tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post2650680588348403376..comments2024-03-27T21:42:56.131-05:00Comments on 1001plus: Hard to Shoot 'Em Like ThatSJHoneywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-53139118710194645152017-02-09T20:12:02.180-06:002017-02-09T20:12:02.180-06:00It's interesting and worth your time. Stewart ...It's interesting and worth your time. Stewart is very good in Westerns in general, and he's quite good here. The plot isn't that exceptional, but it's handled very well. SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-62865980467642295962017-02-09T16:50:49.779-06:002017-02-09T16:50:49.779-06:00I've heard that Jimmy Stewart, when asked whic...I've heard that Jimmy Stewart, when asked which of his career projects was his favorite, he cited "The Six-Shooter." It was a radio series he did for a short time, just one season I think, so there's only around 25 episodes. He played Brit Ponsett, a gunman traveling the West at random and finding an old friend in trouble in every town he went to. And the problem was just as likely to involve finding a judge for the apple pie contest as it was to be a situation involving any gunplay.<br /><br />One of my favorite old-time radio series. If it's true that Stewart said it was his favorite project, I can definitely see why.<br /><br />I've never seen Broken Arrow.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17921029597363212734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-20777601587283062762017-02-05T13:14:11.035-06:002017-02-05T13:14:11.035-06:00My only objection to Jeff Chandler as Cochise is t...My only objection to Jeff Chandler as Cochise is that Jeff Chandler was a Jewish kid from Brooklyn. He's actually pretty good in the role (good enough for a Supporting Actor nomination) and respectful with it. I haven't seen <i>Taza</i>, but I have seen Rock Hudson in <i>Winchester '73</i>, so I get the point. <br /><br />Stewart's natural persona does fit well with the genre. There's something about the way he speaks and that lanky frame that makes him work in the saddle and look good in a cowboy hat. That he could just as easily pull off <i>The Philadelphia Story</i> and similar films just speaks to how versatile he really was. SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-44141343780068814222017-02-05T12:22:45.653-06:002017-02-05T12:22:45.653-06:00I can see your point about the oddity of Jimmy Ste...I can see your point about the oddity of Jimmy Stewart as a Western star. At first glance especially based on the films of his youth he would seem too much of a city boy to make it work but he was able to relax into the genre in a way other stars of the period couldn't. <br /><br />For instance both Cary Grant and Lizabeth Scott were too cosmopolitan to ever make sense on the range. Grant for the most part was wise enough to know it and stay away, his two forays into period films, The Howards of Virginia and the excruciating The Pride and the Passion-where he would have seemed ideal but wasn't-he was stiff as a board and totally out of place. Lizabeth Scott, a star with far less autonomy, was cast in two actual Western, Red Mountain and Silver Lode, and for the entirety of both films I couldn't help thinking she'd been plopped down there by some time machine and the smoky nightclub where she belonged was missing their chanteuse to perform her next number and mix it up with the mobsters. They were just too urbane but Stewart's laconic charm and irascibility were more adaptable and his long rangy frame looked right in the saddle.<br /><br />While this film isn't perfect it does try very hard to look at both sides of the argument and treat all its characters fairly which makes it at least a step above most Cowboy & Indian movie of the period. As far as the casting of the two main supporting characters, in Debra Paget's case I'm sure the Production Code played a hand in it since an actual romance between a white man and an Indian woman would have been forbidden under it. With Jeff Chandler his rather unique looks, and his success in this role, often doomed him to play a variety of ethnic roles, and be trapped in junk like Flame of Araby and Yankee Pasha, throughout his career but he was a much better actor than he's given credit for. If you've never seen Man in the Shadow with Orson Welles and he I'd recommend it. If you think he seems miscast as an Indian wait until you see Rock Hudson (!) in the sequel to this Taza, Son of Cochise. He cuts a fine figure but he looks ludicrous. joel65913https://www.blogger.com/profile/14526657073681774683noreply@blogger.com