So Lee Marvin won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance here; I don't quite know what to make of that. His competition that year were Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, Rod Steiger and Oskar Werner. I've seen none of the nominated pictures those actors appeared in so I'm in no position to judge, but come on. How does a drunken gunslinger out-shoot those other big names on reputation alone?
Well I see this Western has it's following based on some of the other reviews on this board, but a lot of the film didn't resonate with this viewer. It was OK as far as it goes, but some of it was a little too slapstick for my liking. And I couldn't connect with characters Clay Boone (Michael Callan), Uncle Jed (Dwayne Hickman) or even Jackson Two-Bears (Tom Nardini), even though he offered promise as a Ballou ranch hand. Say, I wonder if the horse's head in the 'Godfather' movie came from the Ballou Ranch. That was John Marley as the principal in both situations, wouldn't that have been something?
One thing I did like about the picture was the reference to Hole in the Wall and the depiction of Butch Cassidy (Arthur Hunnicutt) as a washed up gunfighter running a general store. That was kind of clever, even if totally devoid of historical accuracy. There was also that very well choreographed square dance number with performers hooking up with each other out of nowhere, surprisingly well done if you ask me.
And oh yes, can't forget to mention Reginald Denny in his role as Sir Harry Percival. He caught my eye as butler Algy Longworth in the Bulldog Drummond flicks of the 1930's with an understated sardonic wit that made me a fan. He took that tumble out of the bathtub on the train about the same way he would have three decades earlier if he had ever gotten the chance. It was cool to see him here.
Overall though this was kind of a take it or leave it picture for me. It had some pretty good press back in the day, so maybe getting around to it a half century later isn't the worst thing I could do with my time. At least the march of time brought some recognition to the minstrel characters in the story; Nat King Cole was listed as Sam the Shade and Stubby Kaye went by Sunrise Kid in captioning when I watched it on Encore Westerns. The credits on IMDb simply lists them as 'Shouters'.
Well I see this Western has it's following based on some of the other reviews on this board, but a lot of the film didn't resonate with this viewer. It was OK as far as it goes, but some of it was a little too slapstick for my liking. And I couldn't connect with characters Clay Boone (Michael Callan), Uncle Jed (Dwayne Hickman) or even Jackson Two-Bears (Tom Nardini), even though he offered promise as a Ballou ranch hand. Say, I wonder if the horse's head in the 'Godfather' movie came from the Ballou Ranch. That was John Marley as the principal in both situations, wouldn't that have been something?
One thing I did like about the picture was the reference to Hole in the Wall and the depiction of Butch Cassidy (Arthur Hunnicutt) as a washed up gunfighter running a general store. That was kind of clever, even if totally devoid of historical accuracy. There was also that very well choreographed square dance number with performers hooking up with each other out of nowhere, surprisingly well done if you ask me.
And oh yes, can't forget to mention Reginald Denny in his role as Sir Harry Percival. He caught my eye as butler Algy Longworth in the Bulldog Drummond flicks of the 1930's with an understated sardonic wit that made me a fan. He took that tumble out of the bathtub on the train about the same way he would have three decades earlier if he had ever gotten the chance. It was cool to see him here.
Overall though this was kind of a take it or leave it picture for me. It had some pretty good press back in the day, so maybe getting around to it a half century later isn't the worst thing I could do with my time. At least the march of time brought some recognition to the minstrel characters in the story; Nat King Cole was listed as Sam the Shade and Stubby Kaye went by Sunrise Kid in captioning when I watched it on Encore Westerns. The credits on IMDb simply lists them as 'Shouters'.