Ben Johnson

[JackFavell]

That second one is HILARIOUS!

All those big strong guys, looking away in embarrassment.

[MissGoddess]

What great pix! I haven't seen Oklahoma! since I was a teenager. It was from this musical that I performed in one of my first ballets as a kid. I forgot they featured the town of Claremore.

[pvitari]

This is the first of three publicity stills from The Wild Bunch.

[pvitari]

Another Wild Bunch publicity still.

[pvitari]

Here's the third (and last) of the Wild Bunch publicity stills. (This one's my favorite.) :)

[knitwit45]

love that one! Ben's smile is so real, it's like seeing a glimpse of the real man, not the actor. Thanks, P!

[pvitari]

Blu-ray and DVD news! Olive Films will be releasing Blu-rays and DVDs of Rio Grande and Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar on August 7. YAY! I was going to screencap Rio Grande as my summer project, but I will wait for the new DVD as it is from an archival print. I guess I can find something else to work on over the summer. :)



FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE SEARCHERS & SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON
REMASTERED IN HD FROM AN ARCHIVAL 35MM PRINT
FIRST TIME ON Blu-ray©
DAY & DATE (DVD and Blu-ray)
JOHN WAYNE | MAUREEN O’HARA in
RIO GRANDE (1950)
Directed by JOHN FORD (THE GRAPES OF WRATH)
with BEN JOHNSON | VICTOR McLAGLEN | HARRY CAREY JR. | CHILL WILLS

PREBOOK 7/10/12 STREET 8/7/12

DVD UPC# 887090044905 CAT# OF449 $19.95srp
BLU-RAY UPC# 887090045001 CAT# OF450 $29.95srp

In the John Ford (The Quiet Man) classic, John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara (First of five films together) are embroiled in an epic battle with the Apaches and each other. Wayne leads his Calvary troops to the Rio Grande to fight a warring tribe. His toughest battle lies ahead when his unorthodox plan to outwit the elusive Apaches leads to a possible court-martial. Locked in a bloody war, he must fight not only to save his family, but also to redeem his honor. This was the third and final of the John Wayne/John Ford Cavalry films, which started with Fort Apache and was followed by She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. The great supporting cast includes Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen and Chill Wills.

1950 | B&W | 105 Minutes | Not Rated

SPECIAL FEATURES:
• THE MAKING OF RIO GRANDE (1993 – 23 MINUTES) - NARRATED BY LEONARD MALTIN
Includes Interviews with MICHAEL WAYNE | BEN JOHNSON | HARRY CAREY JR.
• THEATRICAL TRAILER
An Argosy Production JOHN WAYNE MAUREEN O’HARA in “RIO GRANDE” co-starring BEN JOHNSON
CLAUDE JARMAN JR. HARRY CAREY JR. CHILL WILLS J. CARROLL NAISH VICTOR McLAGLEN
Screenplay by JAMES KEVIN McGUINNESS Based on a Saturday Evening Post Story by JAMES WARNER BELLAH
Produced by JOHN FORD and MARIAN C. COOPER Directed by JOHN FORD
RIO GRANDE © 1950 MELANGE PICTURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

[JackFavell]

I love that first Wild Bunch photo... so iconic with them lined up, and then there's William Holden, set slightly apart from the others, doubtful seeming... Perfect!

Good news about Rio Grande! I can't wait to see those crisper, clean caps you will post! And interviews with Ben and HC Jr.!

[pvitari]

Hallelujah! The board is back! Well, I didn't post much to the Ben Johnson webpage during the hiatus (kind of tuckered out) but yesterday I finally uploaded screencaps of Ben's scenes from the 1973 TV movie The Red Pony. I really enjoyed this even though it eliminated a beloved character from the book, Billy Buck (played by Robert Mitchum in the 1949 movie). They a new scene in this 1973 version, presumably to give Henry Fonda and Ben something to do together. They meet up in town, go to the saloon, promptly get plastered, ole Hank (who plays Carl Tiflin) just sits there gimlet eyed smoking the biggest cigar you've ever seen, while Ben (who plays Jess Taylor, a married man with NINE children) flirts with a pretty lady (Lieux Dressler), offers her a sympathetic shoulder, and then gets to kiss her! In other words, he acts a lot like Black Jack Traven is supposed to in The Shadow Riders, but never actually does, at least on camera. ;) But then Roy Jensen -- you remember him, he was Ben's sidekick in Dillinger and his creepy brother in The Getaway -- shows up as the lady's outraged husband and pounds poor Jess into the ground. Looks like Ben does his own stunt falling back into a table, too. The movie was directed by Ben's long-time friend Robert Totten, who made sure to have Ben driving a wagon and later riding a horse.

Ben also gets to say "Woah, Buttercup" again. I REALLY wonder what that's about.

Here are some screencaps from The Red Pony. This is from a DVD recorded from a TV broadcast (Disney channel, as I recall). I'll faint dead away if it's ever issued officially on DVD.





















Carl Tiflin does not approve of Jess Taylor's womanizing












There's Roy about to land his haymaker


It connected :)




MORE --->

[pvitari]

Some more Red Pony screencaps.



Carl (Fonda) takes up Jess' defense and gets into a knock-down, drag-out with Roy Jensen, until Sheriff Rance Howard (father of Clint Howard, who plays the lead character, the boy Jody) shows up and breaks it up.
















A shot of Maureen O"Hara (who plays Mrs. Tiflin) and Henry Fonda. They're talking to Ben, but alas, the three of them are never seen together in the same shot. I was really hoping to see Ben and Maureen O'Hara together again -- a little Rio Grande reunion.

[RedRiver]

Blu-rays and DVDs of Rio Grande and Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar on August 7.

Oh, my gosh! I get to see JOHNNY GUITAR for the FIRST time?

[pvitari]

It's about time we all saw Johnny Guitar. ;) Speaking of NIcholas Ray, Olive Films is releasing his Run for Cover on Blu-ray and DVD next week (May 22).

So I was channel surfing late at night this weekend, found an HD broadcast of Oklahoma, started watching, and literally within a couple of minutes I was seeing Ben as an extra in yet another scene! Had completely missed this all the times I've seen this movie. :) It's the one where Curly goes down to Jud's shack, they sing "Pore Jud is daid," they have a confrontation, Jud shoots off his gun, then Curly shoots his into a knothole, and Aunt Eller, Laurey, Ali Hakim and the whole gang come running. Ben is one of the gang. First we see him pounding down to the shack and he's easy to pick out because a) he's wearing the same exact outfit he wore in the "Kansas City" scene and b) Ben's manner of running is very distinctive. ;)

I put an arrow onto the pic so you can see him in this longshot...



And now three pics of the crowd by the door. He's on the left.

[pvitari]

Just added this Mighty Joe Young still to the webpage:



Also, has anyone noticed this gorgeous color still from The Shadow Riders on ebay? The seller is asking $149.95 which puts it rather beyond My Budget (grrrr) but at least he was kind enough to provide a very nice scan. ;) It's even bigger at the ebay page. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ben-Johnson-sig ... 4d013d03e1

[pvitari]

Isn't this gorgeous? Alas, another pic I won't be getting as the selling price is $375. (Yikes.) But if you have $375 in spare change under your couch cushions, and go to the website whose address is plastered onto this small version of the photo, and buy it... send me a nice scan. Pretty please? :)



Meanwhile, a twofer at the website today... I have a bunch of Train Robbers pics so that's what's going up for the next few days. The last couple of pictures are super -- especially the last one -- but I'm leaving those for the grand finale. There are more Train Robbers pics out there that elude me, especially a close-up of John Wayne and Ben, but maybe they'll pop up somewhere someday. For less than $375, I hope.

[knitwit45]

Great photo...from the angle of the shot, it looks like 5 people are on one long stretch limo of a horse! The Duke, Ann-Margaret, then 2 guys side by side, then Ben.
gee, Paula, I'd chip in a dollar-two-eighty on each of those pictures....Ben just kept getting better looking, didn't he??