hstrop@mhuxt.UUCP (10/18/83)
In an effort to get away from a certain space epic, how about telling us what your favorite western is and why. My favorite: The Searchers directed by John Ford This film came out over 20 years ago and stars John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Vera Miles, Harry Carey Sr. and Jr. plus many other legendary western film stars. The cinematography is breathtaking, the production values are first rate, and the plot and character development are fantastic! This film deals with the lives of a group of people after a band of renegade Indians attack a home, kill John Wayne's brother's family and carry off his young niece. The rest of the film deals with the search for the niece and the interaction between Wayne's character and others during his quest. This film has one of the most visually stunning endings of any film I've ever seen. Unfortunately, I've only seen it in atheatre once, when I was 13 yrs old. It does manage to make the tube evry so often. Check it out. Harvey S. Trop mhuxt!hstrop
yali@utcsrgv.UUCP (Yawar Ali) (10/20/83)
My favourite western goes well with meatballs; it's the epic 'Once Upon a Time in the West' by Sergio Leone, starring Jason Robards as a bandit of the old school, Charles Bronson as an enigmatic gunslinger with a musical bent, Claudia Cardinale as a former lady of the night whose fortune has changed (or has it?), Henry Fonda (!) as an upwardly mobile, sadistic, murderous, psychopath with no redeeming features whatsoever, and the meanest, dirtiest, ugliest bunch of villains you would ever want to avoid closer acquaintance with. The plot is not simplistic, the characters are complex, the scale is grand, with the drama unfolding against the backdrop of the 'Winning of the West'. In short, it's a thoroughly enjoyable, gritty, hard-nosed, unromanticized, yet ultimately romantic saga. (The opening sequence, which has three scuzzy gunslingers waiting at the station for their intended victim to arrive on the train, is a masterpiece in itself!) This gem occasionally shows up on late night t.v. Don't miss it. Yawar Ali utzoo!utcsrgv!yali