Western

Quote:
John Wayne is generally credited with having directed only one picture, the 1960 version of The Alamo, but according to several reports, Wayne also “lent a hand” in getting his other 1960 film, the raucous if unfocused and overlong North to Alaska, shot as well. North to Alaska had a rather troubled pre-production history, which in fact included Wayne’s involvement with The Alamo, which delayed production of this film for several months. Those delays may have at least contributed to a rather convoluted revolving door of producers, directors and co-stars, and by many accounts, there was no completed script ready when North to Alaska finally started shooting in mid 1960. The film has serious structure issues, and indeed often seems to have been cobbled together out of set pieces, with no real thought given to through line or that oft-lamented concept of character arc. Read More »

Plot:
After years of bringing in desperadoes more dead than alive, Martin B. Kanning, a notorious bounty hunter, hangs up his guns to become the owner of Boomtown Saloon. However, owning a business isn’t the vacation he envisioned, as he finds himself the mediator to a bevy of working girls, including Donnie, a curvaceous fireball with whom he takes a very personal interest. When one of the girls is brutally murdered by a local land baron, Kanning finds himself caught between the law and three bad girls wielding Colt .45s and a bitter taste for revenge. He rides off in hot pursuit of the killer with Donnie and the others, ensuring that justice will be served. It all climaxes with a nerve-shattering, three-way shootout at high noon in this fast-moving Western that helps put the “wild” back into the Wild West.Read More »

One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows’ agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau’s partner Dick Allen is Jeff’s war buddy and rival suitor for engineer’s daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?Read More »

In 1871, professional gambler John Devlin elopes with Sandra “Sandy” Poli, daughter of Marko Poli, an immigrant who has risen to railroad tycoon. Sandy, knowing that the railroad is to be extended into Dakota, plans to use their $20,000 nest egg to buy land options to sell to the railroad at a profit. On the stage trip to Ft. Abercrombie, their fellow passengers are Jim Bender and Bigtree Collins, who practically own the town of Fargo and Devlin is aware that they are prepared to protect the little empire… trying to drive out the farmers by burning their property, destroying their wheat, and blaming the devastation on the Indians. Continuing their journey north on the river aboard the “River Bird’, Sandy and John meet Captain Bounce, an irascible old seafarer. Two of Bendender’s henchmen, Slagin and Carp, board the boat and relieve John of his $20,000 at gunpoint. Captain Bounce, chasing the robber’s dinghy.Read More »

Quote:
On the Oregon Trail in 1845, three couples travel in covered wagons with slippery guide Stephen Meek (an unrecognizable Bruce Greenwood), but days pass, and water remains elusive. Emily (Michelle Williams, who anchored Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy) laments that “he’s gotten in over his head.” Meek insists that relief lies around the next ridge, but that’s never the case, until an alkaline lake appears. Unfortunately, it’s unsuitable for drinking, so they push on. Always attuned to the rhythms of nature, Reichardt has produced a meditative take on the genre that feels more enigmatic than most–with the possible exception of Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man–even if the period details always look right. With her focus on faded calico dresses and vast aquamarine skies, Meek’s Cutoff offers a beautiful vision of harsh times.Read More »

In Ohio in 1865, a Gatling gun is being transported by a Confederate Army officer in civilian clothes, calling himself Jim Farraday, and a sergeant, going by Benjy, to aid the Southern cause in the war. They come to the aid of a Rebel-hating Yankee nurse, Nora Curtis, whose wagon is stuck in the mud.

Stopping off in a town for supplies and information, Farraday falls under the suspicion of a Pinkerton detective, Frank Kelso, who has been assigned to locate the stolen Gatling gun. Behind her back, Farraday and Benjy smuggle the gun out of town in Nora’s wagon……Read More »

Ace Bonner returns to Arizona several years after he abandoned his family, Junior Bonner is a wild young man. Against the typical rodeo championship, family drama erupts.Read More »

Three outlaws known as The McNasty Brothers terrorize a small frontier town located in the desert. It’s up to a former sheriff and a go-go dancer to thwart the dastardly trio.Read More »

The tough gun-man Burt Sullivan (Franco Nero) leaves his job as a town sheriff to go to Mexico to find the man, Cisco, who killed his father many years ago. He and his younger brother arrive in a small town where everybody is afraid of Cisco who has become the local landowner. But there is a secret. It turns out that Cisco is the father of Burt’s younger brother and Cisco are craving for respect from his “son”. Burt Sullivan joins forces with the local townspeople to stop and bring Cisco back to his punishment in Texas…Read More »