Having watched Shane on AMC it reminds me how the era of the classic western has disappeared. Shane was a hero with morality and a code of honour. The film boasted brilliant location photography and a classic music score. What a pity this era has passed and today's audience is being force fed computer graphics and cartoony heroes. The passing of the years hasn't indicated progress in the movie world and is surely a case against evolution indicating an path towards a superior species.
Paul,
This movie was/is one of my favorites.It was filmed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
I was lucky enough to have lived and worked in Jackson Hole 1963, 64, 65, 66, 67.......
A couple of summers were spent woking for Hayes Trucking Company. They had the contract to put up the hay for the National Elk Refuge. Most of the hay is raised and harvested near Kelly, Wyoming. The area is loosely called Mormon Row. It was an area settled by a group of Morman pioneers. Their farms were purchased by the National Park Service in order to provide hay for winter feed. All of the old log houses and barns and corral were torn down or moved. But when they made the movie Shane, some of them were still there and were used in the movie. So I kinda connect to that.
The movie Spencers Mountan was also filmed in Jackson Hole. This was the movie that the TV series Waltons was paterned after. I went to the Premere Showing at the Teton Theater.
Several other movies also filmed there of course but since you mentioned the Movie Shane it woke up a memory or two.
I guess I'd go back to sleep now.
Good luck in your search for those GOOD OLD MOVIES ...
Randolf Scott... Audy Murphy .... Jimmy Stuart ... and several others ..
Boooooooo. As the Three Stooges said (or maybe it was the Marx Brothers) "I totally resemble that remark!" :) It's funny how two people can view the same thing as totally different. I live for computer graphics and the newest technology. To me, it's totally entertaining. When I see Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" with it's cutting edge special effects of the 60's, it's laughable and cheeze ball. A lot of those old movies are slow moving, boring and pointless. Today's movies will be viewed as the same in a few years. The hero's are the same as ever, you just have to find your favorites. I like Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. Yeah, maybe it's sad that the era of the classic Western is gone, but isn't it better that way, since most people don't like the new western remakes anyway?
Modern westerns aren't successful for one main reason -lack of talent and empathy for the subject matter. Most of the great western actors are no longer with us and the young directors of today have no feel for the subject.
As for Hitchcock, his movies are classics even with dodgy special effects. Special effects don't make a movie. Good plot and characterization does.
I'm not anti-computer graphics. I like sci-fi as a genre and enjoyed the 'Terminator' movies. I was simply saying the Western movie has more or less died due to lack of care and attention.
Oh, why didn't you say that in the first place? :)
Now Paul, I have to ask you this...mind you, I'm not upset or anything like that..All you western fans adore those old classic films with the true hero, etc, etc. But this is what I don't understand...none of that is the least bit authentic! All the cowboys were always clean cut and lived in these nicely built towns, etc, etc, I like the new westerns, because they seem so much more real to me - scraggly lookin' smelly guys riding dirty, sweaty horses through muddy streets covered with poop. I can totally identify with that. I guess in the evolution of moviedom, I'm a Neanderthal man :)
Do you know what my favorite TV graphics are? Well, except for some things I see on the Yankee network? I love the opening montage for Monday night football, when the two helmets crash into eachother to that charged up testosterone muscial score. Every year it gets more contemporary and more energetic. I think that's so cool! The creative team behind that is so talented.
If you watch Shane you'll see a town with mud for a street. Very authentic settings make this movie stand out for its era (fifties). Give it a try.
I sometimes feel the authenticity of modern westerns takes away from the mythic quality that makes the western classic US literature.
Interesting to see High Plains Drifter followed Shane on AMC. Similar themes. A stranger rides into town and transforms the community. Except in Shane he empowers them before leaving. In the Eastwood film he destroys the community in revenge. Many of the modern westerns see cynicism, violence and negativity as positive attributes for the 'hero'. And a morally upright character is seen as dull. The classic American western hero has positive attributes. He makes a community better because of his presence. The qualities of the modern anti-hero who reacts with violence and a complete lack of feeling for anybody other than himself are shallow. It's time we ditched the Spaghetti western model and reclaimed the western.
Yeah, but the versions you enjoy are like Mary Poppin's westerns. They're so sassy sweet and work themselves out perfectly like a Disney movie. What can I say? I guess I just like trashy films. Maybe I represent everything that went wrong in America :) Anyway, if I get a chance I'll try to rent Shane and the Magnificent Seven.
Now, Paul, or whoever else wants to chime in, in your opinion, what was the last good western that was made? Dances with Wolves?
Yes Gina. Dances With Wolves was probably the last recent Western I enjoyed. Mainly for John Barry's music rather than Kevin Costner's acting though. I can't say the Lonesome Dove TV mini-series did anything for me. Too overblown and padded for my taste like all mini-series. And movies like Young Guns and Tombstone were too 'trendy'. You could almost sense the director's and actors flashy cars just out of shot.
Oh, I really liked Tombstone. Not the pizza, though. It's gross. Hollywood creates a mainstream western with an all-star cast and you still don't like it? Tough crowd :) That was one of Val Kilmer's better performances. What kind of car do you think he drives? I couldn't quite make out the logo on the right side of the screen on the third scene :) You're so funny.
I just sampled my first Tombstone pizzas a few nights ago. UGGGHHHH!!!!! WE threw away most of the Chicken barbecue pizza. Two for One in Krogers. No wonder. Next time if they sell five for one I won't be buying!
Paul, I think they call it "Tombstone" 'cause it's about has hard as a rock. Mine was inedible, too, and I threw it out. It's so so totally disgusting. How do they make money selling it? I must be missing something big. Oh, and by the way, don't try Barilla's shelf-stable tortellini, either - you know, that commercial on TV where the two guys from Idaho win the tortellini making contest? I don't think they can make it nearly as good as Italian Village or Celentano's can. What do those Idahoan's know about pasta, anyway? :)
Linda, you're right. There's nothing wrong with a happy ending. As long as everything leading up to it is in technicolor :) How 'bout them Yanks!
I taped Shane and haven't had a chance to view it yet. I did see it a loooooong time ago and remember
it as one of the best of the classic Westerns.
Hey Gina, I like a lot of the modern stuff too but
the good old fashion western is hard to beat. While
they may be too sweet for you they usually had a good
lesson some where in the story and what's wrong with
a happy ending?