Movie Review: The Magnificent Seven (1960)

The Magnificent Seven (1960) directed by John Sturges

This classic Western is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, a tale of a group of samurai hired to defend a medieval Japanese village. The action is transported to late 1800s Mexico, where a small farming village is robbed yet again by Calvera (Eli Wallach) and his bandits. Calvera says he will be back soon. The villagers want to do something to stop the constant pillaging. They consult their wise old man who tells them to fight. A small delegation gathers all the valuables of the town and heads to the border where they plan to buy guns. When they arrive, a funeral has been cancelled because the locals don't want an Indian buried in their local cemetery. A traveling salesman has paid for it and can't understand why there is so much prejudice. Gunslinging drifter Chris (Yul Brynner) volunteers to drive the hearse to the graveyard; Vin (Steve McQueen), another gunfighter passing through town, volunteers to ride shotgun on the hearse. They deliver the corpse through grit and determination. The delegation go to Chris and ask him to help buy guns, since they know nothing about gunfighting. Chris convinces them to hire men rather than buy guns, since it will be cheaper and more effective. He puts together a ragtag group with different motivations to head south and help the village fight Calvera and his men.

The movie has so many strengths. The rousing Elmer Bernstein score sets the tone of high adventure and excitement. All the characters are three-dimensional, with their own motivations and problems. The actors all do a great job with their roles, making the characters real and relatable. The group of gunslingers are honorable if flawed men. Calvera is more than a common thief--he cares for his men almost as much as for himself. He's intelligent but maybe talks too much for his own good. Even the villagers, who you would think would be stock or generic characters, have a good variety of emotions and attitudes. They aren't just helpless peasants who need outsiders to take care of them. They step up and fight alongside the seven gunmen they have hired, though that has complications through the farmers' different motivations. The plot moves at a good pace and provides a great blend of action and drama, with plenty of comedic and philosophical moments. 

Highly recommended--this is easily in the top ten Westerns ever made.

Also, this was discussed on A Good Story Is Hard to Find Podcast #62. Check it out!

Movie Review: The Quick and The Dead (1995)

The Quick and The Dead (1995) directed by Sam Raimi

Ellen (Sharon Stone) is a gunslinger with a past who rides into the Old West town of Redemption. Redemption is under the heal of mayor Herod (Gene Hackman), who collects a ridiculously high tax from the locals. The town also hosts a shoot-out duel. A lot of low-lifes drift into town in hopes of winning the title of fastest draw and the $123,000 that goes to the winner. Of note are Cort (Russell Crowe), a former associate of Herod who has foresworn violence and passes himself off as a preacher (though he doesn't do any sermonizing), and the Kid (Leonardo DiCaprio), who loves showing off and runs the local gun shop. Rumor has it the Kid is also the son of Herod. Ellen joins the contest and each day, pairs of gunslingers face off each hour. As the number of contestants drop, some background is given for Ellen, revealing her motivation.

The movie is mostly focused on Ellen (Stone was a producer). Her back story is a bit predictable, providing a typical motivation for wanting to take down Herod. Hackman gives the best performance in the movie. His scenery chewing fits in with the hyperbolic visuals typical of Sam Raimi (who directed The Evil Dead and the original Spider-man trilogies). The rest of the cast is fine though Stone and DiCaprio are not very convincing as characters from the Old West. They don't have that hardness of appearance or demeanor that their characters should have; other characters are exaggeratedly ugly, making an even bigger contrast to Stone and DiCaprio. The tone is a little confusing too: The score is a pastiche of other Western scores, maybe for comic effect, and a lot of the visuals (like the zooming-in to someone's eyes during the shoot-outs) could be either a homage or a parody spaghetti westerns. The actors play it like a drama but some moments are too absurd to be taken seriously. The movie leaves the viewer guessing about the filmmakers' intent even after the end credits roll, making this an unsatisfying western.

Not recommended.

Movie Review: Tombstone (1993)

Tombstone (1993) directed by George P. Cosmatos

Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) arrives at Tombstone, Arizona, with his wife Mattie (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) hoping to leave his law-enforcement life behind. His brothers Virgil (Sam Elliott) and Morgan (Bill Paxton) are already in town. The brothers plan to make a good life in the boom town. One hotel's bar has a difficult Faro dealer who is driving away business and is too intimidating to be fired. Wyatt goes in, confronts the man, drags him out of the hotel, and then takes the job for 25% of the profits. The hotel owner is happy with the deal. Old friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) shows up with Kate Elder (Joanna Pacula). He's a well-educated Southern gentleman who rubs a lot of people the wrong way with his volatile and eccentric behavior. 

Trouble comes with the Cowboys, a ruthless group of cattle rustlers who provide a lot of business for the town but also a lot of violence. Cowboy leader Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Boothe) hears Earp is in town and confronts Wyatt at the gambling table, making it clear that lawmen are not welcome and certainly not expected to enforce the law. The Earp brothers try to stay out of local conflicts, though they find it hard to stand aside as the Cowboys run roughshod over the town, e.g. killing the sheriff (Harry Carey, Jr.), an incident that doesn't get prosecuted for lack of witnesses (though even for film viewers the event looks like it could have been an accident). Virgil becomes disgusted and takes the sheriff job, pulling his brothers in. The situation gets more tense and difficult, leading to the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (which actually happened in a lot behind the stables) and the Vendetta Ride (after the Cowboys cripple Virgil and kill Morgan, Wyatt takes a posse that roams the countryside confronting (i.e. killing) the Cowboys). 

The movie walks a fine line between a classic western and the then-popular revisionist western (see Unforgiven or Dances with Wolves). Plenty of shoot-outs fill the screen time, though they are a lot more realistic and a lot less glamorized than in classic westerns. The score is a clear homage to Elmer Bernstein (who did the iconic Magnificent Seven score) and fits well with the gorgeous scenery and dramatic events. The Earps are clearly the good guys but they have a tough time of it, especially figuring out the right thing to do. Wyatt has trouble dealing with his drug-addicted wife, especially when showgirl Josephine (Dana Delany) arrives and captures his heart. He's hardly the squeaky-clean hero of yesterfilm. The town is gritty and half built (it was a boom town, after all, so I'm sure there was plenty of construction ongoing). A lot of bits of regular life are thrown in, like the theaters in Tombstone and the photography studio right next to the O.K. Corral, making the film feel less stagey. The performances are great and the cast look more like actual historical characters and not your favorite actor playing dress-up. The careful blending of all these elements makes the movie more engaging and more compelling. This movie is a great western.

Highly recommended.

Dual/Duel Review: True Grit: The Duke versus the Dude

Dual/Duel reviews are an online smackdown between two books, movies, games, podcasts, etc. etc. that I think are interesting to compare, contrast, and comment on. For a list of other dual/duel reviews, go here.

Based on the excellent novel by Charles Portis, the two movie versions of True Grit are wise enough to stick (mostly) to the story of the novel. Here's my synopsis of the book's plot set-up from my review:

Mattie Ross, a fourteen-year old girl in late 1800s Arkansas, is determined to avenge her father's death. He was killed by Tom Chaney, a hired hand who had too much to drink and too much darkness in his past. Mattie travels to Fort Smith (where her father was killed) to finish her father's business there (some horse trading) and to seek retribution. She hires the toughest U. S. Marshall in town, Rooster Cogburn, who is a man of true grit by all accounts. Chaney has fled into the Indian Territory (that's Oklahoma nowadays). Cogburn is familiar with the area and with Lucky Ned Pepper, an outlaw with whom Chaney has joined. Texas Ranger LaBoeuf has also come to town seeking Chaney for the murder of a senator and the senator's dog in Texas. Cogburn and LaBoeuf team up and Mattie insists on coming along.

The two lawmen try to leave her behind when they head into the Territory but Mattie's pluck and resourcefulness keep her on the trail. The story is both exciting and humorous.

True Grit (1969) directed by Henry Hathaway

This movie starts with Mattie's dad going to Fort Smith with Chaney (Jeff Corey) and shows us Chaney killing the dad and then fleeing. Mattie (Kim Darby) comes to town and gets to work. She is a tough negotiator at horse trading and also hires Cogburn (John Wayne) while putting off LaBoeuf (Glen Campbell), who is a bit annoying. Cogburn and LaBoeuf meet anyway and plan to go without her. She insists. Their adventure in the Territory starts with a river crossing where the lawmen tell one of the ferrymen that Mattie is a runaway and there's a reward for her in town. She's dragged off and forced onto her horse. She beats off the ferryman and has her horse swim across the river while the lawmen ride the ferry. Cogburn's comment is hilarious and telling--"She reminds me of me."

In the territory, they follow the clues along Chaney and Ned Pepper's trail (Ned is played by Robert Duvall), leading to a dugout where two other members of Pepper's gang are waiting for the rest of them to get back. Cogburn and LaBoeuf smoke them out and get some information out of them before they die. The lawmen try to ambush the rest of the gang but the plan fails when LaBoeuf shoots too early, before most of the outlaws are inside the dugout. The outlaws flee and the trio start tracking them again. 

They finally catch up to the gang but by accident. Mattie goes to a river to wash up one morning only to be surprised by Chaney. She has a short confrontation where she shoots Chaney with her father's gun but does not kill him. Chaney captures her and takes her to the bad guy's camp while Pepper and some of the other men cover him. Pepper threatens to kill the girl if Cogburn and LaBoeuf don't flee. The lawmen ride off, infuriating Mattie. 

The bad guys are short one horse, so they leave Chaney behind with Mattie with the promise that they will send help back. Chaney threatens her when they are alone. LaBoeuf shows up and knocks out Chaney while Cogburn confronts the other four gang members in an open field. LaBoeuf and Mattie watch Cogburn fight the other four. Cogburn shoots three of them, leaving Pepper alive. Cogburn is trapped under his horse and can't reach his rifle as Pepper approaches. LaBoeuf shoots Pepper from a long distance, saving Cogburn. Chaney has woken up and kills LaBoeuf, then tosses Mattie into a pit with a rattlesnake. Cogburn shows up and shoots Chaney who falls into the pit. Mattie is bitten by a snake before Cogburn can get her out.

They race to the nearest doctor. Mattie eventually recovers and heads home. She shows Cogburn their family plot and asks him to be buried there, with her, when the time comes. Cogburn reluctantly agrees, riding off in glory.

True Grit (2010) written and directed by the Coen Brothers

This second film version of the story stays to the same plot with some differences. The film starts with an older Mattie giving voiceover to set up the situation as we see her father laying face down on the street of Fort Smith in a sepia-toned visual. Younger Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) shows up and the voiceover is done until the end of the film. She spends her first night with her dad's coffin since she had to pay all her money to the undertaker. After the horse trading, she could afford to stay at a local hotel. She meets LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) there and finds him unpleasant. She hires the reluctant Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and thinks she's convinced him to let her come along. He leaves early and inexplicably is already with LaBoeuf. Cogburn and LaBoeuf are more opposed to each other in this version, parting ways fairly early. Cogburn and Mattie move on, discovering a random man hung high in a tree. More randomly, a guy with a bearskin hat and coat comes along and offers medicinal services which they politely decline. Cogburn and Mattie deal with the first two of the gang at the dugout. They set a similar ambush but LaBoeuf rides in just before Ned Pepper's gang gets there. LaBoeuf is dragged around and injured (including almost biting his tongue off--Damon has to talk weird for the rest of the film) but rejoins the hunt. They ride for a while, bickering and chattering, including a scene where the guys try to prove who is a better shot by shooting at corn muffins.

When the trail goes cold, the lawmen decide to quit. The next morning, Mattie has her riverside run-in with Chaney (Josh Brolin) and the plot plays out mostly the same as the first movie. Mattie shoots Chaney dead, though the recoil from the rifle knocks her back into the pit with the snakes. Cogburn saves her and gets her to safety. The movie then has an epilogue twenty-five years later where the older Mattie (who is back on voiceover duty) goes to meet Cogburn at a Wild West show, only to discover that he's died three days earlier. She takes his body to her family cemetery where he is buried.

Which is better?

The events of the second film are closer to the novel which is written in first-person voice by the older Mattie. So the film's voiceover is sort of justified even though that is typically a weakness in movie storytelling. The voiceover sets the tone and theme for the movie. The voiceover also sets up the bookends of the film, giving it a nice symmetry. On the other hand, there are many elements in the film that seem more like vintage Coen Brothers, like the random run-in with the guy wearing a bearskin hat or Mattie's first encounter with Rooster while he is in an outhouse. The violence is occasionally more brutal than the first film.

The first film, while following the plot and tone of the book, is definitely a John Wayne film. The ending is more of a triumphant farewell from Wayne to the Western than a conclusion to the story. His morally ambiguous but heroic Cogburn is contrasted with the righteous naivety of Mattie who is the heart of the film (in spite of it being a John Wayne film!). Which brings up an interesting point...

Comparing the characters as portrayed is enlightening:

• Rooster Cogburn--John Wayne is without doubt the most iconic star of American Western films. He is larger than life physically and in personality, matching well the character of Cogburn. Cogburn overestimates himself, but not by much. Wayne's performance benefits from a lack of ego--he's willing to play drunk or foolish and gets put in his place by Kim Darby's Mattie. Wayne won the Academy award for best actor for this performance, which was more than just acknowledging his long career. Jeff Bridges does a good job with the role but does not project the larger-than-life persona of Cogburn. Bridges is more subdued and contemplative, not the coldblooded killer the story makes him out to be. 
• La Boeuf--Glen Campbell is a country music star who was cast for the film. He's not a professional actor (though stage performing has lots of parallels) and it shows. He is the weak leg of the trio of heroes in the first film. Matt Damon is a much better actor and gives a much better performance. Damon also has more to do (like dealing with the tongue injury) that make his character richer.
• Mattie Ross--Kim Darby gives a great performance. Even though she is so much smaller and so much younger than John Wayne, Darby holds her own in their scenes together and plays really well against him (a feat few actresses have achieved). She embodies the character from the novel. Steinfeld, like Bridges, does fine in the role but hardly has the the sharpness of Darby. Steinfeld is subdued and does not have the feistiness or earnestness that Darby exhibits.

The cinematography is much better in the second film. The sets are grittier and more realistic. The old west atmosphere comes through strongly. The final race at the end is quite poetic, with Cogburn and Mattie caught between the starry heavens and the lifeless earth. 

While both films are entertaining and worthwhile, if I had to choose one or the other to watch, I'd choose the John Wayne version over the Coen Brothers version.

Check out the commentary on the Coen Brothers version at A Good Story is Hard to Find #249.

Winner:

Loser:

Movie Review: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) written and directed by John Huston

Two drifters, Dobbs and Curtain (Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt), try to get work in a small Mexican town. After getting ripped off by an oil rig contractor, they decide to go prospecting for gold. They met an old codger named Howard (Walter Huston) who knows all about prospecting. He loves the search and has done it many times. He is happy to go, though he is very chatty and has some interesting opinions about human nature, especially as it relates to finding gold. According to Howard, a lot of people change for the worst when they first make a find. Beforehand, a guy may tell himself he only needs ten or fifteen thousand dollars' worth to be happy; as he works a mine, he gets greedy and wants more and more. People's souls are corruptible, a fact that comes out when they search for wealth together and have to share.

His opinion turns out to be true in Dobbs's case, who has already demonstrated a certain amount of harshness and selfishness in the Mexican town. Dobbs is quick to assume the worst about others and he wants to get more from the gold mine (of course they find one) than he originally agreed on with the others. Curtain's character is a little more complicated. He goes along with Dobbs's plans in many situations, though he does have qualms with Dobbs's ideas and decisions. Howard is mostly a happy-go-lucky guy who is more interested in adventure and making the best of the situation as it is. He's both tougher and more experienced in the ways of the world than the other two, making him a mentor to the others. He also has a good understanding of the other two.

In addition to being an exciting adventure (the trio goes through a lot of hardships, including a confrontation with bandits who utter the classic line, "Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!" which is commonly shortened to "We don't need no stinking badges!", the parody line in Blazing Saddles), the story makes for an interesting morality tale. Curtain seems to be torn between living a life like Dobbs or like Howard. The movie definitely shows one way as better.

Highly recommended.

The movie is discussed on A Good Story is Hard To Find podcast #240.