Posted in 1952, 1954, 1956, 1959, Barbara Stanwyck, Howard Hawks, John Sturges, Kirk Douglas, Making Movies, Mara Corday, Republic, Rex Allen, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers on February 25, 2013 | 7 Comments »
Rex Allen and Roy Rogers, somewhere on the Republic lot.
Mara Corday studies the Raw Edge (1956) screenplay.
Donna Reed and Richard Widmark at work on Backlash (1956). That’s John Sturges obscured in the ball cap.
Howard Hawks shows Kirk Douglas how to do a fight scene for The Big Sky (1952).
Ronald Reagan and Barbara Stanwyck discuss the arms situation on the set of Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954).
Satchel Paige and Robert Mitchum shoot the breeze between takes on The Wonderful Country (1959).
Posted in 1950, Anthony Quinn, Barbara Stanwyck, DVD reviews, releases, TV, etc. on February 14, 2013 | 1 Comment »
The word is that hundreds of Criterion titles will be available on Hulu for free over the weekend. There are some very, very great films in that list — from Wages Of Fear (1953) to Kubrick’s The Killing (1956) to Le Cercle Rouge (1970) and beyond.
One I’d particularly recommend is Anthony Mann’s The Furies (1950) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston (in his last role).
Posted in 1957, Barbara Stanwyck, Festivals, screenings, Sam Fuller on August 23, 2012 | 7 Comments »
August 12th would’ve been Samuel Fuller’s 100th birthday, and the Aero in Santa Monica is paying tribute with three double bills. Friday’s is The Shock Corridor (1963) and Forty Guns (1957). Just seeing the title sequence on a big screen is worth price of admission.
Sorry about the short notice, but things move fast with Fuller.
Friday, August 24
7:30pm
Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403
“It’s not even really a Western. I don’t know what it is… Forty Guns doesn’t care.” — Martin Scorsese.
Posted in Barbara Stanwyck on July 16, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Barbara Stanwyck
July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990
If there was a Queen of 50s Westerns, it’d be Miss Barbara Stanwyck. Just look at the titles: The Furies (1950), The Moonlighter (1953), Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954), The Violent Men (1955), The Maverick Queen (1956), Trooper Hook (1957) and Forty Guns (1957).
Of making Westerns, she said, “Oh, I love to do them. I just love to do them.”
Posted in 1950, 1951, 1957, 1958, Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Marquis Warren, DVD reviews, releases, TV, etc., Joel McCrea, Marie Windsor, MGM, Universal (-International) on May 1, 2012 | 15 Comments »
Turner Classic Movies is handing Wednesdays to Joel McCrea all through May. And they’re offering up some really good stuff.
There’s great pictures like Sullivan’s Travels (1941) and Foreign Correspondent (1940), lots of ‘em. And there’s a heavy helping of Westerns, too.
The 50s Westerns scheduled are: Stars In My Crown (1950), which is not really a Western, but that’s OK; The Outriders (1950), which has a great part for James Whitmore; The Tall Stranger (1957), a hard-to-find ‘Scope Louis L’Amour adaptation co-starring Virginia Mayo and Michael Pate; Fort Massacre (1958), with McCrea knocking an Ethan Edwards-type role out of the park; Trooper Hook (1957) which co-stars Barbara Stanwyck; and two of McCrea’s Universal Westerns, Frenchie (1950) and Cattle Drive (1951).
You’ll find the full details here. I can’t think of an actor more deserving of this kind of attention.
Posted in 1953, 1955, 1957, Barbara Stanwyck, Bel-Air Productions, Ben Johnson, DVD reviews, releases, TV, etc., Joel McCrea, Lesley Selander, Sterling Hayden on August 16, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Another announcement from the MGM Classics Collection, this one with a release date of “late September.” The titles include:
The Dalton Girls (1957) is a Bel-Air picture directed by Reginald Le Borg.
Top Gun (1955) stars Sterling Hayden and John Dehner. It was directed, on a tiny budget, by Ray Nazarro.
Trooper Hook (1957), from Charles Marquis Warren, has a great cast: Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck and John Dehner.
Valerie (1957), directed by Gerd Oswald, stars Sterling Hayden and Anita Eckberg. The underrated Oswald does a good job handling the picture’s complex, Rashomon-ish flashback structure.
War Paint (1953) packs plenty of action into its 89 minutes — just what you expect from Lesley Selander. It stars Robert Stack, Joan Taylor and Charles McGraw.
Also coming: Five Guns To Tombstone (1961) and one Ben Johnson fans have been waiting for, Grayeagle (1978).
Posted in 1956, Barbara Stanwyck, Joe Kane, Republic on March 15, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The Maverick Queen (1956) paired Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan (a year before Sam Fuller’s Forty Guns). For Republic, this was a pretty lavish picture — color, widescreen and location work in Silverton, Colorado.
From the New York Times review on June 4, 1956:”The Maverick Queen introduces Republic’s wide screen process, called Naturama. Republic reportedly spent two years developing this anamorphic system. (Its projection aspect ratio of 2.35 to 1 is somewhat narrower than that of CinemaScope). Thus equipped, the film has plenty of room to show, in color, the wide open spaces of Colorado, where it was made. But The Maverick Queen shows also that Republic, too, has recognized the growth of the screen—sideways. For the film is an old horse opera in still another technological dress.”
It’s ironic, and a bit sad, that since its original release, Naturama’s maiden voyage has been seen only via terrible pan and scan transfers.
Director Joe Kane: “The studio was scraping the bottom of the barrel to get a big moneymaker and they finally let me have color and Naturama and Barbara Stanwyck… It was a real pleasure to work with a grand trouper like Missy. She’d do anything, and you had to darn-near hogtie her to keep her from breaking her neck on a dangerous stunt.” (From Close Up: The Contract Director, Scarecrow Press, 1976)
There are similar stories of Miss Stanwyck being repeatedly drug by her horse for Forty Guns‘ sandstorm sequence.
