I don't know what I'll do if they ever come out with another Western that demythologizes the American myth. Hang myself in the barn, like old Doc Bender, I guess.
It all seems to have begun around 1950. Gregory Peck was seen with a funky haircut in "The Gunfighter" -- and a MUSTACHE, and him the hero. And then Shane teaches little Joey about guns. "One's all you need if you know how to use it." After that they got frankly pedagogical, as when Henry Fonda teaches Tony Perkins how to draw a gun in "The Tin Star." And it wound up, at last count, with John Wayne giving a shooting lesson to Ron Howard in "The Shootist," the point being that it's not how fast you draw but how unflappable you are. Well, I suppose Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" was touched by this didacticism too. But actually Tom Gries' "Will Penny" did a better job without being the least superior about it. Sorry. Had to get that off my chest. The urge to teach is a common human failing.
In this movie, Frank Harris chips in to buy a herd of cattle in Mexico and drive them to a rail stop where the cows will be shipped to Chicago. Harris was a real figure -- a writer of outlandish tales full of outlandish lies, and his ears were, well, outlandish. He's best known for his sexually explicit "My Life and Loves." Jack Lemon gives us a Frank Harris who is sensitive and humane. He's never been on the trail before and his head is full of romantic nonsense about being a cowboy. Well, the Stud Duck, Glenn Ford, does to him what Sergeant John Wayne does to rookie Marines. Man, does Ford shape up Lemon. There is no sentimentality or solidarity in the trail riders. They mind their own business. If one of their number puts himself in a position to be killed, that's his own business. Philosophically they're libertarians in chaps, and Ford is the toughest of them all.
But when Ford is disabled while saving Lemon's life, Lemon take over and by now he's learned to be as pitiless as Ford was. At the same time, Ford has learned from Lemon that no man is an island. Their roles are the reverse of what they were at the beginning. Angie Dickenson is hardly there, alas, because she looks as compelling as ever. Anna Kashfi makes a good Mexican Señora.
The most exciting scene takes place in a Mexican bar. You will notice a man playing a solo riff on a trumpet. The man is Rafael Mendez who was a virtuoso and was known internationally for some astounding renderings of popular, folk, and classical trumpet music. He played in multiple genres with ease, like Wynton Marsalis. He composed too.
It all seems to have begun around 1950. Gregory Peck was seen with a funky haircut in "The Gunfighter" -- and a MUSTACHE, and him the hero. And then Shane teaches little Joey about guns. "One's all you need if you know how to use it." After that they got frankly pedagogical, as when Henry Fonda teaches Tony Perkins how to draw a gun in "The Tin Star." And it wound up, at last count, with John Wayne giving a shooting lesson to Ron Howard in "The Shootist," the point being that it's not how fast you draw but how unflappable you are. Well, I suppose Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" was touched by this didacticism too. But actually Tom Gries' "Will Penny" did a better job without being the least superior about it. Sorry. Had to get that off my chest. The urge to teach is a common human failing.
In this movie, Frank Harris chips in to buy a herd of cattle in Mexico and drive them to a rail stop where the cows will be shipped to Chicago. Harris was a real figure -- a writer of outlandish tales full of outlandish lies, and his ears were, well, outlandish. He's best known for his sexually explicit "My Life and Loves." Jack Lemon gives us a Frank Harris who is sensitive and humane. He's never been on the trail before and his head is full of romantic nonsense about being a cowboy. Well, the Stud Duck, Glenn Ford, does to him what Sergeant John Wayne does to rookie Marines. Man, does Ford shape up Lemon. There is no sentimentality or solidarity in the trail riders. They mind their own business. If one of their number puts himself in a position to be killed, that's his own business. Philosophically they're libertarians in chaps, and Ford is the toughest of them all.
But when Ford is disabled while saving Lemon's life, Lemon take over and by now he's learned to be as pitiless as Ford was. At the same time, Ford has learned from Lemon that no man is an island. Their roles are the reverse of what they were at the beginning. Angie Dickenson is hardly there, alas, because she looks as compelling as ever. Anna Kashfi makes a good Mexican Señora.
The most exciting scene takes place in a Mexican bar. You will notice a man playing a solo riff on a trumpet. The man is Rafael Mendez who was a virtuoso and was known internationally for some astounding renderings of popular, folk, and classical trumpet music. He played in multiple genres with ease, like Wynton Marsalis. He composed too.