The Last Hard Men and The Wild Bunch (1 Viewer)

[blaster]

I just saw these two westerns back to back. The first movie starred Charlton Heston and James Coburn while the second movie had William Holden, Edmond O'Brien and Ernest Borgnine.

I had never seen The Last Hard Men. The themes in both movies are similar - brutal desperados in a Western shoot-up but the acting (and action) was far superior in the The Wild Bunch.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074776/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065214/

rgds Victor

 

[GICOP]

The Wild Bunch is one of my favouritie movies, that's where I became interested in pump action Shotguns......but that's another story :wink2:

Check out this movie if you haven't seen it before

Extreme Prejudice

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092997/

Cheers

Martyn

 

[lancer]

You all have picked out some good ones. The jewel is the classic and ground breaking The Wild Bunch. Just a superior work in all respects. The other two are very good action movies with Coburn being the outstanding character in The Last Hard Men. I really liked the odd mixture of characters in Extreme Prejudice. I thought Powers Booth was great. These are a great trio of shows for a western/action fan. -- Al

 

[Combat]

Hollywood seems to have lost the knack for making a good western. Maybe because the ones back in the 50's-70's played in drive ins and double features they were made purely for entertainment. Lots of great character actors used back in those days. I can't watch most westerns made after about 1980. They seem to be message movies or bad copycat versions. And because most movies in recent decades are so expensives to make they insist on some star being in the film.

 

[lancer]

The Wild Bunch is one of my favouritie movies, that's where I became interested in pump action Shotguns......but that's another story :wink2:

Check out this movie if you haven't seen it before

Extreme Prejudice

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092997/

Cheers

Martyn

Martyn, one of the aspects I so enjoyed about The Wild Bunch was the eclectic combinations of weapons that were used throughout the movie. The pump action shotguns, the '03 Springfield rifles, the Colt SAA's and M1911's, Winchesters, and the Browning heavy MG's were all co-stars as far as I am concerned. I eventually owned versions of them all, except the Browning MG.:wink2:^&grin -- Al

 

[lancer]

Hollywood seems to have lost the knack for making a good western. Maybe because the ones back in the 50's-70's played in drive ins and double features they were made purely for entertainment. Lots of great character actors used back in those days. I can't watch most westerns made after about 1980. They seem to be message movies or bad copycat versions. And because most movies in recent decades are so expensives to make they insist on some star being in the film.

The good ones are few and far between these days. TV has made some good ones like the outstanding Lonesome Dove and some others that have starred the likes of Tom Selleck, Robert Duvall, and Kevin Costner. I think Costner, for all the flak he takes, has made some really good westerns. I really enjoyed the underated Silverado. -- Al

 

[blaster]

Hollywood seems to have lost the knack for making a good western. Maybe because the ones back in the 50's-70's played in drive ins and double features they were made purely for entertainment. Lots of great character actors used back in those days. I can't watch most westerns made after about 1980. They seem to be message movies or bad copycat versions. And because most movies in recent decades are so expensives to make they insist on some star being in the film.

I had similar thoughts then but Clint Eastwood made "Pale Rider " in 1985 and "Unforgiven" in 1992. I thought that these two were the last of the great Western movies.


Rgds Victor

 

[lancer]

I had similar thoughts then but Clint Eastwood made "Pale Rider " in 1985 and "Unforgiven" in 1992. I thought that these two were the last of the great Western movies.


Rgds Victor

Unforgiven is a classic with several of the best lines ever spoken in a western. Just a brilliant all around job by Eastwood, the actors, and the writers. One of my all-time favorites. -- Al

 

[mikemiller1955]

You all have picked out some good ones. The jewel is the classic and ground breaking The Wild Bunch. Just a superior work in all respects. The other two are very good action movies with Coburn being the outstanding character in The Last Hard Men. I really liked the odd mixture of characters in Extreme Prejudice. I thought Powers Booth was great. These are a great trio of shows for a western/action fan. -- Al

Al...I love Powers Booth...he was great in Deadwood...which I think was the best Western series ever...

The good ones are few and far between these days. TV has made some good ones like the outstanding Lonesome Dove and some others that have starred the likes of Tom Selleck, Robert Duvall, and Kevin Costner. I think Costner, for all the flak he takes, has made some really good westerns. I really enjoyed the underated Silverado. -- Al

Al...you might also try "Open Range" with Costner and Duvall...it was pretty good...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uFarFM9sow

 

[Fubar]

The Wild Bunch. None better. Saw it and Little Big Man , when I was maybe 11-12 at the drive in. Both are absolute classics in movie making in my opinion. Was rather traumatized I suppose as they left a permanent impression on me.
Yes Mike, Open range while not being the hard core shoot'em up Western is a very good movie with lots of great characters. Has it all really, loyalty, friendship, yes even a love story, and a great shootout.I was impressed as I had never heard of it before and picked it up on DVD.wasn't expecting a whole lot but I was GREATLY surprised .Not a huge Costner fan, but dang, he was a totally believable . Good movie.
Last hard men. Never could sit through it, don't know exactly why.

FuBaR

 

[UKReb]

The background to the making of The Wild Bunch is as fascinating as the movie itself. The idea for the story was originated by the stuntman actor Roy Sickner-not a name some of you will be familiar with but this rugged handsome guy was the very first "Marlboro Man" in the cigarette commercials. He doubled for all the great actors of the 50s & 60s including his best pal Lee Marvin. On the back of an envelope he wrote down a simple basis for a western movie. A bunch of outlaws rob a Texas train depot, posse chase them into Mexico. There they meet Mexican bandits who hire them to steal guns from the US Army. After successfully carrying out the job the Mexicans attempt to double-cross the gang just as the railroad posse closes in from the other direction. The outlaws are caught in a big gunfight that ends the movie. He gave the envelope to Marvin who after reading it said "you ever get this financed you can put me down for the leader of the outlaw gang".

From there the envelope was eventually passed to scriptwriter Walon Green who brought it to Sam Peckinpah's attention. This movie idea would relaunch the director's career which had been moribund after the confusing disaster of Major Dundee and his firing as director of Steve McQueen's The Cincinnati Kid. In 1968 the hard drinking Sam was definitely an anathema in Hollywood. As we now know Marvin didn't take the role of Pike Bishop even though he was keen to do so but his agent persuaded him to sign up for Paint Your Wagon instead {eek3} I never did fully understand that. John Wayne hated The Wild Bunch stating that "it destroyed the myth of the West". He was darn right about that but he should have said "destroyed Hollywood's myth of the West"

The Last Hard Men was advertised as a violent western in the style of Peckinpah's Wild Bunch....err! can't exactly agree with that unless you align it with Sam's comment on his own masterpiece "The Wild Bunch is about bad men in changing times". One interesting but useless piece of information is that The Last Hard Men was a 20th Century motion picture and the movie poster's tag line was "someone is going to die hard". 12 years later one of Fox's executives remembered that poster tag line and suggested "Die Hard" as the title for a new Bruce Willis movie the studio was then currently producing.

Agree with both Mike and Fub Open Range was a brilliant articulation of the real west cattlemen and an authentically staged gunfight. Unfortunately this great little movie was grossly underappreciated when it was first released.

Bob

 

[Fubar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7iur86_Ahw

2nd favorite scene from Open Range. Tickles me

 

[Buster]

Have to agree with what's been said about Open Range, a great western with fine acting by Duvall and yes, even Costner (not one of my favorites actors either). Another pretty good recent western is the mini-series Broken Trail, also starring Robert Duvall.

B.

 

[lancer]

Al...I love Powers Booth...he was great in Deadwood...which I think was the best Western series ever...



Al...you might also try "Open Range" with Costner and Duvall...it was pretty good...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uFarFM9sow

Mike, totally agree about Open Range. Had it in mind when I listed Duvall and Costner. Just a fantastic show from all angles. I have seen it so often I have taken to 'rivet counting' the shots fired during the final shootout. In the initial stages of the shootout, Costner shoots a guy to his left and proceeds to fan his SAA until the guy is deader than dead. Costner fires his 6 shot revolver 8 or 9 times during that little moment. It's about the only real error I've caught.:tongue: This really is a great western. -- Al

 

[lancer]

I know a lot of you have no use for Costner as an actor and I agree that he can be sort of wooden but if the man would stick to baseball and westerns, I think he'd be a lot better off. He has done some fine work in both genres. I know that I will take flak for this but I much prefer Costner's Wyatt Earp over the much flashier and gaudy Kurt Russel's Tombstone. I think Costner and Quaid had it all over Russell and Kilmer. I liked Tombstone well enough, I just prefered Wyatt Earp. I put those 2 movies under the heading of pure taste in terms of liking one over the other, sort of like the difference in taste between Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, or Saving Private Ryan and Thin Red Line. All great movies but people always favor one over the other, for whatever reasons. -- Al

 

[mikemiller1955]

Mike, totally agree about Open Range. Had it in mind when I listed Duvall and Costner. Just a fantastic show from all angles. I have seen it so often I have taken to 'rivet counting' the shots fired during the final shootout. In the initial stages of the shootout, Costner shoots a guy to his left and proceeds to fan his SAA until the guy is deader than dead. Costner fires his 6 shot revolver 8 or 9 times during that little moment. It's about the only real error I've caught.:tongue: This really is a great western. -- Al

yes Al...I counted more than 6 shots from his magic pistol...^&grin

 

[Fubar]

" I see you always favor something lighter." Could he possibly have a 9 shot revolver in 32 cal.?I know of LOTS of 22 cal 9 shot revolvers that go way back. He's not toting a Le Mat 9 shot. Too obvious a hawgleg. and easily identifiable .

 

[UKReb]

I know a lot of you have no use for Costner as an actor and I agree that he can be sort of wooden but if the man would stick to baseball and westerns, I think he'd be a lot better off. He has done some fine work in both genres. I know that I will take flak for this but I much prefer Costner's Wyatt Earp over the much flashier and gaudy Kurt Russel's Tombstone. I think Costner and Quaid had it all over Russell and Kilmer. I liked Tombstone well enough, I just prefered Wyatt Earp. I put those 2 movies under the heading of pure taste in terms of liking one over the other, sort of like the difference in taste between Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, or Saving Private Ryan and Thin Red Line. All great movies but people always favor one over the other, for whatever reasons. -- Al

Agree Al and will add that Dennis Quaid should have won or at the very least have been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award for his role of Doc Holliday.

His portrayal of Holliday is a brilliantly realised performance that sparked the movie to life every time Quaid appeared "Wyatt Earp? I've heard that name.......it was not good". Quaid invests a dry wit tinged with a jeopardous edge as you expect him to turn into a deadly killer in the blink of an eye. Quaid's physical appearance (he deliberately lost weight for the role) only adds to the performance; we really believe that the man is dying of tuberculosis. Unfortunately, try as Quaid does to breathe life into the chemistry that must have existed between Holliday and Earp, he is hampered by Costner's deadpan performance as Wyatt. The audience never got the sense of loyalty and friendship between the two men, and because the film was so negatively panned, Quaid's rich portrayal was sadly overlooked by the Academy members. However, having said all of that I too prefer this movie rather than Tombstone which reminded me more of a graphic comic book approach to the Earp/Holliday story than the real deal.

As for Costner popping off nine slugs in Open Range....Hell, I remember well Hopalong Cassidy shooting at least 15 bullets apiece out of each of his two six-guns-without re-loading- every Saturday morning down at our fleapit movie palace^&grin

Bob

 

[lancer]

Agree Al and will add that Dennis Quaid should have won or at the very least have been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award for his role of Doc Holliday.

His portrayal of Holliday is a brilliantly realised performance that sparked the movie to life every time Quaid appeared "Wyatt Earp? I've heard that name.......it was not good". Quaid invests a dry wit tinged with a jeopardous edge as you expect him to turn into a deadly killer in the blink of an eye. Quaid's physical appearance (he deliberately lost weight for the role) only adds to the performance; we really believe that the man is dying of tuberculosis. Unfortunately, try as Quaid does to breathe life into the chemistry that must have existed between Holliday and Earp, he is hampered by Costner's deadpan performance as Wyatt. The audience never got the sense of loyalty and friendship between the two men, and because the film was so negatively panned, Quaid's rich portrayal was sadly overlooked by the Academy members. However, having said all of that I too prefer this movie rather than Tombstone which reminded me more of a graphic comic book approach to the Earp/Holliday story than the real deal.

As for Costner popping off nine slugs in Open Range....Hell, I remember well Hopalong Cassidy shooting at least 15 bullets apiece out of each of his two six-guns-without re-loading- every Saturday morning down at our fleapit movie palace^&grin

Bob

Very much liked Quaid. He made the film. I have come to dislike the Kilmer version in comparison. Costner has that deadpan acting style down to a T.:rolleyes2: At any rate, I still liked his Wyatt better than Russell's. I guess I just prefer the understated to scenery chewing.
Growing up on the westerns, both movie and TV, of the 50's, one could be excused for not realizing that six-shooters required reloading every now and then.:wink2: Besides, my pistols never ran out of ammo when I was a kid.{sm3} -- Al

 

[GICOP]

Randy Quaid is a great actor :salute::.....loved him in Christmas Vacation ^&grin

Can I toss THE LONG RIDERS in here....another great western in my opinion :wink2:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081071/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_96

Cheers

Martyn