Some brief thoughts on the noms. I listed them in alphabetical order.
Rio Bravo...rewatch.
It suits my taste, this is my type of movie. I love spending time with characters who interact and have personal drama and growth. It's a melodrama light comedy, light action western...and I like those.
The Cowboys... rewatch.
I've learned to appreciate John Wayne much more lately and this is one of his best films. I especially like the first act at his ranch. And the ending was powerful.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...rewatch.
I considered this one of the great westerns, but on a rewatch I lost some interest in it. While I seen what I considered flaws, I also seen genius. I understand why many love this and I do appreciate other of Sergio Leone's films.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance...rewatch
I've recently watched a number of John Ford westerns and while visually he's the king, his caricatures and broad comedy often lower a film's greatness in my eyes...but not here. With TMWSLV Ford finds the right balance and the right subject matter to fit his style of film making.
The Ox-Bow Incident...rewatch
Watching this for the HoF was like seeing it for the first time for me. Previously I thought of this as a morality tale, which it clearly is, but for me it's a 'moments' film. By that I mean there are moments that are apart from the story that the director includes to give more realism to the characters, to me that make the characters come alive.
The Salvation (2014)...first watch
I'd tried to watch this a couple years ago but shut it off. Violent revenge stories are not to my liking. But I thought this was run of the mill movie making with a dull story and crummy CG look. If this hadn't had two brand name stars, I would've guessed this was a direct to video movie.
The Shooting (1966)...first watch
Maybe my favorite nom, but not my favorite movie. It was a good choice as it was obscure and yet was very different. I know some think this is a deep reflective movie and maybe it is. But I took it as one of the independent, small budget films that were made by young film makers in the mid-late 1960s. To me it was shooting without a script and winging it. Now if that works for some, then maybe it's genius. But to me it was more interesting, than well done. Still cool to see though.
This has been one of my favorite HoFs. Maybe it's because western movies are my favorite genre
Or maybe it's because of the diversity of films and diversity of opinions that we had. Or maybe I liked this HoF because we actually talked, debated and chewed the fat on the noms...and that's something that's been missing lately in HoFs. So big thanks to everyone!
I really liked this post and want to imitate your format. I think it's good to do these short summaries all together after having watched them and give your final thoughts on the HoF overall. I could have sworn I saw your comment on The Great Silence. Maybe you accidentally deleted it when editing the post, or did you forget to include it and I'm just imagining things?
Rio Bravo...rewatch.
I have mixed feelings about this movie. Initially I found it cliche and boring, but I think it's a decent movie. For me the hurdle was the Hollywood format of the writing and the style of the acting.
The Cowboys... first watch.
This one felt a little out of place to me. At times I felt bored, but there were some things I liked about it. I think it was a little too self-indulgent of a film. The reality of such a situation is that things probably wouldn't have ended so smoothly for those kids. They might have pulled it off, but I expect some of them would have perished in the final battle if they even ever would have had the ability to work up the nerve to do it in the first place. Overall it felt underwhelming compared to the rest of the movies in this HoF.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...rewatch.
I also have mixed feelings about this movie. Initially I just hated it, but I'm gradually starting to notice more of its merits. I'll probably tone down my aggressive bashing of the movie and eventually find some more mellow middle ground. I liked what Ed said about the movie, I think it shows that he's reflected a lot on it for decades and many watches. At first I was trying to point out every flaw I possibly could, but that got pretty tiring. It's a long movie and to pause it and take notes after every scene is a lot of work. Besides the ending I think there was one other major scene I should have discussed more, and that's the scene where Blonde hears where the gold is from the dying man. The way that he snuck around while crawling on the ground didn't make sense just because he was out of camera. But, I get that the campiness is a big part of the movie. It's just a little hard for me to understand how people can consider a movie so great when it's so silly, but I guess I kind of understand it now at least.
The Great Silence...rewatch.
Watching this again helped put it into perspective. It's diminished somewhat since my first watch due to the campiness of the Sheriff who's comedic role felt awkward in an otherwise dark and gritty serious environment. I don't know if I can believe muting someone by slitting their throat like that, and some of the shooting stunts were pretty unrealistic. I still like the movie a lot, but I'm glad I can see it more clearly now. I think the first time I watched it I was more impacted because I'd never seen a gritty dark Western from this period before and was used to 60's movies being more of the John Wayne format. Also, there are actually three endings. There is one where the good guys win, one where the bad guys win, and one that is ambiguous.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance...first watch.
This was better than I was expecting. I think it's the only John Wayne Western I've ever actually thoroughly enjoyed. It did have a the Hollywood style of acting that I don't like, but the quality of the writing made up for it.
The Ox-Bow Incident...first watch.
In spite of one flaw in the drunk acting I thought this was a great movie. They say that a great movie gives two arguments well, and this movie did exactly that. But what it also did masterfully was demonstrate the consequences of actions, and in that sense it was very realistic. This also had a little bit of the Hollywood style that I don't like, but it did even that so well that I can't hold that against it and really didn't mind the style here.
The Salvation (2014)...first watch.
The beginning setup for the revenge felt too forced. The Walking Dead was too obviously copied. The stars did deliver, but it wasn't enough to save the script. It wasn't a terrible movie, but it was just mediocre. Even the action wasn't entertaining for me.
The Shooting (1966)...first watch.
The more I think about the psychology of the movie as we've been discussing Millie Perkins' character, the more I'm impressed by this movie and want to watch it again. I felt that all of the actors really got into their characters and were so well directed, and what a phenomenal script.
Edit: Overall I guess I had a lot of mixed feelings about the HoF. I'm glad I participated, and glad I finished. I was feeling pretty discouraged for a while.
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