WESTERN NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: WICHITA
For this Western Night gathering, David Morrell selected WICHITA (1955). Like many films concerning the life and times of Wyatt Earp, this one takes some liberties with the facts. MY DARLING CLEMENTINE certainly did, and it’s considered one of the...
WESTERN NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: A PISTOL FOR RINGO
For our December session, Kirk Ellis brought something truly unexpected: a spaghetti Christmas Western. Written and directed by Duccio Tessari, (known for sword-and-sandal epics and Westerns, he reportedly co-wrote but was uncredited on Sergio...
WESTERN NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: FORTY GUNS
Occasionally, someone brings something truly unexpected to our sessions. Sheila Ellis did just that with FORTY GUNS (1957), an offbeat, operatic, and very enjoyable Western.
WESTERN NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: LILIES OF THE FIELD
A charming contemporary Western, LILIES OF THE FIELD (1963) was my choice for our latest Western Night Movie gathering. It tells the story of a traveling handyman named Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) who, while driving through the Arizona desert,...
WESTERN NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: COLORADO TERRITORY
It’s hard to say who may have come up with the idea of turning HIGH SIERRA, the 1941 film noir classic with Humphrey Bogart as a hardboiled bank robber agreeing to pull one last job, into a Western, but it was an inspired one. That Western was...
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN, OSCAR WINNING DIRECTOR
It was with great regret that I heard that Academy Award-winning film director William Friedkin died yesterday, August 7, 2023. The cause was heart failure and pneumonia. He was 87.
