Reviews

There was a time that I ranked "The Searchers" the best Western ever made, with "Red River" occupying the runner-up slot. But the older I have become, the more I have come to believe that the ranking of the two movies must be reversed: "Red River" is the best Western ever made. What could be more American than the portrait of the West as frontier, as possibility? The frontier has always been a significant feature of American history. And so it is here: "Just over the next hill, and into the valley beyond, and we'll find that land we always have yearned for." What could be more American than the portrait of the young man-becoming-adult, taking on a task against enormous odds and succeeding? What was it that Mr. Melville, the character played by Harry Carey, Sr., said? "There's three times in a man's life when he has a right to yell at the moon: when he marries, when his children come, and... and when he finishes a job he had to be crazy to start." Yes, "Red River" presents the quintessential portrait of the American West.

I always have enjoyed this movie, but have never placed it among the very best Westerns, and I could never figure out why. I think countryway_48864 is on the money: John Wayne's Hondo is a different kind of character, not a Thomas Dunson or Ethan Edwards.

I also always have wished that Fellows and Wayne and James Edward Grant, the screenwriter, had included some of the little, authentic touches from the novel that filled out the character of Hondo: his wearing Apache moccasins, for example (see the scene of Paul Newman lacing them up in "Hombre," if you want to know what real Apache mocs looked like), and teaching Johnny to know whether the man he is trailing is white or Indian, just by his footwear and the way he walks. The omissions are not fatal, but I still wish they had.

Typical Hollywood! They took one of Louis L'Amour's best novels and butchered it. The novel had it all; aside from retaining the protagonist's name (in the novel Shalako's Christian name never was given), and the names of some of the other characters (Bosky Fulton, for example), this pale imitation has little to recommend it. While Sean Connery is horribly miscast, the casting of Stephen Boyd as Bosky Fulton was a stroke of genius. Although underrated, Boyd was always able to create powerful characters (see Messala in "Ben-Hur" and Zachary in "The Bravados"), and even with a poor script, he manages again to imbue his character with the right mix of evil, oiliness, and "me-first-ness."

I remember when I was young, and Singin' in the Rain was shown on television for the first time (I think it was Saturday Night at the Movies). I was enthralled! And when Donald O'Connor performed, "Make'em Laugh," I nearly fell off the couch, I was laughing so hard.

The best musical ever made, Singin' in the Rain is a movie that any collector of great movies should have in his or her library. A movie about the Movie Industry, it is a great spoof of Hollywood in the upheaval created by the change from silents to talkies. The songs and music advance the plot and the scenes between the songs are wonderfully written and wonderfully played. Still after all these years, every time I watch it, that first time of my youth is recaptured and I sit there, just grinning.