The Sons of Katie Elder

The Sons of Katie Elder is a surprisingly good movie.  I say surprising because it was not at all what I expected it to be, which was a film about outlaw brothers and their mother sheltering them.  Rather, it was about four brothers, two with questionable backgrounds, who come together after their mother’s funeral and then find themselves, mostly through no fault of their own, in serious trouble.

Starring John Wayne as the oldest brother, John Elder, a gunslinger, and Dean Martin as Tom, something of a conman, The Sons of Katie Elder co-stars Earl Holliman as Matt, another brother.  He is quieter than the others and his character is not as fleshed out as the other brothers, but his voice is unmistakable and, since this movie was produced in 1965, he looks quite young.  The fourth brother, Bud, played by Michael Anderson, Jr., is much younger than the others and has come home from college; he looks up to John but has never really known him.

Paul Fix (Tom Hansen in The Day They Hanged Kid Curry, Clarence in Night of the Red Dog, and Bronc in Only Three to a Bed) plays Billy, a level-headed sheriff on good terms with John; their relationship is a highlight of the movie.  He reminded me a bit of Lom Trevors in that he respected John Elder yet did not put up with any nonsense from him, and that respect was reciprocated by the gunslinger.  Boyd "Red" Morgan (Augie Helms in The Fifth Victim) has an uncredited role and I did not recognize him in The Sons of Katie Elder.

Naturally, something crooked is going on that is impacting the Elder boys and John makes it his business to find out what.  All the townspeople apparently loved Katie Elder but the same can’t be said of her husband, who died under mysterious circumstances before her, nor of her sons.  Martha Hyer, who plays the owner of the boarding house in Clearwater, the Texas town that is the setting of The Sons of Katie Elder, clearly has conflicted emotions about John and their scenes together are enjoyable to watch.

Fast-paced and well-plotted, there is lots of good banter between the brothers, lots of action, a great climactic shootout, and a satisfying conclusion to The Sons of Katie Elder.  A few connections to ASJ: The funeral of Mrs. Elder, which occurs early in the film, reminded me of the first funeral in The Fifth Victim, when the preacher said many nice words about the deceased.  A scene in the town saloon in the second half of the movie was very similar to the walk-off scene in the Pilot.

The relationship that the brothers had with each other as The Sons of Katie Elder was made plausible by the excellent acting.  One conversation, which occurred shortly after the funeral—John was not with them at the cemetery but observed the proceedings from high on a hill—was, to me, reminiscent of the banter Curry and Heyes shared.  The three brothers are in their home discussing John, who has yet to make his presence known to them:
     Bud (the youngest son): “Is he as fast with a gun as everyone says he is?"
     Tom (the con artist): “Fast?  When he was a kid, he was the fastest.  When  I  was a kid, I was afraid to be in the same room as him.  But let me point something out to ya, kid.  That kind of work doesn’t pay too well.  If you’re lookin’ for a line of work to follow, I’d like to recommend mine.”
     Matt (Earl’s character): “Yeah, larceny.”
     Tom: “Well, the hours are better and you get shot up a lot less.”  

At one point in the movie, I thought I heard echoes of the music used in the Marlboro Man cigarette commercials on TV.  Upon investigation, I discovered that the composer of the score of The Sons of Katie Elder, Elmer Bernstein, also scored The Magnificent Seven and motifs from that movie were used for the TV commercials.

There are no bonus features but The Sons of Katie Elder is definitely worth watching and although it is 121 minutes long, it seems much shorter because it holds one's interest from start to finish.

Cowboy

If I didn’t know that Cowboy was produced by Columbia, I would have thought this 1958 movie was the inspiration for many of ASJ episodes’ plots.  Based on Frank Harris' 1930 book My Reminiscences as a Cowboy, it stars Glenn Ford as Tom Reese, a cattle-driving, poker-playing trail boss and Jack Lemmon as Frank Thomas, a hotel clerk who wants to be a cowboy. 

Vaughn Taylor (the first desk clerk in Return to Devil's Hole and Willis in The Day They Hanged Kid Curry) plays the hotel manager who is Frank's boss.  Many scenes in this movie seemed to be ancestors of, especially, 21 Days to Tenstrike and The McCreedy Feud.  Ostensibly about Frank’s desire to join Reese’s cattle drive so he can meet up with his Mexican girlfriend, the movie is actually an interesting character study of the changes experienced by a man who is out of his comfort zone.

Here is a list of scenes in Cowboy that resonate with ASJ:
* A Mexican grandee who has, at his side, not his sister but his daughter;
* A partnership between two men who are opposites, but in this case they don’t much like each other and it’s a marriage of convenience only;
* Scenes of herding cattle on a trail drive, but with more detail as they showed the chuck wagon meals, the soreness from riding and one man giving another a massage which, if this hadn’t been a movie from the mid-20th century, could certainly have implied something much less innocent than what was clearly meant;
* Secret meetings at “a mission north of Guadelupe,” although the outcome here was not positive as it was in the TV show;
* A fight between drovers, although this time it was over a girl rather than who was doing which job;
* Beeves worth $20 in Chicago, and they sure weren't scrawny;
* A death on the trail, with the actual funeral, not just a few words spoken later.

There were also a few interesting lines of dialog which I could easily see Kid Curry saying when depressed or Hannibal Heyes saying when trying to persuade Curry not to use his gun, although in Cowboy they were voiced by a former lawman:
“Man gets a reputation with a gun, he’s just got to do too much killin’.”
“A man has to have something besides a gun and a saddle.  You just can’t make it all by yourself.”

Glenn Ford is always good and it’s fun to see a young Jack Lemmon.  There is also a very interesting trailer as a bonus feature; it starts off with the two stars talking directly to the camera—to the audience—about why people should go see the film and then it shows some actual scenes from the movie.  At only 92 minutes, Cowboy is a quick and easy film to watch.

West of the Badlands

This film does not begin with the actual movie but rather an introduction to it by Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and their son Roy, Jr.  It lasts a few minutes and then West of the Badlands begins.  I was confused at first, thinking maybe I was watching a TV show instead, but then the hosts of Happy Trails Theatre announced the start of the film.

The 64-minute black-and-white movie starts with a text explanation that sets the story in 1875’s Idaho Territory.  I thought that odd because I do not associate badlands with Idaho.  But when I went to IMDb to find out more about West of the Badlands, and couldn’t find a reference to the movie, further digging revealed that an alternate title for this film is The Border Legion.  And that makes a lot more sense as that is the name of the outlaw gang which plays a big role in the movie.

Roy Rogers plays a doctor, Steve Kells, aka Steve Kellog, who is running from the law for some reason not explained until partway through West of the Badlands.  Gabby Hayes plays sidekick Honest John Whitaker; clearly, there are some possible connections to ASJ here!  Carol Hughes is Alice, Steve’s fiancée, and Joseph Sawyer is Jim Gulden, leader of the outlaw gang.  Maude Eburne is Hurricane Hattie McGuire, owner of a saloon in Miles City, but she has little in common with Blanche Graham from Journey from San Juan.

But a connection to that episode appears soon after: Steve shows up in need of a job and says, “I can play a guitar a little but not enough to be hired for it.”  Well, he can certainly sing and play a whole lot better than Michele Monet!  And the customers in the saloon in West of the Badlands seemed to appreciate him a lot more, too.  Later, in the outlaw hideout (a cabin somewhere), Steve sings Git Along Little Dogies; the line about "Wyoming will be your new home" struck me as ironic!  It was, however, pretty funny to see all the outlaws participating in a sing-a-long; I really can’t picture the Devil’s Hole Gang doing that.

While the quality of the DVD is not the best, and it is obvious that the actors are lip-syncing when singing, and obvious too when the actors are riding on a wagon or stagecoach that they are not, in fact, actually galloping along but rather the changing scenery behind them is a special effect and they are stationery, the actual plot of West of the Badlands was fun.  It involved Steve getting involved with capturing the gang of outlaws, Honest Joe trying—and eventually succeeding—in getting townsfolk interested in a mining operation, a couple love stories, and two lawmen on opposite sides when it came to apprehending Steve.  I don’t recall ever seeing a Roy Rogers movie before but based on this one, I will certainly seek out more.

The DVD of West of the Badlands included two long bonus features that are well worth viewing.  The first, lasting about half an hour, is called Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Biography and includes lots of anecdotes and stories by them and their children plus scenes from many of their Hollywood movies as well as what seem to be home movies.  The second bonus feature is called Sidekicks Feature and over the course of twenty minutes discusses and shows scenes with six supporting actors who played sidekicks to Roy Rogers in his movies, including Andy Devine (Sheriff Bintell in The Men That Corrupted Hadleyburg), who played sidekick Cookie Bullfincher in nine of his movies.

The last bonus feature was only a few minutes long and consisted of a video tour of the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum, and included shots of Trigger and other animals on display (though I recall some controversy about the horse a few years ago).  A link below has information about the closing of the museum, which happened in 2009.

Information about the now-closed Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum:
http://www.b-westerns.com/roy-dale.htm

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

This film is referenced a lot when Westerns are discussed but even though it was directed by John Ford and stars John Wayne, this 1949 movie, shot in Monument Valley (as usual for Ford), I was not especially impressed by She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.  There is a lot going on--as if Ford tried to cram all the possible plots of a Western into just this one movie--and at times I had difficulty distinguishing the supporting characters from one another.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the story of a small United States cavalry outpost in the Southwest in 1876 that has to defend itself against Indians uniting for war.  It opens with a scene of a stagecoach driving through the desert and a mention of Rio Bravo, making me wonder if Ford was referencing his past and future films.  John Wayne plays Nathan Brittles, a captain who has only a few days left of service before he retires.  Some of the best scenes in the movie occur between Brittles and his sergeant, played by Victor McLaglen.

There are women at the outpost, too, and one day, Brittles escorts two of them to a stage station where they will catch a train going East so they will be safe from the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers who are attacking the army.  One of the women wears a yellow ribbon in her hair.  She seems spoiled and immature—flirting with the men, wanting her way and not listening to people who know more than she about the dangers of life in a remote, unsettled area. 

The women ride horses instead of travelling in the accompanying wagon, and I just don’t know how anyone could have found it comfortable to ride side saddle!  She Wore a Yellow Ribbon then shows how the actions of the younger woman, played by Joanne Dru, affect the lives of the cavalry soldiers as they go about performing their duties.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a voyage of discovery.  As the cavalry patrol goes about its business, all sorts of mishaps and adventures befall it: Indians are seen, men get shot by arrows, the stage station is attacked, there is a fight in the bar.  Just as in Six Strangers at Apache Springs, the fight here has too much slapstick and is over the top.  Unlike the TV show, however, the fighting in the movie is interspersed with conversation, which makes it slightly more tolerable.  Captain Brittles also discovers what is important to him, as an officer and as a man, as do some of the other soldiers.

The music was too blatant—it told me what to think of instead of letting the action speak for itself.  But the cinematography was beautiful, especially the shot of the sunset at the end of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and deservedly won an Oscar as a result.  Wayne looked very different in a mustache and his acting was the best part of this 93-minute movie.  Paul Fix (Tom Hansen in The Day They Hanged Kid Curry, Clarence in Night of the Red Dog, and Bronc in Only Three to a Bed) has a very small role but one that is crucial to the overall plot of the movie. 

There are a few bonus features on the DVD: One is three short home movies shot by John Ford of him and his friends in various locations that have nothing to do with this movie.  Another is a text featurette about the collaboration between John Ford and John Wayne and a third is the theatrical trailer for the film.

The Violent Men

Although the main characters in The Violent Men are small rancher Mr. Parrish (Glenn Ford) and neighboring cattleman Mr. Wilkison (Edward G. Robinson), this movie could just as aptly be named The Violent Woman.  That would be Barbara Stanwyck who, as Mrs. Wilkison, steals the show.

And Brian Keith plays a love interest!  Jack Kelly (Dr. Chauncey Beauregard in Night of the Red Dog) has a supporting role as a hand on Parrish's ranch and Frank Ferguson (the undertaker Mr. Billings in Bad Night in Big Butte) has an uncredited role; neither actor was recognizable and it was only by reading the credits that I discovered they were in this movie.

The film moves at a slow pace for the first 45 minutes, taking its time to introduce all the characters, but then it picks up speed and does so with a vengeance.  Glenn Ford is the hero but he is very much a milquetoast until one incident forces his hand.

After that, there is plenty of action and the remaining 51 minutes pass quickly.  The main plot of The Violent Men concerns a rich cattleman who’s forcing the smaller ranchers and the farmers out of “his” valley, but a secondary plot involving his wife and her machinations is much more gripping.

Interestingly, this movie is based on a book by Donald Hamilton, who wrote the Matt Helm spy series, and there are traces of that reluctant hero in the character of John Parrish.  This is not Ford’s best work but Stanwyck, although at times veering into caricature, shines.  Robinson does not have as much to do as the other actors in this 1955 film.  The Violent Men is only an adequate B-Western but as a character study in greed, it works very well.