Re: [DL] Movie recommendations

[mcellis@umich.edu]

> On Wed, May 22, 2002 at 07:48:58AM -0400, Brett Dixon said:
> > So anyway, what other movies do people recommend?

John Wayne films: Pretty much all of his Westerns are worthwhile films but 
some of his later films  are more in line with Deadlands

Searchers- Classic John Ford Western with beautiful shots of the western 
landscape.
Stagecoach- Classic John Ford again, the film that gave John Wayne his 
stardom.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance- Classic John Ford yet again, a great 
western loaded with classic western character actors, also stars Jimmy 
Stewart.

The Shootist- Great character study of a dying Gunfighter who has outlasted 
his time.
Big Jake- Which is set in the very early 1900's a little late for 
Deadlands, but easy to extrapolate back a few years. Besides being a good 
later John Wayne Western, it has some pretty cool Mad Sciencey type tech in 
it. A very early motorcycle riding after horses and the Posse chasing after 
the Bad guys in rickety early automobiles. And a prototype Bergman 
Automatic pistol in a spring-loaded holster.
El Dorado- the rest of the cast shines with Robert Mitchum as a drunken 
sheriff and a young James Caan as Gambler sidekick Mississippi.
The War Wagon- Cool armored stagecoach heist and Kirk Douglas as well

Other John Wayne Westerns worth seeing:
Rooster Cogburn- the True Grit Sequel
Hondo
The Train Robbers
Cahill US Marshal

Other Good Hollywood Westerns:
Classic Westerns
High Noon- Gary Cooper
Gunfight at the OK Corral- Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday played by Burt 
Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.
Shane- Good classic western
The Virginian- Smile when you say that.

Newer Hollywood Westerns
The Wild Bunch- Sam Peckinpah delivers his patented style of beautifully 
filmed violence. For Deadlands it also has the moral ambiguity of the 
spaghetti westerns, and has the tech of pump shotguns, machine guns and 
automobiles mixed with horses, peacemakers and winchesters in this bloody 
and ultraviolent western.

Hombre- Very good movie, Paul Newman as a half-breed Apache and member of 
the reservation police, on a stagecoach traveling through the southwest. 
Explores some of the racism in the Old West.

The Professionals- Four western adventurers hired by a rich man to go into 
Mexico and retrieve his "kidnapped" wife. Stars Lee Marvin and Burt 
Lancaster. The demolitions expert is particularly interesting character 
given the Deadlands players propensity for dynamite.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid- Wonderful movie with classic lines. 
Paul Newman and Robert Redford star.

The Crooked Man- Kirk Douglas stars as a charming criminal sent to the 
Territorial prison in Yuma and Henry Fonda is the former marshal turned 
warden. Great characters and shows a western outlaw using his charm and 
brains rather then his pistols. Also interesting location of the Prison in 
the middle of the desert.

Silverado- Terrific western by Lawrence Kasdan, see this movie. Has great 
lines, plenty of good action and some really great characters. John Cleese 
as a transplanted Englishman as sheriff is fantastic. And that is just one 
of the great characters in Silverado, again see this movie.

Rustlers Rhapsody- cool send up parody of the singing cowboy westerns.

Grim Prairie Tales- A western horror movie that is an anthology of tales, 
told by two characters around a campfire in the middle of the desert. James 
Earl Jones is terrific as a wild, western bounty hunter, tale teller. Only 
two of the four stories are really Horrific or Deadlands. But the two 
storytellers are great characters.

Blind Justice- This is a western remake of two Samurai movie series, 
Zatoichi and Lone Wolf and Cub. The main character played by Armand Assante 
is a near- supernaturally skilled gunfighter named Cannan, left nearly 
blinded by the Civil War. He carries a baby with him, a baby that he 
promised to return to her mother after he killed her father. He wanders 
into a stand off between U.S. Cavalry officers assigned to deliver a 
shipment of silver hold up in a church and a group of ruthless Banditos. 
This movie has got it all cool atmosphere, morally bankrupt folks, great 
lines and scenes. And a truly well played and memorable main character.

Gunfighter's Moon- This is worth seeing just for Lance Henriksen's 
portrayal of a grizzled gunfighter. Check out some of the awesome overawe 
moments in this film.

Posse- A modern look a African-American cowboys and outlaws. Harkens back 
to some of the blacksploitation films (mainly with all the old 
blacksploitation  actors that have bit parts in it.) But it is a lot of 
fun, has a lot of style, quite a few cool characters, and covers a lot of 
distance. From Cuba, to New Orleans, to the western frontier.

Unforgiven- Clint Eastwood does it again in this modern classic.

Spaghetti Westerns:
Duck you Suckers- Sergio Leone film about an IRA explosive expert (James 
Coburn) on the run in Mexico meets an amoral Mexican bandit (Rod Steiger), 
and they get sucked up into the Mexican revolution. Great Leone/Morricone 
Western. And like most Spaghetti westerns the timeline of available 
technology is a bit looser then  Hollywood so motorcycles, armored cars and 
machine guns play a roll. Great fun,  the movie it is sometimes called by 
an alternate title "Fist Full of Dynamite"

Django- Sergio Corbucci film staring Franco Nero as a gunfighter who drags 
a coffin behind him. The coffin, his dark coat, and the mystique around him 
make him appear like an angel of death. And wait till you see what's in the 
coffin. Very cool and stylish movie.

The Great silence- Sergio Corbucci film about outlaws hiding out in the 
snowbound Utah mountains. But the outlaws are the good guys and the bad 
guys are bounty hunters lead by Loco (Klaus Kinski), the main character is 
a mute gunfighter named Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant) hired to kill the 
bounty hunters. The bleak winter landscape and near constant snow set this 
film apart from the standard dusty southwest atmosphere of other spaghetti 
westerns.

Keoma- Enzo Castellari film staring Franco Nero as a half-breed gunfighter. 
Good cast and slow motion shootout scenes.

They call me Trinity & Trinity is still my Name- Both star Terence Hill and 
Bud Spencer both are very fun comedic spaghetti westerns worth seeing.

Good Western already mentioned:
The Quick & the Dead
Quigley Down Under
Pale Rider
Hang 'em High
High Planes Drifter
Fist Full of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Two Mules for Sister Sara
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Outlaw Josey Wales