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Reviews (3)
24 Aug, 2008
This venerable oater is quality corn
If you're a western bore like me then this will be right up your valley. It's a superior western programmer from 1946, neatly scripted and put together in that polished-but-stilted style so typical of that time.
Again typically, the best acting comes from the supporting players, a gallery of strong character performances headed by the fantastic Brian Donlevy as the villain Trampas. They just don't make bad guys like him any more, the film would have been better with more of him.
In the title role is a relatively young Joel McCrea, displaying his stolid, charmingly wooden screen persona that he stuck with throughout his career. He does the job.
The really interesting thing (SNORE ALERT) for me is that the film is based on the 1903 book by Owen Wister, which is widely acknowledged as the starting point of the western genre (ie cowboy as knight of the plains, guardian of morality/community etc etc). However, for all it's cultural significance, the book is a bit of bore, and Mr Wister was a writer of limited talent.
Happily, the dreary stuff has been largely dispensed with to produce an 84 minute chunk of splendid light entertainment. The first half does drag a bit in places, but then we get going and it all gallups along nicely to the climactic showdown.
Yes - the book was also the inspiration for The Virginian TV show of the 60s, in which Trampas was a good guy (played by the late Doug McClure, like McCrea another of Hollywood's loveable planks).
BTW - Watch out for the line "when you call me that, smile" near the beginning - it's in the original book and is one of the (if not THE) first great western one-liners. You can almost see Clint Eastwood riding over the horizon.
I'll go away now because I know I'm far more enthusiastic about this stuff than is healthy for a grown man, but what can you do? Hope you enjoy the movie as much as I did.
29 Mar, 2010
BBC2? Friday? 6 six o'clock? Around 1974? Not quite.
I first encountered the evil Dr Fu Manchu as a young lad in the 1970s, an innocent time when parents thought it healthy for their children to sit in front of the box for days at a time. Loved it.
I loved the old Hammer Fu Manchu films (Christopher Lee - hoorah!), but had seen none since.
I thought no more of the Doctor after that. I believed that as my life progressed I would never again fall into his vile and pernicious grasp.
Yet, a vague interest in exploitation director Jess Franco and the recent reading of some of Sax Rohmer's original novels lead me to purchase these films on ebay.
And then I knew the criminal genius had me in his grasp again.
These films, made after the better mid-60s Hammer efforts, are really not up to scratch.
They are slightly entertaining - Cheap, random, cheap, interesting use of stock footage, cheap, Christopher Lee (Hoorah!) - cheap - etc
I wouldn't bother unless you're a collector/fan. In which case you'd want to get better prints (these are not full wide-screen) anyway.
But I do fancy the Boris Karloff Fu Manchu Universal made in the 30s (with Myrna Loy - helloooooo), and Warner (Charlie Chan) Oland did one or two I think.
Let's see what the omnipotent mastermind of foul doings and general beastliness has in store for me next...
12 Jun, 2006
Late, great western
1 of 1 found this helpful As a lifelong western nut and fan of all things hippy-dippy I'd wanted to see this film for ages, but I had no idea quite how fantastic it was gonna be.
The Hired Hand was the first film director/star Peter Fonda made after Easy Rider. While his more revered ER colaborator Dennis Hopper was off making the shambolic and overblown The Last Movie, Fonda turned out this marvelous film which beautifully marries the psychodelic movie ethic with the traditional western.
The truly great thing about this film is that it sits with the final, post spaghetti wave of pastoral American westerns (The Missouri Breaks, The Long Riders, The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, Tom Horn, The Outlaw Josey Wales etc) yet still has that iconoclastic early 70s counter culture vibe going on. And the two don't undermine each other - a real achievement I think.
The narrative lines are clean as a whistle, like the greatest "classic" American westerns of the 50s, and at 80 odd mins it rattles along yet feels leisurely at the same time. The music and photography are breathtaking and the acting from the three principals is stupendous. Mind you, with Warren Oates that's a given. There's even a feminist bent with the Verna Bloom's character repeatedly and unashamedly expressing her sexuality.
All in all, this is the ultimate arthouse western. Which is just as well cos not that many have ever been made. If only Star Wars hadn't come along and killed off the cowie for good (Not that I hate the original Star Wars), this film shows that there was life in the genre yet. But then I'm biased.
This great, great movie will please western fans and chin-stroking cineastes alike. Enjoy.