Westerns > 1973 Westerns

Do hero's really wear white hats?

Advantages: The perfect western
Disadvantages: none

High Plains Drifter is a classic western. It has a strong lead character who is the classic gunfighter, cold, emotionless and completely ruthless. It also has a strong supporting cast who again play the classic western towns people, scared, self promoting, submissive and equally ruthless in a passive way, all the classic ingredients. So why is this western so very different to anything else that came before it and after it? In the old days, westerns ...
...used to great effect with High Plains Drifter, however, he took it a stage further and made the audience enter nthe movie in a way unseen before. He made us think about the characters and make our own opinions about them, never more so than with his main character, the stranger, it was as though you were a person living in the town of Lago and like the townsfolk, you knew nothing about the stranger who came to the town other than what you saw. This ...

Blackcat01 05.04.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of High Plains Drifter (DVD)

Peckinpah's brutal vision sees the light of day

Advantages: see the film the way it was meant to be seen
Disadvantages: none

...look at the legend of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released in this new form it adds extra scenes which give more character study although in places it does seem like there are still parts missing. Nevertheless it is a beautifully shot film which due to the subject matter has a sense of inevitable doom about it. The violence that is so much a part of Peckinpah's films is here in its full glory serving to show the true brutality of the Old West. ...

martyn73 04.08.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (Special Edition) (DVD)

Nothing 'plain' about this movie...'

Advantages: Top western, good measure of violence
Disadvantages: None

...mystery is more so in High Plains Drifter as the plot unfurls and we also see elements of the supernatural, which is also witnessed in his later film, Pale Rider. The movie is wonderfully written by Ernest Tidyman, who also brought us Shaft in the seventies. The dialogue is superb, captivating and capturing the essence of all the movies of this genre – tough, clichéd, cheesy and intelligent. It also stars Verna Bloom as Sarah Belding, Billy Curtis ...
...released in 1973 and lasts for 105 minutes. The direction by Eastwood is pretty good, to say it was only his third venture into this field. I caught this movie again recently and found myself instantly captivated. Although I have watched it numerous times, it has been a while since my last viewing. I found it had dated very little in the last thirty-five years. Not like his Dirty Harry movies – which are still good, but certainly dated. This may ...

Borg 11.04.2009 · Read full review
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Review of High Plains Drifter (DVD)

Some say he's dead...some say he never will be

Advantages: Great acting, scenery
Disadvantages: None I can think of

...shift boat. The man is Jeremiah Johnson (played b Robert Redford) He is an ex-soldier, he has arrived in Utah to fulfil his ambition of becoming a mountain man. Jeremiah asks the local shop owner where he can go to hunt. The man gives him directions and Jeremiah sets off into the snowy mountains. Jeremiah comes across an old man who hunts bears. He teaches Jeremiah new skills. He tells Jeremiah that the territory he is heading for is indian territory. ...
...The Crows, are killers. Jeremiah again sets off. Along his route he survives treacherous weather and the fear of the indians. He comes across a house where he finds a hysterical woman. Her husband and son have been killed and scalped by the Crows. Jeremiah helps the woman bury her family. He goes into her house to find a small boy cowering in the corner. The woman insists that Jeremiah take the boy with him on his travels. The boy does not speak ...

rufusredcoat 01.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Jeremiah Johnson (DVD)

Dunbar, not Dumb Bear!

Advantages: Fantastic visuals, Costner
Disadvantages: Can draw it out too long in places

...most powerful films to date, Dances With Wolves is a thoughtful and emotional tale that requires a bit of concentration. Set in the aftermath of the Civil War, it features KC as a war hero who is relocated to a post near a tribe of Sioux Indians. The initial grasp of the film makes you think it's going to be one with emphasis on the conflict involving the Sioux, and for the first part of the film, this is indeed how it is shown, particularly as ...
...Mary McDonnell as a love interest for Dunbar. Dances With Wolves is available from amazon.co.uk for £6.98. It's a film I recommend watching, but you need to focus and concentrate. It's not the sort of film you can have on in the background and completely understand. Recommended. ...

pmcds 26.11.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Dances With Wolves (DVD)