Spring Film Class: Lost Westerns At The 92nd Street Y.

New York’s 92nd Street Y is hosting a class on Westerns of the 50s. Hosted by Kurt Brokaw, Associate Teaching Professor at The New School and senior film critic of The Independent magazine, it’s got a really terrific roster of films. The classes are Tuesday nights, beginning April 14, with two films each night.

Man, I wish I could get to this.

Week 1
Broken Lance (1954) Directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Richard Widmark, Katy Jurado
The Badlanders (1956) Directed by Delmer Daves, starring Alan Ladd, Ernest Borgnine, Katy Jurado

Week 2
Saddle The Wind (1958) Directed by Robert Parrish, starring Robert Taylor, Julie London, John Cassavetes
Dawn At Socorro (1954) Directed by George Sherman, starring Rory Calhoun and Piper Laurie

Week 3
Pillars Of The Sky (1956) Directed by George Marshall, starring Jeff Chandler, Dorothy Malone, Ward Bond, Lee Marvin
Backlash (1956) Directed by John Sturges, starring Richard Widmark, Donna Reed, William Campbell, John McIntire

Week 4
Ride Clear Of Diablo (1954) Directed by Jesse Hibbs, starring Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, Susan Cabot
The Outriders (1950) Directed by Roy Rowland, starring Joel McCrea, Arlene Dahl, James Whitmore, Barry Sullivan

Week 5
Back To God’s Country (1953) Directed by Joseph Pevney, starring Rock Hudson, Marcia Henderson, Steve Cochran, Hugh O’Brien
Black Horse Canyon (1954) Directed by Jesse Hibbs, starring Joel McCrea and Mari Blanchard

Week 6
Seven Men From Now (1956) Directed by Budd Boetticher, starring Randolph Scott, Gail Russell, Lee Marvin, Walter Reed
Gun Fury (1953) Directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Rock Hudson, Donna Reed, Philip Carey, Lee Marvin

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Screening: Ride Lonesome (1959) And Comanche Station (1960) At The New Beverly.

Announcing screenings like this feels like torture sometimes, being that they’re over 2,000 miles from here.

In what is probably a birthday salute to Randolph Scott, The New Beverly is running 35mm prints of the last two entries in the Ranown cycle, Ride Lonesome (1959) and Comanche Station (1960) on January 25 and 26. Being that these are the two pictures that Budd Boetticher and director of photography Charles Lawton, Jr. shot in CinemaScope, that’s great news indeed.

And while we’re on the subject, the Blogathon For Randolph Scott is approaching – and there’s some good stuff in the works.

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Screening: The Cowboy And The Indians (1949) At The Autry.

Two Gene Autry pictures, Sunset In Wyoming (1941) and The Cowboy And The Indians (1949), will be screened at The Autry in Griffith Park on December 27 at noon. What makes this a big deal is that The Cowboy And The Indians features Gene singing his song “Here Comes Santa Claus.” It’s a real solid Autry movie all around.

I’m working on an article on the film for ClassicFlix.com, and have really enjoyed digging into in the last week or so.

Now if someone would run Trail Of Robin Hood (1950)!

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Wild Bill Wednesday #8: Hellfire (1949) Screening.

This is something I’ve been wanting to put together for a very, very long time. Hellfire (1949) will run at Brooks Avenue Church Of Christ here in Raleigh, NC on January 20, 2015.

First, I shopped around for a 16mm print, but what I found was either black & white or the color’d turned pink. Then I figured I’d wait for a DVD or Blu-ray from Olive Films. No luck there, as it dropped off their release schedule. So I finally decided to go with the best-looking material I could find.

Elliott considered Hellfire his best film (he was one of the producers), and Marie Windsor always listed it as a personal favorite (along with The Narrow Margin and The Killing). Who am I to argue? It’s one of my favorite Westerns, a movie that gets better every time I see it.

Believe it or not, Republic sometimes paired Hellfire with Brimstone (1949), a Rod Cameron Western.

Thanks to Jim Briggs for designing the flyer.

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Screening(s): A Weekend Of Wayne.

The Cary, a newly-renovated theater in downtown Cary (naturally), North Carolina, has put together a weekend of John Wayne pictures, which includes many of his best. If anybody’s planning on going to some of these, let me know.

All of a sudden, I’m kinda glad I live here.

The Searchers (1956)
Thursday, November 6, 7 PM

Donovan’s Reef (1963)
Thursday, November 6, 9:30 PM

Rio Bravo (1959)
Friday, November 7, 7 PM

Stagecoach (1939)
Friday, November 7, 9:30 PM

Red River (1948)
Saturday, November 8, 7 PM

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Saturday, November 8, 9:30 PM

The Alamo (1960)
Sunday, November 9, 2 PM

The Cary
122 E. Chatham Street
Cary, NC 27511
(919) 462-2051

Thanks for the tip, Jennifer.

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Screening: Gun Crazy (1949).

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Starring Peggy Cummings and John Dall

Okay, so it’s not a Western, it wasn’t made in the 50s and I’m giving you absolutely no time to make plans. It’s tomorrow.

But it’s Gun Crazy (1949). In 35mm. Here in Raleigh at the art museum.

We’ve sung the praises of Joseph H. Lewis on this blog many, many times: A Lawless Street (1955), Seventh Cavalry (1956), Terror In A Texas Town (1959), etc. Then there’s The Big Combo (1955) and The Rifleman. But it’s Gun Crazy (1949) he’s remembered for. Which is fine. It’s terrific from frame one to the final fade, and there’s that single-shot bank robbery that’s one of the coolest film sequences ever. (That’s Lewis with Dall and Cummings below.)

If you have a chance and you’re around here, go see it.

And to give you a bit more warning, next Friday it’s Nicholas Ray’s great On Dangerous Ground (1952).

Thanks for the tip, Beth!

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Screening: Colorado Territory (1949) In San Francisco.

This one’s cool, folks. A 35mm print of Colorado Territory (1949) will run at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center For The Arts on Sunday, July 27 as part of their Invasion Of The Cinemaniacs series.

I don’t know about you, but Raoul Walsh’s Colorado Territory is one of my favorite Westerns. It’s the movie that made me go nuts over Joel McCrea. And Virginia Mayo is absolutely wonderful in it.

Jonathan Knapp, who looks at this blog on occasion, is the cinemaniac who picked it. Boy, do I wish I could get to this one.

And another thing: I’ve been waiting months to use that artwork (above)!

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