Marie Harmon
October 21, 1923 – January 25, 2021
Marie Harmon, who was under contract at Republic in the late 40s, has passed away at 97.
She was in pictures like Night Time In Nevada (1948) with Roy Rogers and The El Paso Kid (1946) with Sunset Carson.
Her daughter Cherie Currie was a member of the band The Runaways.
Yep, saw Miss Harmon at a Memphis film festival several years back. She joined in for a 16mm screening of that Sunset Carson film, and related a lot of little memories of her work in westerns. Great fun.
The festival used to bring in so many actresses who worked in b-westerns, often like Harmon, whose careers and filmographies weren’t always that big or prominent. But they were all so pleasant and served up a wealth of fascinating anecdotes regarding their film experiences. I really relished talking to such folks, and it saddens me that they are all pretty much gone now, and we no longer have that little link available to us.
Yes, it’s a real shame that these folks are leaving us. All of the folks I met were a joy to be around. A friend and I had a great time with John Agar at one those shows.
Sad to hear that another link to the “Golden Age” has passed away.
MARIE HARMON R.I.P.
Going off the dusty trail I would like to ask our UK friends if they’ve seen THE BRIDGES AT TOKO RI on TV.Apparently there is a short scene at the end where a small group of North Korean peasants approaches Brubaker as he hides in the ditch.He tries to get them back to safety in case they are regarded as hostile but he’s too late and they are shot up.It was probably deleted as US audiences would not have liked to see civilans being shot.Willian Holden agreed to do the film only if his character was killed.Imprint BLU RAY releases the film this month.
Graham, THE BRIDGES AT TOKO RI(1954) out on Blu-ray is good news. Is it an all-region release, or just region 4? Also, does Imprint specify whether the aspect ratio is in 1.37:1 or 1.85:1?
That is interesting about the scene that was shot showing North Korean civilians being shot. Also, that UK tele viewers saw this version, but we didn’t here in the USA. I first saw this excellent movie on the NBC TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES in 1965. BBC ONE telecast this movie in 1976 and 1978 and BBC TWO in the early 2000’s, so maybe someone remembers.
Getting back on the the dusty, buxy trail so to speak. Our UK friends were able to view Howard Hughes’ THE OUTLAW(filmed 1940-41, released 1943) on BBC ONE in 1965 and 1967. As far as I know the famous/infamous THE OUTLAW was never given a network television premiere here in the USA and I don’t think it was shown on local TV until after Hughes’ death in 1976. I never viewed it on a local TV station. I had never viewed it, until I bought a cheap VHS tape in the late 1980’s.
Does anyone remember viewing THE OUTLAW on local TV before it came out on VHS in the 1980’s? Also, for that matter, has anyone ever seen THE OUTLAW on the big screen?
Walter,it does not say what the aspect ratio is .It does say a 1080 p presentation of the film on BLU RAY.You can check it out on Imprint’s web site.
One thing about doing movie commentaries on Blu Ray releases,you
can always count on some sad jerk picking you up on something you had missed. Managed to finally track down RAGE from Imprint that has a stellar
Toby commentary and the transfer is fine too. While the credits roll at the
start of the film the print seems to be in bad shape,lots of imperfections,but
once the film starts everything’s OK.
RAGE (1966) is not a Western,I guess at a stretch you could call it a
“Neo Western” in fact it’s no more a Western than say INFERNO or EDGE
OF ETERNITY ‘though arguably both films have Western elements.
I enjoyed RAGE very much and Toby’s commentary is incredibly well
researched.
Toby gives a check list of Durango filmed Westerns and The Duke’s
support for the territory. The only title Toby missed was my beloved
CATTLE ANNIE & LITTLE BRITCHES,in fact Walter is the only person I’ve
come across that loves this movie as much as I do.
According to imdb while they were filming “Cattle Annie” The Duke passed
away and the cast and crew held a minutes silence-in fact at one time
The Duke was intended to take the Lancaster part,as it happens it turned out
to be Burt’s final Western.
If I remember right, I took Cattle Annie off the list for timing reasons. It’s long and I was focusing on Duke a bit.
Glad you liked the commentary. That movie is pretty powerful stuff. I really liked it. Both Glenn Ford and Stella Stevens are terrific in it.
Yes,I was glad to get the Imprint Blu Ray and as you say
the two leads are wonderful.
I consider RAGE to be far superior to Glenn’s late 60’s Westerns with the
possible exception of HEAVEN WITH A GUN.,
CATTLE ANNIE & LITTLE BRITCHES was filmed on John Wayne’s Durango ranch according to IMDB.I remember the crew holding a minutes silence when Wayne passed away.I also remember Wayne suggesting to Lancaster that they make a western together.Lancaster laughed off the idea suggesting they would need Kirk Douglas to star as well.Lancaster would not work with Wayne because of his involvememt in the McCarthy witch hunts.
I also enjoyed Kino’s newly remastered Blu Ray of Aldrich’s APACHE.
The “Happy Ending” certainly does detract from the film and was imposed by
the studio over Aldrich and Lancaster’s wishes.
Interesting that Jean Peters had such an intense dislike for Lancaster which
Aldrich and indeed Peters thought contributed to her wonderful performance.
APACHE is an interesting Western and was at one time going to be a
Joseph Losey project,Losey directing a Western is certainly something to
comtemplate.
I came across an interesting Aldrich interview from “Movie” magazine 1963
where Aldrich voiced his admiration for Kubrick’s PATHS OF GLORY and his
dislike for CHINA GATE…”a grotesque film” Movie magazine considered a
Fuller hero could only be an Aldrich anti hero.