Western Movie Fight #3: Once Upon a Time in the West vs. Dances With Wolves

Once Upon A Time In the West: 8.8
Dances With Wolves: 8.0

I’m more than happy to believe that Dances with Wolves is a Western. I’d tend to believe that “frontier” movies are a form of western. They are not, however, the quintessential western.

Once Upon a Time in the West is the 100% most quintessential western I have ever seen. I love every single second of it. It’s one of those few movies that makes me want to actually become a fan of the western. Then I watch something crappy, like the original True Grit, and I’m like, “oh yea, thats why I don’t watch these.

Once Upon is one of the highest ranked movies of all time on IMDB, let alone highest Western. Harmonica… is probably top western character of all time for me. I love this film and Dances doesn’t hold a candle for me.

What do you say? Should we give Once Upon a time the win?

Movie Review #11: The Wild Bunch

I’ve always considered my feelings toward Westerns to be underrated. Westerns can be really great, but they also tend to be completely awful. It feels like there are a select few that are really awesome. Usually, they’re speghetti westerns. Or… they’re remade from a Japanese Samurai movie. But The Wild Bunch… thats pure Sam Peckinpah.

I have to make it a point to go watch more of his movies as soon as I can. I’ve only seen one other Peckinpah, but it is one of my favorite unknown movies of all time: Straw Dogs. If you haven’t seen it, go put it to the top of your Netflix queue, return something, then sit at home til the mailman shows up and gives you your red envelope.

So, there are a lot of things I want to talk about in this movie and I have little time. I think there are two important themes in this movie: the end of the gunslinger and true western violence. The end of the gunslinger is a really interesting theme. They make a point of bringing it up a bunch in this movie. The main characters are, in lethal weapon terms “getting too old for this shit”. The arrival of a car in a small mexican town signals the end of horse travel. The trip to Mexico speaks to the fact that there’s no where left for them to hide in the United States. I think its a really interesting aspect of the film that isn’t directly on the surface but is prevalent throughout.

The second aspect is the violence. DAMN this movie is violent. I think there are a lot of failures in westerns of being too cheesy. But where does that cheesiness come from? Its likely that a fair amount of it is the music, the weird lighting, the fake sets or costumes, but another aspect is the completely fake way that the shot people die. One shot, down, out of frame, don’t show them again or we’ll have to pay for blood or something.

Not for Peckinpah though. That son of a bitch loves blood. He used a butt ton of it in this movie. I mean, I think the blood is made out of ketchup mixed with strawberry jelly, but there is still a lot of it. Plus, did you see the end of this movie? I think it’s kinda similar to what Rambo sees in his dreams. There’s probably 200 dead people in that scene. Thats too many dead people! but i love it!

Amazing film. I love Peckinpah. Who wants to go on a Peckinpah journey with me to see all of his films? What have you seen? Which would you recommend to me?

Movie Review #2: Winters Bone

I watched 41 movies released in 2010 during the calendar year of 2010, and ended that year with a short list of movies I regretted having missed. Thanks to my friend Matt’s strong recommendation, Winter’s Bone was at the top of that list.

Since it was at the top of my list, it was at the top of my queue and was at my house waiting for me when I returned from NYE vacation. I was very excited to see it and found the time tonight… and I was not disappointed.

I am a huge sucker for the “New Western”. Its not a terribly well defined genre yet, but you know it when you see it. No Country For Old Men & Assassination of Jesse James… these movies give you some idea what i’m talking about. The quest that was the focal point of the classic western, set on its head, but at the same time, deflecting the desire that hollywood has for action movies. Slow moving, yet undeniably tension filled. Gritty and dirty, yet somehow beautiful thanks to its brutal honesty. Westerns used to follow a formula, and maybe thats how these movies differ, but the quest of the solitary man is still the focal point.

Now, I’m sitting here writing this, trying desperately not to rip the Coen Brothers’ True Grit apart. I’m going to have to… take a few… deep breaths… and address… this… later… (I’ll take care of this in a NEW feature on TheMovieFight, coming TOMORROW. Stay Tuned…)

In the meantime, lets talk about what I loved about this movie. Tops of the list? Debra Granik’s production decision making. Nothing in this movie feels remotely fake. Nothing seems acted. I swear, if she didn’t drive down the Ozarks, wander onto some people’s property and actually take footage of them looking pissed at her for being there, then put that footage directly in the movie, then someone is a helluva acting coach. I was terrified every time anyone went in anywhere.

Side note: I was just discussing with a friend how I was thinking about how there are places that I will never set foot, like Schenechode, NY, and how I regretted that. After watching this movie… uh… maybe not so much. Probably best I just… stay away.

Ok, well, I can’t recommend this movie enough. If i were going to add it to the Comprehensive list, linked to above, I’d put it at 6.2. It’s better than Harry Potter, and I’d only just barely put it below Scott Pilgrim. Note how this position is nearly 20 places higher than everyone’s favorite current western True Grit. (Note: it’s also 2 spots below my favorite western of the year, The Killer Inside Me, but for entirely different reasons.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite performance of the movie: John Hawkes as Teardrop. Another guy who I’ve seen in dozens of things, but would never put my finger on what it was. Lost. That’s it. Lost. He was in Lost. But this is definitely his new defining role for me. At first I was like “pshh, i hate that dude” then i was like “oh, ok, i guess he’s ok” then i was like “Hellz yea badass!”

Ok, my list for this review. Why don’t I go ahead and make a list of Non-Traditional Westerns. This is obviously not a comprehensive list, so any additions you can come up with will gladly be accepted and added to the list.

Westerns That Are Not Westerns:
6. The Warriors
5. The Boondock Saints
4. Winter’s Bone
3. The Road
2. Star Wars
1. No Country For Old Men

Aren’t there more than 6 of these? I could really use your help. What do you think of this list? Did you see Winter’s Bone? Wanna discuss True Grit? Did you like John Hawkes performance as much as me?