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Reviews
Will Penny (1967)
What happened to the elk?
The whole plot is based on Will Penny and his partners taking an elk from some rawhiders and killing the rawhider's father's son. But the wagon only carries a wounded man. No elk. The rawhiders just happen to show up at a line shack in the middle of no where just before Christmas. Of course the rawhidrers were stalking Will Penny, but they are suppose think Will will suffer a slow death after stabbing him twice.
Donald Pleasants plays a fine bad guy. This was not the best Bruce Dern character. I expected a better weasely bad guy that he always portrayed. He always played the smooth talking lovable bad guy with alternative motives. He just wants to kill in this movie.
Most actors in Hollywood are employed in this movie, even as basically cameos.
It was alright to watch for the first half of movie then got boring. Even Donald Pleasants acting couldn't save movie.
Charlton Heston supposedly can't sing Christmas carols even though he was singing in the opening scenes of film.
This is probaly Lee Majors best acting. Loved watching him running through brush in his stocking feet and skivies hunting the elk. Dancing and prancing as one would do in that situation.
Bend of the River (1952)
Too many holes in plot
Homesteaders heading to Mt Hood area in Oregon. They say MT Hood is 150 miles away, but it is only 50 miles. The homesteaders have to load up their provisions on to steamboat before Hendricks chases them down in Portland. They get away with a head start. They then unload cargo on to wagons before Hendricks can catch them. Steamboats only travel 5 mph. A character actually says that Hendricks will beat them. The homesteaders claim they pull off at a place that Hendricks doesn't know about. But the whole time Hendricks is still chasing them and is only a short time behind them. Problem is why would Hendricks waste his time following them and leaving his profitable business behind. He already made profit on homesteaders. Then after he catches the homesteaders there is no steamboat to take supplies back. Of course he doesn't know about miners offer. He also can't count on the homesteaders hired men to help him take supplies back to Portland. Too many logistic problems for Hendricks to waste time trying to catch Homesteaders. Also it is already mid October. Which Jimmie Stewart's character claims ice is already forming on river. But no ice on river is shown in movie.
The Hangman (1959)
Acting out of character at end.
A story of everyone in town loving the bad guy, except the Hangman. Given Jack Lord's acting I don't see why everyone loves the bad guy. The movie was good till the end. The ending was worse. It was like they had to wrap the movie fast with a happy ending. The whole movie was spent building the characters, except for Jack Lord's character, only to have an ending where everyone's actions were out of character.
One note is there was a scene where Tina Louise's character was bathing in a pond. They blurred the scene. Found out there was no nudity and the scene didn't need to be blurred. Unnecessary censorship.
The Virginian: The Fortress (1967)
Premise has hole from beginning.
The story has the Virginian herd $100,000 worth of cattle from Shilo Ranch in Wyoming to a town in Montana near Canada by himself. Not plausible. He would have many cow hands with him. He gets a bank draft for $100,000 that becomes worthless when bank is robbed. When the Virginian gets to Leslie Neilsen's ranch in Canada Leslie is already there with the cattle. The Virginian left town in Montana first without the incumberance of $100,000 cattle herd. The Virginian would have many cow hands help him that herded the cattle and chase down the bank robbers. The Virginian gets caught in act of breaking into Winthrop's safe but Winthrop lets Virginian live to try another day.
Return of the Seven (1966)
Recycled
In the quotes below a character tells the story of a quiet woman he once knew. It is word for word the same story an outlaw tells by the campfire in The Tall T with Randolph Scott and Richard Boone. Burt Kennedy was involved in both movies. Seems like whole movie is recycled lines from other movies. Yul Brenner makes the whole movie.
Gunsmoke: Dry Well (1964)
Quint and Kitty could have stopped the whole mess.
Yuma has two lovers that show up at set times when her husband Dave is away. Kitty overhears the conversation between Yuma's two lovers Jeff and Wade in the Longbranch. Dave is killed by Jeff and Quint witnesses it. Wade's dad throws Quint in a well because Quint won't admit he knew it was Jeff that killed Dave. Wade's dad thinks his son will be blamed. Matt never suspects Jeff of murdering Dave. The whole show the audience knows it's Jeff that did the killing. It's a half hour plot extented out to an hour for a plot twist that doesn't really work.