Hot.

I tend to think of things in terms of movies. Several times a day, real life suggests something in some film I’ve seen at some point.

Temperatures have been through the roof here in Raleigh the last few days. Walking across a parking lot today, I was reminded of John Wayne carrying little Robert William Pedro Hightower to safety in Three Godfathers (1948). Ford and Winton Hoch do a masterful job of conveying the oppressive heat and desolation of the desert. In a Christmas movie!

Now, on to something else, because even thinking about Three Godfathers will choke me up!

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Happy Birthday, Ward Bond.

Ward Bond
April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960

Here’s Ward Bond, John Wayne and Dorothy Jordan in John Ford’s The Searchers (1956), a great way to mark Bond’s birthday. This is one of the best written, directed and acted scenes you’ll ever see.

Not sure what I’ll watch in tribute to Bond tonight. There are so many great things.

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Opening Day 2018.

Yesterday was Opening Day for Major League Baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers got the season off to a disappointing start with a loss to the San Francisco Giants. What a kingsize drag.

It’s a tradition here at 50 Westerns Of The 50s to commemorate baseball’s return with this glorious shot of John Ford in Monument Valley, sporting a Dodgers cap. Play ball!

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50s Westerns Apparel News: Directed By John Ford T-Shirt.

Came across this the other day: John Ford’s screen credit from The Searchers (1956) emblazoned across the front of a t-shirt.

This is a very, very cool thing. If this blog had a uniform, this might be it.

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The 136th Anniversary Of The Gunfight At The O.K. Corral.

The gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place 136 years ago today — around 3 PM to be exact, as Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday took on a group of outlaws called the Cowboys.

Over the years, it’s spawned some terrific movies, from Allan Dwan’s Frontier Marshal (1939) to John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946) to John Sturges’ Gunfight At The O.K. Corral (1957, above) to Tombstone (1993).

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Let’s Go, Dodgers!

Here’s John Ford, Monument Valley and a Dodgers cap, wishing the Los Angeles Dodgers continued success in the World Series.

This is one of my favorite photos to have ever appeared on this blog, and I’m happy for the opportunity to post it again.

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Happy Birthday, Vera Miles.

Vera June Miles
(Born August 23, 1929)

In a film filled with one incredible image after another, this is one of my favorites. So when I realized this was Vera Miles’ birthday, there was nothing else that would do. Of course that’s a frame from John Ford’s The Searchers (1956). Ford can somehow say more in a single frame than others can get in an entire feature.

Vera Miles appears in a few of the finest films ever made: The Searchers, Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Not a bad run, huh? (Wichita ain’t too shabby, either.)

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