cult film freak: james stewart

Showing posts with label james stewart. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 4/13/2024 / No comments / brooke bundy , gary lockwood , henry fonda , inger stevens , jack elam , jacqueline scott , james best , james stewart , louise latham , morgan woodward , robert porter , sixties , thriller , western

GARY LOCKWOOD WITH JAMES STEWART & HENRY FONDA 'FIRECREEK'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvGRLaTzSaAO6chJDrI_T019EqDsJd7MrqQ7_45dkzjkgNgvDderu7KeqOZDXlX721of8kPfEDHqodFRdf4yMTGomogwOAjN0TpmUEDGknTPzxNdsjUTkbZuRZU1QSmNRAedu71rz7wkGXBVsSaXzgnb0bCLSYeCTs-0-qD9TR_DtYNt-qCapuuS05qLo4/s2080/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-15%20at%202.30.32%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1210" data-original-width="2080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvGRLaTzSaAO6chJDrI_T019EqDsJd7MrqQ7_45dkzjkgNgvDderu7KeqOZDXlX721of8kPfEDHqodFRdf4yMTGomogwOAjN0TpmUEDGknTPzxNdsjUTkbZuRZU1QSmNRAedu71rz7wkGXBVsSaXzgnb0bCLSYeCTs-0-qD9TR_DtYNt-qCapuuS05qLo4/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-15%20at%202.30.32%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gary Lockwood in FIRECREEK Year: 1968 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>With biker movies all the rampaging counter-culture rage, lower budgeted Westerns during the 1960's and 1970's became far more dark, violent, pulpy and contained, and yet, some still followed the old John Ford giant landscape aesthetic — in full background display for FIRECREEK where a gang of subtle yet vicious marauding riders ride into a small town that's literally a main street, and hardly even that... 
 
Where James Stewart plays a humble outskirts-farmer/passive substitute sheriff in this titular locale "taken over" in a passive-aggressive fashion, where much of the suspense relies more on implied threat than bloodshed... which does occur at the climax: a worthy wait after a few long scenes where the good guys ponder their lives in existential "is this all there is?" dialogue (one involving Dean Jagger describing the purgatory "town full of losers")...

brooke bundy, gary lockwood, henry fonda, inger stevens, jack elam, jacqueline scott, james best, james stewart, louise latham, morgan woodward, robert porter, sixties, thriller, western

GARY LOCKWOOD WITH JAMES STEWART & HENRY FONDA 'FIRECREEK'

Gary Lockwood in FIRECREEK Year: 1968 Rating: **** With biker movies all the rampaging counter-culture rage, lower budgeted Westerns during...

JAMES STEWART WITH DONALD CRISP IN 'THE MAN FROM LARAMIE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizmRCoXCqF_tvhiH-ZKpz0UuoWe-HrEzXi9zSg_7cP2sNDtu5inH4VqyaUsFXQswoizZ0ah9qlDMM1CjNeZ04gUGmulz1KwReqeIyCEf6rAYp5FTNJF9YkQLdIluJGxiIbGP_tB59XP7C-QohBsdiRdbIqd9PmOUXe9DgXkrWeTm6Q_wBxoK_x3-Mrc_6E/s2166/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-25%20at%2011.33.19%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="2166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizmRCoXCqF_tvhiH-ZKpz0UuoWe-HrEzXi9zSg_7cP2sNDtu5inH4VqyaUsFXQswoizZ0ah9qlDMM1CjNeZ04gUGmulz1KwReqeIyCEf6rAYp5FTNJF9YkQLdIluJGxiIbGP_tB59XP7C-QohBsdiRdbIqd9PmOUXe9DgXkrWeTm6Q_wBxoK_x3-Mrc_6E/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-25%20at%2011.33.19%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE MAN FROM LARAMIE Year: 1955 Rating: ****1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Within moments of Anthony Mann's THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, the old and new aspects of the beloved genre shift, and progress: opening with an old-fashion crooner singing about the title character and then, once we meet James Stewart's Will Lockhart, it's soon learned he's investigating the sale of repeating rifles to Apache Indians, causing his brother's death and leading to an edgy revenge plot popular in almost any Western to come...And, although eventually revealed to be a Army officer, his agenda — having traveled from Laramie to the small town of Coronado — is like a film noir detective, making LARAMIE stand out from other Mann/Stewart Westerns along with a cerebral theme from William Shakespeare's fallen-monarch tragedy, King Lear...

action, adventure, alex nicol, anthony mann, arthur kennedy, cathy o'donnell, donald crisp, jack elam, james stewart, mystery, thriller, wallace ford, western

JAMES STEWART WITH DONALD CRISP IN 'THE MAN FROM LARAMIE'

Title: THE MAN FROM LARAMIE Year: 1955 Rating: ****1/2 Within moments of Anthony Mann's THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, the old and new aspects of...

DON SIEGEL DIRECTS JOHN WAYNE'S FINAL FILM 'THE SHOOTIST'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBZmfvcl4Ud5k2Z43gzBsfrFvI2g0fOXN2PpbQJhw1ed7lMVmb-aNIFjEhwAIcobYkvZ7uAckiPuhCH56hUuLO-pJIiDpKiVsN7R78OYsa4wYTyqoaErnMOqige4lATtRMEzVNGO-Eb5iO29L2lIhyArQgiahecjt3Fj0_HR-x1K-89WLu4JnNWg2Zg/s1945/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-20%20at%202.33.27%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1083" data-original-width="1945" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBZmfvcl4Ud5k2Z43gzBsfrFvI2g0fOXN2PpbQJhw1ed7lMVmb-aNIFjEhwAIcobYkvZ7uAckiPuhCH56hUuLO-pJIiDpKiVsN7R78OYsa4wYTyqoaErnMOqige4lATtRMEzVNGO-Eb5iO29L2lIhyArQgiahecjt3Fj0_HR-x1K-89WLu4JnNWg2Zg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-20%20at%202.33.27%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE SHOOTIST Stars: John Wayne, Hugh O'Brien Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Don Siegel's THE SHOOTIST seems perfectly suited as John Wayne's final movie since it's about the final week of an infamous gunslinger dying of cancer (given the news by a doctor played by James Stewart); yet there was a string of slightly younger actors considered before a surprisingly healthy-looking Wayne took the now legendary role...Where his acting is solid, true, even mellow despite the fact he's about to die while almost getting killed at the same time, contrasting with a horribly-miscast Ron Howard as the whiny son of Lauren Bacall, running a bed-and-breakfast where Wayne's holed-up, getting sporadic THIS IS YOUR LIFE drop-ins from various character-actors...

don siegel, exploitation, harry morgan, hugh o'brian, james stewart, john wayne, lauren bacall, richard boone, ron howard, seventies, western

DON SIEGEL DIRECTS JOHN WAYNE'S FINAL FILM 'THE SHOOTIST'

Title: THE SHOOTIST Stars: John Wayne, Hugh O'Brien Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2 Don Siegel's THE SHOOTIST seems perfectly suited as Jo...

JAMES STEWART WITH JEAN HAGEN IN 'CARBINE WILLIAMS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdbXLuA5iZFJzv9yeOf3dVj0zjRIzqtx0QDjitIsdJqZztiNENQkK_DQt6JEOu_BcmKn-jEIfkrrp3yNC21-zJbputXU88O19wuqiSf1dbSSmmpgZZ8Hh4S59ZWNYQN3-VQMyFFzVYCNhrqKxm0uP7V_9V9T5xmd9apchfCeYaSUF8YA47UkCei05epQ=s966" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="966" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdbXLuA5iZFJzv9yeOf3dVj0zjRIzqtx0QDjitIsdJqZztiNENQkK_DQt6JEOu_BcmKn-jEIfkrrp3yNC21-zJbputXU88O19wuqiSf1dbSSmmpgZZ8Hh4S59ZWNYQN3-VQMyFFzVYCNhrqKxm0uP7V_9V9T5xmd9apchfCeYaSUF8YA47UkCei05epQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: CARBINE WILLIAMS Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Famously likeable James Stewart did his share of dramatic roles, although most were of simple, everyday fellas, so in CARBINE WILLIAMS he plays a determined, insanely stubborn white trash loser... Although he starts out nice enough in a frame story about the titular gun-maker whose backstory begins with a perfect marriage contrasting a secret, very illegal and dangerous moonshine gig...

biopic, fifties, james arness, james stewart, jean hagen, melodrama, paul stewart, prison, warner archives, wendell corey

JAMES STEWART WITH JEAN HAGEN IN 'CARBINE WILLIAMS'

Title: CARBINE WILLIAMS Year: 1952 Rating: ***1/2 Famously likeable James Stewart did his share of dramatic roles, although most were of sim...

JAMES STEWART & ARTHUR KENNEDY IN 'BEND OF THE RIVER'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arthur Kennedy and James Stewart in Bend of the River directed by Anthony Mann YEAR: 1952</td></tr>
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Of James Stewart's "Cowboy Pictures" under the direction of Anthony Mann, WINCHESTER '73 is the most famous, THE NAKED SPUR his edgiest, THE MAN FROM LARAMIE the most underrated, THE FAR COUNTY the most picturesque, and the most uneven is BEND OF THE RIVER, starting out as one of many wagon trailer adventures until leading to Portland, Oregon, making this a North Western much like Jacques Tourneur's CANYON PASSAGE, which this uses chopped-tree-falling stock footage of... 
 
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julia (Julie) Adams takes a while to get the point RATES: ***</td></tr>
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At first Stewart, helping a group of mobile settlers, has a distracting voice. Not the usual alum-jawed, slow-paced drawl, it's more like he's imitating Edward G. Robinson. Which kinda fits. Stewart's Glyn McLyntock is a former outlaw, something we learn later after an outlaw friend, saved from a kangaroo court's noose and played by Arthur Kennedy who turns... well... that's a spoiler: What's important is that with Kennedy's initially friendly charm turned cocky bravado, BEND wouldn't be much at all. Rock Hudson as a handsome gambler adds very little... 
 
It's about Kennedy and Stewart — the latter turning into what we'd later refer to as the "Rambo" character or, before that, MR. MAJESTYK: an underrated guy who shows his resilient worth against a ton of odds and proves he's more cunning and badass than any other badass within an untamed terrain that he's become used to. A shame that it took so long for this too happen, before which we got otherwise good actress Julia Adams reacting hilariously slow to an arrow through her chest, and too many familiar character actors talking about what's about to happen. When it finally does — blink once and it's gone.

action, adventure, anthony mann, arthur kennedy, fifties, james stewart, jay c. flippen, julie adams, rock hudson, western

JAMES STEWART & ARTHUR KENNEDY IN 'BEND OF THE RIVER'

Arthur Kennedy and James Stewart in Bend of the River directed by Anthony Mann YEAR: 1952 Of James Stewart's "Cowboy Pictures...

LAST STAND OF STEWART & MANN WITH THE MAN FROM LARAMIE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Stewart in Anthony MANN FROM LARAMIE Year: 1955</td></tr>
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Going backwards in the next few month's ongoing tribute to actor James Stewart and director Anthony Mann, together or apart, THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is their last Western genre collaboration...
 
 
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Riding All Alone</td></tr>
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Once again, like BEND IN THE RIVER, our leading man is a drifting, hired loner in James Stewart, taking a dramatic backseat to Arthur Kennedy's far more interesting and fleshed-out character, Vic... But that's only because his story is more desperate, urgent, while with Stewart, the more times you view the movie, the deeper his character becomes: And the scene-stealing Kennedy's not much without this film's rich rancher, who's not the typical cattle baron but actually has a little soul in him, and creepily foreboding dreams. Enter Donald Crisp's Alec, with three problems, two he's aware of: The first being Stewart's title hero, Will Lockhart, a stranger from Laramie, dead-set on sticking around, eventually hired by Alec's rival... a tough old gal played by Aline MacMahon. Will's out to thwart a gun deal to the Apache's that could make them ten times as dangerous...

anthony mann, arthur kennedy, james stewart, western