Budd Boetticher films

[BruceH]

Three Boetticher/Scott westerns will be shown on TCM tonight, two good ones, one not-so-great, and a documentary about Boetticher the director. If it's the one they showed before, along with Seven Men From Now, it's damn good. In any case, Western fans, be there!!

[Kalo]

Missed 'em. But then again, I don't have cable.

TCM offerings almost make it seem worth getting, though.

They showed all seven Ranown westerns at the Harvard Film Archive a couple of years ago... unfortunately missed those, too.

[BruceH]

Damn!

Well, you'll see them all someday. Good to have something to look forward to. I've now seen them all but "Westbound," and since that's not a Burt Kennedy I'm not expecting miracles. Funny thing is, just a few days ago I rewatched my tape of "Comanche Station" then boom! TCM shows it again. Even stranger: You know how with cable (sometimes) you can click on the 'info' button on your remote and the screen will show a subtitle band that gives a thumbnail sketch of the plot of the selected movie. They almost never pass judgement on it, aside from a rough star rating, or mention the director. Well, for "Decision at Sundown" they gave three stars and said it was one of Boetticher's best westerns with Randolph Scott, inverting many genre cliches. (!!!) I actually think it's one of the weakest of the Boetticher/Scott cycle, but I was tickled to read that. One of the many things I like about these movies, is their "anti-epic" quality. They're the opposite of the Shane/High Noon/How the West Was Won mythmongering approach, of which I've never been a fan. Damn, I think "Seven Men From Now" has become one of my favorite westerns. What a good movie.

[Kalo]

Can't recall who it was, but I remember reading a critic who dubbed the Boetticher/Scott cycle "sagebrush Beckett."

[BruceH]

I heard or read that somewhere too, but also can't recall who made the quip. It's amusing but also rather apt. The quality that most struck me when I first saw a couple of the films was "stripped down." As if decades of accumulated gimmicks and bells'n'whistles and just plain gunk had been scraped off to reveal the still-serviceable basic western armature underneath.

[Kalo]

I love David Thomson's evaluation of the series in his Biographical Dictionary of Film: "...a remarkable series of Westerns, all made cheaply and quickly in barren or desert locations. They have a consistent and bleak preoccupation with life and death, sun and shade, and encompass treachery, cruelty, courage, and bluff with barely a trace of sentimentality or portentousness... Two films at least--The Tall T and Ride Lonesome--must be in contention for the most impressive and least handicapped B films ever."

Ride Lonesome might be my favorite Western bar none.

[BruceH]

I love David Thomson's evaluation of the series in his Biographical Dictionary of Film: "...a remarkable series of Westerns, all made cheaply and quickly in barren or desert locations. They have a consistent and bleak preoccupation with life and death, sun and shade, and encompass treachery, cruelty, courage, and bluff with barely a trace of sentimentality or portentousness... Two films at least--The Tall T and Ride Lonesome--must be in contention for the most impressive and least handicapped B films ever."

Ride Lonesome might be my favorite Western bar none.

I know. That last image....

[Kalo]

I love David Thomson's evaluation of the series in his Biographical Dictionary of Film: "...a remarkable series of Westerns, all made cheaply and quickly in barren or desert locations. They have a consistent and bleak preoccupation with life and death, sun and shade, and encompass treachery, cruelty, courage, and bluff with barely a trace of sentimentality or portentousness... Two films at least--The Tall T and Ride Lonesome--must be in contention for the most impressive and least handicapped B films ever."

Ride Lonesome might be my favorite Western bar none.

I know. That last image....

Is there a better final shot in any film? Well, maybe The Third Man.

[Larry Kart]

You should check out the six or so westerns that Randolph Scott made with director Andre De Toth in the 1950s, all of which preceded the Boetticher-Scott westerns. The flavor is somewhat related to the Boettichers, as are the budegetary constraints, but the De Toth's are fine in their own right. IIRC, I particularly liked Riding Shotgun and The Stranger Wore a Gun, the latter (again IIRC) incredibly baroque and intense in its restriction in the climactic scenes to a small segment of the typical western movie town.

[Kalo]

Will do, Larry. Nothing wrong with De Toth, that's for sure. It took a long time for me to come around to the Western genre, but I've become a big fan in the last few years...

[BruceH]

Ever since seeing Crime Wave at the SF Film Festival a few years ago, I've been a fan of De Toth. Will keep an eye out for his Westerns with Scott.

[BruceH]

Well, they showed three Scott/De Toth Westerns last night: Man In the Saddle, Carson City, and The Stranger Wore A Gun. Turns out I'd already seen the first; got it out of the library about a year ago. I like it better on second viewing. I think I may have enjoyed Carson City the most.

[freeform83]

I love David Thomson's evaluation of the series in his Biographical Dictionary of Film: "...a remarkable series of Westerns, all made cheaply and quickly in barren or desert locations. They have a consistent and bleak preoccupation with life and death, sun and shade, and encompass treachery, cruelty, courage, and bluff with barely a trace of sentimentality or portentousness... Two films at least--The Tall T and Ride Lonesome--must be in contention for the most impressive and least handicapped B films ever."

Ride Lonesome might be my favorite Western bar none.

I know. That last image....

Is there a better final shot in any film? Well, maybe The Third Man.

The last image of The Searchers left a huge impression on me.

Edited July 13, 2007 by freeform83

[Kalo]

I love David Thomson's evaluation of the series in his Biographical Dictionary of Film: "...a remarkable series of Westerns, all made cheaply and quickly in barren or desert locations. They have a consistent and bleak preoccupation with life and death, sun and shade, and encompass treachery, cruelty, courage, and bluff with barely a trace of sentimentality or portentousness... Two films at least--The Tall T and Ride Lonesome--must be in contention for the most impressive and least handicapped B films ever."

Ride Lonesome might be my favorite Western bar none.

I know. That last image....

Is there a better final shot in any film? Well, maybe The Third Man.

The last image of The Searchers left a huge impression on me.

A great one, too, no doubt!

[BruceH]

The deaf-mute kid waiving good-bye to the Jeff Bailey gas station sign at the end of Out of the Past. Not intense, but very apposite.

[Larry Kart]

You should check out the six or so westerns that Randolph Scott made with director Andre De Toth in the 1950s, all of which preceded the Boetticher-Scott westerns. The flavor is somewhat related to the Boettichers, as are the budegetary constraints, but the De Toth's are fine in their own right. IIRC, I particularly liked Riding Shotgun and The Stranger Wore a Gun, the latter (again IIRC) incredibly baroque and intense in its restriction in the climactic scenes to a small segment of the typical western movie town.

The climactic scenes mentioned above are in "Riding Shotgun," not "The Stranger Wore a Gun." On the other hand, the effete, snake-like villain that George Macready plays in the latter film could well have been the model for Harvey Korman's Hedley Lamarr in "Blazing Saddles."

[medjuck]

I'd recorded the documentary and watched it last night. Noticed that it's directed by Bruce Ricker who also directed Last of the Blue Devils and the Monk documentary Straight No Chaser.