Chisum

By the late 1960s and into the 1970s, John Wayne's movies became more familiar, more safe. You know what though? There's a comfort in familiarity, and there's some genuinely good movies in the bunch. Today's review is one of those efforts, telling one of the more famous stories of the wild west that ranks up there with the gunfight at the O.K. Corral or the Battle of the Little Big Horn. That story? The Lincoln County War. That movie? 1970's Chisum.

It's 1878 in the New Mexico territory, and aging rancher John Chisum (Wayne) has carved an immense cattle ranch out of the wilderness, made it all into something to behold. He's preparing for his niece, Sallie (Pamela McMyler), to come and visit the ranch, but there's some serious issues to be dealt with. An equally powerful man with some serious financial backing, Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker), has moved into Lincoln County and is looking to take over. Take over EVERYTHING. First up on his list? Buying the sheriff, the bank, and scooping up all the land he can and drive Chisum out as quick as he can. Chisum is well-rooted though, and nothing is going to come easy for the despicably vicious, greedy Murphy. There's a wild card in the entire situation though, a young, fiery gunfighter with a fast-growing reputation and a fast draw with his pistol, William Bonney (Geoffrey Deuel), better known as Billy the Kid.

I've loved John Wayne and his movies since I was a little kid. Hopefully, I always will! I hadn't seen this 1970 western from director Andrew McLaglen in years until a recent showing on Turner Classic Movies gave me the opportunity to revisit it. Am I glad I did! It is different, telling the mostly true story of the Lincoln County War with some artistic license thrown in here and there. A lot of familiar faces, filming locations in Durango, Mexico where other Wayne ventures (The War Wagon, Sons of Katie Elder, The Undefeated, The Train Robbers) were filmed, a memorable score from Dominic Frontiere, and cinematographer William Clothier bringing the Mexican locations to life, yeah, it IS familiar. That's not a bad thing. I loved catching up with the movie and liked it much more than I remember. There's just enough different here to keep things interesting. And let's face it, the story and recognizable historical characters are a great backdrop for that mostly true story.

Okay, one of the most famous stories of the wild west. What do we need? How about a movie star capable of leading the way? In 1970, Wayne was still at the top of his game. He had the tough guy hero part down to an art with decades of practice. That is most definitely a compliment. Wayne was always at home in the western, and that's the case here. His Chisum -- based on the real-life John Chisum -- becomes a figurehead of the west. Years before, Chisum moved west into New Mexico and carved out a cattle ranch out of the land. Now, he's learning to slowly, begrudgingly changing with the times to survive. A testament to Wayne here is that he's not on-screen a ton. Yes, he's the star, but the Hollywood legend is content to let other members of a solid ensemble step into the limelight. When he is in the limelight? It's Duke at his tough as nails best, playing straight man to a bunch of antics while also stealing the camera, especially in a late confrontation with Tucker's Murphy. Nothing flashy, just a western professional.

Part of the fun here is the familiar names and characters popping up. The Billy the Kid story has been told in the Young Guns movies, The Left-Handed Gun, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, The Outlaw and many more I'm probably forgetting. I liked the spin Deuel puts on young William Bonney, a brash kid trying to put a checkered past behind him. He may be too good with a gun to let it happen though. Deuel's scenes with Glenn Corbett's Pat Garrett are a highlight, especially knowing where these two men end up. Also look for peaceful, second-chance rancher John Tunstall (Patric Knowles), Alex McSween (Andrew Prine, with his wife Lynda Day George), corrupt Sheriff Brady (Bruce Cabot), and more than a few familiar faces in the background.

The cast is one of Chisum's best features. Tucker is a slimy, nasty, slithery villain, with both Christopher George and Richard Jaeckel as his brutal enforcers. Another Just Hit Play favorite, Ben Johnson is Pepper, Wayne's right-hand man, a mumbling cowboy who'd rather solve a problem with his gun than his words, a part similar to the one he played in both The Undefeated and The Train Robbers. You ready though for some other names? Take a deep breath with me. Also look for John Agar, Robert Donner, Ray Teal, Hank Worden, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Edward Faulkner, Christopher Mitchum and plenty of faces from the John Wayne stock company. Quite the cast. QUITE a group of tough guys, a McLaglen specialty. 

About as good as a traditional western can get. There's good guys, dastardly bad guys, shootouts to be had, and set against the backdrop against one of the wild west's most famous/infamous incidents ever. Something really hit me with this most recent watch, and I came away more impressed than I'd been with previous viewings. Hopefully, you'll like it just as much!

Chisum (1970): *** 1/2 /****

Sands of Iwo Jima

You know what's crazy? In a career that spanned five decades with almost 200 roles to his name, John Wayne only picked up two Oscar nominations for acting. Yeah, a lot of his movies weren't going to win an Oscar to begin with. Yeah, many were 1930s serials barely clocking in at an hour. Others were more fan-friendly, not meant to create Oscar buzz. But in one of his best extended spans of pure acting power, the late 1940s, Wayne picked up his first nomination for 1949's Sands of Iwo Jima.

Following the horrific, costly fighting on Guadalcanal, Marine units all over the Pacific are being sent to the rear to rest up, recoup and get replacements as the war moves closer to Japan. One specific rifle squad, with just two surviving members and a wave of inexperienced replacements, is getting a new drill sergeant, Sergeant John Stryker (Wayne), a tough as nails instructor with plenty of combat under his belt. His methods for training are rough and to the point -- some would say brutal -- but he has one goal as the war continues. Stryker doesn't want to be friends with his men. He wants them to respect him if nothing else and mostly take his training to heart. If they hate him for it...so be it, but he intends to get him through the war unscathed if possible. The island-hopping fighting all across the Pacific continues on, the U.S. Marines ready to get back to the action.

Recently released on Blu-Ray courtesy of Olive Films, 'Sands' is an above average if not great World War II film. From director Allan Dwan, it has a reputation as a bit of a flag-waving patriotic movie, but that's a description that's incredibly limiting. Considering it was released just four years since the end of the war, it's pretty spot-on. The actual war segments are rough and violent without being graphic. It can be startling at times as it follows a war movie formula that would become tried and true in the coming years. Filmed in black and white, 'Sands' benefits from a memorable score from composer Victor Young and is at its strongest when focusing on the Marines in combat, specifically the fighting at Tarawa and Iwo Jima.

Now that John Wayne guy. He's halfway decent. This isn't his best performance -- I say that's from a choice of The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or The Shootist -- but it certainly belongs in the conversation. His tough as nails drill sergeant helped inspire countless movie roles in the years to come, and the Duke dives into the part headfirst. Stryker pushes and pushes his men, knowing that no matter how tough training is, it won't be as tough, as terrifying as combat. The better his men are prepared, maybe the more likely they'll make it through unscathed. It is a man's man type of role (one he deserved a nomination for), but it isn't this cold facade. It isn't one big stereotype. In a couple conversations, a couple quick scenes, we get to learn something about Stryker and his personal life, his background.

That goes a long way with the character. He isn't a heartless, emotionless drill sergeant with ice water in his veins. He pushes his men because he knows what's best for them. It's a varied character. We learn Stryker's wife left him five years before, taking their five-year old son with her. He's left to wonder where they're at, what his son has grown up to. Later on Tarawa, he threatens to shoot one of his own men if they expose the unit's position to go rescue a wounded soldier who's crying out to Stryker for help. In one instant, he's a wall of discipline. In the next, you see the extreme pain in his eyes as one of his men cries out for help from him specifically. The same later as the Marines are called back, Stryker standing on the transport ship looking back at Tarawa with just palpable sorrow in his eyes. As well, there's some humor, including my favorite as Stryker helps a clumsy recruit (Hal Baylor) how to do bayonet drills...by dancing. It's played straight but is a great visual.

Just an excellent performance from the Duke. The rest of the cast relies on the unit picture formula, a bunch of disparate guys thrown together and forced to fight as a cohesive group. John Agar plays Conway, a Marine with the corps in his blood...and he hates it, especially Stryker and all he represents. Forrest Tucker is very good as Thomas, a Marine who's been in Stryker's unit before and holds some serious resentment toward his former sarge. The rest of the squad includes Wally Cassell (the joker), James Brown and Arthur Franz (the vets), Richard Webb (the lovable teddy bear), James Holden (the affable farmer), Peter Coe (the Greek), Richard Jaeckel and William Murphy (the bickering Philadelphia brothers), George Tyne (the married man always ready with a joke), and Martin Milner (the youngster). A solid group of supporting parts from some always reliable character actors.

'Sands' is at its most comfortable and strongest in the training sequences and montages and when Stryker's Marines hit the beaches at Tarawa and Iwo Jima. The hitting the beaches at Tarawa scene is especially effective, the Marines pinned down in a lagoon against a log embankment. Their only way out? Up and over the logs to take out a fortified Japanese pillbox built into a dune. The battle for Iwo Jima is equally effective as Japanese forces absolutely rain down hell on the Marines moving inland. The casualties come fast and furious as the squad is especially hit hard as they approach Mount Suribachi. It all builds to the squad taking part in the patrol that takes Suribachi's summit and ultimately raises the flag. It is a surprising, moving finale as we see the basis for one of the most iconic, instantly recognizable pictures in American history.

It ain't a perfect movie with some parts of the story not working as well. Agar's Conway (a very unlikable character) meets, falls for and gets married to Adele Mara's Allison in scenes that drag the pacing down to a snail-like quality. The Marines getting their leave too is meant to humanize them but the efforts fall short. We learn more in the training and combat sequences. Still, it's an excellent movie courtesy of Wayne's Academy Award-nominated performance and a story of the Marines that doesn't shy away from the nastiness of the fighting in the Pacific. That's not something you can say for a lot of World War II movies released in the late 1940s.

Sands of Iwo Jima (1949): ***/**** 

Fort Apache

Director John Ford and star John Wayne went together like peanut butter and jelly. They just clicked, working together 12 times in feature films and many more in uncredited fashion. Right up there with 1952's The Quiet Man, three films stand out as the pair's most memorable films. These are three movies simply known as the Cavalry trilogy, and here's the first, 1948's Fort Apache.

A career officer with a distinguished record, Lt. Colonel Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) is less than pleased with his new orders. While fellow officers are being sent to fight the Sioux and Cheyenne, Thursday is being sent to a post in Arizona, Fort Apache, where he will take command of a cavalry regiment that's temporarily been under the command of Capt. Kirby York (Wayne). Thursday resents everything about the posting and with no knowledge or respect of the Apaches thinks nothing can happen to advance his career, or at least earn him new orders and a new posting. Not interested in making friends, Thursday's actions cause his regiment, his officers and his men, to resent him for what he's doing. He wants to make the regiment as strong as ever though and continues to push the men. Believing there's nothing he can ultimately do, the new commanding officer sees a chance for glory when Apache warriors leave their reservation. How far will he go?

Later in his career, Ford made darker, more cynical and realistic westerns that almost apologized for his previous genre entries. It's odd then that some 15 to 20 years earlier, it was these westerns that are far better remembered. 'Apache' and the other two Cavalry flicks, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande, are more how the west should have been and not how it actually was. Ford embraces the romantic concept of the old west. The cavalry were gentlemen and soldiers, family men while the wives were steadfast and loyal, and the government and Indian agents were as corrupt as dirt. The movie is a gem. Ford films on-location in Monument Valley, stunning backdrops from scene to scene, in black and white, producing one of the most visually pleasing westerns ever. The musical score from Richard Hageman is a gem too throughout.

Throughout his career, Ford had his favorite actors to work with, and 'Apache' pairs two of the best in Henry Fonda and John Wayne. This is one of Fonda's most underrated performances, his Thursday a rigid, humorless man and career officer who is equal parts arrogant and condescending. He may be a capable officer but his methods come into question at times. At what point is pride and glory a hindrance, a threat to his command? Wayne's part is less flashy but still quite good. His Capt. York is an experienced Indian fighter with a respect for the Apaches who's trying to help his new commander...except Thursday ain't having it. This is Wayne in fine fashion, natural and quite at home. Their scenes together crackle, two different personalities pushing and testing and feeling each other out. No matter what they discuss though, this is a relationship that seems doomed to failure.

From everything I've read, Ford was a tyrant on his sets, but the man could assemble quite a cast. He brought the best out in his cast (for the most part, some he just pushed mercilessly). Shirley Temple plays Philadelphia, Thursday's daughter who falls for a new lieutenant at the outpost, Lt. Michael O'Rourke (John Agar, Temple's real-life husband). A former silent movie star who worked with Ford regularly before they had a falling out, George O'Brien is excellent as Capt. Collingwood, a former friend who made a decision that halted his career, dooming him to Fort Apache, Anna Lee playing his loyal wife. Ward Bond gets to Irish it up as Sgt. Major O'Rourke, the capable NCO who the rest of the men look up to, a top man at the outpost, with Irene Rich as his wife of many years. From the John Ford Stock Company, look for Pedro Armendariz, Victor McLaglen, Jack Pennick and Dick Foran as four hard-drinking sergeants always getting into trouble.

An Irishman to the core, Ford loved the sense of family and camaraderie and community in his films. This is a prime example. He's interested in the life of the outpost from the officer's dances to the training of the recruits. We see the cavalry moving out in formation, of marching across the desert silhouetted against the rock formations and on the horizon. We see the dynamics of the wives of the fort, of the community that sprouts up in the desert cavalry fort. Ford ate this stuff up in most of his movies and sometimes could lay it on a little thick, but for the most part I felt like he kept those things in check. Yeah, the physical humor with McLaglen is a little thick at times. Yeah, the G-rated love between Temple and Agar is sugary sweet. Yes, Foran even gets to serenade us with an old Irish love song. These moments fit here more, fit with the tone and rhythm where certain other Ford movies are handicapped by moments like this.

Transplanting some characters and tribes, 'Apache' is a pretty thinly veiled take-off on Custer's Last Stand with Fonda's Thursday standing in for Custer. This isn't an action movie -- by a long shot -- with much of the conflict saved for the final 45 minutes as the outnumbered regiment moves out to face Cochise and his warriors. Again, an Irishman can build a sense of doom like no one else, and Ford nails the ending. He builds the tension as we see trouble coming over the horizon and hanging in the air. What Thursday does proves costly in a moving finale both visually and in storytelling. The actual battle is a bit of a disappointment but Ford set out to do what he wanted. The final scene opens up the door especially for some themes that would be discussed 14 years later with Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the movie ending on a far more hopeful note than it could have.

Just an excellent movie. Good story, great-looking film, wonderful score, excellent directing and a very strong ensemble cast, especially Fonda, Wayne, Armendariz and Bond. Not as good as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon but the without a doubt second best movie in the cavalry trilogy. Well worth checking out.

Fort Apache (1948): ****/****

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

I grew up in Chicago so I love just about everything in the Windy City, all the sports teams, the downtown area, all that great food from Chicago style hot dogs to Chicago style pizza. But that Chicago history? My goodness, there are some dark moments from the Black Sox scandal to the Chicago Fire, the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention and generally all sorts of political corruption and deception. One of the most violent incidents in the city's history? That's told in a 1967 B-movie, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

It's early 1929 and the streets of Chicago are filled with warring gangsters from two rival gangs. On one side is Al Capone (Jason Robards), a brutal, possibly maniacal Italian gangster with Mafia ties, who rules Chicago's South Side with an iron fist. Running the city's North side is George 'Bugs' Moran (Ralph Meeker), his Irish gang trying to hold onto their territory.  Things across the city are building to an unavoidable confrontation as both sides fight for control of thousands of speakeasies, Prohibition still raging. Capone has grown tired of Moran's gang trying to build up their power and has put into work a plan to execute his rival gang leader. Can one gang win out over the other? Can anyone win with the city's streets riddled with bullets and blood?

Everyone's heard of producer/director extraordinaire Roger Corman? He's one of Hollywood's all-time greats at getting movies made on the cheap so basically the King of B-Movies. That's not a bad thing, and I say it as a compliment. This generally forgotten 1967 gangster flick is one of his best, telling the true story of one of Chicago's darkest moments. It was filmed on studio streets -- cheaper than Chicago's downtown area -- but it works, giving the city a closed in, wintery and claustrophobic effect. This is a flick that works almost like a quasi-documentary, like something you'd see on The History Channel...but darker, much darker. With narrator Paul Frees and his perfectly gravelly voice laying things out, introducing dates, people and times, it all fits together like puzzle pieces.

Where 'Massacre' separates itself from the quasi-documentary feel is that darkness, that gangster world we're thrust into. Low budget though it may be, the movie looks great with countless gangsters wearing impeccably cool suits with fedoras, rocking vicious tommy guns and 1920s boats of cars that look as cool as ever now in 2014 as they would have in 1929. As for the real life gangsters, this isn't The Godfather where you kinda sorta maybe sympathize with the Corleones, however vicious and murdery they are. There ain't a single sympathetic character anywhere in sight. These are nasty, brutal, violent folks interested in making money and killing some rival gangsters in the process. You're not rooting for anybody. You're not hoping these guys come out unscathed. You just wanna see how it all shakes out and who's gonna make it. Let me tell you...not many do.

One of the coolest aspects of 'Massacre' is its ridiculously deep cast. We're not talking a disaster flick type of cast full of aging A-list stars. We're talking a couple very solid movie stars/actors at the top and a cast backing them up absolutely packed to the guts with familiar, recognizable character actors. As for the leads, Robards is terrifyingly hammy as everyone's favorite Chicago gangster, Al Capone. He's got that look in his eye, you just never know what he's going to do next. Meeker is excellent too in a more understated but just as sinister part, Bugs Moran, an Irish gangster and Capone's main rival for power. Also look for a young George Segal in one of his best early roles, playing Peter Gusenberg, one of Moran's enforcers/lieutenants working closely with his brother, another enforcer, Frank (David Canary) while constantly fighting with live-in girlfriend (Jean Hale).

Okay, brace yourself because you're about to get hit with a whole lot of links to actor's IMDB pages. These are all the real-life people involved in the 1920s world of Chicago gang wars, an extremely interesting historical time if you're interested in the subject matter. On the Capone side keep an eye out for Clint Ritchie as the massacre's mastermind, Frank Silvera, Harold J. Stone, Paul Richards, Joe Turkel, Alex Rocco, Leo Gordon, John Agar, and Richard Bakalyan and Jack Nicholson (Yes, that Jack Nicholson) as two hired mafia killers. On the Moran side of things, watch for Bruce Dern, Kurt Kreuger, Tom Reese. Some appearances are quicker than others, but it's cool to see so many people in one movie, even if it is only for a scene or two.

Just an entertaining dark and dirty movie. If you're a fan of history whether it be Chicago or gangsters or anything in between, this gritty, cynical, particularly vicious flick is for you. I loved it.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967): *** 1/2 /****

The Undefeated

Considering the extreme and far-reaching effects the Civil War had on American history, it's odd there haven't been more movies about the most costly war in the United States' relatively young history. The western genre has done its fair share of quasi-Civil War movies, the war becoming a jumping off point for a shoot 'em up story. What to do once the war is over? Like Major Dundee and Vera Cruz, many went south into Mexico. We can add 1969's The Undefeated to that short list.

After four years of bloody fighting, the Civil War has come to a close, leaving both the North and South to figure out where to go forward. With some of his remaining soldiers, a former Union cavalry officer, Colonel John Henry Thomas (John Wayne), rounds up a herd of 3,000 wild horses with the intention of driving them south into Mexico where they'll sell them to Emperor Maximilian's forces. A former Confederate officer, Colonel James Langdon (Rock Hudson), who had outfitted his own regiment, is leaving his plantation behind, moving south to Mexico with his surviving men, along with their wives, children and family in hoping to start a new life. In turbulent times for both the U.S. and Mexico, these two groups' paths may cross, and with wounds from the war still fresh on both sides.

This portion of history has always fascinated me, especially in movies like this, Major Dundee and Vera Cruz. I grew up watching this John Wayne western, and in spite of its flaws, I've always been a fan. From frequent Wayne collaborator and director Andrew V. McLaglen, 'Undefeated' is a fun western with a very good, deep cast, authentic locations in and around Durango, Mexico (Dundee fans will appreciate some familiar spots), a memorable score from composer Hugo Montenegro (listen HERE, disregard the odd video choice), and in general an entertaining quality that lifts it up past the flaws. It plays like a lot of Wayne's later movies; easy to sit back and watch, some action and shootouts, some drama, some romance, and some laughs here and there. When westerns were changing so dramatically in the late 1960s and heading into the 1970s, it can be fun just to watch an old-fashioned western with good guys and bad guys. No more, no less.

In a pretty cool casting choice, Wayne goes toe to toe here with Rock Hudson. It's not the most obvious pairing, but it works, simple as that. Wayne is playing a variation on his archetypal cowboy part, the leader of a small, surviving group of volunteers that rode with him throughout the Civil War. Now, he's looking for some cash to start over with, hence the immense horse drive. Hudson's Langdon too is looking for a clean start, the horrors and severe losses of the war still fresh on his mind. They're two different men, but they also have many similarities. They're fighting men who stand by what's right, loyal to those who ride with them, and ultimately try to do what they should do, not what's easiest. Their scenes together are the high points of the story, an easygoing charm with just a little Union vs. Confederacy animosity lingering. Two parts I liked a lot.

Working with a big story and a whole lot of characters, there's a lot going on in 'Undefeated,' clocking in at 119 minutes. Both halves -- Union and Confederacy -- are interesting, but I liked Wayne's half more. His trail-worn, loyal riders include Ben Johnson as Short Grub, his right hand man, Harry Carey Jr., John Agar (his part was heavily cut, including his early death scene), Don Collier (a familiar face, often a stunt man in Wayne movies), Jerry Gatlin and Dub Taylor as McCartney, the cantankerous cook who's always looking to fight, a mangy cat, High Bred, at his side. NFL quarterback Roman Gabriel joins the cast too as Blue Boy, Thomas' adopted Cherokee son. With so many western regulars, there's an ease to these scenes that are just fun to watch. Also look briefly for small parts for Paul Fix, Royal Dano and Pedro Armendariz Jr.

With the kinda-sorta episodic story that amiably drifts along, half of the focus is on those Confederates. It's never boring, but it's also not as interesting as their Union counterparts. We meet Langdon's wife (Lee Meriwether), his buxom teenage daughter, Charlotte (Melissa Newman), and his widowed sister-in-law (Marian McCargo). His men include Bruce Cabot, NFL star Merlin Olsen, Jan-Michael Vincent, Robert Donner, Edward Faulkner and whiny Big John Hamilton. We get to see young, pretty Charlotte hold off Jan-Michael Vincent's Bubba Wilkes' advances (she like Blue Boy). We get to see worrying wife Lee Meriwether....well, look worried. Olsen's Little George hangs out with the kids, then fights the Union cavalry. There's plenty of familiar faces, some good parts, but it's simply not as interesting to watch. Not bad, just not as good as it could have been.

Certain portions of the episodic story drag, but some certainly stand out. The pre-credits sequence wraps up the Civil War in a quick Union attack on a Confederate position. Later, Wayne and Hudson must team up to hold off a bandit attack on the Confederate wagon train, a good, exciting sequence. My favorite though is a late battle between the Union riders and French cavalry, the horse herd used as a weapon and negotiating ploy with a Mexican officer (Tony Aguilar). I'm wavering here. It's not a great western -- maybe not even a good one -- but I'm always entertained watching it. John Wayne fans, western fans alike should like this one.

The Undefeated (1969): ***/****

Big Jake

From his starring screen debut in 1930's The Big Trail to his final film in 1976's The Shootist, John Wayne became one of Hollywood's most beloved stars. For me, he will always be one of my favorites. Some look to The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and The Shootist as his best roles (and they are), but one of my favorites from the Duke is a change of pace western from 1971, Big Jake. 

It's 1909 along the Texas/Mexico border when an outlaw, John Fain (Richard Boone), leads his gang of murderers and cutthroats in a vicious attack on the expansive McCandles Ranch. Ten people are killed, and ranch owner Martha (Maureen O'Hara) sees her grandson kidnapped. Fain demands a ransom of $1 million, leaving a note that says simply "Follow the map." Knowing her grandson could be killed no matter what she decides, Martha seeks out her estranged husband, Jacob (Wayne), to take the ransom money into Mexico and get his grandson (who he didn't know) back. With help from his two sons, James (Patrick Wayne) and Michael (Christopher Mitchum), and an old friend, Apache Sam Sharpnose (Bruce Cabot), Jacob agrees, setting off to bring his grandson back alive or his captors dead.

Without a doubt, this is the most graphically violent movie of Wayne's career. Others like The Alamo are violent, but nothing quite like this. For western fans alone, that feature makes this George Sherman-directed western worth watching. Sidenote: With Sherman sick and unable to be on-location during shooting, Wayne directed much of the movie. In a career that spanned five decades, this is certainly a departure for the Duke. It is trying to be more modern, using some heavy-duty blood squibs. Even when the violence isn't on-screen, it is beyond startling and even disturbing in some scenes. Somewhat oddly, there is still an oddly comic tune at times that feels out of place alongside the sometimes extreme violence.

Wouldn't you know it though? I grew up watching this film -- still have an old VHS recording off TBS along with the bare-bones DVD -- and will always remember it fondly. Beyond the on-screen violence, there is something different about this western that's hard to put my finger on. I think I like it because of its general eccentric nature; the violence mixed with the odd humor. 'Jake' was shot on location in Mexico in Durango and Zacatecas, giving it a real sense of authenticity. Many Wayne westerns -- The War Wagon, Sons of Katie Elder, The Undefeated -- were shot in Mexico, and wouldn't you know it? Mexico looks like Mexico, giving a great backdrop to the story. The always reliable Elmer Bernstein turns in an eclectic score that covers a lot of ground, but in a good way. Listen to the main theme HERE, but that's just a taste of what Bernstein's score has to offer. Another case of the little things aiding the bigger cause.

What else though? I love the interaction between Wayne and his two sons he hasn't seen in years. Estranged from his family (for unknown reasons), he only comes back at his wife's request. Wayne's introduction is priceless, O'Hara's Martha saying she needs a man as unpleasant as the mission he'll undertake. Cut to Wayne squinting down the barrel of a rifle in an extreme close-up with Bernstein's score playing. Jake is believed to have been killed years before, forcing him to hear many people say "I thought you were dead." Nope, still kicking, traveling through Texas and Mexico with his fiercely loyal dog. Seeing his sons again provides some of the movie's genuinely funny moments and also some surprisingly effective dramatic moments. Neither Patrick Wayne or Mitchum are out of this world actors, but they hold their own, as does a scene-stealing Cabot as an aging Apache.

The cast is far from done there, especially an underused Richard Boone as the calculating, brutal John Fain. Most villains cower in Wayne's shadow, but not Boone. Their scenes together are beyond perfect, few though they may be. Watch THIS scene for proof (apologies for the low quality). Fain's gang includes O'Brien (Glenn Corbett), a half-breed gunslinger, Pop Dawson (an unrecognizable Harry Carey Jr.), Kid Duffy (stuntman Dean Smith), a deadshot with a rifle, John Goodfellow (Gregg Palmer), a machete-wielding psycho, Trooper (Jim Burk), an Army deserter, and Will Fain (Robert Warner), John's brother who favors a shotgun. Singer Bobby Vinton makes a brief appearance as Jake's third son. Also look for recognizable western faces John Doucette, John Agar, Jim Davis, Hank Worden, Chuck Roberson (Wayne's stunt double), and Roy Jenson. Wayne's real-life son, Ethan Wayne, plays the kidnapped Little Jake.

Following the startling opening attack at the McCandles Ranch, things more or less settle down until the finale in the action department. After dealing with some pistoleros who want to get their hands on the $1 million ransom, Jacob and Co. head to the ruins of an old Spanish mission for the exchange. On a stormy night, the sequence that follows is a gem. It's brutal and vicious -- with at least two surprises -- but it always stays on a small-scale level where you know what's going on. The mission and plaza was supposedly used in the 1910s by revolutionary Pancho Villa for executions, adding a dark edge to the scenes. The gunplay isn't remembered as one of the all-time bests, but the finale is one of my favorites, partially due to the action, some to the script with its great one-liners.

Whatever the reasoning, I love this movie. I know it's not a great movie, but I love it just the same. John Wayne fans should appreciate this one, and western fans on the whole as well.

Big Jake <----trailer (1971): ****/****
Rewrite of review from July 2009

Breakthrough (1950)

Maybe it's the difference in wars, but with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, movies about those conflicts have almost 100% in theaters. Audiences don't want to see those stories that are so fresh in their minds and memories. Why then after WWII were audiences hit with waves of war movies? Was it just a different war? Did people feel differently? Was it because the United States won? I'm trying to figure it out myself. Released just five years after the war, 1950's Breakthrough is a strong example of what was to come in the war genre.

In England in the spring of 1944, the Allied invasion force is prepping for the coming invasion of France. Among the armies is Lt. Joe Mallory (John Agar), a young, inexperienced officer fresh out of training school. He's been given command of a veteran rifle platoon that's been fighting in North Africa and Italy for two-plus years, with their former commander, Capt. Hale (David Brian), now placed in command of the company. Hale turns to Sgt. Bell (Frank Lovejoy), the similarly veteran soldier, to help Mallory adjust and keep an eye on the platoon. With the coming D-Day invasion, the platoon will have to count on each other if they hope to make it through the campaign alive.   

This straight forward, no frills WWII flick premiered recently on Turner Classic Movies so I took my chance and recorded it, remembering seeing an old VHS box of it years before at a local video store but never picking it up. It isn't a classic, but it is interesting to watch considering how much it foreshadowed what war films would become over the next 10 years. From director Lewis Seiler, it is an early example of a unit picture, a story focusing on a squad, platoon, company, regiment, brigade...you get the idea. Lovejoy's narration is solid without trying to be the end-all, be-all in narration, and the story chooses to focus on the platoon's involvement in the fighting, not the bigger picture of how the war effort is going.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but there was something appealing about this war movie. It doesn't have that whitewashed feeling of so many WWII movies made so close to the end of the war. It's war with one side fighting the other. No bigger picture about why they fought or for who. The Germans are the enemy, but they're not demonized. The Americans are regular troops from all walks of life, individuals forced to work together to help each other survive. It isn't a graphic movie, but it is certainly intense, especially considering its 1950 release, including one battle sequence late. The story follows the 3rd Platoon from spring 1944 to late summer 1944, following them through training, onto Omaha Beach at Normandy, and then through the hedgerows in the French countryside. The formula -- from the episodic story elements to the character archetypes -- would be used countless other times in the years to come, but this is one of the earliest ventures and one of the best.

I'll say again, but 'cliched' isn't necessarily a bad thing. The character archetypes here have been used in countless war movies before and since and will keep on being used as long as there's more war movies. The three lead performances are some of the basics, Brian's Hale the hard-edged commander, Agar's Mallory the newbie trying to learn on the job, and Lovejoy's Bell the veteran soldier who knows how to survive and get his men to do the same. Lovejoy especially represents himself well, having some fun with a familiar character. The platoon includes Cpl. Dominick (William Campbell), the motor-mouth aspiring politician, Rojeck (Paul Picerni), the natural soldier and better complainer, Finley (Greg McClure), the fitness freak, Nelson (Richard Monahan), the wet behind the ears newbie, Henderson (Edward Norris), the family man, Jimbo (Matt Willis), the amiable Southerner, Hansen (Dick Wesson), the jokester, with William Self and Danny Arnold having less visible parts.

Nothing fancy, and nothing that will startle or amaze you, just a good, old-fashioned war story. Solid casting, fast-moving, effective and interesting story, and an honest, forthright look and feel of what it must be to be a soldier. Well worth tracking down a copy if you can find one.

Breakthrough <---short Youtube clip (1950): ***/****

Tarantula

With a wave of creature features hitting theaters and drive-ins during the 1950s, studios churned them out as quick as they could.  Usually they were workmanlike efforts, rarely flashy but always professionally done.  They were movies that didn't call for a lot of directorial style.  One director though who managed to rise above the B-movies and make a name for himself was Jack Arnold, director of Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, It Came From Outer Space, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and 1955's Tarantula.

I think what works so well about these movies -- however poorly done or cheesy they are in their execution -- is that they play on feelings, worries and nerves that most audiences can relate to.  What lies in the depths of the oceans or hidden away in a volcano? Or what about ordinary, everyday things, like spiders?  In this case, it's that simple. A tarantula at its largest is only three or four inches long, but there's just something about them that sends shivers up your spine (okay, maybe it is just me). So even with some cheesy effects to make it look bigger, what about a tarantula over 100 times larger than your typical arachnid?  Okay, it isn't particularly scary, but it is creepy and it makes for a good movie.

In a small, isolated desert town in Arizona, Dr. Matt Hastings (John Agar) is called in to investigate a mysterious death. The man's partner, a scientist, Professor Deemer (Leo G. Carroll), explains the death as a bizarre, rapidly moving and rare genetic condition that caused the body to contort. Hastings isn't buying it but when Deemer welcomes a new assistant, a beautiful medical student from California, Stephanie (Mara Corday), the good doctor starts to investigate. Is the professor up to something that he's trying to cover up?  As Hastings starts to poke around, weird occurrences start to pop up all over.  What can they chalk it up to? Hastings has an inkling, but he can't prove  it outright, much less explain it to other people. Can he get his evidence in time?

Without going into a lot of detail (and if you've made it this far I'm hoping you know what's going on), it is in fact....a giant tarantula terrorizing the countryside in this B-movie.  Carroll's Deemer is in fact up to no good, even if his intentions are genuine. He's looking for a way to provide food and nourishment for a rapidly overcrowded world.  Smart doctor that he is, he test his radioactive nutrient on animals including rats, guinea pigs, and of course, a tarantula which escapes as it is still growing.  Tarantulas need to eat, and there you go. You've got your badass creature, a tarantula several hundred feet tall with an insatiable appetite.  Now how do we go about killing it?

This is a movie I can understand some movie fans wanting to be remade, but I like the low-budget charm of this 1955 popcorn flick.  The tarantula is in fact, a tarantula.  Thankfully the studios did not make a life-size spider or a miniature that could be blown up to make it look bigger.  The movements of an actual spider were filmed and then inserted over footage shot in real-time, making it appear that the tarantula is actually interacting with the much, much smaller cast.  Considering how bad it could have looked had Arnold chosen a different route, it's easy to look past the sometimes-cheesy look of these scenes. Still, it's a gigantic tarantula with booming music playing over its attacks. How is that not scary at least a little bit?

Blah blah blah spider movie with a cast. Who cares?  Well, I do.  B-movie star John Agar is his typical solid self as Dr. Matt Hastings.  As an actor, he didn't have the greatest range, but I just don't understand why Agar never amounted to more after bursting onto the scene in two John Ford westerns and another with John Wayne (Sands of Iwo Jima). He's a good actor if not a flashy one and a solid leading man here. Corday is the babe, the love interest although not much comes of that.  Carroll is the scientist with the right intentions who ends up unleashing a crime against nature on the world. Also look for Nestor Paiva as Sheriff Andrews and Ross Elliott as Joe Burch, the nosy newspaper reporter looking for a scoop.

As a fan of pointless movie trivia, I'll add this too.  Look for Clint Eastwood in an uncredited role and one of his first movies overall. Even Dirty Harry had to start somewhere.  I lost a bet in the last year or two that Eastwood was even in this movie, and it is a quick appearance. Stick around until the end as he plays a fighter pilot called in to battle the gigantic tarantula.  This is a fun movie all-around and a good example of what a science fiction B-movie from the 1950s can be when handled correctly. Watch the movie at Youtube starting HERE with Part 1 of 8. Pretty decent quality too for a 1950s Youtube version.

Tarantula <---trailer (1955): ***/****

Along the Great Divide

Making his screen debut in John Ford's 1948 cavalry western Fort Apache, John Agar seemed to have all the makings of a star. In the next two years, he starred in two more John Wayne movies, holding his own alongside the Duke I always thought.  But after Sands of Iwo Jima in 1949, that stardom never came for Agar.  Instead, he was relegated to B-movies where he worked consistently into the 1970s and 1980s.  A good if not great actor, Agar was often cast as a second or third banana, the key supporting character, like in 1951's Along the Great Divide.

This western from director Raoul Walsh is an interesting one for several reasons. For one, it was star Kirk Douglas' first western, first of many really as he would return to the genre often during his career. Building off Douglas' strong performance in the lead role though, 'Divide' is a dark western, not like the whitewashed, bland westerns that were so often the product of the 1950s.  It had the potential to be extremely dark at that, but it is the 1950s, and we're not talking a spaghetti western here (unfortunately).  As I was watching this Walsh western though, I couldn't help but think that I'd seen this movie before.  It took me about 15 minutes in, and I had it figured, but I won't give it away yet. Read the plot summary and see if you can figure it out too.

Riding through the desert, U.S. Marshal Len Merrick (Douglas) and two deputies, Billy (Agar) and Lou (Ray Teal) stumble across a lynching. They save rancher Pop Keith (Walter Brennan) from another rancher, Roden (Morris Ankrum) who claims that Keith rustled 15 head of his cattle and murdered his oldest son in the process. Merrick can't prove either way if Keith is guilty or innocent but overpowers the lynch mob, promising to take the old rancher into the nearest town, Santa Loma, for a fair trial.  They hit the trail, picking up Keith's daughter Ann (Virginia Mayo) along the way.  But as they cut across the desert hoping to reach the next waterhole in time, Merrick sees that Roden has kept his word and is charging after them, ready to shoot them all to gain vengeance for his son's death.

This isn't a dead-on comparison where I'm saying they were identical movies, but it's pretty damn close with a few tweaks here and there.  Two years later, director Anthony Mann revamped this basic story with 1953's The Naked Spur, a classic western that is far better remembered than Along the Great Divide.  The story and characters are just too close for Mann not to have been influenced by this western.  Yes, certain things were changed. Douglas is a Marshal, not a bounty hunter like Jimmy Stewart. Brennan isn't a bad guy the way Robert Ryan was, but other things certainly ring true.  Janet Leigh is a spot-on copy of Mayo's character, and Agar and Teal were basically reworked into Ralph Meeker and Millard Mitchell.  I don't say any of this as a judgment or condemnation of The Naked Spur, a western I very much enjoyed.  Instead, I think it speaks to Along the Great Divide which jumps up a notch in my book because of how heavily it influenced 'Spur.'

By 1951, Kirk Douglas was a star, but still a rising star.  His best work was still ahead of him, but his Len Merrick character certainly shows the potential of his ability.  He was an intense actor, capable of high drama and comedy at the same time, and he always had quite a presence on-screen, especially when handling a majority of his own stunts.  So in his first western, Douglas shows a knack for playing that heroic lead who isn't so heroic.  His good guys always had a sense of being not quite so good, men with checkered pasts that rear their ugly heads at the worst possible time.  That is Len Merrick in a nutshell, a marshal trying to prove himself, partially for some sort of redemption for a past deed gone horribly wrong, one that still plagues his mind.  I liked this character though from the start as his ultra-driven motivations take over, pushing those around him to the limit as they struggle with a lack of water in the blazing desert heat.  A good first performance in a western, and a strong indication of what is to come.

More than just The Naked Spur, 'Great Divide' reminded me of several other movies, similar stories with a group of people trying to survive the hell that is the desert. At different points I thought of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Professionals, 3 Godfathers, Yellow Sky and several other westerns and quasi-westerns.  That's basically my only real complaint here with Walsh's western. The story is predictable, and if you're paying attention at all, you know the ending almost from the first scene.  Walter Brennan played his fair share of bad guys, but it's clear this old, coot of a rancher isn't a killer.  It can be a little cookie-cutter at times as the story develops, the pieces falling into place.  On the positive though, it's never boring at 88-minutes, and Walsh films enough on location in the Sierra Madres and Mojave Desert to recommend the movie on just a visual level.  Filmed in black and white, that desert has an intimidating beauty about it, daring riders to come on in and see if they can make it.

I thought Douglas stole the movie here as the tortured U.S. Marshal, but the rest of the cast led by Brennan is nothing to shake your head at.  His Pop Keith character isn't a killer, but he's got a devious streak in him that the story keeps you guessing with as to his actual background.  Mayo as his daughter Ann is the necessary love interest, an easy on the eyes love interest at that.  Agar especially represents himself well as young deputy Billy who looks up to Merrick like a big brother while Teal plays a character he played countless times in other westerns, a gunslinger willing to go on either side of the law, usually the side that pays better.  Ankrum is good as rancher Roden while James Anderson plays his surviving son. An unfortunately little known western, but one I enjoyed very much. Definitely worth watching too if you're a fan of The Naked Spur.

Along the Great Divide <---TCM clips (1951): ***/****   

The Young and the Brave

If you watch enough movies, eventually you are going to start seeing the same stories popping up. Hopefully there's some variation with that story, but the basics are usually there. Originally made by director John Ford in 1919 and then remade twice in the next 31 years, including the Ford 1948 version, Three Godfathers set a formula that was duplicated over and over again in westerns but also in comedies like Three Men and a Baby. But the oddest variation of the basic story? 1963's The Young and the Brave where the setting is 1952 in North Korea.

Sounds kind of ridiculous, doesn't it? The story of three men, typically not the cream of society, saving a young child in a perilous situation worked in the western context. I was skeptical of moving that context to the Korean War, but what do I know? The 1963 war movie completely works on any number of levels.

Weeks after their patrol was ambushed, three U.S. soldiers (Rory Calhoun, William Bendix, and Robert Ivers) escape from a North Korean prisoner of war camp. Heading south toward American lines, the trio is helped by a Korean family but a North Korean patrol attacks the family's farm and kills everyone except 7-year old Han (Manuel Padilla Jr.). The little boy not only witnesses the brutal massacre but also sees the fleeing American soldiers and blames them for not helping. Han sets out on his own, coming across a U.S. army dog separated from his owner who he names Lobo (why a North Korean boy would name a dog 'lobo,' the Spanish word for wolf, escapes me).

It's not long before the trio of soldiers crosses paths with Han, and the group travels together toward American lines. Along the way, they pick up another soldier, Estway (Richard Jaeckel), who also escaped but drew the wrath of his fellow prisoners when he collaborated with his North Korean captors. More importantly though, Estway has a rifle and a radio. So this odd group of individuals tries to reach safety as they outrun a North Korean patrol while also dealing with dwindling supplies of food and water.

Clearly shot on a small budget, this movie takes advantage of its simple story of a foursome of American soldiers and a young Korean boy and his dog trying to reach safety. They're not followed by a regiment or a division of North Korean soldiers, it's just a patrol of eight or nine men. The issue doesn't need that many soldiers, just enough to keep up a presence up. As far as the American soldiers are concerned, that patrol is a division. The chase builds up the tension, especially when they reach a seemingly abandoned farmhouse that may have batteries they need for their radio. The action is saved for the finale when Calhoun and Bendix must save little Han from a bare ridge during an artillery barrage. It's an exciting finale full of chaos and explosions that balances out the natural tension of the story perfectly.

What appealed to me going into the movie was the casting. No big stars here, just well-known, recognizable character actors given a chance to step into the spotlight. Calhoun plays Master Sgt. Brent, a rear echelon soldier thrust to the front who finds himself in an unlikely leadership position. Bendix is Sgt. Kane, a role the tough New York actor played countless times during his career, the rough and tumble NCO always ready for a fight. Jaeckel gets one of those roles where you're not quite sure if he's on the up and up, not quite a good guy but also not a bad guy. The revelation of his true colors provides one of the movie's better moments. And in the child actor department, Padilla is surprisingly good as Han, a young boy holding resentment of the men trying to save him. Small supporting parts go to John Agar and Richard Arlen.

If I hadn't known going in, I would have said this movie was made in the 1950s and was released as a not so sublte propaganda flick. The North Koreans, 'Commies' as Kane puts it, are pretty evil here, throwing grenades into houses full of kids, beating Han, any number of typical movie bad guy go-to moves. As for the Three Godfathers angle, Han bonds with the soldiers, especially Bendix's Kane, and hopes to go back to America with him. Is the storyline forced and a little sappy mixed together with some cheesiness? Absolutely, but I bought it hook, line and sinker. Surprisingly enough, it works with credit going to Bendix especially for pulling it off so realistically.

Filmed in black and white, the feel of the movie is pretty dark, very moody and gritty from start to finish. The actors have stubble on their faces, and sweat through their uniforms as they run. It felt like they were actually in the situation whereas many movies have the stars immaculately dressed and looking like they just stepped out of the makeup chair. A low budget war movie that completely surprised me. I loved it all from the story to the casting to the action, and I'm hoping a DVD is somewhere down the line. Until then, look for it on TCM.

The Young and The Brave <----trailer (1963): *** 1/2 /****