Ben Johnson

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Thanks, Paula! I didn't see you much during the festival this year, but I hope you had fun! Sounds like a great year if you did all that traveling!

[pvitari]

If you ever wondered what Ben Johnson would have looked like as a blonde....





Here he is in his second Route 66 episode, "A Long Piece of Mischief." He plays a real a**hat in that one, pardon the word. No idea why they colored his hair blonde though!

Additional thought: Maybe it's supposed to be silver? Hard to tell in black and white. Either way, it's odd looking!

[pvitari]

For anyone interested -- there's a Memorial Day special piece over at the Ben Johnson page (http://benjohnsonscreencaps.shutterfly.com) which I just posted. I met someone at the TCM fest who had known Ben slightly and got some autographed pics from him, so his story and his scans are now up there. The gentleman is an Army veteran (he wore his uniform to some of the screenings at the TCM fest this year!) and I thought this would be a perfect post for Memorial Day.

[pvitari]

Anyone want some War Drums screencaps? :) Here are some to get you drooling in advance... ;)











This one looks a little hazy because smoke from the off-screen campfire drifted over the actors and in front of the camera.




The next (extended) scene takes place at night, which means a lot of day for night shooting. That's why everything looks so dark, even though you can tell it's not really night.






One for the Lex Barker fans. :)






Another one for the Lex Barker fans -- and for the Larry Chance fans too (he's on the left). :) You all may remember Larry Chance. He was Victorio in Fort Bowie.


Singing "Cielito Lindo" with Joan Taylor.


---->

[pvitari]

The Mexican hat dance.














Close but no cigar! Dang.










Daytime again.




More soon.

[pvitari]

More War Drums.













In case anyone is thinking of getting married, here are some gown and tux ideas for you. ;)




















MORE ---->

[pvitari]

This is one of my favorite moments in War Drums. The guy Ben is kicking is a goldminer who has lied about why the Apaches attacked the miners. Ben -- er, Luke, his character -- has declared he will go see Mangas (Lex Barker) and get the truth from him. But before he vaults into the saddle (and vault he does, Ben does not first put his foot into the stirrup for leverage), out of sheer disgust with the miner, he gives him a big shove with his foot. Adds nothing to the storyline per se, but is a wonderful little character flourish. To know that that the otherwise perfect Luke can be overcome by anger adds texture to his character. :) I wonder if this was in the script or something Ben or the director (Reginald LeBorg) thought up.

[knitwit45]

ooooooh, thanks, Paula!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------>

[JackFavell]

Oh my gosh, these are fabulous War Drums caps, Paula! I suddenly realized I haven't been getting my daily Ben lately...I must have accidentally lost the Ben thread on my computer somehow.

Great avatar, knitty!

[pvitari]

JackFavell, I sure hope you didn't miss those two snaps I took from one of the Route 66 episodes, for which they dyed Ben's hair white or platinum blonde (hard to tell exactly which since the episode was shot in black and white). I was so agog at the sight I barely paid attention to the storyline! ;)

We now interrupt our regular broadcast of War Drums screencaps for a publicity picture, autographed by Ben, from the Monroes episode "War Arrow." My favorite Monroes episode. I picked this one to post to the website today in honor of the announcement about the new 20th Century Fox MOD program, The Fox Cinema Archives. Hopefully they will get around to releasing Ben's Fox titles, Something Big (1971), Kid Blue (1973 -- released on a non-anamorphic Spanish DVD and available via instant streaming on Amazon, but it really needs a new anamorphic transfer), and the TV series The Monroes. Something Big is not what I'd call a great movie but it has its moments, and Ben is very funny in his dry, not trying to be funny way playing a gruff civilian scout for the cavalry.

[JackFavell]

I did see those blond stills! Perhaps he was supposed to be more menacing that way?

The website sort of held my place, where I last checked the thread, so I didn't miss anything. But whew. I'm glad I realized I wasn't getting any Ben! I need to see him each day.

[pvitari]

Meanwhile, back at War Drums...let the battle commence!

There is some really confusing editing in this battle. There's a stuntman who is dressed in what looks to be an identical outfit to Ben's, and I believe he's dressed that way because I'm 99 percent sure that he does the horse fall for Ben when his horse is shot out from under him. But also in this skirmish the same stuntman does some stuff and then gets shot. I had to watch several times to figure out that he was NOT Ben, and it wasn't Ben's character Luke getting shot or doing the stuff the stuntman does.

This is all Ben, though.












Speaking of war arrows...ka-thunk!












Another one for the Lex Barker fans ;)










The final batch will be posted tonight or tomorrow morning.

[JackFavell]

I remember the confusion in that scene Paula, it always messes things up for me at that point.

[pvitari]

Happy National Doughnut Day! (I am not making that up -- http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/to ... 58229.html)

The War Drums screencaps are now posted to the webpage. Yay! Here is the last batch for SSO.











From the blue-eyed branch of the Apaches. :)

[pvitari]

Two lobby cards from The Last Picture Show.