripple Creek (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
--- Allan Lane's last as Red Ryder, and the last one of this franchise at Republic Pictures. Someone else picked it up for a brief comeback in 1949 for a final run, but it's not exactly a film series I'll miss. They didn't do anything special with it. They were just western quickies following a specific formula without any focus. Just to end on a positive, the final fight was decently done with their simple techniques. So at least they had my attention a short while, even if little else did.

88. Last Frontier Uprising (1947, Lesley Selander) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
--- Your patented bland Monte Hale experience. Cozy songs, very standard B-production.

89. Under Colorado Skies (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
--- I actually liked this Monte Hale western. Moves a little slow, but the story is focused and actually turns decent. Helps that they used Trucolor. Looks nice and had my attention. Plus it gave veteran favorite Paul Hurst a solid role that was not just a bit part as his career had been on a downward spiral in the past years.

90. Under the Tonto Rim (1947, Lew Landers) - 4/10
--- Wasn't like I was super thrilled during Under the Tonto Rim (1947), but it's a polished B-western from Tim Holt. Had a special chemistry with sidekick Richard Martin which made the average story fun.

91. Wild Horse Mesa (1947, Wallace Grissell) - 4/10
--- Tim Holt does in 1947 what his dad Jack Holt did in 1925. Star in Zane Grey's Wild Horse Mesa. Jack did it better, but Tim's version has its moments too.

Spoiler

1. Wild Country (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
2. Range Beyond the Blue (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
3. Black Hills (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
4. Shadow Valley (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
5. Raiders of the South (1947, Lambert Hillyer) - 3/10
6. Law of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
7. Border Feud (1947, Ray Taylor) - 4/10
8. Pioneer Justice (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
9. Ghost Town Renegades (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
10. Return of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
11. The Fighting Vigilantes (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
12. Cheyenne Takes Over (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
13. Michigan Kid (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
14. The Vigilantes Return (1947, Ray Taylor) - 5/10
15. Last of the Redmen (1947, George Sherman) - 4/10
16. South of the Chisholm Trail (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
17. The Lone Hand Texan (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
18. West of Dodge City (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
19. Law of the Canyon (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
20. Prairie Raiders (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
21. The Stranger from Ponca City (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
22. Riders of the Lone Star (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 4/10
23. Last Days of Boot Hill (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
24. Jesse James Rides Again (1947, Fred C. Brannon & Thomas Carr) - 5/10
25. Son of Zorro (1947, Spencer Gordon Bennet & Fred C. Brannon) - 4/10
26. The Sea of Grass (1947, Elia Kazan) - 6/10
27. Ramrod (1947, André De Toth) - 6/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
28. Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 7/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (5 lists)
29. Heaven Only Knows (1947, Albert S. Rogell) - 6/10
30. Cheyenne (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
31. Wyoming (1947, Joseph Kane) - 5/10
32. California (1947, John Farrow) - 6/10
33. Gunfighters (1947, George Waggner) - 5/10
34. Trail Street (1947, Ray Enright) - 6/10
35. Angel and the Badman (1947, James Edward Grant) - 7/10
36. Mexican Moon (2021, Chris Zuhdi) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
37. Promise (2021, Joe Cornet) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
38. Tyger Tyger (2021, Kerry Mondragon) - 1/10
39. Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls (2021, Joshua Kennedy) - 2/10
40. The Judge of Harbor County (2021, Al Carretta) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
41. Texas Red (2021, Travis Mills) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
42. She Was the Deputy's Wife (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
43. Bastard's Crossing (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
44. News of the World (2020, Paul Greengrass) - 6/10
45. Soldier's Heart (I) (2020, Michael Feifer) - 2/10
46. The Dalton Gang (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
47. Once Upon a Time in Tombstone (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
48. Warpath (2020, Josh Becker) - 2/10
49. Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020, Joe Cornet) - 1/10
50. No Man's Land (2020, Conor Allyn) - 3/10
51. The Pale Door (2020, Aaron B. Koontz) - 2/10
52. JL Family Ranch: The Wedding Gift (2020, Sean McNamara) - 2/10
53. The Rodeo Thief (2020, Brett Bentman) - 2/10
54. L'état sauvage [Savage State] (2019, David Perrault) - 3/10
55. Vaquero del mediodía [Midday Cowboy] (2019, Diego Enrique Osorno) - 5/10
56. First Cow (2019, Kelly Reichardt) - 4/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (1 list)
57. Bacurau (2019, Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho) - 5/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (3 lists)
58. Fire on the Hill (2018, Brett Fallentine) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
59. The Hatred (2018, John Adams) - 2/10
60. Wild Faith (2018, Jesse Low) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
61. The Decadent and Depraved (2018, Axel August & Jordon Prince-Wright) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
62. Unexpected Guest (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
63. Dangerous Venture (1947, George Archainbaud) - 4/10
64. The Marauders (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
65. Hoppy's Holiday (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
66. Bells of San Fernando (1947, Terry O. Morse) - 4/10
67. Bells of San Angelo (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
68. Apache Rose (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
69. Springtime in the Sierras (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
70. On the Old Spanish Trail (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
71. Pirates of Monterey (1947, Alfred L. Werker) - 6/10
72. Yankee Fakir (1947, W. Lee Wilder) - 4/10
73. Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947, Frank McDonald) - 4/10
74. The Last Round-up (1947, John English) - 4/10
75. The Red Stallion (1947, Lesley Selander) - 5/10
76. Riding the California Trail (1947, William Nigh) - 4/10
77. Robin Hood of Monterey (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 4/10
78. King of the Bandits (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 5/10
79. Vacation Days (1947, Arthur Dreifuss) - 4/10
80. Bowery Buckaroos (1947, William Beaudine) - 4/10
81. Look-Out Sister (1947, Bud Pollard) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
82. The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947, Charles Barton) - 6/10
83. Vigilantes of Boomtown (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
84. Homesteaders of Paradise Valley (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
85. Oregon Trail Scouts (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
86. Rustlers of Devil's Canyon (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
87. Marshal of Cripple Creek (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
88. Last Frontier Uprising (1947, Lesley Selander) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
89. Under Colorado Skies (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
90. Under the Tonto Rim (1947, Lew Landers) - 4/10
91. Wild Horse Mesa (1947, Wallace Grissell) - 4/10

sol · #84

How the West Was Shot

1. News of the World (2020)
2. Comanche Station (1960)
3. Cowboys Don't Cry (1988)
4. The Missouri Breaks (1976)
5. The Man from Colorado (1948)
6. The Man from Laramie (1955)

7. The Magnificent Seven (1960)

On the plus side, the pacing feels far more urgent here than in Seven Samurai due to a more economical runtime that gives a far more screen time (by percentage) to the bandits. The American gunfighters are also marginally better fleshed out as individuals, but none are ever as engaging as Toshiro Mifune was in the original. The biggest positive here is easily Elmer Bernstein's operatic music score. The final fifteen minutes of actual battle are well staged too.

And that technically puts me on Silver for the BFI Westerns list, though I'm still awaiting for the updated award to arrive.

Bing147 · #85

10. A Bullet for the General (1967)

ororama · #86

1. 7 Men from Now (1956) 78 min.

My favorite of the Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott movies, and one of my favorite westerns.

Bing147 · #87

11. The Great Silence (1968)

iCheckMovies · #88

3 rewatches to kickstart the challenge and prepare for a pretty fun podcast episode where we among other things discuss how these three films managed to be so badass:

1. A Fistful of Dollars (1964, Sergio Leone) 7 --> 8
2. For a Few Dollars More (1965, Sergio Leone) 9.5 --> 8
3. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone) 10 --> 8.5

It had been years since I saw these films, and I don't recall if I rewatched them (maybe just GBU). The drop in ratings is mainly a general shift in strictness as I get older and see more (which I try to apply to my past viewings, but not always successfully).

I'll keep my general views light until the episode itself - and will, for now, leave it by saying that this was one heck of a fun ride.

-

Not sure if I'll watch anything else from the challenge - but tempted to seek out a couple of smaller Spaghetti's, perhaps something with Wallach, Volante or van Cleef. I've also been toying with rewatching Once Upon a Time in the West and, erm Once Upon a Time ... Revolution aka A Fistful of Dynamite aka Duck, You Sucker. I'm also a little tempted to do some Ford rewatches - but my overall focus in really on Japan this month.

blocho · #89

6. Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Robert Redford plays dress-up as a mountain man in antebellum Colorado (filmed in Utah, though). Eighty percent of this movie is landscapes, Redford moving through landscapes, and Redford looking at landscapes. And my feelings on Redford haven't changed.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4452&p=593205&hilit=redford#top

Lammetje · #90

8. 3 Bad Men (1926): 7/10

An early western by John Ford with a great (and hawt

) female lead. The film as a whole felt a bit messy, but Ford's brilliance is evident. The version I watched on YouTube has a pretty good soundtrack too.

Seen

1. The Salvation (2014)
2. Silverado (1985)
3. Django (1966)
4. A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
5. True Grit (2010) (rewatch)
6. Little Big Man (1970)
7. Hell or High Water (2016)
8. 3 Bad Men (1926)

flavo5000 · #91

15. Eagle's Wing (Anthony Harvey, 1979)

16. Anda muchacho, spara! a.k.a. Dead Men Ride (Aldo Florio, 1971)
With this one, I get my platinum back on the Spaghetti Western list.

DRAW!

1. Arizona Colt a.k.a. Man from Nowhere (1966)
2. The Lady of the Dugout (1918)
3. Daisy Town (1971)
4. Tall in the Saddle (1944)
5. The Lonely Trail (1936)
6. Flaming Star (1960)
7. Vampire Junction (2001)
8. Half Way to Hell (1961)
9. Five Bloody Graves (1970)
10. Big Calibre (1935)
11. Zanna Bianca a.k.a. White Fang (1973)
12. Wong Fei Hung VI: Sai Wik Hung See a.k.a. Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997)
13. 800 balas a.k.a. 800 Bullets (2002)
14. Comin' at Ya! (1981)
15. Eagle's Wing (Anthony Harvey, 1979)
16. Anda muchacho, spara! a.k.a. Dead Men Ride (Aldo Florio, 1971)

PUNQ · #92

Got started on 1948 today, but family issues prevented me from doing the full 10 as planned. At least I got a buffer going, and did have a great time doing all of John Wayne and Randolph Scott's 1948 westerns. Those where of quality. Wayne especially had a killer year!

92. Red River (1948, Howard Hawks & Arthur Rosson) - 9/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (15 lists)
--- The masculine dynamic here was incredible! Two such different and massive personalities such as John Wayne & Montgomery Clift clashing in a big way for a Mutiny on the Bounty of the wild west. This was the first film Clift made, though its release was delayed resulting in The Search (1948) being his theater debut. But there's no denying his presence was instantly felt. The new school of actors, like soon to arrive Marlon Brando & James Dean, which would shape Hollywood the next decade with a more emotional man. Howard Hawks knew how to make it work, and this young punk looked credible against the grumpy and deteriorating old character Wayne portrayed in such a way that it becomes a highly rewarding story. The cinematography was excellent too, but its the characters that makes Red River (1948) such a strong movie. First super western since Stagecoach (1939).

93. Fort Apache (1948, John Ford) - 8/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (6 lists)
--- Fort Apache (1948) was the first of John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy, which also includes She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950). Absolutely a entertaining film, but it takes a while to find its purpose. So much of it is just life of cadets in training before the conflict with the Indians concludes the final 20 minutes. And that's all lovely because all our favorite Ford actors are present, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Ward Bond, George O'Brien, Victor McLaglen and a bunch more, evenly sharing the spotlight and making things fun. But in a weird way, the main attraction was a promotional gimmick. Introducing John Agar. The man who had married America's little sweetheart, then 17-year-old Shirley Temple, three years earlier. This was his movie debut and naturally a lot of the film focused on the romance between them, taking advantage of the media frenzy their love story had created. It worked alright. Agar did well for his first acting gig, but he was naturally helped by being surrounded by some Hollywood biggest stars giving him the spotlight.

94. 3 Godfathers (1948, John Ford) 9/10
--- I have a personal attachment with 3 Godfathers (1948). This adaptation of the story was my favorite western when I was a kid. And it's probable 25 years of more since I last saw it, so I was eager to see how it would hold-up. And it was still magical to me! This film is so special. Doesn't rely on big action scenes or padding things out. Instead every scene counts, as it's these three against the environment, and John Ford composition works excellently. And so it should, as he had made a version of this story before early on in his silent career. And that's where the dedication comes in and give it that extra beating heart. They tribute it to Harry Carey who had passed away the year before. Carey had actually done two versions of this novel before (neither that survive to my knowledge). And that's why it feels extra appropriate to give a proper introduction and give one of the key roles to Carey's son Harry Carey Jr., being one of the 3 Godfathers alongside John Wayne & Pedro Armendáriz. Three very different people coming together doing their bit to elevate this deep experience. Only thing I didn't like was that they changed it to a happy ending. Had they done the same dying-at-the-church-floor fade-out as both Hell's Heroes (1929) & Three Godfathers (1936), I probable would have given this a full score.

95. Albuquerque (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10
--- They could have done more with the plot, but I won't complain too much when it's Randolph Scott & George 'Gabby' Hayes joining forces, and a cigarette puffing Lon Chaney Jr. is the henchman. Got fairly exciting with the down-hill freight riding scene towards the end there. If only there were more scenes like that and Albuquerque (1948) would have been a top choice.

96. Coroner Creek (1948, Ray Enright) - 7/10
--- I got quite into this Randolph Scott western. That fist fight with a wounded Scott was exciting, and the dynamic with the rather cold villain played-out nicely. And who would have thought Wallace Ford would be such a delightful western sidekick?! He had mostly been playing urban roles up to now, but would go on little western streak around this time. So yeah, definitely had enough of the right ingredients for a entertaining B+ western.

97. Return of the Bad Men (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10
--- Entertaining as Randolph Scott is set to battle all the famous wild west outlaws imaginable. But if you're gonna bring in Billy the Kid, Sundance Kid, the Daltons, the Younger gang and all those types of guys, you better have a more exciting story to tell than this! Becomes too much a gimmick than a exciting plot.

Spoiler

1. Wild Country (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
2. Range Beyond the Blue (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
3. Black Hills (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
4. Shadow Valley (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
5. Raiders of the South (1947, Lambert Hillyer) - 3/10
6. Law of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
7. Border Feud (1947, Ray Taylor) - 4/10
8. Pioneer Justice (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
9. Ghost Town Renegades (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
10. Return of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
11. The Fighting Vigilantes (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
12. Cheyenne Takes Over (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
13. Michigan Kid (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
14. The Vigilantes Return (1947, Ray Taylor) - 5/10
15. Last of the Redmen (1947, George Sherman) - 4/10
16. South of the Chisholm Trail (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
17. The Lone Hand Texan (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
18. West of Dodge City (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
19. Law of the Canyon (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
20. Prairie Raiders (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
21. The Stranger from Ponca City (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
22. Riders of the Lone Star (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 4/10
23. Last Days of Boot Hill (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
24. Jesse James Rides Again (1947, Fred C. Brannon & Thomas Carr) - 5/10
25. Son of Zorro (1947, Spencer Gordon Bennet & Fred C. Brannon) - 4/10
26. The Sea of Grass (1947, Elia Kazan) - 6/10
27. Ramrod (1947, André De Toth) - 6/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
28. Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 7/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (5 lists)
29. Heaven Only Knows (1947, Albert S. Rogell) - 6/10
30. Cheyenne (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
31. Wyoming (1947, Joseph Kane) - 5/10
32. California (1947, John Farrow) - 6/10
33. Gunfighters (1947, George Waggner) - 5/10
34. Trail Street (1947, Ray Enright) - 6/10
35. Angel and the Badman (1947, James Edward Grant) - 7/10
36. Mexican Moon (2021, Chris Zuhdi) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
37. Promise (2021, Joe Cornet) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
38. Tyger Tyger (2021, Kerry Mondragon) - 1/10
39. Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls (2021, Joshua Kennedy) - 2/10
40. The Judge of Harbor County (2021, Al Carretta) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
41. Texas Red (2021, Travis Mills) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
42. She Was the Deputy's Wife (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
43. Bastard's Crossing (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
44. News of the World (2020, Paul Greengrass) - 6/10
45. Soldier's Heart (I) (2020, Michael Feifer) - 2/10
46. The Dalton Gang (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
47. Once Upon a Time in Tombstone (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
48. Warpath (2020, Josh Becker) - 2/10
49. Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020, Joe Cornet) - 1/10
50. No Man's Land (2020, Conor Allyn) - 3/10
51. The Pale Door (2020, Aaron B. Koontz) - 2/10
52. JL Family Ranch: The Wedding Gift (2020, Sean McNamara) - 2/10
53. The Rodeo Thief (2020, Brett Bentman) - 2/10
54. L'état sauvage [Savage State] (2019, David Perrault) - 3/10
55. Vaquero del mediodía [Midday Cowboy] (2019, Diego Enrique Osorno) - 5/10
56. First Cow (2019, Kelly Reichardt) - 4/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (1 list)
57. Bacurau (2019, Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho) - 5/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (3 lists)
58. Fire on the Hill (2018, Brett Fallentine) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
59. The Hatred (2018, John Adams) - 2/10
60. Wild Faith (2018, Jesse Low) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
61. The Decadent and Depraved (2018, Axel August & Jordon Prince-Wright) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
62. Unexpected Guest (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
63. Dangerous Venture (1947, George Archainbaud) - 4/10
64. The Marauders (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
65. Hoppy's Holiday (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
66. Bells of San Fernando (1947, Terry O. Morse) - 4/10
67. Bells of San Angelo (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
68. Apache Rose (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
69. Springtime in the Sierras (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
70. On the Old Spanish Trail (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
71. Pirates of Monterey (1947, Alfred L. Werker) - 6/10
72. Yankee Fakir (1947, W. Lee Wilder) - 4/10
73. Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947, Frank McDonald) - 4/10
74. The Last Round-up (1947, John English) - 4/10
75. The Red Stallion (1947, Lesley Selander) - 5/10
76. Riding the California Trail (1947, William Nigh) - 4/10
77. Robin Hood of Monterey (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 4/10
78. King of the Bandits (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 5/10
79. Vacation Days (1947, Arthur Dreifuss) - 4/10
80. Bowery Buckaroos (1947, William Beaudine) - 4/10
81. Look-Out Sister (1947, Bud Pollard) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
82. The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947, Charles Barton) - 6/10
83. Vigilantes of Boomtown (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
84. Homesteaders of Paradise Valley (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
85. Oregon Trail Scouts (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
86. Rustlers of Devil's Canyon (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
87. Marshal of Cripple Creek (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
88. Last Frontier Uprising (1947, Lesley Selander) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
89. Under Colorado Skies (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
90. Under the Tonto Rim (1947, Lew Landers) - 4/10
91. Wild Horse Mesa (1947, Wallace Grissell) - 4/10
92. Red River (1948, Howard Hawks & Arthur Rosson) - 9/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (15 lists)
93. Fort Apache (1948, John Ford) - 8/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (6 lists)
94. 3 Godfathers (1948, John Ford) 9/10
95. Albuquerque (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10
96. Coroner Creek (1948, Ray Enright) - 7/10
97. Return of the Bad Men (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10

maxwelldeux · #93

More like the adwest-ern challenge...

1. Run, Man, Run (1968, Italy)
2. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

3. How the West was Won (1962) 4/10

When we started this, Wife asked "Is this going to be racist?" About 30 seconds after the overture, we had our answer. Let's just say that it was a wonderful film aside from the story, plot, and acting. But it didn't age well.

blocho · #94

maxwelldeux wrote: ↑May 10th, 2021, 3:37 am 3. How the West was Won (1962) 4/10

When we started this, Wife asked "Is this going to be racist?"

Planning to watch it later this month, but I'm guessing the answer to that question is also in the title.

sol · #95

How the West Was Shot

1. News of the World (2020)
2. Comanche Station (1960)
3. Cowboys Don't Cry (1988)
4. The Missouri Breaks (1976)
5. The Man from Colorado (1948)
6. The Man from Laramie (1955)
7. The Magnificent Seven (1960)

8. Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)

This film feels a lot like 3:10 to Yuma crossed with Gunman's Walk in the best possible way as a marshal tries to arrest and take the murderous son of an influential man back to town to be tried for his crime. A racism angle could have been better developed and love interest Carolyn Jones adds nothing to the narrative. Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn are both expectedly solid in the lead roles though with so much unspoken tension between them. Excellent film.

P.S.: Rankings have now updated and I'm inside the Top 130 of the BFI Westerns List with a mere Silver Award on it.

Bing147 · #96

12. 3 Godfathers (1948)

OldAle1 · #97

Saddle Up, Pilgrim

1. Sukiyaki Western Django (Takashi Miike 2007)
2. Man of the Forest (Henry Hathaway, 1933)
3. High, Wide and Handsome (Rouben Mamoulian, 1937)

4. El jinete sin cabeza / The Headless Rider (Chano Urueta, 1957)

Had to watch a Mexican film for CInco de Mayo and this fit the bill - also qualifying in the mystery category, though it's really a melange of genres - horror and musical also - that reminds me quite a bit of a number of American b pictures from the 30s; I haven't seen enough Mexican genre work from this period to know how typical it is, or how it fits in to any trends, but it does appear that there were quite a few horror-westerns and I'm sure this isn't the only one to have a bit of a mystery plot and some songs thrown in for good measure, most courtesy of leads Luis Aguilar and Flor Silvestre, the former playing el jinete (the rider) an apparent no-good man-about-town who's been locked up for a possible murder, the latter the new judge in town and perhaps romantic interest for el jinete. Also there are a bunch of guys in skull masks who kill people, and a dead man walled up in a house for years - but who had been alive just a few hours earlier. Hence the mystery. I tend to like these sorts of mixtures of genres, but this feels rather haphazard and most of the plot resolutions all too obvious. Not terrible but not terribly interesting either.

5. Requiescant (Carlo Lizzani, 1967)

English dub. Another back-from-the-dead western, a trope the Italians seemed to specialize in. At the beginning of the film a group of Mexican villagers make a peace pact with the ex-Confederate Americans after the war - only to then be butchered, mostly by Gatling gun (gotta love any western with a Gatling gun), to the last man woman and child. Well...not quite. One small boy survives with a small scar on his head, and is taken in by a family traveling in a wagon, growing up to know his bible and...gunplay! Lou Castel plays the somewhat naive-seeming child-man title character ("rest in peace" - I don't think he's ever got another name), Mark Damon is Ferguson, the rich guy who owns the town and was also behind the massacre years before, and Pier Paolo Pasolini is Don Juan, the moral conscience of the film who seems to show up at odd moments and is Requiescant's guide into building a more just society some day - after getting rid of the bad guys, of course. A strange, often symbolic western with a more overt communistic attitude - thanks perhaps to Pasolini's presence and his uncredited work on the screenplay - that feels muddled at times, but builds to a strangely powerful if fairly predictable conclusion. Not one of the very best spaghettis I think but a strong second-rank work, and possibly one that will improve on another viewing.

Bing147 · #98

13. Fort Apache (1948)

AB537 · #99

4. Tennessee's Partner (Allan Dwan, 1955) 6.5/10
5. The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960) 7/10

RogerTheMovieManiac88 · #100

Hello and thanks for hosting, blocho!

(Screenshots from the brisk and wonderfully funny 'The Kid from Broken Gun' and from the tough, gritty 'Massacre' - where scheming Martha Roth is centre-stage as the captured wife (I could only find a b&w image for this maligned film...))

01. Raiders of the South (1947, Lambert Hillyer) - 4.5 or 5/10
02. Green Grass of Wyoming (1948, Louis King) - 6.5/10
03. The Kid from Broken Gun (1952, Fred F. Sears) - 7/10
04. Massacre Canyon (1954, Fred F. Sears) - 6/10
05. Massacre (1956, Louis King) - 8/10
06. The Badge of Marshal Brennan (1957, Albert C. Gannaway) - 6 or 6.5/10
07. Man of the West (1958, Anthony Mann) - 8/10
08. Stage to Thunder Rock (1964, William F. Claxton) - 4.5 or 5/10
09. Return of the Gunfighter (1966, James Neilson) - 6/10

blocho · #101

7. The Big Gundown (1966)
Tomas Milian is accused of murdering a child, so Lee Van Cleef chases him across Texas and Mexico. There's not much more plot than that. There are section of this movie that feel like filler, but there are also some riveting sequences, especially any scenes that feature the two stars together. Not to mention a strong climax with a double shootout.

Maybe not a great movie, but definitely the best of the Sollima Westerns.

blocho · #102

Summary: The First 10 Days

Welcome to a statistical summary of the challenge thus far. I'll also deliver a 20-day summary and an end-of-challenge summary.

Headline Stats
We have 19 participants thus far, with a cumulative total of 194 points. That works out to a mean score of 10.2 points and a median of 5 points. The top three in points are PUNQ (97), flavo5000 (16), and Bing147 (13). One unfortunate trend is that we're on pace for our lowest cumulative point total since the 2016 challenge.

Bonus Challenge: Blocho's Recommendations

Well, I'm sure someone will try one of them at some point.

Years
(The following data does not include shorts or episodes.)
Unsurprisingly, the most popular year so far is 1947. The median year is 1955. Here's a breakdown by decade:
1910s - 1 movie
1920s - 2 movies
1930s - 5 movies
1940s - 78 movies
1950s - 23 movies
1960s - 25 movies
1970s - 15 movies
1980s - 5 movies
1990s - 3 movies
2000s - 3 movies
2010s - 15 movies
2020s - 19 movies

PUNQ · #103

Yeah, a shame Westerns isn't feel the love anymore. I have a feeling it's a little bit because of the times we live in. I guess I'll just have to double-down on my double-downing to make-up for the numbers

98. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, John Huston) - 9/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (24 lists)
--- I remember when I was younger, long before I ever saw The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), I saw UHF (1989) where they did... Badgers... badgers? We Don't Need No Stinking Badgers!. So guess which scene I can't watch without laughing. Anyway, yeah, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Massive film!

99. Yellow Sky (1948, William A. Wellman) - 8/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
--- A lot of it is just waiting it out, but I loved the ghost town atmosphere of the desert and wouldn't have minded waited a while longer. On top of that, the characters where excellent! Troubled and complicated, but still human. Anne Baxter as a tough gun babe, might me one of my favorite western characters! And Gregory Peck was a good match butting heads with her!

100. Silver River (1948, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
--- Errol Flynn, high and low, as a entrepreneur all over the old west with Ann Sheridan as his key goal. Not as extravagant as it wasn't to be, but there's certainly a lot of qualities at display. Perhaps relies a little too much on that Errol Flynn charm, though, I can't fault them for going that route, knowing how effective that has been in the past.

101. Tap Roots (1948, George Marshall) - 5/10
--- Picks-up at the end, but too much of this felt like it wanted to be Gone with the Wind, and it didn't have the testicular fortitude to pull it off.

102. The Kissing Bandit (1948, Laslo Benedek) - 5/10
--- "The King of Westerns" Frank Sinatra! Nah, that never happened, and The Kissing Bandit (1948) is the perfect example of why Sinatra's career didn't go that route much. But don't worry, this is a spoof, so no harm done. Kinda funny with Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson trading adorable songs, but way longer than it needed to be. At least you got Sono Osato whipping it!

103. The Man from Colorado (1948, Henry Levin) - 6/10
--- Glenn Ford as a kill-crazy psychopath! That's the attraction and the production around it is top notch. Sadly the other characters doesn't gain as much momentum to for it top pay-off in the way this scenario deserved. But it definitely a film which had a lot of allure, and well worth watching.

104. Four Faces West (1948, Alfred E. Green) - 6/10
--- Gunshots not included, therefore this western is probable not approved by the NRA or that crowd. An interesting passive approach, and in a way it helped build the tension. Did feel the story played-out as great as it could have, but there was a lot of good coming out of Joel McCrea less aggressive style.

105. Relentless (1948, George Sherman) - 5/10
--- Relentless (1948) is a fine fine western, but perhaps not one that sticks out as much. Robert Young was probable a little too squeaky clean for this type of job, but it helped that he had the more burly Barton MacLane on his trail. At least it took advantage of a more colder climate.

106. Whispering Smith (1948, Leslie Fenton) - 6/10
--- Oh, look who's in the saddle now! It's the little guy from those Veronica Lake pictures. The Ladd wasn't half-bad, working to protect the railroad against such a nasty bastard as Robert Preston. Packed a decent dose of action.

107. A Southern Yankee (1948, Edward Sedgwick & S. Sylvan Simon) - 7/10
--- Red Skelton ending-up on the wrong side of the Civil War, which is always a good source for comedy. As zany and stupid as you'd want this kind of funny business to be, with Skelton in terrific form.

Spoiler

1. Wild Country (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
2. Range Beyond the Blue (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
3. Black Hills (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
4. Shadow Valley (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
5. Raiders of the South (1947, Lambert Hillyer) - 3/10
6. Law of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
7. Border Feud (1947, Ray Taylor) - 4/10
8. Pioneer Justice (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
9. Ghost Town Renegades (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
10. Return of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
11. The Fighting Vigilantes (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
12. Cheyenne Takes Over (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
13. Michigan Kid (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
14. The Vigilantes Return (1947, Ray Taylor) - 5/10
15. Last of the Redmen (1947, George Sherman) - 4/10
16. South of the Chisholm Trail (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
17. The Lone Hand Texan (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
18. West of Dodge City (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
19. Law of the Canyon (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
20. Prairie Raiders (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
21. The Stranger from Ponca City (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
22. Riders of the Lone Star (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 4/10
23. Last Days of Boot Hill (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
24. Jesse James Rides Again (1947, Fred C. Brannon & Thomas Carr) - 5/10
25. Son of Zorro (1947, Spencer Gordon Bennet & Fred C. Brannon) - 4/10
26. The Sea of Grass (1947, Elia Kazan) - 6/10
27. Ramrod (1947, André De Toth) - 6/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
28. Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 7/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (5 lists)
29. Heaven Only Knows (1947, Albert S. Rogell) - 6/10
30. Cheyenne (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
31. Wyoming (1947, Joseph Kane) - 5/10
32. California (1947, John Farrow) - 6/10
33. Gunfighters (1947, George Waggner) - 5/10
34. Trail Street (1947, Ray Enright) - 6/10
35. Angel and the Badman (1947, James Edward Grant) - 7/10
36. Mexican Moon (2021, Chris Zuhdi) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
37. Promise (2021, Joe Cornet) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
38. Tyger Tyger (2021, Kerry Mondragon) - 1/10
39. Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls (2021, Joshua Kennedy) - 2/10
40. The Judge of Harbor County (2021, Al Carretta) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
41. Texas Red (2021, Travis Mills) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
42. She Was the Deputy's Wife (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
43. Bastard's Crossing (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
44. News of the World (2020, Paul Greengrass) - 6/10
45. Soldier's Heart (I) (2020, Michael Feifer) - 2/10
46. The Dalton Gang (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
47. Once Upon a Time in Tombstone (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
48. Warpath (2020, Josh Becker) - 2/10
49. Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020, Joe Cornet) - 1/10
50. No Man's Land (2020, Conor Allyn) - 3/10
51. The Pale Door (2020, Aaron B. Koontz) - 2/10
52. JL Family Ranch: The Wedding Gift (2020, Sean McNamara) - 2/10
53. The Rodeo Thief (2020, Brett Bentman) - 2/10
54. L'état sauvage [Savage State] (2019, David Perrault) - 3/10
55. Vaquero del mediodía [Midday Cowboy] (2019, Diego Enrique Osorno) - 5/10
56. First Cow (2019, Kelly Reichardt) - 4/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (1 list)
57. Bacurau (2019, Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho) - 5/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (3 lists)
58. Fire on the Hill (2018, Brett Fallentine) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
59. The Hatred (2018, John Adams) - 2/10
60. Wild Faith (2018, Jesse Low) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
61. The Decadent and Depraved (2018, Axel August & Jordon Prince-Wright) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
62. Unexpected Guest (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
63. Dangerous Venture (1947, George Archainbaud) - 4/10
64. The Marauders (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
65. Hoppy's Holiday (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
66. Bells of San Fernando (1947, Terry O. Morse) - 4/10
67. Bells of San Angelo (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
68. Apache Rose (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
69. Springtime in the Sierras (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
70. On the Old Spanish Trail (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
71. Pirates of Monterey (1947, Alfred L. Werker) - 6/10
72. Yankee Fakir (1947, W. Lee Wilder) - 4/10
73. Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947, Frank McDonald) - 4/10
74. The Last Round-up (1947, John English) - 4/10
75. The Red Stallion (1947, Lesley Selander) - 5/10
76. Riding the California Trail (1947, William Nigh) - 4/10
77. Robin Hood of Monterey (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 4/10
78. King of the Bandits (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 5/10
79. Vacation Days (1947, Arthur Dreifuss) - 4/10
80. Bowery Buckaroos (1947, William Beaudine) - 4/10
81. Look-Out Sister (1947, Bud Pollard) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
82. The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947, Charles Barton) - 6/10
83. Vigilantes of Boomtown (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
84. Homesteaders of Paradise Valley (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
85. Oregon Trail Scouts (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
86. Rustlers of Devil's Canyon (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
87. Marshal of Cripple Creek (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
88. Last Frontier Uprising (1947, Lesley Selander) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
89. Under Colorado Skies (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
90. Under the Tonto Rim (1947, Lew Landers) - 4/10
91. Wild Horse Mesa (1947, Wallace Grissell) - 4/10
92. Red River (1948, Howard Hawks & Arthur Rosson) - 9/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (15 lists)
93. Fort Apache (1948, John Ford) - 8/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (6 lists)
94. 3 Godfathers (1948, John Ford) 9/10
95. Albuquerque (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10
96. Coroner Creek (1948, Ray Enright) - 7/10
97. Return of the Bad Men (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10
98. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, John Huston) - 9/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (24 lists)
99. Yellow Sky (1948, William A. Wellman) - 8/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
100. Silver River (1948, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
101. Tap Roots (1948, George Marshall) - 5/10
102. The Kissing Bandit (1948, Laslo Benedek) - 5/10
103. The Man from Colorado (1948, Henry Levin) - 6/10
104. Four Faces West (1948, Alfred E. Green) - 6/10
105. Relentless (1948, George Sherman) - 5/10
106. Whispering Smith (1948, Leslie Fenton) - 6/10
107. A Southern Yankee (1948, Edward Sedgwick & S. Sylvan Simon) - 7/10

sol · #104

blocho wrote: ↑May 11th, 2021, 3:45 am Tne unfortunate trend is that we're on pace for our lowest cumulative point total since the 2016 challenge.

I think that's just the bad luck of this competing against the Japanese and Mystery/Thriller Challenges.

FWIW, my watch-list for this challenge (64--no, make that 65 films*) is actually longer than my watch-lists for either of the other Challenges. I have a bunch of stuff I definitely want to watch here, but I guess I have just been more in the mood for stuff in the other challenges so far.

* Added Four Faces West to my watch-list, so hopefully I'll get to at least one blocho recommendation. Not going to rewatch the bloch-recs I've already seen though, and your link to Gold doesn't work - or maybe it's geo-blocked in Australia.

sol · #105

How the West Was Shot

1. News of the World (2020)
2. Comanche Station (1960)
3. Cowboys Don't Cry (1988)
4. The Missouri Breaks (1976)
5. The Man from Colorado (1948)
6. The Man from Laramie (1955)
7. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
8. Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)

9. Lonesome Dove: Part 1 (1989)

One episode in and this is not really doing much for me (yet). The episode certainly ends on one hell of a cliffhanger, but the only thing that really intrigues me about the characters and story is the mystery over the teenager's parentage. There is one pretty cool thunderstorm sequence in which all of the horns on a cattle herd are illuminated with blue light, but more the most part, there's far more talk than action here. The acting is certainly very decent though.

ororama · #106

2. The Invaders (1912) 41 min.

Very good early western, with the Sioux and Cheyenne played by actual Sioux.

Spoiler

1. 7 Men from Now (1956) 78 min.

flavo5000 · #107

17. Showdown at Boot Hill (Gene Fowler Jr., 1958)

18. Chisum (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1970)

DRAW!

1. Arizona Colt a.k.a. Man from Nowhere (1966)
2. The Lady of the Dugout (1918)
3. Daisy Town (1971)
4. Tall in the Saddle (1944)
5. The Lonely Trail (1936)
6. Flaming Star (1960)
7. Vampire Junction (2001)
8. Half Way to Hell (1961)
9. Five Bloody Graves (1970)
10. Big Calibre (1935)
11. Zanna Bianca a.k.a. White Fang (1973)
12. Wong Fei Hung VI: Sai Wik Hung See a.k.a. Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997)
13. 800 balas a.k.a. 800 Bullets (2002)
14. Comin' at Ya! (1981)
15. Eagle's Wing (Anthony Harvey, 1979)
16. Anda muchacho, spara! a.k.a. Dead Men Ride (Aldo Florio, 1971)
17. Showdown at Boot Hill (Gene Fowler Jr., 1958)
18. Chisum (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1970)

blocho · #108

sol wrote: ↑May 11th, 2021, 9:17 am I think that's just the bad luck of this competing against the Japanese and Mystery/Thriller Challenges.

Yes, that's my assumption as well. Also, some high-volume participants from past years have seemingly abandoned the forum.

VincentPrice · #109

4. Ride Lonesome-1959: 8/10

Spoiler

1. My Darling Clementine-1946: 10/10
2. Barquero-1970: 8/10
3. Billy Two Hats-1974: 7/10

PUNQ · #110

There's still time to join this challenge. If you're in a competitive mood, you might not get the top spot, but its fairly thin underneath and there are some easy points to be made. Just do one viewing day like I do and you're already a contender for the other positions

108. Old Los Angeles (1948, Joseph Kane) - 6/10
--- Bill Elliott found his place at republic doing B+ westerns. Too good for their small cowboy flicks, not a big enough star for the massive ones, so a middle-ground was created. And these are good. Does lack a little as far as making them look great, but the story aspect is better than your average western of this type. Adding Joseph Schildkraut as a rival helped give this a more sly feel, but there were several characters that helped elevate this to a satisfying experience.

109. The Gallant Legion (1948, Joseph Kane) - 6/10
--- Joseph Schildkraut working with Bill Elliott again, and adding Bruce Cabot for some more loudmouth action. Again it's more the plot than the action or production values that makes Wild Bill's B+ westerns good. And with the strong cast available for this, I'm not going to complain about that.

110. Blood on the Moon (1948, Robert Wise) - 6/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (1 list)
--- Blood on the Moon (1948) is one of those movies that I wish I'd loved more. Had so much going for it, and starting so great with Robert Mitchum & Barbara Bel Geddes showcasing their shoot-intimidation. Excellent first meeting! The story is fine too, but the pacing wasn't really elevating what it had going for it.

111. Fury at Furnace Creek (1948, H. Bruce Humberstone) - 6/10
--- After the excellent portrayal of Doc Holliday in My Darling Clementine (1946), Victor Mature takes another rare shot at a western. I'll probable like him in anything, so that I liked him in Fury at Furnace Creek (1948) comes to no surprise. But it's clear this does not reach the level of Clementine, neither production wise, nor character wise. The focus isn't precise enough. But it's a solid western rework of Four Men and a Prayer (1938).

112. The Plunderers (1948, Joseph Kane) - 5/10
--- Rod Cameron is as sturdy as a screen cowboy gets, so you know you'll get a authentic feeling western with The Plunderers (1948), but the pace is too much on the slow side for this one to really feel the excitement lurking. The ending is where it picks-up, but they really should have done more with the rest of the film to build for that moment.

113. Panhandle (1948, Lesley Selander) - 6/10
--- Panhandle (1948) packs a lot of western, doesn't have the best of narratives, but ultimately a enjoyable Rod Cameron experience.

114. Belle Starr's Daughter (1948, Lesley Selander) - 5/10
--- Likable presentation, wasn't as much action or excitement as I'd hoped. Rod Cameron remained the strongest character, while George Montgomery struggled to convince. So it was a unevenness about Belle Starr's Daughter (1948), but it's perfectly watchable.

115. River Lady (1948, George Sherman) - 5/10
--- Beautiful to look at. Full of style and well-crafted characters, but a little too rooted in drama without creating enough excitement to really take advantage of the foundation it had built for itself. Still worth it for the likes of Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea & Rod Cameron .

116. Adventures of Gallant Bess (1948, Lew Landers) - 3/10
--- There's color.... just trying to be as positive as I can about this horsing around.

117. The Paleface (1948, Norman Z. McLeod) - 7/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (4 lists)
--- I'm always a sucker for a coward in the west!

Spoiler

1. Wild Country (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
2. Range Beyond the Blue (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
3. Black Hills (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
4. Shadow Valley (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
5. Raiders of the South (1947, Lambert Hillyer) - 3/10
6. Law of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
7. Border Feud (1947, Ray Taylor) - 4/10
8. Pioneer Justice (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
9. Ghost Town Renegades (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
10. Return of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
11. The Fighting Vigilantes (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
12. Cheyenne Takes Over (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
13. Michigan Kid (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
14. The Vigilantes Return (1947, Ray Taylor) - 5/10
15. Last of the Redmen (1947, George Sherman) - 4/10
16. South of the Chisholm Trail (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
17. The Lone Hand Texan (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
18. West of Dodge City (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
19. Law of the Canyon (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
20. Prairie Raiders (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
21. The Stranger from Ponca City (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
22. Riders of the Lone Star (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 4/10
23. Last Days of Boot Hill (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
24. Jesse James Rides Again (1947, Fred C. Brannon & Thomas Carr) - 5/10
25. Son of Zorro (1947, Spencer Gordon Bennet & Fred C. Brannon) - 4/10
26. The Sea of Grass (1947, Elia Kazan) - 6/10
27. Ramrod (1947, André De Toth) - 6/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
28. Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 7/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (5 lists)
29. Heaven Only Knows (1947, Albert S. Rogell) - 6/10
30. Cheyenne (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
31. Wyoming (1947, Joseph Kane) - 5/10
32. California (1947, John Farrow) - 6/10
33. Gunfighters (1947, George Waggner) - 5/10
34. Trail Street (1947, Ray Enright) - 6/10
35. Angel and the Badman (1947, James Edward Grant) - 7/10
36. Mexican Moon (2021, Chris Zuhdi) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
37. Promise (2021, Joe Cornet) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
38. Tyger Tyger (2021, Kerry Mondragon) - 1/10
39. Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls (2021, Joshua Kennedy) - 2/10
40. The Judge of Harbor County (2021, Al Carretta) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
41. Texas Red (2021, Travis Mills) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
42. She Was the Deputy's Wife (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
43. Bastard's Crossing (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
44. News of the World (2020, Paul Greengrass) - 6/10
45. Soldier's Heart (I) (2020, Michael Feifer) - 2/10
46. The Dalton Gang (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
47. Once Upon a Time in Tombstone (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
48. Warpath (2020, Josh Becker) - 2/10
49. Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020, Joe Cornet) - 1/10
50. No Man's Land (2020, Conor Allyn) - 3/10
51. The Pale Door (2020, Aaron B. Koontz) - 2/10
52. JL Family Ranch: The Wedding Gift (2020, Sean McNamara) - 2/10
53. The Rodeo Thief (2020, Brett Bentman) - 2/10
54. L'état sauvage [Savage State] (2019, David Perrault) - 3/10
55. Vaquero del mediodía [Midday Cowboy] (2019, Diego Enrique Osorno) - 5/10
56. First Cow (2019, Kelly Reichardt) - 4/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (1 list)
57. Bacurau (2019, Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho) - 5/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (3 lists)
58. Fire on the Hill (2018, Brett Fallentine) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
59. The Hatred (2018, John Adams) - 2/10
60. Wild Faith (2018, Jesse Low) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
61. The Decadent and Depraved (2018, Axel August & Jordon Prince-Wright) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
62. Unexpected Guest (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
63. Dangerous Venture (1947, George Archainbaud) - 4/10
64. The Marauders (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
65. Hoppy's Holiday (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
66. Bells of San Fernando (1947, Terry O. Morse) - 4/10
67. Bells of San Angelo (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
68. Apache Rose (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
69. Springtime in the Sierras (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
70. On the Old Spanish Trail (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
71. Pirates of Monterey (1947, Alfred L. Werker) - 6/10
72. Yankee Fakir (1947, W. Lee Wilder) - 4/10
73. Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947, Frank McDonald) - 4/10
74. The Last Round-up (1947, John English) - 4/10
75. The Red Stallion (1947, Lesley Selander) - 5/10
76. Riding the California Trail (1947, William Nigh) - 4/10
77. Robin Hood of Monterey (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 4/10
78. King of the Bandits (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 5/10
79. Vacation Days (1947, Arthur Dreifuss) - 4/10
80. Bowery Buckaroos (1947, William Beaudine) - 4/10
81. Look-Out Sister (1947, Bud Pollard) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
82. The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947, Charles Barton) - 6/10
83. Vigilantes of Boomtown (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
84. Homesteaders of Paradise Valley (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
85. Oregon Trail Scouts (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
86. Rustlers of Devil's Canyon (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
87. Marshal of Cripple Creek (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
88. Last Frontier Uprising (1947, Lesley Selander) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
89. Under Colorado Skies (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
90. Under the Tonto Rim (1947, Lew Landers) - 4/10
91. Wild Horse Mesa (1947, Wallace Grissell) - 4/10
92. Red River (1948, Howard Hawks & Arthur Rosson) - 9/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (15 lists)
93. Fort Apache (1948, John Ford) - 8/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (6 lists)
94. 3 Godfathers (1948, John Ford) 9/10
95. Albuquerque (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10
96. Coroner Creek (1948, Ray Enright) - 7/10
97. Return of the Bad Men (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10
98. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, John Huston) - 9/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (24 lists)
99. Yellow Sky (1948, William A. Wellman) - 8/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
100. Silver River (1948, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
101. Tap Roots (1948, George Marshall) - 5/10
102. The Kissing Bandit (1948, Laslo Benedek) - 5/10
103. The Man from Colorado (1948, Henry Levin) - 6/10
104. Four Faces West (1948, Alfred E. Green) - 6/10
105. Relentless (1948, George Sherman) - 5/10
106. Whispering Smith (1948, Leslie Fenton) - 6/10
107. A Southern Yankee (1948, Edward Sedgwick & S. Sylvan Simon) - 7/10
108. Old Los Angeles (1948, Joseph Kane) - 6/10
109. The Gallant Legion (1948, Joseph Kane) - 6/10
110. Blood on the Moon (1948, Robert Wise) - 6/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (1 list)
111. Fury at Furnace Creek (1948, H. Bruce Humberstone) - 6/10
112. The Plunderers (1948, Joseph Kane) - 5/10
113. Panhandle (1948, Lesley Selander) - 6/10
114. Belle Starr's Daughter (1948, Lesley Selander) - 5/10
115. River Lady (1948, George Sherman) - 5/10
116. Adventures of Gallant Bess (1948, Lew Landers) - 3/10
117. The Paleface (1948, Norman Z. McLeod) - 7/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (4 lists)

sol · #111

How the West Was Shot

1. News of the World (2020)
2. Comanche Station (1960)
3. Cowboys Don't Cry (1988)
4. The Missouri Breaks (1976)
5. The Man from Colorado (1948)
6. The Man from Laramie (1955)
7. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
8. Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)
9. Lonesome Dove: Part 1 (1989)

10. Lonesome Dove: Part 2 (1989)

Well, that's more like it. I can't say that I'm loving this miniseries yet, but this second episode had a lot more of interest to me than the first chapter did. There are some very intense moments (smashing a rude bartender's face in; see above), some great discussions about dodging responsibilities/parenting and a really interesting new character in a teenage girl who flees from abuse - possibly sexual in nature - and talks her way into being given a ride.

Bing147 · #112

14. Death Rides a Horse (1967)

flavo5000 · #113

19. The Fastest Gun Alive (Russell Rouse, 1956)

20. Welcome to Blood City (Peter Sasdy, 1977)

21. The Man from Snowy River (George Miller, 1982)

22. Una lunga fila di croci a.k.a. Hanging For Django (Sergio Garrone, 1969)

DRAW!

1. Arizona Colt a.k.a. Man from Nowhere (1966)
2. The Lady of the Dugout (1918)
3. Daisy Town (1971)
4. Tall in the Saddle (1944)
5. The Lonely Trail (1936)
6. Flaming Star (1960)
7. Vampire Junction (2001)
8. Half Way to Hell (1961)
9. Five Bloody Graves (1970)
10. Big Calibre (1935)
11. Zanna Bianca a.k.a. White Fang (1973)
12. Wong Fei Hung VI: Sai Wik Hung See a.k.a. Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997)
13. 800 balas a.k.a. 800 Bullets (2002)
14. Comin' at Ya! (1981)
15. Eagle's Wing (Anthony Harvey, 1979)
16. Anda muchacho, spara! a.k.a. Dead Men Ride (Aldo Florio, 1971)
17. Showdown at Boot Hill (Gene Fowler Jr., 1958)
18. Chisum (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1970)
19. The Fastest Gun Alive (Russell Rouse, 1956)
20. Welcome to Blood City (Peter Sasdy, 1977)
21. The Man from Snowy River (George Miller, 1982)
22. Una lunga fila di croci a.k.a. Hanging For Django (Sergio Garrone, 1969)

Bing147 · #114

15. Ride the High Country (1962)

Lammetje · #115

9. Les frères Sisters (2018): 6/10

A rather odd one. Great cast, bad soundtrack, unpredictable plot.

Seen

1. The Salvation (2014)
2. Silverado (1985)
3. Django (1966)
4. A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
5. True Grit (2010) (rewatch)
6. Little Big Man (1970)
7. Hell or High Water (2016)
8. 3 Bad Men (1926)
9. Les frères Sisters (2018)

blocho · #116

8. Tomahawk (1951)
I took a trip last September to South Dakota and Wyoming. One morning, I woke up in Rapid City, SD, with plans to drive to Sheridan, WY, while stopping at Devil's Tower on the way. Reaching the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains too late in the afternoon for a hike, I decided to stop at a small historical site I had never heard of before, Fort Phil Kearny. The site, consisting of a partially reconstructed stockade of the long-burned fort and a small, under-resourced museum staffed by loyal volunteers, was fascinating because it had a good story to tell, the story of Red Cloud's War and the Fetterman Fight. It was a story I hadn't heard of before despite my studies in American history, though I think that's less because of any deficiencies in my education and more a result of the sheer extent of what in the United States is called the "Indian Wars" - a three-hundred year, continent-wide series of innumerable conflicts.

The Fetterman Fight is ultimately a story of military and political failure on the part of the United States, both strategically and tactically. It led to one of the very few American-Indian treaties that was actually favorable to the Indians (it didn't last). It's a story about gold fever, American arrogance, the horse culture of the Plains Indians, military logistics, and how the surprisingly salient importance of timber supplies led some naive cavalry officers, against good judgment and their own orders, to ride into an epic ambush, the worst defeat of the US Army by Indians at the time. If you haven't heard of it before, it's probably because it was later overshadowed by an even more devastating defeat that occurred 10 years later and 77 miles away at a place the Plains Indians called Greasy Grass and the US Army called Little Bighorn.

Anyway, Tomahawk is a movie about Red Cloud's War that climaxes with the Fetterman Fight and the Wagon Box Fight. That it places those two battles on the same day rather than months apart is one of the very few historical inaccuracies in the whole picture. In fact, the movie is astonishingly accurate. Other than a couple of fictional characters inserted into the narrative and a few other details, everything happens on screen much as it did in 1866. Is it any good as a movie? It's perfectly cromulent, but much of the enjoyment must come from the surprise that a 1951 movie did two things that were rare in that era: Do justice to history and portray Indians more sympathetically than the US Army.

You can see it here.

frbrown · #117

5. Ghost Town Law (1942)

Part of the "Rough Riders" series, with which I'm unfamiliar. A mix of Western and mystery, with the ghost town, and the gold mine that runs under it, working almost as an "old dark house". Appropriately sinister atmosphere, but the plot is convoluted and hard to follow.

Spoiler

1. Born to the West (1937)
2. The Sun Shines Bright (1953)
3. Inn of the Damned (1975)
4. Death Rides a Horse (1967)
5. Ghost Town Law (1942)

AB537 · #118

6. The Missouri Breaks (Arthur Penn, 1976) 6.5/10

Bing147 · #119

16. Apache (1954)

PUNQ · #120

Got almost 50 westerns left from 1948, but with this bunch I'm done with most of the good ones that came out that year. Soon I'll be ridin' down the true B- to poverty row trail.

118. Adventures of Frank and Jesse James (1948, Fred C. Brannon & Yakima Canutt) - 4/10
--- 13-episode Serial from Republic Pictures of the Western variety. Snappy action, but not necessary a story that would have gotten me in the cinema every week for a new episode. Apparently they snatched a lot from another serial, Adventures of Red Ryder (1940), so it was definitely a budget project.

119. Angel in Exile (1948, Allan Dwan & Philip Ford) - 4/10
--- A minor gold digging adventure from Allan Dwan with the help of John Ford's nephew Philip Ford. The star is John Carroll with valuable assistant from Barton MacLane as the heavy. This was more a popcorn production than anything with a deeper heart, but it was fine for a B-picture diversion.

120. Black Eagle (1948, Robert Gordon) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
--- Kind of anonymous. I wouldn't say there was anything particularly bad about Black Eagle (1948), but there was a surprising lack key Hollywood players involved and because of it didn't have any identity to draw you in. In a way, that became a draw of its own. Almost a fresh and less stagnant version of the standard B-western.

121. Last of the Wild Horses (1948, Robert L. Lippert) - 3/10
--- Last of the Wild Horses (1948) has gained notoriety as part of that mockery show Mystery Science Theater 3000. I haven't seen that "version" of the film, but I can sense why someone would poke fun at this. At first glance, its looks and production values were very typical of the period for B-westerns. No reason to knock it for that. It was the standard. However, here is the key thing why this film becomes comical. It was producer Robert L. Lippert sole attempt at directing. I guess he saw an opening to save some money by doing the job himself, but he realized halfway through production he had no business being in the directors chair and fired himself. Reason why you can sense that, was the unnatural way everything went down. He didn't have the understanding how to direct actual acting and how to frame it. If you want to put a "positive" spin on it, he had a different eye for detail. Or tone deaf, if you want to put a negative spin on it. There's a ton worse westerns from this time, but I can say i'm very happy Lippert didn't direct ever again.

122. Green Grass of Wyoming (1948, Louis King) - 5/10
--- Cozy family movie centering around horse life without any highs or lows.

123. The Dude Goes West (1948, Kurt Neumann) - 6/10
--- Eddie Albert should have read a book about how not to get in trouble, for he sure got in some at every turn traveling out west. But it made for a amusing western comedy with quite a solid cast to back it up. Missing a killer sequence, but it always had a laugh coming.

124. Two Guys from Texas (1948, David Butler) - 5/10
--- Two guys goofing around in Texas dude-style! Why else would Dennis Morgan & Jack Carson do down there. and it was okay fun. Wouldn't have minded a little more plot, but at least they added a bunch of variety numbers, including a brief Bugs Bunny cameo, making his first appearance in a feature film.

125. Station West (1948, Sidney Lanfield) - 6/10
--- Cool to see the noir-style dialogue transferred over to a western. Definitely made more a different kind of cowboy adventure, and with Dick Powell, wouldn't you know. Did feel the experience was a little hollow. The edge wasn't really there. But that doesn't mean I didn't appreciate what they were doing. It absolutely was enjoyable.

126. Rachel and the Stranger (1948, Norman Foster) - 5/10
--- Kind of a sleeper marriage drama out west, which didn't fulled wake me up to it's intentions. You had Robert Mitchum coming in to disrupt a already shaky relationship between William Holden & Loretta Young, and the tension wasn't as powerful as I'd hoped considering those involved. There is definitely something here, but not enough to move my heart.

127. Black Bart (1948, George Sherman) - 5/10
--- Nice to look at, had really cool characters, and a potential entertaining plot, but Black Bart (1948) didn't have the action and excitement to back it up, sadly.

Spoiler

1. Wild Country (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
2. Range Beyond the Blue (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
3. Black Hills (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10
4. Shadow Valley (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
5. Raiders of the South (1947, Lambert Hillyer) - 3/10
6. Law of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
7. Border Feud (1947, Ray Taylor) - 4/10
8. Pioneer Justice (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
9. Ghost Town Renegades (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
10. Return of the Lash (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
11. The Fighting Vigilantes (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10
12. Cheyenne Takes Over (1947, Ray Taylor) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
13. Michigan Kid (1947, Ray Taylor) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
14. The Vigilantes Return (1947, Ray Taylor) - 5/10
15. Last of the Redmen (1947, George Sherman) - 4/10
16. South of the Chisholm Trail (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
17. The Lone Hand Texan (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
18. West of Dodge City (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
19. Law of the Canyon (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
20. Prairie Raiders (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
21. The Stranger from Ponca City (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
22. Riders of the Lone Star (1947, Derwin Abrahams) - 4/10
23. Last Days of Boot Hill (1947, Ray Nazarro) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
24. Jesse James Rides Again (1947, Fred C. Brannon & Thomas Carr) - 5/10
25. Son of Zorro (1947, Spencer Gordon Bennet & Fred C. Brannon) - 4/10
26. The Sea of Grass (1947, Elia Kazan) - 6/10
27. Ramrod (1947, André De Toth) - 6/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
28. Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 7/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (5 lists)
29. Heaven Only Knows (1947, Albert S. Rogell) - 6/10
30. Cheyenne (1947, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
31. Wyoming (1947, Joseph Kane) - 5/10
32. California (1947, John Farrow) - 6/10
33. Gunfighters (1947, George Waggner) - 5/10
34. Trail Street (1947, Ray Enright) - 6/10
35. Angel and the Badman (1947, James Edward Grant) - 7/10
36. Mexican Moon (2021, Chris Zuhdi) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
37. Promise (2021, Joe Cornet) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
38. Tyger Tyger (2021, Kerry Mondragon) - 1/10
39. Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls (2021, Joshua Kennedy) - 2/10
40. The Judge of Harbor County (2021, Al Carretta) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
41. Texas Red (2021, Travis Mills) - 1/10 - FIRST CHECK!
42. She Was the Deputy's Wife (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
43. Bastard's Crossing (2021, Travis Mills) - 2/10
44. News of the World (2020, Paul Greengrass) - 6/10
45. Soldier's Heart (I) (2020, Michael Feifer) - 2/10
46. The Dalton Gang (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
47. Once Upon a Time in Tombstone (2020, Christopher Forbes) - 1/10
48. Warpath (2020, Josh Becker) - 2/10
49. Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020, Joe Cornet) - 1/10
50. No Man's Land (2020, Conor Allyn) - 3/10
51. The Pale Door (2020, Aaron B. Koontz) - 2/10
52. JL Family Ranch: The Wedding Gift (2020, Sean McNamara) - 2/10
53. The Rodeo Thief (2020, Brett Bentman) - 2/10
54. L'état sauvage [Savage State] (2019, David Perrault) - 3/10
55. Vaquero del mediodía [Midday Cowboy] (2019, Diego Enrique Osorno) - 5/10
56. First Cow (2019, Kelly Reichardt) - 4/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (1 list)
57. Bacurau (2019, Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho) - 5/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (3 lists)
58. Fire on the Hill (2018, Brett Fallentine) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
59. The Hatred (2018, John Adams) - 2/10
60. Wild Faith (2018, Jesse Low) - 2/10 - FIRST CHECK!
61. The Decadent and Depraved (2018, Axel August & Jordon Prince-Wright) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
62. Unexpected Guest (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
63. Dangerous Venture (1947, George Archainbaud) - 4/10
64. The Marauders (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
65. Hoppy's Holiday (1947, George Archainbaud) - 5/10
66. Bells of San Fernando (1947, Terry O. Morse) - 4/10
67. Bells of San Angelo (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
68. Apache Rose (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
69. Springtime in the Sierras (1947, William Witney) - 4/10
70. On the Old Spanish Trail (1947, William Witney) - 5/10
71. Pirates of Monterey (1947, Alfred L. Werker) - 6/10
72. Yankee Fakir (1947, W. Lee Wilder) - 4/10
73. Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947, Frank McDonald) - 4/10
74. The Last Round-up (1947, John English) - 4/10
75. The Red Stallion (1947, Lesley Selander) - 5/10
76. Riding the California Trail (1947, William Nigh) - 4/10
77. Robin Hood of Monterey (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 4/10
78. King of the Bandits (1947, Christy Cabanne) - 5/10
79. Vacation Days (1947, Arthur Dreifuss) - 4/10
80. Bowery Buckaroos (1947, William Beaudine) - 4/10
81. Look-Out Sister (1947, Bud Pollard) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
82. The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947, Charles Barton) - 6/10
83. Vigilantes of Boomtown (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
84. Homesteaders of Paradise Valley (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10
85. Oregon Trail Scouts (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
86. Rustlers of Devil's Canyon (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
87. Marshal of Cripple Creek (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
88. Last Frontier Uprising (1947, Lesley Selander) - 3/10 - FIRST CHECK!
89. Under Colorado Skies (1947, R.G. Springsteen) - 5/10 - FIRST CHECK!
90. Under the Tonto Rim (1947, Lew Landers) - 4/10
91. Wild Horse Mesa (1947, Wallace Grissell) - 4/10
92. Red River (1948, Howard Hawks & Arthur Rosson) - 9/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (15 lists)
93. Fort Apache (1948, John Ford) - 8/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (6 lists)
94. 3 Godfathers (1948, John Ford) 9/10
95. Albuquerque (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10
96. Coroner Creek (1948, Ray Enright) - 7/10
97. Return of the Bad Men (1948, Ray Enright) - 6/10
98. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, John Huston) - 9/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (24 lists)
99. Yellow Sky (1948, William A. Wellman) - 8/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (2 lists)
100. Silver River (1948, Raoul Walsh) - 6/10
101. Tap Roots (1948, George Marshall) - 5/10
102. The Kissing Bandit (1948, Laslo Benedek) - 5/10
103. The Man from Colorado (1948, Henry Levin) - 6/10
104. Four Faces West (1948, Alfred E. Green) - 6/10
105. Relentless (1948, George Sherman) - 5/10
106. Whispering Smith (1948, Leslie Fenton) - 6/10
107. A Southern Yankee (1948, Edward Sedgwick & S. Sylvan Simon) - 7/10
108. Old Los Angeles (1948, Joseph Kane) - 6/10
109. The Gallant Legion (1948, Joseph Kane) - 6/10
110. Blood on the Moon (1948, Robert Wise) - 6/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (1 list)
111. Fury at Furnace Creek (1948, H. Bruce Humberstone) - 6/10
112. The Plunderers (1948, Joseph Kane) - 5/10
113. Panhandle (1948, Lesley Selander) - 6/10
114. Belle Starr's Daughter (1948, Lesley Selander) - 5/10
115. River Lady (1948, George Sherman) - 5/10
116. Adventures of Gallant Bess (1948, Lew Landers) - 3/10
117. The Paleface (1948, Norman Z. McLeod) - 7/10 - OFFICIAL CHECK (4 lists)
118. Adventures of Frank and Jesse James (1948, Fred C. Brannon & Yakima Canutt) - 4/10
119. Angel in Exile (1948, Allan Dwan & Philip Ford) - 4/10
120. Black Eagle (1948, Robert Gordon) - 4/10 - FIRST CHECK!
121. Last of the Wild Horses (1948, Robert L. Lippert) - 3/10
122. Green Grass of Wyoming (1948, Louis King) - 5/10
123. The Dude Goes West (1948, Kurt Neumann) - 6/10
124. Two Guys from Texas (1948, David Butler) - 5/10
125. Station West (1948, Sidney Lanfield) - 6/10
126. Rachel and the Stranger (1948, Norman Foster) - 5/10
127. Black Bart (1948, George Sherman) - 5/10