Man Alone

[mrsl]

This a.m. I saw another 'man alone' movie which turned out to be pretty good. This has been on recently but I never caught it. It is another 'man alone' theme, where one guy takes care of the bad guys while the townspeople hide in their little caves.

This turned out to be a little more polished than some due to the acting of Fred MacMurray, Edgar Buchanon and Marie Windsor. It was called Day of the Bad Men, and rounded up quite a few of the 'bad' guys of the day such as Lee Van Cleef, Robert Middleton, Skip Homeier, and Christopher Dark. They were all relatives of 'Rudy' who had been found guilty and the Judge (Fred) was to announce sentence (hanging), however they all came to town and proceeded to terrorize the merchants. In addition, there was a little love triangle involving the judge. The dialog was bad, but as I said, with the talents of Fred, Edgar and Marie, it was made palatable. There were no surprises, you knew right away who were the bad guys, who were the good guys, and who would end up as the 'yellow bellies'.

It's a good example of what I differentiate between acting and celebrity. A good actor can make even a bad script or dialog look and sound better than it actually is. I'm always ready to forgive a rookie, but after 10 years of bit and supporting parts, a guy should be able to say "Whew, it's been a rough day", and make you believe he's been through the mill that day. The words are easy to say, but an actor knows where to produce that inflection that makes you see the sweat.

But again, I watch movies mainly for the enjoyment factor, if it makes me forget my bills, and my aches and pains for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, then it's worth my time. I save the ones I expect to be 'top notch' for weekends and times I know will be quiet and un-interrupted, ie., movies I expect will become favorites to be re-watched and absorbed and studied more deeply, like Winchester '73 or The Searchers.

The 'man alone' syndrome is one of my favorite plots. I guess I like the heroic type, and enjoy talking to the TV and calling the 'losers' names like chicken or worse (can't say in public). That's probably why Randolph Scott is one of my favorites, he usually handles things by himself.

Anne

[movieman1957]

Anne:

You probably know it but next week, I think, the Westerns channel is doing a Jimmy Stewart day and Winchester '73 and Destry Rides Again are among them. (For good measure they are showing Audie Murphy's Destry lately which might be nice for comparison's sake.)