Western

New Beverly Cinema writes:
Director Frank Perry deconstructs the legends of Doc Holliday (Stacey Keach) and Wyatt Earp (Harris Yulin) with a vengeance in this superb revisionist take on what went down in Tombstone at the OK Corral. Alcoholic former dentist and gunslinging gambler Holliday settles in Arizona to help treat his tuberculosis, wins one of the Clanton gang’s wives, Kate (Faye Dunaway) in a game of poker and runs into old friend, Wyatt (Harris Yulin). Keach hits just the right tone with his portrayal of the dissolute idealist who is alternately at odds with those closest to him but also a loyal friend. Yulin’s Earp is a conflicted, ambitious man, believing in the rule of law, but also a calculating politician campaigning for sheriff, ready to go up against the most powerful interests in town – which just happen to be the Clantons.Read More »

Synopsis:
West Texas in the years after the Civil War is an uneasy meeting ground of two cultures, one white. The other native American. Elvis portrays Pacer Burton. The son of a white rancher (John McIntire) and his beautiful Kiowa Indian wife (Dolores DelRio). When fighting breaks out between the settlers and natives, Pacer tries to act as a peace maker, but the “flaming star of death” pulls him irrevocably into the deadly violence.Read More »

In the saga of Hollywood’s slow, slow maturation in the depiction of Native Americans, Geronimo highlights an early ’60s turning point — his character is drawn with sympathy — but no more than that. Chuck Connors, an obviously Caucasian actor, plays the great chief, and there is not a single Native American actor in the cast. The story centers on Geronimo’s escape from oppressive conditions on his reservation, and his garnering of forces in Mexico to wage war against the U.S. Several misconceptions are still scattered throughout the tale, especially the indication at the end that Geronimo was successful in obtaining fair treatment for all Native Americans at the hands of the U.S. government.

~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie GuideRead More »

Synopsis:
After his family is murdered in the 1880s, orphan Jeb Rand is raised by the Callum family on their nearby horse ranch. He remains haunted by this childhood trauma in a recurring nightmare of flashing spurs and confinement inside a trap door as his family is slaughtered. Widow Callum does her best to make Jeb feel loved as he is growing up, but the young man stubbornly maintains a sense of his own identity. While he has great affection for his foster-sister Thor, his relationship with her brother Adam is tenuous at best, especially when Jeb blames him for shooting a colt that he was riding.Read More »

A Swedish whaler is out for revenge when he finds out that a greedy oil man murdered his father for their land.Read More »

This is a story of revenge and redemption.

On an isolated road passing through the vast barren plains of Tibet, a truck driver who has accidentally run over a sheep chances upon a young man who is hitching a ride. As they drive and chat, the truck driver notices that his new friend has a silver dagger strapped to his leg. He comes to understand that this man is out to kill someone who wronged him earlier in life. As he drops the hitchhiker off at a fork in the road, little does the truck driver realize that their short time together has changed everything, and that their destinies are inexorably intertwined.

On the path of life, sometimes we meet someone whose dreams overtake our own to the point that they converge.Read More »

Ex railroad man, Yankee Colonel John Marlowe leads an irregular troop on a mission into the Confederacy, feuding every step of the way with his company doctor Major Kendall. Also confusing issues is Hannah Hunter, a Southern Belle who learns of their plans and must be brought along for security reasons. They succeed in their ‘dirty’ raid on a railhead town, but escape back to Union lines looks grim, with several rebel armies closing in from all sides – including a company of children from a confederate military academy.Read More »

Synopsis:
A band of bank robbers on the run from a posse flee into the desert. Near death from lack of water they stumble into what appears to be a ghost town, only to discover an old prospector and his granddaughter living there. The robbers discover that the old man has been mining gold and set out to make a quick fortune by robbing the pair. Their plan runs foul when the gang leader, Stretch, falls for the granddaughter, which sets off a showdown between the entire gang.Read More »

Quote:
A half-breed ex-Union gunfighter attempts to protect his plague-ridden hometown from being overridden by his racist half-brothers and a Confederate tyrant.

Quote:
After the civil war’s conclusion, a half-breed returns to his home town only to discover that the ruthless gang is now in control and terrorize the locales.

Keoma was co-written and directed by Enzo G. Castellari, who’s other notable films include Street Law, High Crime and The Inglorious Bastards. Key collaborators on Keoma include cinematographer Aiace Parolin (Seduced and Abandoned, Baba Yaga), composers Guido De Angelis and Maurizio De Angelis (Torso, Alien 2: On Earth) and screenwriter George Eastman (Rabid Dogs, Erotic Nights of the Living Dead).Read More »