The Western III Hall of Fame

Pollard was excellent in this. Seeing the transformation is nicely done.

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MCCabe and Mrs Miller


Altman’s early films has a unique style to them. Coming off MASH, which itself was amazing to me, he was an immensely popular director.
M&M isn’t a typical western for the first 60 minutes. It’s a slow build. You meet the two main characters played by Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. They’re surrounded by non descriptive characters who are never really developed, but they’re not supposed to be. Through this film you’ll see constant camera pans on them, as Altman will take the camera away from the conversations of the main characters and instead focus on what is going on around them.
If the first 60 minutes are slow, the last 60 minutes ratchet up to a degree, by Altman standards anyways, when a trio of gunman arrive looking for MCCabe. But even the gunfight isn’t your typical showdown, which is expected from Altman.
Beatty and Christie good in this film. McCabe is hopelessly in over his head throughout this film, as Miller is the perfect steady hand he needs to direct his business. They don’t seem to care for each other, or even like each other much. McCabe seems to cover her simply because she is pretty. And she seems to tolerate him because she knows she needs a man as the front of the business to have any hope of success. Before the gunfight, she seems worried but this is only because to me she doesn’t want to lose her partner. Indeed, during the climactic scene, she simply goes and gets high on opium rather then wait for him or help him in some way.
It’s interesting to watch the town as it is advanced during the film. It starts off as a few shacks and a small bridge and by the end of the film, it has grown. More buildings had been added, as their business has helped sustain the growth of the community.
It’s a good film, and I’ve now seen this twice, the first time being about 10 years ago. But something seemed off on this watch. Maybe it was because I was tired, so that could have effected my judgement. Either way, I didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as the first watch. A good film, but not great.

I’ll be finishing this up the next few days guys

Ok, starting on these last few films today since I’m off. Starting with The Grey Fox because it’s my most anticipated.
Reviews will come along later on.

Curious to see what you think of Grey Fox -- ENJOY

Curious here. Runtime seems short by what I watched. Has it at 90 mins while Wikipedia has it at 1hr 50 mins. 20 minute difference.
I wonder which is correct? If wiki is, what was cut out? Anything important?

The version I seen was 1 hour 31 minutes. I didn't know there was a longer one?

Wikipedia has it at 110 mins, which puts it at 1 hr 50 mins. That’s a 20 minute difference. But it could very well be a mistake.
Either way, it’s not unheard of for different versions of films to be out there so it shouldn’t be a big deal.

Going to watch The Big Gundown next.
Will post reviews both both either later tonight or tomorrow around noon. Then it’s a matter of watching Dirty Little Billy.*

The Grey Fox

Bill Minor has just been released from prison after 33 years (even though the math doesn’t work out. He started robbing in 1863, continues for 18 years before being caught and then served 33 years and that should have set this in 1912. Minor quibble)
He’s a fossil in the encroaching Industrial Age as cars and trains have overtaken the stage coach, which was his main source of income via robberies. He tries to earn a straight living, but finds it unsatisfying. It isn’t lining before he returns to robbing. This time it’s trains.
His first attempt goes wrong, but is more successful on his second try. He’s forced to lay low in Canada. It’s here where he meets a woman who he falls for and decides maybe he could settle down.
That’s works about it as well as you’d expect.
This films is great too look at, as the director, Philip Borsos, is able to capture the background so well, I found myself looking blast the characters and at the forests and mountains behind them. Or captivated by the the way Minor steps through a fog at the beginning or the night time scenes.
But really, it’s Richard Farnsworth who holds this film together with a perfectly understated performance, with nary a false note.
I had heard of this film, and indeed was always interested in seeing it and finally the opportunity presented itself. It didn’t disappoint.
Ed, this was a great nomination, and redeems you for nominating The Cowboys for the last western HOF 😜

Yeah, I saw it when it came out in '82, then later acquired a VHS copy which had nothing edited from it. The copy is 1' 31". It's one of my all time favorite films.

Ok, thanks for clearing it up.
Wiki must be in error then.

screw you, pal, The Cowboys ROCK


But, seriously, so very glad you enjoyed it. It's definitely a gem and yes, Farnsworth truly makes this film. I had the pleasure of seeing his final film The Straight Story in the Recommendation HoF shortly after watching this and he is an incredible, gentle man.

Havent' heard anything from Zotis, so, if he does not respond by midnight, that will, unfortunately, do 'er.
I'm also waiting for Siddon's vote of 7 or news of being able to watch neiba's nomination.
Should he go with the 7 vote, I'll adjust the math accordingly.

As I hear things, I'll pass it along via this thread

Thank you and have a safe ride through town, y'all!

We all know what happens to horse thieves and HoF drop outs in the old west Ha

I’ll have a review up shortly for The Big Gundown. The version I watched was 1 hr 50 minutes but I saw that there a few different releases with varying runtimes. A 90 min US original version and 1 hr 45 min Italian version.
I’m fine with the cut I watched, but were there any big differences between them? Or did everyone watch the same cut I did?
Just curious.

Besides the version I watched being mostly in Italian with occasional English

The Big Gundown (1966)


<Sigh> all that work to watch this film and at the end of the day...it was fine. Bounty hunter Corbett is on the track of a Mexican rapist Cuchillo as they play a cat and mouse game along the Texas/Mexican border. If Corbett catches Cuchillo railroad tycoon Brockston will back his play and make him a Senator...well that's weird. Naturally we get the reveal that the real rapist is Chett...might be the earliest case of wokeness ever so congrats with that.


My immediate impression of the film is that it was extremely goofy at times, Corbett is almost comically put near death yet he's fine in the next scene. Cuchillo is annoying, really impresses on you how good Eli Wallach is in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly as he makes Tuco much more tolerable even though the characters are very similar.



What elevates this from a bad movie to an okay one is the bells and whistles, it's the best shot film of all the nominees and the score is great. It also feels more of epic by constantly changing locations you felt like these characters where going on a journey. I also did get a kick out of the Gundown which did manage to be quite big.

I believe that's what all of us watched. I know I did, though I thought it was suppose to be that way and they were speaking Spanish. Hell, Spanish and Italian sound similar to me