An American western directed and produced by Fielder Cook, starring Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Burgess Meredith, Charles Bickford and Kevin McCarthy.
A family stop at a saloon/hotel where a high stakes poker game is happening. The husband has quit gambling, but insists on watching. He joins the game and bets all of his money before having health problems. His wife decides to step in and play for him.
So cool. The plot was not very complex, but held my attention well. Casting and acting was good and all of the dialogue fit. I liked the casting of Burgess Meredith because I think he's a good actor and recognize him as Satan from The Twilight Zone episode, Printer's Devil. Filmed in Technicolor, it looked good to me. All other film elements aside, this was about the surprise ending. I won't spoil it because you should watch it. I rate it good.
An American western directed by William A. Wellman, starring Henry Fonda.
A pair of cowboys ride into town and walk into a saloon. Everyone is talking about missing cattle and a murder. A posse is formed and some strangers are found, but are they the right ones?
Another film grouped with acid westerns. This one was also based upon the idea that the west is not a land of opportunity, but merely the pit of despair leading to death. I'm supposed to be accepting of black and white 4:3 films, since I'm so into movies and have watched so many. I really do prefer 16:9 color though. There was one really good group shot that I noticed (image). The plot of this kind of held my attention, but the characters were not developed very well. This did have a message about not jumping to conclusions, forming a posse and just hanging anyone who seems suspicious. Tragic and with a message as it may be, it was not entertaining. I rate it tolerable.
An American courtroom drama directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley and Jack Warden.
A jury deliberates over a murder case. Most of the men vote guilty at the start, but one of them begins to convince the others that the defendant may not be guilty.
This is one of those classic films that everyone talks about, and for good reason. The plot holds my attention, even though I've seen it countless times. The characters don't even have names, but they are developed more than characters with names in other films I've seen. Besides, if I was on trial for murder, I would want Piglet (John Fiedler) on the jury. The whole thing is based on dialogue and that is what makes it good. This is an example of good writing making a good film. The camera-work and editing are not anything fancy, but the editing is so seamless that it goes unnoticed unless you really look for it. I rate this awesome because it takes skill to turn a simple idea into a good film by writing it well. Watch it!
An Italian American Spanish spaghetti western directed by Sergio Leone, starring Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson and Gabriele Ferzetti.
A woman is on her way from New Orleans to a rural area to meet her new husband, but bandits kill him and his family before she gets there. There is a railroad baron leading the bandits and the dead family have purchased land that will soon have a railroad in it. A stranger playing a harmonica shows up to oppose the bandits.
Too long! The simple plot unfolded over almost three hours. The characters were typical of a standard western We had the lone wolf stranger, fancy lady, gentlemanly super-villain and his bandits. The audio was not up to par for Ennio this time. His music was extremely sparse and simple. There was also an Alejandro Jodorowsky style high pitched squeaking noise like in El Topo in the intro that bugged the hell out of me. The video was similar. The eye-line matching close-ups weren't as close and the pulling out crane shots were so predictable. Overall, not really worth the three hours. I rate this o.k. because it wasn't up to par for this team, but not bad enough to talk shit about.
