tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3070623657970000135.post7053428281407928491..comments2024-01-27T02:33:23.675-08:00Comments on Beverly in Movieland: Searching Out Hard Truths in "The Searchers" Beverlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515783219367479399noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3070623657970000135.post-18953143776967765642013-09-23T17:11:06.009-07:002013-09-23T17:11:06.009-07:00I haven't seen any sequels or remakes, but I&#...I haven't seen any sequels or remakes, but I've spent a lot of time with Karen Kramer, widow of High Noon's producer, Stanley Kramer, and she was connected to those projects. I can't say that I ever saw Gary Cooper in High Noon as a sissy. He's simply a human being who knows that, given the odds stacked against him, he's not Superman. <br />Beverlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15515783219367479399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3070623657970000135.post-59347035321752017302013-09-22T19:51:35.283-07:002013-09-22T19:51:35.283-07:00I think calling High Noon unAmerican is a bit much...I think calling High Noon unAmerican is a bit much - I simply don't care for a Western where a perfectly fit and able man already elected Sheriff whines for 70 minutes about the bad men coming to his town - willing to put any number of townspeople at risk so they big bad men won't get him. Will Kane is - as we used to term it on the playground - a big ol' sissy. Had the movie starred someone along the lines of a Don Knotts or Tim Conway (obviously not in the early 50's, but someone like those guys) and the movie was a comedy where Our Hero is a coward - then that would have been fine. Will Kane took the job of Sheriff. It's his JOB to protect the town. Own it and do it. It isn't the townspeople's job to protect him and risk their lives doing it. <br /><br />Did you know, by the way - there was a TV movie sequel made thirty years later? CBS gave us High Noon II: The Return of Will Kane with Lee Majors taking over the role. And there was a full on cable remake with Tom Skerritt as Kane in 2000. <br /><br />I didn't watch them - as you might have guessed. Craig Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06037542638067599437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3070623657970000135.post-60932272347673187922013-09-22T14:22:29.219-07:002013-09-22T14:22:29.219-07:00Well, no one can say you aren't willing to be ...Well, no one can say you aren't willing to be iconoclastic, Mr. C. I appreciate your feedback, even though I don't agree at all, especially about High Noon, which I believe has a powerful moral resonance. Do you side with the Big Boys, like John Wayne himself, who called High Noon unAmerican? It was made at a politically complicated time (1952), and there are certainly those who read a lot into it. Beverlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15515783219367479399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3070623657970000135.post-42865557687985467322013-09-21T21:24:59.628-07:002013-09-21T21:24:59.628-07:00There are two classic American movies that I despi...There are two classic American movies that I despise - and they are both Westerns. One is High Noon ("Oh help me, anyone! Bad men are coming and they might be ever so mean to me - so please come and do my job because I'm not brave enough to do or die.") Ugh. And the other is this movie - which tries to give me my Western hero - John Wayne - as a racist jerk who is planning to kill his niece if she's "gone Indian." Ugh again. By the way - I'm not sure if the VHS release from 20+ years ago went open matte on what should have been a 1:85:1 or 2:35:1 aspect ratio - but I can tell you that when I watched this movie on home video for the first (and only) time in the 80's - there were shots where they were shooting desert exteriors in the studio - and in the cropped video version you could plainly see the top of the cyclorama and set - making this giant classic seem awfully amateurish to my young mind. (Knowing more about aspect ratios these days - I'm willing to give the movie the benefit of the doubt that it was open matte on VHS.)<br /><br />Still in all - not my cup of tea - glad you enjoyed it though, Ms. G!Craig Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06037542638067599437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3070623657970000135.post-2232973062430813782013-09-21T01:30:35.828-07:002013-09-21T01:30:35.828-07:00It's still a bit of a struggle for me (for one...It's still a bit of a struggle for me (for one thing, Natalie Wood looks so modern, in pristine buckskin and with her 1950s makeup so beautifully intact), but it's a fascinating film. Martin Scorsese has written lyrically about it in The Hollywood Reporter. I'm glad you enjoyed the film, AND my post, Brian. And, by the way, welcome back!<br /><br />Beverlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15515783219367479399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3070623657970000135.post-73383085079030652412013-09-20T17:51:21.164-07:002013-09-20T17:51:21.164-07:00Great post, Beverly. I saw THE SEARCHERS for the f...Great post, Beverly. I saw THE SEARCHERS for the first time about six or seven years ago, I guess? I've never been a huge John Wayne fan, but I do like some of his movies such as CHISUM and ROOSTER COGBURN. I blind bought THE SEARCHERS at the behest of my uncle and I did enjoy it. venoms5https://www.blogger.com/profile/13655919099947763891noreply@blogger.com