Mastodawn

Evil Larry May 31, 2023

#WesternWednesday #Western #SpaghettiWestern #ManWithNoName #SergioLeone #ClintEastwood 🤠 🍝 🌵 https://boxd.it/1ltKEB

A ★★★★½ review of A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

First of the classic Sergio Leone's classic spaghetti westerns starring Clint Eastwood. Eastwood is a mysterious stranger who arrives in town and plays two warring families against each other. The mule scene has stuck with me since childhood. Honestly though, I'll always prefer the original (YOJIMBO) over this. Mifune is more badass than Eastwood.

Evil Larry May 24, 2023

#WesternWednesday #SpaceWestern #SybilDanning https://boxd.it/tRAPB

A ★★★½ review of Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

A favorite from my high school days. Yeah, it's an uncredited remake of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (which was a remake of SEVEN SAMURAI) set in space. Robert Vaughn pretty much plays the exact same character. Sador (John Saxon) attacks a peaceful planet. It's up to John Boy Walton to get help. After a disastrous visit to scientist Doctor Hephaestus (Sam Jaffe), John Boy escapes with the Doctor's daughter (Darlanne Fluegel). They recruit gun runner Cowboy (George Peppard), bored hive mind clones Nestor, Robert Vaughn, space Valkyrie St. Exmin (Sybil Danning), and reptillian slaver Cayman (who wants revenge against Sador). Pretty

Evil Larry May 17, 2023

#CriterionChannel #WesternWednesday #Western 🤠 #AnthonyMann #JamesStewart https://boxd.it/4g4KTb

A ★★★★½ review of Bend of the River (1952)

James Stewart is an ex-raider who takes a job escorting settlers on the Oregon Trail. Along the way, he saves a horse thief (Arthur Kennedy) from lynching. When the wagon train is attacked by Shoshone, Kennedy saves Stewart. Julie Adams (CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON), however, is wounded. When the train arrives in Portland to restock supplies, Adams is left behind to recover. Kennedy also stays behind. The supplies that are purchased never arrive, so Stewart and Adams' father (Jay C. Flippen) return to Portland only to find that Hendricks (Howard Petrie) is refusing to ship them. Hendricks is selling

Evil Larry May 10, 2023

#CriterionChannel #WesternWednesday #WesternNoir #Western #AnthonyMann #PhilipYordan #JamesStewart 🤠 https://boxd.it/2tjjO5

A ★★★★½ review of The Man from Laramie (1955)

Excellent Western noir, giving us both action and drama. James Stewart is a former Army captain who runs afoul of the psycho son (Alec Nicol) of the local "owns the town" rancher (Donald Crisp). Stewart is searching for the source of guns being sold to the Apaches who killed his brother. Jimmy falls for general store owner Cathy O'Donnell (who gives the weakest performance), who is also the niece of Crisp (and engaged to his foreman Arthur Kennedy). Jack Elam is the town drunk/snitch. Aline MacMahon is great as Crisp's rival (and former lover). If this gets remade, it'd be

Evil Larry May 3, 2023

#NationalParanormalDay 🧛‍♂️ #WesternWednesday #Western #WeirdWestern 🤠 💀 🦇 https://boxd.it/2dN9yn

A ★★★ review of Curse of the Undead (1959)

This one has improved over repeat viewings, even though the mystery and supposed shock are diminished. It begins like any other b-western. An evil rancher has damned up a stream in order to force other ranchers out. The hot-headed son of a doctor/rancher (John Hoyt) wants to confront the bad guy (Bruce "Frank Nitti" Gordon), but the ineffectual sheriff (Edward Binns) intervenes. When the doctor dies and the boundary fences are wrecked, his son heads to town, tries to provoke a fight, and is killed. The doctor's daughter (Kathleen Crowley) hires a mysterious gunslinger (Michael Pate). Her preacher boyfriend (Eric

Evil Larry May 3, 2023

#CriterionChannel #WesternWednesday #Western #AnthonyMann #JamesStewart #ShelleyWinters #RockHudson #TonyCurtis 🤠 https://boxd.it/4cveoD

A ★★★★ review of Winchester '73 (1950)

The first of the Anthony Mann-James Stewart collaborations. The film follows a "perfect" Winchester '73 repeating rifle. James Stewart wins the rifle in a contest in Dodge City, finally beating his nemesis Stephen McNally. McNally (who Stewart was in town to kill) steals the rifle before Stewart can collect it. McNally is forced to trade it for an arsenal (he and his gang have no guns since Wyatt Earp had confiscated them earlier). The crooked gun dealer is murdered for the rifle by a renegade (young Rock Hudson!) who he tried to cheat. Stewart winds up saving ex-saloon girl Shelley

Evil Larry Apr 26, 2023

#WesternWednesday #Western 🤠 #BuddBoetticher #ElmoreLeonard #RandolphScott https://boxd.it/22Kwft

A ★★★★ review of The Tall T (1957)

Randolph Scott gets more than he bargained for when he hitches a ride carrying a honeymooning couple (stuck up bookkeeper John Hubbard and his plain jane heiress bride Maureen O'Sullivan). The stage gets hijacked by mistake but coward Hubbard cuts a deal to save his ass. He suggests ransoming Maureen instead. Richard Boone and his gang (Skip Homeier and psycho Henry Silva) agree but they already killed a little kid in cold blood. Scott is Maureen's only hope. Fortunately, he's no dummy or coward. Randolph Scott's westerns always seem smarter than the standard white hat stuff. His films from director

Evil Larry Apr 19, 2023

#WesternWednesday #Western #WeirdWestern #RayHarryhausen 🤠 🦖 https://boxd.it/48Nkwt

A ★★★★ review of The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

This was my introduction to Ray Harryhausen. I had a Gwanji "activity book" when I was five or six. Saw this not much long after that. A struggling Wild West show comes into possession of an eohippus (a tiny ancestor of the horse). Both a paleontologist and a showman have their own plans for the creature. This leads to the search for more tiny beasts. Instead, they find a hidden valley filled with dinosaurs, including the allosaurus Gwangi. Willis O'Brien had planned this as a follow-up to KING KONG, but it was never made. Harryhausen revived the project, leading to

Evil Larry Apr 12, 2023

#WesternWednesday #Western 🤠 #JosephHLewis #RandolphScott #AngelaLansbury https://boxd.it/2Am4lB

A ★★★½ review of A Lawless Street (1955)

Randolph Scott is marshal of a Colorado town. Theater owner Warner Anderson and saloon keeper John Emery are conspiring against him, for both business and personal reasons. Things get complicated when Scott's estranged wife Angela Lansbury arrives in town. She's an actress/singer that Warner wants to marry. This doesn't sit well with Anderson's mistress (who is also the wife of his nemesis, a wealthy rancher). All the complicated relationships kinda drag this one down a little. Scott does have one brutal bar fight though. Not as good as Scott's work with Boetticher or Peckinpah. Directed by Joseph H. Lewis (GUN

Evil Larry Apr 5, 2023

#WesternWednesday #Western 🤠 #RogerCorman https://boxd.it/DkoOZ

A ★★★½ review of Five Guns West (1955)

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