Calling All Cowgirls!

My daughter caught Beverly Garland in Gunslinger (1956, above) yesterday (on broadcast TV!) and loved it. She thought Beverly was about the coolest thing ever — which, of course, she is. She also thought her horse was pretty.

Blake Lucas suggested Johnny Guitar (1954) as a followup, and I thought of Hellfire (1949, below).

By then, this was looking like something we could all have fun with. So, while I have the opportunity to turn my little girl into a (cap) pistol-packing 50s Western fan, let’s program a 12-year-old girl’s 50s Western Film Festival. Put your picks in a comment.

You know, maybe it’s time 50 Westerns From The 50s had a guest blogger.

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Happy Birthday, Sterling Hayden.

Sterling Hayden
(March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986)

Let’s remember one of my favorite actors on what would’ve been his 97th birthday.

The fact that Hayden claimed he was acting only because the money was good, and would support his love of sailing, didn’t keep him from making some great films — The Asphalt Jingle (1950), Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar (1954), The Killing (1956), Dr. Strangelove (1964),  The Godfather (1972), etc. — and appearing in a string of medium-budget 50s Westerns like Gun Battle At Monterey (1957). What a fascinating man he was. His books, the autobiography Wanderer and novel Voyage, are still in print.

He’s seen above in Gun Battle At Monterey with Lee Van Cleef and Ted de Corsia. What casts some of these cheap things had!

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The Longboards: Theme From Johnny Guitar.

Here’s The Longboards, a Surf band from Bilbao, Spain, doing a beautiful cover of Peggy Lee and Victor Young’s theme from Johnny Guitar (1954). The Norwegian band The Spotnicks released a great version of this back in 1962.

And since we’re on the subject of Johnny Guitar, here’s an interview with Ernest Borgnine where he brings it up.

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What Fox Title Do You Want On Blu-ray?

Hop over to the Home Theater Forum for a chance to vote for what classic titles you’d like to see Fox release on Blu-ray.

Arranged by decade — the Thirties through the Sixties — you’ve got some good stuff to choose from. 50s Westerns are represented by Broken Lance (1954), The Tall Men (1955), The True Story Of Jesse James (1956) and The Bravados (1958). I’m sorry to say they’re all getting smoked by The Desk Set (1957). So get out and vote — you can vote in every decade every day — let’s give The Bravados a fighting chance.

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The 3:10 To Yuma (1957) Pulls Into The Library Of Congress.

Blake Lucas pointed this out, and it’s certainly worth highlighting here — 3:10 To Yuma (1957) has been added to the National Film Registry by the Library Of Congress.

It’s the seventh 50s Western to make the Registry, the others being High Noon (1952), Shane (1953), The Naked Spur (1953), Johnny Guitar (1954), The Searchers (1956) and The Tall T (1957). While you can maybe argue the titles (I would’ve gone with Winchester ’73), you certainly can’t complain about the directors they’ve chosen to honor.

So when’s Rio Bravo (1959) gonna get in there?

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Happy Birthday, Jeffrey Hunter.

Jeffrey Hunter (Henry Herman “Hank” McKinnies)
(November 25, 1926 – May 27, 1969)

Today let’s remember Jeffrey Hunter, an actor whose career was cut way too short. He’s seen above, at right, as Frank James in Nicholas Ray’s The True Story Of Jesse James (1956). He’s excellent in this underrated film.

Western fans also know him for his strong performance in John Ford’s The Searchers (also 1956). Not many actors could threaten John Wayne and not get laughed off the screen.

He was in the first Star Trek pilot.

And he played Jesus in Ray’s King Of Kings (1961) — he’s parlayed the role in my mind’s eye ever since. Another Nick Ray movie that doesn’t get its due.

There’s also The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), The Longest Day (1962) and many others. A remarkable body of work for someone who passed away at just 42.

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Screening: The Badlanders (1958) and Johnny Guitar (1954).

The Egyptian and Aero Theatres have organized Ernie: A Tribute To The Great Ernest Borgnine — August 16-19 — and the first night features The Badlanders (1958) and Johnny Guitar (1954).

The lineup is really strong — it includes The Wild Bunch (1969) and Emperor Of The North Pole (1973) — but it would take many, many night to really cover this man’s incredible body of work.

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50s Westerns DVD News #87A: Johnny Guitar Update.

A number of recent posts have pondered what the Olive DVD and Blu-ray of Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar might be like. DVD Beaver has reviewed the Blu-ray, answering many of our questions along the way.

• The Sedona, Arizona scenery appears behind the titles, which is how it played theaters.

• It’s presented 1.33:1, which is how it’s often seen, though it was shot for cropped widescreen presentation (up to 1.85). If it bothers you, the zoom feature on your HDTV should take care of that.

• It includes the “appreciation” by Martin Scorsese, who loves the film.

As you can tell here, frame grabs from it are quite impressive. Order with confidence, folks!

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From The 50s Westerns Department Of Useless Knowledge.

Kit Parker and I were going back and forth about Johnny Guitar (1954) recently. He brought up that when his company distributed 16mm films for Republic, the Johnny Guitar prints had Arizona scenery behind the titles, while the restored 35mm prints did not. (Martin Scorsese had a hand in the restoration, by the way.)

Did a little looking, and there it was. You can find anything on the Internet. Wonder what the story is on this?

Thanks to Kit Parker for giving me something to obsess about today.

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Colin on Johnny Guitar (1954).

Colin over at Riding The High Country recently posted a great writeup on Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar (1954). Be sure to read it.

With a Blu-ray of Johnny Guitar coming from Olive in August, I’m getting excited about seeing the picture again (it’s been almost a year). It’s one of those films that, as Colin points out, shows us something each time we see it. A friend once described it as “the damnedest thing I ever saw” — a concise and completely accurate appraisal.

Any Western where Frank Ferguson and Ward Bond are in a group of vigilantes lead by Mercedes McCambridge has to have its merits.

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