ROBERT WAGNER AT VROMAN'S BOOKSTORE ON 3-19-14

Really enjoyed seeing and hearing Robert Wagner at Vroman's last night. He truly might be the last link to the old Hollywood....and that's why he wrote his new book You MUST REMEMBER THIS...to reminisce about the "good old" days and to talk about places and people who aren't around anymore. Kind of a bitter sweet journey for him. He looked great.

He talked a bit about the book but mostly fielded questions from the audience. One surprise member of the audience was actor Bill Wellman (William Wellman Jr, Director "Wild" Bill Wellman's son) Bill Sr directed some of Hollywood's greatest movies....PUBLIC ENEMY, THE OX-BOW INCIDENT, YELLOW SKY, BATTLEGROUND, THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, and TRACK OF THE CAT to name just a few.

I asked RJ why he never made any westerns after 1957's THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES (his 4th) and he said he never stopped making them....they stopped coming to him. I told him about how I was amazed at how he was able to jump onto a bareback horse with one hand while holding a rifle in the other (something I've seen no other person do). He said the trick was taught to him by a stuntman. Speaking of stuntmen... Jack Young! I told him that Black Jack Young said to say hello and he said..."Be sure to say hello to him for me."

He was asked if there were any roles that he regretted turning down and he said none that he could think of.....and that the only movie he would have liked to have been a part of and didn't make it was BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID.





 

Grindhouse Releasing's THE BIG GUNDOWN Blue-ray 3 disc set

 






Just finished watching the 95 minute "Expanded US Cut" Blu-ray version of THE BIG GUNDOWN with commentary by C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke. I enjoyed their commentary, and even though I personally didn't hear or find out anything new, I thought they kept it interesting and informative all the way through and that they worked well with each other. However, for the uninitiated and novice spaghetti fan or someone not familiar with this Lee Van Cleef classic their commentary was spot on. Highly recommended.

As for the longer version in Italian with English subtitles, I still prefer the Franco Cleef fan based reconstruction version. Missing scenes were added to the version originally released in the US and where scenes in English were unavailable they were subtitled. I know, I know...the newly released extended version is a pristine Blu-ray copy and has never looked better on tv while the Franco Cleef version is only available on regular dvd......but.....I, personally, like having most of the movie in English instead of having the whole thing in Italian and subtitled. You just gotta hear Lee's voice. Everybody else can be dubbed, but not Lee. (See GOD'S GUN.) It's not right.

Lottsa interesting bonus stuff, too!

All in all cheers to Grindhouse Releasing for giving us this 3 disc set that belongs in everyone's collection.

LEE MARVIN: POINT BLANK by Dwayne Epstein

Yesterday afternoon I moseyed down to Long Beach to Gatsby Books (5535 E Spring St) Amigo,  Dwayne Epstein was there discussing and signing his new book on the great late Lee Marvin....a must read for all movie lovers, not just Lee Marvin fans.

'Twas a very enjoyable two hours plus with my buddy Tom Betts, and many others listening to Dwayne regale us with tales and anecdotes about the life and movies of one of the great screen icons....Lee Marvin.  I've got to say this....the book is a great read and with Dwayne you sure got your money's worth. I've been to a lot of book signings and have heard lottsa authors plug their books but nobody, repeat nobody has ever talked about their book with more passion than Dwayne nor has been more interesting to listen to. I've read the book twice but listening to Dwayne talk made everything sound like I was hearing it for the first time.  But see for yourself how good the book is.....go buy a copy now!

 

 

RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY SCREENING

What a wonderful time I had last night at the S. Pasadena Library....seeing one of the great, and I don't use the word great loosely, all time westerns......SamPeck's RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY with two of the all time western stars Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott, and meeting Mariette Hartley who made her film debut in this classic oater. Was a trip seeing RTHC on the big screen for the first time. Also, in attendance were Wyatt McCrea, Joel's oldest grandson and David Lyons, Producer Robert F. Lyon's son. After the film Mariette reminisced about the making of the film and answered questions from the audience, as did Wyatt and David...but it was Mariette who made the evening special. She really looked great and I could tell she was enjoying the event. During the Q&A I asked her if she was a bit terrified working with R. G. Armstrong, like so many others were, and she said he was intimidating but she liked him even though in the slap scene she remembers he actually hit her. She said she liked working with everyone in the cast....and what a cast it is. No one knows what ever happened to the young male lead Ron Starr who seems to have dropped off the edge of the earth. Someone asked her about her screen test and she said she did scenes with both Ben Cooper and Wayne Rogers who were up for the Ron Star role. She adored both Joel and Randy and felt very lucky to have made her screen debut with two such giants and gentle men. I often say, and I've said it many a time here in my posts that if you don't tear up at the end there is something wrong with you. And as you can see in the picture Mariette was "tearing up" by the end of the movie. She relayed a Randy anecdote that I have never heard or read anywhere....After the last scene with Joel was shot she turned to look at Randy and he had tears streaming down his face. Wow. She said Coop and Gable had died within the last year or so and that and Joel's scene had a profound effect on him. (Later I told her about my "tearin' up" statement and she said, "You are so right." ) Also in attendance were cowboy poet Larry Maurice who warmed up the crowd and famous stuntman and often Steve McQueen's double Loren Janes. What an evening>

THE MAN WHO LOVED CAT DANCING

THE MAN WHO LOVED CAT DANCING is a very good western and Burt Reynolds was at the top of his form when it was made. Yet you hardly hear anyone talk about it and it never seems to pop up on any best westerns list. Besides Burt, Jack Warden, Lee J. Cobb and Bo Hopkins are very good. Sara Miles was never prettier...nor was George Hamilton. (That was a cheap dig but I couldn't resist it.) Book sold a kajillion copies when it first came out and those who hadn't read it were trying to figure out what the title meant. Hmm... is cat dancing kind of like dog fighting but more graceful and not violent? 'Twas just the name of the central character's ( Jay's) first wife. If you haven't seen it or watched it in awhile it is well worth viewing. (Warner Archives has released it on, dvd so a good widescreen copy is available from them.) Somehow when it comes to discussions about good western movies this one just doesn't seem to crop up much. There was scandal related to the making of this movie. Sarah Miles' business manager-boy friend was found dead in her room. At first foul play was suspected but cause of death was later determined to be suicide from overdose of drugs. Again check out this oft overlooked and seldom seen very good oater and with a John Williams score, to boot.

After reading Glenn Frankel's book on THE SEARCHERS I finally got around to watching the movie, again, on Blu-ray. What a magnificent print...didn't think it could but this version made Monument Valley look even more majestic and beautiful. I watched it differently this time. I concentrated on John Wayne's performance and what a performance it is....maybe one of the best screen acting jobs ever. "No," you say, "John Wayne can't act. How can you say this?" My reply...."Just watch the movie." No matter what preconceived notions you may have about John Wayne, his acting, his politics, etc. Just put all that behind you and sit down and watch this great film. THE SEARCHERS, along with ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, are not only my two favorite westerns of all time but two of my favorite movies of all time. Now maybe I'll find time to re-read my copy of Alan LeMay's book of the same name...57 years later.

THE SEARCHERS: THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN LEGEND

New book out on the making of THE SEARCHERS and the true story the movie (and book) was based on. From "Entertainment Weekly".......


THE SEARCHERS by Glenn Frankel
Reviewed by Chris Nashawaty | Feb 15, 2013



EW's GRADE
B+
Details Release Date: Feb 19, 2013; Writer: Glenn Frankel; Genre: History; Publisher: Bloomsbury

John Ford's The Searchers is one of the greatest Westerns ever made. Released in 1956, the film is the tale of Ethan Edwards — a Civil War veteran, played by John Wayne, whose niece is kidnapped during a Comanche raid. Burning with grief, racial hatred, and Old Testament rage, the Duke leads a five-year search to save her and exact revenge on her bloodthirsty captors. Ford, who directed Stagecoach and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, was Hollywood's most iconic interpreter of the American West.

But the story of The Searchers wasn't the fabrication of some armchair-cowboy screenwriter sitting in front of an Underwood. It was based on the 1836 kidnapping of a 9-year-old girl in East Texas named Cynthia Ann Parker. In this well-researched dual history, Glenn Frankel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington Post reporter, attempts to interweave these two stories: the fact and the legend. The fact turns out to be more fascinating. After all, most readers who pick up a book about The Searchers will already know something about the film's backstory. They may well have an idea about the arduous shoot in Monument Valley and Ford's prickly reputation as a tyrannical drunk. Frankel doesn't add much that's new to that story. Instead, it's his account of Parker's abduction and the quarter-century quest to recover her that casts a haunting, harrowing spell. By the time she was finally recaptured in the Battle of Pease River, she was no longer the girl her family remembered and prayed would be returned to them one day. She was fully Comanche — the wife of a warrior and the mother of three Native American children. Her reimmersion into white society against her will and the sad remainder of her days play out like a cruel, heart-wrenching tragedy — the exact opposite of the John Wayne yarn. No wonder Ford went with the legend instead of the fact. B+
Memorable Line:

''...something about a man riding a horse through a rugged landscape, Ford liked to say...made it the most natural subject for a movie camera."