I rejoin Roland’s ka-tet this week as I continue my journey to the Dark Tower. Released six years after the previous novel, we rejoin Roland, Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and the billy-bumbler named Oy right where left them… aboard Blaine the Mono, preparing to engage in a deadly game of riddles. From there we continue our…
Tag: western
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (1982) – Stephen King
Stephen King’s fantastic epic adventure gets underway with this stellar, yet surprising short entry into what will be a massive tome, The Gunslinger. Starting with the iconic line. “the man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed” one can’t help but be swept up in the epic western style fantasy. The Man…
Seven Samurai (1954) – Akira Kurosawa
The next film recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is yet another iconic film from Kurosawa’s oeuvre. In a catalogue of films that are all exceptional, it’s tough to pick a favourite, but this may very will be mine. I love the American remake from 1960, The Magnificent Seven, it’s…
The Twilight Zone (1964) – The Encounter, Mr. Garrity and the Graves, and The Brain Center at Whipple’s
Our penultimate trip to the Twilight Zone gets underway this week, with The Encounter as I draw to the end of The Complete Series on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures. Written by Martin Goldsmith, this episode first debuted on 1 May, 1964. It stars George Takei and Neville Brand. After World War II, prejudices and hatred…
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – Andrew Dominik
The western bio-pic, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Wild Bunch. A beautiful and bleak film, the picture stars Brad Pitt, as the legendary outlaw, with Casey Affleck as his assassin. The…
Unforgiven (1992) – Clint Eastwood
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Wild Bunch, is my all-time favourite western, Eastwood’s multi-Oscar winning film (Best Director, Best Picture, Best Editing, and Best Supporting Actor for Gene Hackman). An ageing gunfighter, William Munny (Eastwood) wants to tend to his tiny parcel…
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969) – George Roy Hill
The next stop in the recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Wild Bunch, is yet another one of my all time favourite westerns, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. From it’s opening shots, made to look like an early silent film, this movie took me…
The Magnificent Seven (1960) – John Sturges
That music, that cast… It’s no wonder that Sturges’ Americanisation of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is one of my all time favourite westerns, and the first recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Wild Bunch. Elmer Bernstein’s rousing and memorable score supports Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Eli…
The Wild Bunch (1969) – Sam Peckinpah
The next big stop in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book as I return to the Historical chapter, is Peckinpah’s ultra-violent, wonderfully bloody take on the Hollywood Western. A group of professional outlaws out of step and out of time looking for one last score find themselves fatally wandering the line between…
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) – Sergio Leone
The Great Movies – The 100 Years of Film book returns me to the western genre with this Sergio Leone epic that stars Jason Robards, Chalres Bronson, Henry Fonda and Claudia Cardinale. Playing against type, Fonda is the villain, Frank, who is working for the railroad, and trying to drive a woman, Jill McBain (Cardinale),…
