jtchance-561-580378 Reviews

The Law and Jake Wade (1958)

Attention hondo551. The reason no score was credited......

[9/10 · 25 April 2024]

In the year 1958 when THE LAW AND JAKE WADE was in post production Hollywood was in the midst of a musician's strike. During this period Alfred Hitchcock had Bernard Herrmann's score for VERTIGO conducted by Laurie Johnson with an English orchestra. MGM in the case of THE LAW AND JAKE WADE opted instead to use canned television cues in lieu of the score Bronislau Kaper wrote for the film. Considering the fact he had earlier scored THEM & THE NAKED SPUR John Sturges's western would have been in good hands. The Robert Surtees cinematography and Richard Widmark's sharp performance alone make this western memorable. Then of course no one staged better gunfights in westerns than John Sturges.

The Hallelujah Trail (1965)

A Disappointment

[4/10 · 18 November 2020]

First let me say that John Sturges made to my mind the best action adventure films of my youth. He was unparalleled in his mastery of brilliantly choreographed action sequences coupled with suspense. Pictures like THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN,THE GREAT ESCAPE, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK,ICE STATION ZEBRA,,GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL & LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL were highlights of the 1950's and 1960's cinema. THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL was an attempt at a comic western. The problem here is it just isn't funny. The cast is exceptional in casting but down to the last performer terrible in execution. Burt Lancaster who could make me laugh every time I watched VERA CRUZ ,THE CRIMSON PIRATE orTHE FLAME AND THE ARROW here gives a flat performance that didn't make me smile once. The four stars I gave this film were for the beautiful cinematography by Robert Surtees and a superb score by Elmer Bernstein.

The Proud Ones (1956)

Good western that seems like an earlier version of RIO BRAVO

[10/10 · 25 September 2020]

Robert D. Webb does a serviceable job directing a script that Edmund H.(Patton,The Day The Earth Stood Still) contributed to. What I found intriguing was the billing. Robert Middleton got a solo co-starring credit where Walter Brennan with as much screen time got also starring instead. It makes me wonder whether Brennan was a last minute cast addition. Robert Ryan and Jeffrey Hunter who late would play John The Baptist and Jesus Christ in Nicholas Ray's epic KING OF KINGS make a terrific Marshal and deputy. Great final shootout.

Cimarron Strip (1967–1968)

The best network western series IMO.

[10/10 · 3 December 2019]

For my money no other western achieved as much as this show. Each show without commercials ran one hour and seventeen minutes. Each show felt like a well budgeted studio movie. The writing was rich with strong characterization. The casting of Stuart Whitman as Jim Crown gave gave us a well rounded performance of a man who is trying to hold the line in an impossible situation. Sworn to keep the peace between potential homesteaders and ranchers who want government land for their private grazing Crown and his deputies with little help from the army have a tough road to hoe. There was a greater amount of location photography used in comparison say GUNSMOKE definitely raising the production values. The guest stars like Richard Boone, Robert Duvall,John Saxon Telly Savalas, Warren Oates, Jon Voight and Steve Forrest all turned in superior performances. The music in the pilot and the main title was by film composer Maurice Jarre. A later episode even had an incredible score by Bernard Herrmann and a script by Harlan Ellison! This show only went one season but I prefer it to the nine seasons of the other ninety minute western THE VIRGINIAN which at times seemed bloated to me.

You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)

Great teaming of Curtis and Bronson but.....

[7/10 · 9 November 2019]

Has anyone noticed how similar the plot line of this movies the earlier classic western VERA CRUZ? Tony Curtis has the Gary Cooper role and Charles Bronson is the mercenary leader earlier play by Burt Lancaster. Curiously Charles Buchinsky (Bronson) was one of Burt.'s gang in the original version. Most of the plot elements are repeated with the mercenaries detailed to ostensibly guard a woman on a journey to cover a gold shipment. The only significant change is the ending with both leads surviving.

A Kiss Before Dying (1956)

A Great Thriller Curiously Disowned.

[9/10 · 16 July 2019]

An intricate murder plot stemming from an unplanned pregnancy disguised as suicide is the core of 1956's A KISS BEFORE DYING. From all the credits involved one would think this was a Twentieth Century Fox production. The producer was Robert L. Jacks. The cinematography was by Lucien Ballard. The music was by Lionel Newman. All three gentlemen at the time were under contract at Fox. The same went for the four leads Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Joanne Woodward and Virginia Leigh. I can find no documentation but I wouldn't be surprised if Darryl Zanuck had been instructed to farm out the movie to United Artists. That might have come from the Fox chairman of the board Spyros Skouras who had a personal tragedy that mirrored the central situation of the plot.