The Westerner

Alcoholic sociopaths of the Ooooooollll’ West! I can’t tell if anything in this oater is true or accurate, but it is mostly a good watch. Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan make an amusing odd couple as a drifter and judge Roy Bean, respectively, who wind up friends, then enemies, and then frenemies on both sides of a range war between cattlemen and homesteaders. The story goes all over the place, from comedy to drama to action and violence to romance and probably a few things I’ve already forgotten, but it mostly holds together under the expert direction of William Wyler. The only quibble is that, even at a standard for its time (1940) length of an hour and forty, the show does run just a bit too long. Nevertheless, the movie delivers a classic quality Western experience, and as such it hits its mark with a sharpshooter's skill. That’s my ruling. 

The Princess and the Pirate

In a way, this flick is astonishing: Bob Hope built a decades-long career out of this crap? It’s hard to believe that people back in the day were willing or able to find most of this sort of hambone shtick funny. Very few of the jokes, verbal or visual, truly hit the mark, and those that do are mostly bits and pieces (or pieces of bits) that were cribbed from funnier acts like the Marx Brothers. The only redeeming features here are a committed performance from Victor McLaglen as the villainous pirate The Hook, in which he hits all the buccaneer tropes with appropriate gusto, and the opportunity to ogle a particularly lovely Virginia Mayo, who looks like a million bucks in this two-bit comedy. You’re much better off watching a real pirate flick (Captain Blood or The Sea Hawk immediately spring to mind) or a superior contemporaneous comedy (The Court Jester would fit the bill) versus dredging your way through this drag. I’ll thank Hope for the memory of him walking the plank for this one. 

To Have and Have Not

Casablanca lite. It's hard not to make the comparison, given that this flick is nearly identical in plot to the ultimate classic, except for its Caribbean setting and the substitution of Lauren Bacall for Ingrid Bergman (a downgrade in my estimation). The side players aren't nearly as memorable here, nor does there seem to be quite as much on the line with this plot. Even Bogart, the ultimate reliable actor, seems a bit flat in his role. There is enough of interest in this outing to make the sum reasonably entertaining; it's just not the rarefied air that other similar films--not just Casablanca but Key Largo as well--were able to achieve.

The Far Country

Like a study in white trash ethnology. You can't watch this film today, with today's frame of mind, without seeing it in those terms. When you see it that way, a lot of this country's history makes a certain amount of sense. There's a real "appeal to violence" that pervades the sensibility of this show. You see it throughtout, like in the character played by James Stewart. Much like in "The Man from Laramie," Stewart plays a guy far removed from the stammering charmer seen in various comedies, not to mention his public persona. He's a flinty son of a bitch who takes the entire running time to learn to stop being a total dick--maybe. And he's supposed to be the good guy. The rest of this crew is either complete knuckle-draggers or their victims. The movie is redeemed somewhat by the plenitude of postcard scenery; Canada's Jasper National Park, standing in for Alaska and the Yukon, never looked so good. Other than that, there isn't much here; the story, such as it is, starts off all right but eventually doesn't hold much interest. If this one gets lost in the wilderness, it's probably not worth sending a search party.

Rio Bravo

Guns, booze, hats, horses, melodrama, violence, murder -- yeah, it's a western, all right. And, in fact, it's a pretty good one. What lifts this flick above the average oater is the chess match aspect of the plot. The strategic back and forth of the plot keeps what is an otherwise very simple story a little more complex and a lot more engaging, even through a long running time. The performances help, too; Dean Martin provides strong work as a man caught in the middle of two conflicts (one of his own making), Ricky Nelson is fine as the young hotshot, and John Wayne is...well, he's John Wayne -- the exact same sui generis performer who made so many movies like this must watch entertainment for a nation of movie-goers. Indeed, part of the appeal here is, from today's perspective, the palpable sense that this is a relic from a bygone country. Everything from the set design to the way people talk and interact in this film speaks about frames of mind that are, at this point, long gone in the past -- and no, not exactly with good riddance, either. Ultimately, this here's a super-satisfying blast from the past that entertains in the moment, and leaves one pondering just what has been left behind.

My Darling Clementine

The key takeaway here is the reminder of how good, how versatile Henry Fonda was as an actor. His Wyatt Earp here covers a lot of range, from calm to courtly to hardass, and all of it seems real and natural. The overall movie suffers from misplaced elements--some of the stabs at humor, including recurring jokes, feel out of place in the broad range of the plot--and that pulls the rating down, despite an otherwise satisfying Western adventure.

To Have and Have Not

I didn't really find myself getting sucked in by this one when I watched it. The story, some humbug about WWII intrigue in the Caribbean, did little to hold my interest. And you know how I feel about Faulkner (one of the screenwriters). So why the positive recommendation? Because you just can't go wrong watching Bogart do his insolent, tough guy shtick. That's always worth a look.