Happy birthday to Mr. Gregory Peck (1916 – 2003).
Here he is in The Gunfighter (1950) — one of the finest Westerns ever made and a picture that helped set the tone for the many great Westerns that would follow throughout the decade.
That steak sure looks good, even if it’s only half the size of those tossed around in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).
I was about to let this escape me. Luckily, it was brought to my attention.
I like him a lot in ” 1949 “s ” Yellow Sky ” ; Gregory turns back to God’s ways when he encounters a very shapely , young Ann Baxter sporting / wearing skin tight men’s Levi jeans and cowboy boots . ( The first ” jeggings ” in history ? ).
I’m also particularly fond of The Big Country.
A very strong presence in the Western (and generally excellent as in so many of his films). Of the Westerns, as much as I do admire “The Gunfighter”–a key Western of 1950 which influenced so many good Westerns to follow–my favorite is “The Bravados” (1958) by the same director Henry King, who Peck especially liked and vice-versa. That one is underrated. I’m also especially fond of “Yellow Sky” (1948, Wellman), already mentioned by fashionavenger. Of Peck’s later Westerns after the 50s “The Stalking Moon” seems the clear standout, and I know we had some discussion of this one here not too long ago.
I have to say that in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” when Ranse says to Tom “And you would have killed him…over one measly steak!” I always laugh because those have to be the least measly steaks ever served anywhere on the planet.
In a lot of ways, Blake, I prefer The Bravados, but I think The Gunfighter is the better film (and certainly more influential).
The last reel of The Bravados really packs a wallop.
This is one I haven’t watched yet but I won’t let his mustache deter me from watching it 😀 I do love Peck in Westerns, especially Yellow Sky and the Big Country.
Great way and film to celebrate Gregory Peck, Toby. Many thanks for your content and the link love, my friend.
Meant to say leOpard13 that thanks to Toby I followed the link and read all you wrote on Peck Westerns and greatly enjoyed it.
This fact doesn’t seem to be widely known but Gregory Peck not Gary Cooper was the first choice to play Will Kane in HIGH NOON. Peck was offered the role but didn’t like it and felt it was too similar in his view to THE GUNFIGHTER, which he has done only a year or so earlier. Only after Peck turned it down was the character of Will Kane aged and offered to Cooper.