The Western III Hall of Fame

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McCabe and Mrs. Miller
I'm trying to come up with words for this, describing how I felt, but it's hard. This was a dark, gritty, depressing, bleak, movie. Beatty and Christie give stellar performances - in fact, all the performances are stellar, and of course Robert Altman's direction is superb.

This is my first Altman, actually, and I hope his other movies are as good as this. McCabe and Mrs. Miller is a revisionist Western, a tragedy that hits you in the gut and asks questions about businesses/independence/morality of ownership. It's true cinema, is what I'm trying to say .

While maybe a bit too dark and muddy visually, it's also constantly thrilling and keeps you engaged right up until the climactic and violent ending.

This review didn't have much substance, but I just need to think about this film. Currently my 3rd favorite Western, and right on the heels of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

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The Scalphunters

"I watched this like 8 hours ago and I legit cannot remember a thing.... ugh, some dude named Burt Lancaster was in it, though, pretty good actor huh?

Kinda crazy that this ****e was coming out the same time as the great Spaghetti Westerns.

Uh,,,,,,, write a review of substance. Just do it. I CAN"T THERES NOTHING TO SAY, then don't even write a review, just log it, YEAH BUT, um, I just gotta go to bed, imma read this tomorrow and cringe. Good night everyone!"
^My review from Letterboxd, and I don't have much to add. It's a "fine" story, but it's just forgettable, the humor dated, and the characters flat that I just got pure boredom out of it. No hard feelings, though @Wyldesyde19, I'm still glad I watched it and i Loooooove Burt Lancaster.

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The Grey Fox

Not an awful movie, but not something I care about in any way, shape, or form. I think the premise was interesting, an aging robber, finally released from prison, who then goes and robs trains.

But it was just all around very meh. Nothing interesting happened, especially when we get to the sappy romance with the feminist (who's entire philosophy about never marrying is then discarded as she falls in love with this robber).

The film simply doesn't understand its characters either. The main robber dude (oh **** already forgot his name) is often violent and brutal, but most of his conversations are calm and relaxed. He's not a character I could see existing, and I'm sure that's not how the person was in real life.

That said, it was cool seeing The Great Train Robbery! One of the early American silents, and throughout this movie all I could think about was how that short film did it much better.

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The trick is not minding
The Scalphunters

"I watched this like 8 hours ago and I legit cannot remember a thing.... ugh, some dude named Burt Lancaster was in it, though, pretty good actor huh?

Kinda crazy that this ****e was coming out the same time as the great Spaghetti Westerns.

Uh,,,,,,, write a review of substance. Just do it. I CAN"T THERES NOTHING TO SAY, then don't even write a review, just log it, YEAH BUT, um, I just gotta go to bed, imma read this tomorrow and cringe. Good night everyone!"
^My review from Letterboxd, and I don't have much to add. It's a "fine" story, but it's just forgettable, the humor dated, and the characters flat that I just got pure boredom out of it. No hard feelings, though @Wyldesyde19, I'm still glad I watched it and i Loooooove Burt Lancaster.

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No worries, I don’t get bent out of shape of someone doesn’t like my picks, indeed not even with my favorite movies.
Scalphunters was a blind pick, because I wanted to go with something less obvious then the usual fare. I instantly regretted it, however. Lesson learned. Don’t step out of my comfort zone for picks.
I prefer to have actually seen them previously before nominating them.



No worries, I don’t get bent out of shape of someone doesn’t like my picks, indeed not even with my favorite movies.
Scalphunters was a blind pick, because I wanted to go with something less obvious then the usual fare. I instantly regretted it, however. Lesson learned. Don’t step out of my comfort zone for picks.
I prefer to have actually seen them previously before nominating them.
Don't feel bad in the Pre 1930s HoF I chose a blind nom Marianne (1929) that everyone hated, including me! It came in last place and I made HoF history by voting my own nom last. I thought that was kind of cool.



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
AHAHAH I just realized I made a mistake and nominated the wrong spaghetti! xD Somehow, I totally mixed The Big Gundown (which I enjoy too) with Il Mercenario! I stay behind my nom, cause I think it's still solid but if someone wants to watch a few spaghetti before the Countdown I strongly advise Il Mercenario!



AHAHAH I just realized I made a mistake and nominated the wrong spaghetti! xD Somehow, I totally mixed The Big Gundown (which I enjoy too) with Il Mercenario! I stay behind my nom, cause I think it's still solid but if someone wants to watch a few spaghetti before the Countdown I strongly advise Il Mercenario!
lol, + co-sign The Mercenary is my #4 spaghetti western of all time!




Has anybody been able to find Dirty Little Billy without the Spanish sub-titles? I tried watching the movie but it was real for me to focus on the story as the damn subtitles were so big and so high up on the screen.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Has anybody been able to find Dirty Little Billy without the Spanish sub-titles? I tried watching the movie but it was real for me to focus on the story as the damn subtitles were so big and so high up on the screen.
not without the subtitles, sorry. I watch a lot of things with subtitles so it wasn't bothersome for me. But, yeah, they were pretty huge lol
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not without the subtitles, sorry. I watch a lot of things with subtitles so it wasn't bothersome for me. But, yeah, they were pretty huge lol
I watch a lot of things with subs too, even sometimes American or British films with hard to understand dialogue...I'll turn on the subs. But for me with Dirty Little Billy, the combination of the extra large font (and it's big), the higher than usual placement on the screen, both are distracting for me. But most of all I keep trying to read the subs, but I can't read Spanish! So all that then makes it really hard for me to focus on the film. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep trying



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I watch a lot of things with subs too, even sometimes American or British films with hard to understand dialogue...I'll turn on the subs. But for me with Dirty Little Billy, the combination of the extra large font (and it's big), the higher than usual placement on the screen, both are distracting for me. But most of all I keep trying to read the subs, but I can't read Spanish! So all that then makes it really hard for me to focus on the film. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep trying
Good Luck!!



Meek's Cutoff



This was my third film from the director after Night Moves and Wendy and Lucy, both of which I thought were average. I fell asleep 15 minutes into this one, partly because it is very slow, but mostly because I was very tired. I restarted it after waking up, and it was at about the same 15 minute mark when I really started to get into it. This is a very minimalist movie and you practically can't breathe because you have to use every bit of focus to get into it. I understand the less than impressive IMDb rating, but it is unwarranted. There's no outlaws, gunfighters, or wild Indian tribes, just basic problems that are potentially horrific. It all felt very real, and that includes the performances. There was a water main break in my neighborhood and my water was down while I watched this, quite the coincidence. Anyway I was very impressed and for much of the movie I felt like I was watching a masterpiece. I didn't like how it ended, and I normally don't like it when movies end that way. People will defend it, and I get it. I just wish there were more, and part of it is because of how much I was enjoying it. An extra 10 minutes probably would have earned an extra half popcorn from me. One more thing, this felt like a post apocalyptic movie, very unique I think.




Anything as long as there was an outcome.
WARNING: "Meek's Cutoff" spoilers below
From what I've seen in the last scene and can conclude; she/they follow the Indian, who is walking in a straight line to his 'home' with 'gifts' a mirror or something in his hand. But what happens after they get there idk.



WARNING: "Meek's Cutoff" spoilers below
From what I've seen in the last scene and can conclude; she/they follow the Indian, who is walking in a straight line to his 'home' with 'gifts' a mirror or something in his hand. But what happens after they get there idk.
WARNING: "Ending Meek's Cutoff" spoilers below
I thought the ending was fitting as it continued the feeling of uncertainty in a desperate situation in unfamiliar surroundings. And as the film is more about the feeling of the moment, than a conventional story, I thought the ending was a perfect fit. Had the ending been definitive, as in they all die, or are all saved..then to me that would've been a typical Hollywood ending. So I'm glad it wasn't resolved and the director made the right choice IMO.



Meek's Cutoff

I'm glad this was nominated, since I'm looking forward to watching First Cow by the same director, Kelly Reichardt. But this movie did nothing for me, unfortunately.

I want to start off positive, and I'll say that, much like Gandhi, this movie had incredibly cinematography, costumes, and use of color. We had a distinct color differences between the clothing the women wore (bright, colorful dresses) and the men (brown, dirty, dull), which made them pop out more. And that is what essential this movie is about, a twist on the "male Western" trope to make it about women.

Which is great. But then you gotta make it interesting. And it wasn't. At 1 Hour and 42 minutes, this movie dragged. I was counting down the minutes, and at the "climactic" final moments it just... died. There was no ending. I don't really see the point in this movie? Like, what was it trying to say? Perhaps a statement about the portrayal of women and Native Americans in westerns. I don't understand why you would make an entire movie about that, though.

The acting was fine. The script - when there was one - was pretty dull, and I felt that none of the characters actually were real, they were simply pawns in this film of Reichardt. If you like Westerns, go for it. It might be for you. I prefer my Westerns to have a little more story and little less artsy cinematography shots, no matter how beautiful they were.

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That's interesting. Despite it being directed by a woman, I didn't perceive the movie to be saying anything about women or men. Maybe it was and it slipped past me.