Those important morality plays called Westerns

Now before you young folks and especially you ladies out there blow this off because it's about cowboy movies, give me a chance. A really good Western is as important a piece of art as a really good play. Many of the best ones can be compared to the original Greek dramas. I'll start with one of my all time favorites, Hombre. Starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt, it is based on an Elmore Leonard story. This is much more than a shootem' up, fist full of collar cowboy movie. Newman stars as John Russell a man raised on the San Carlos Apache reservation. He finds himself on a stage coach where he is soon banished to the topside because he doesn't fit with the civilized folk inside. All about prejudice. But guess what, when the stage gets into serious trouble and lives are on the line, who do all these civilized people turn to for salvation. Yep, Mr. Outcast. The movie also dwells on moral right and wrong and comes down to one of the hardest life or death decisions I've ever seen in a movie. Also stars one of our greatest actors and probably the best bad guy ever, Richard Boone.

Another personal favorite is Jeremiah Johnson starring Robert Redford and directed by one of the really great directors, Sydney Pollack. Yeah, that Sydney Pollack from Tootsie. I mentioned in a previous blog that I always had a place in my heart for Mountain Men. This movie is based on a true story about a man that came to be known among the tribes as "liver eating Johnson". Now girls, don't let that turn you off, this is one entertaining movie, one of Redfords best. You walk away with a plethora of one liners such as when Redford had just bragged he could skin any animal on earth and Old Griz, played by Will Geer lures a raging grizzly into the cabin and declares "Well Pilgrim, you skin that one and I'll go get you another!" Another is "Saw it right off!" which is what Old Griz comments when ever Redford hadn't listened and ended up paying a consequence. In other words, I told you and you didn't listen and now you pay. Haven't all we parents been there?

Okay, I'll wrap this up. Here are other really good Westerns:

For pure fun, Rooster Cogburn and the Lady with John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn and
Cat Ballou with Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin. Sheer entertainment.

Others will be The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, John Ford's classic with John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Shane with Alan Ladd, the absolute original morality play about the stranger coming to town to aid the good guys against the bad guys. Another great bad guy, Jack Palance.

For more realistic westerns I recommend Ulzana's Raid and Valdez is coming both starring an older Burt Lancaster. Valdez, again, is based on an Elmore Leonard story.

Two more would be The Shootist with John Wayne with Opie - Ron Howard. This was Wayne's last film and if you listen to the dialog it's as if he knew it. Another recent really good western is the Kurt Russell version of Tombstone. Val Kilmer playing Doc Holliday is worth the price of admission alone. "I'll be your Huckleberry!" I don't know how he avoided an academy award. I know a lot of people think the Dennis Quaid version in Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp was better but my money is on Kilmer.

Okay this is way too big, I still have 20 really good movies on my list. Do yourself a favor, get some popcorn, throw one of these in and enjoy good cinema. A word of warning, some of these are not suitable for pre-teens.