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They Still Make Westerns, Don't They?
Vulture ^ | October 1, 2021 | Bilge Ebiri

Posted on 10/01/2021 1:55:40 PM PDT by sphinx

It’s a nauseatingly evocative moment, both because of the way director Potsy Ponciroli’s camera isolates the actor, and because Tim Blake Nelson conveys, through his defeated posture and anxious movements, the stone that is slowly forming in his stomach. Earlier, when he first came upon the money and the man, Henry had quietly ridden away from them, unwilling to get involved, only to change his mind. Now, again without a word of dialogue, he tells us that he knows that the valley below and the hills beyond will soon fill up with the shadows of other men looking for the cash.

(Excerpt) Read more at vulture.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Miscellaneous; Music/Entertainment; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: movies; oldhenry; westerns
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To: Jeff Chandler

I am talking about the one staring Russel Crowe. I’m not the only serval reviews call it as well.


61 posted on 10/01/2021 6:32:44 PM PDT by Kartographer
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To: bdfromlv

Not a Western, but if you like Tim Blake Nelson’s work, check out Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power on amazon Prime...About the work of Adm Hyman Rickover to bring the first US nuclear sub Nautilus online...


62 posted on 10/01/2021 6:40:43 PM PDT by elteemike (Light is faster than sound; that's why so many people appear bright until you hear them speak.)
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To: sphinx
"Later in the film, after we find out more about who Henry once was — it’s a revelation, and an ecstatic one, but not exactly a twist, as we see it coming from miles away — it’s almost as if he’s been briefly liberated, allowed to become who he really is."

Sounds like a Western "Nobody". I'll watch it.

63 posted on 10/01/2021 7:13:31 PM PDT by moovova (There will never be another fair presidential election in the USA.)
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To: Kartographer

Was it because Ben Foster played Charlie Prince swishy?


64 posted on 10/01/2021 8:54:26 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: Bloodandgravy

Trinity’s Still My Name


65 posted on 10/01/2021 8:55:39 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: Kartographer

3:10 To Yuma. Great movie!


66 posted on 10/01/2021 8:56:48 PM PDT by TomServo
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To: Alberta's Child

Best line ever: Even bad guys love their Mommas.

I was so impressed by that line I looked up who wrote the story. It was Elmore Leonard, although he didn’t write that line. It only appears in the remake.

3:10 To Yuma was the first story by Elmore Leonard I ever read. I ended up reading pretty much everything he wrote. After that it was hard to read anybody else. Nobody brings you into the flow of a story like Elmore Leonard.


67 posted on 10/01/2021 9:01:06 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Partly


68 posted on 10/01/2021 9:09:21 PM PDT by Kartographer
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To: Kartographer

Prince’s character was decidedly strange, but there was never a hint that Ben Wade reciprocated his feelings. Personally, I wouldn’t have written Prince as queer, but then I’m not a Hollywood screenwriter.

Crowe sure created a scary Bad Guy. Damn fine actor.


69 posted on 10/01/2021 9:28:58 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: sphinx; All

The Dark Valley, a western from Austria. Well worth the time to watch. Free if you have Prime, you won’t be disappointed.


70 posted on 10/01/2021 9:30:31 PM PDT by eastforker (All in, I'm all Trump,what you got!)
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To: Bernard Marx

The smirk Neeson gives at the end is creepy. The wagon train story was one of the saddest I’ve ever seen.


71 posted on 10/01/2021 11:05:15 PM PDT by rxh4n1
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To: sphinx

MFLR.


72 posted on 10/01/2021 11:29:34 PM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel.d)
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To: sphinx
I still remember this line from that great western "Blazing Saddles"....



;-)
73 posted on 10/02/2021 10:42:23 AM PDT by ConservativeStLouisGuy
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To: roving
Silverado. Quigley down under

Those two were superb!

74 posted on 10/02/2021 2:41:40 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: GingisK

Silverado always makes my top 5 list. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance gets #1 or 2 depending on my mood. Just about every actor in that deserved a Oscar. Shane and High Noon get in. Then one of many Eastwood spaghetti western. Honable mention to Terrence Hill and the “beans weren’t much good anyway” scene.


75 posted on 10/02/2021 3:08:10 PM PDT by nomorelurker
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To: Jeff Chandler
You should watch Justified if you're a Leonard fan. Tim Oliphant is great in his role and the dialogue is perfect.
76 posted on 10/02/2021 3:15:51 PM PDT by Shqipo (Pronouns: Mister/Sir/Lord)
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To: Shqipo

Justified is the most “Elmore Leonard” production ever made. Get Shorty and Out of Sight are pretty good, too. But yeah, Justified is a masterpiece. Even the pilot is excellent.


77 posted on 10/02/2021 6:26:51 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: Bearshouse
Anything with John Wayne gets my attention (my ringtone is “Fill Your Hand You Son of a B****”)

True Grit is a great movie. The 2010 Coen brothers version is also terrific, one of the very, very few remakes that were worth doing. The "fill your hand" line makes it into the remake as well. I don't know if it comes from the book.

There was an interesting discussion when the 2010 version came out about the way it captured 19th century spoken English. Capturing period dialect is a high art. Hollywood has tackled it in various ways, with the Cecil B. DeMille mock Biblical narrations, vaguely Shakespearian formulations, Conan-speak, and highly affected aristocratic twaddle being noteworthy cinematic inventions that have acquired a faux "authenticity" among audiences that don't have any real standard of comparison.

The 19th century is near enough that linguists do have some solid ideas about how spoken English actually sounded in various places, and a lot of the scholars thought the Coen brothers got it right (or at least better than most). Jeff Bridges made a wonderful Rooster Cogburn, distinctive enough to make you forget about John Wayne for the duration of the film. Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross was also great. She was 14 when the movie was filmed, and she got a well-earned Oscar nomination for her portrayal. She's all growed up now and still making movies (and singing ... and she would probably be wise to make a choice between the two), but True Grit will probably be the film they chisel into her tombstone someday.

In recent years, I have been helpfully suggesting good political and especially Cold War films to high school teachers. On a couple of occasions, the conversation has broadened. I like to toss in the Jeff Bridges/Hailee Steinfeld True Grit as a curveball suggestion for a good coming of age film. It is indeed the coming of age story of Mattie Ross, a 14 year old character played by a 14 year old actress, and it's a subversive suggestion because it is an entirely non-sexualized film and therefore suitable for middle and high school students (without irritating parents). I'd love to see how a class full of modern 8th or 9th grade girls would react to Mattie Ross, who would be their contemporary. Usually "coming of age" becomes code for boys discovering girls and vice versa, but that is artificially limiting the genre. Two of my other recent favorites, Columbus and Leave No Trace are also completely non-sexual coming of age stories. I'm sure there must be many others if we started to think about survival and war movies, many of which feature teenagers forced to grow up much too fast. But again, yes to True Grit, both versions.

78 posted on 10/03/2021 6:39:35 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: sphinx

Reminds me of a trailer I saw the other day for an upcoming Star Wars movie where the characters were all speaking with a British-y accent that could be called Space English.


79 posted on 10/03/2021 6:48:51 AM PDT by Yardstick
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To: sphinx
P.S. On non-sexualized coming of age films, I left out Winter's Bone, Jennifer Lawrence's breakout film, shot when she was very young and still the best thing she has done. There is a lot to be said for hiring an actual teenager to play a very heavy teenager role, but it's rare to find a young actor with the emotional and acting maturity to carry such a role at age 18 or 19. Jennifer Lawrence went through the Hollywood star making machine very early and, IMHO, got overexposed. She also chased big paychecks into some unfortunate films. There may be some here who have negative impressions derived from this familiar Hollywood story. Fair enough. But do yourself a favor and watch Winter's Bone.

I don't think any actress who came up through the Hollywood royalty track could have played that role. JLaw was an unknown and a Kentucky girl. She absolutely owned a very challenging hardscrabble, white trash, hillbilly character. She was the right person at exactly the right age. If you wonder how she became a "thing," that's the film to watch.

80 posted on 10/03/2021 6:57:54 AM PDT by sphinx
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