Sagebrush Trail, 1933

Sagebrush Trail, 1933

The question that comes to mind upon viewing this movie is: why? It looks like almost everyone had gone home for the day, and the few people who were still hanging around decided to crank out another one. The story is weak, and the way the story is told is confusing. However, there are a few noteworthy points to cover. But first, the story (such as it is).

Main theme: hero is accused of crime he didn't commit. John Wayne plays John Brant, although he uses the alias "Smith" throughout most of the movie--you can barely catch the part where his real name is used. He hops a train in whatever city he's in and rides it out west to escape. How far did he ride? How long did he hang between cars? He ends up part of a gang of outlaws, because he somehow knew to jump off the train at that spot to try and find the man who actually committed the murder for which he has been blamed. He becomes friends with a friendly outlaw who turns out to be the man who really committed the murder, but the F.O. redeems himself in the end, although it costs him his life.


There's an old truck that hauls the newspapers around. So we have automobiles. But once he's out of town, we never see another auto again. What time period is it set in?


Here are some lawmen who show up to search the train when Brant (Smith) jumps off. This is the only pipe-smoking scene in the whole movie.


This is the friendly outlaw, who goes by the alias of "Jones." This is veteran western character actor Lane Chandler who might have one of those faces that make you say, "oh, that guy" if you used to watch shows like Rawhide, Gunsmoke or Have Gun, Will Travel. He's listed as being in 368 movies and TV episodes at imdb between 1921 and 1971.


This is Nancy Shubert, who plays the rather mousey love interest/heroine Nancy Blake. This was her only film.


I thought I'd throw this one in here because it seems to be a recurring motif of these movies to have such a scene in the first few minutes. The good guy is fleeing, and he always rides his horse down a steep hill. Sometimes the horse nearly has to sit down and slide, it's so steep. I don't know why they did this all the time, but it seemed to be a standard thing to do during the initial flight scenes.


Here's one of the notable things about this movie. After the initial flight scene, Brant jumps into a pool to hide, and we get a rare shot of underwater filming. In this still, he's breathing through a hollow reed while one of the posse almost steps on him but doesn't see him. Underwater shots like this may have already been not-so-unusual if you were Johnny Weissmuller doing a Tarzan flick in the 30s, but I don't think you see it very often in old westerns.


This shot really surprised me. The posse couldn't spot him, but they were pretty sure that he was in the pool, so they started shooting into the water. That line of bubbles is from a bullet zipping down through the water right in front of his face. This seems, to me, to be an unusually graphic and realistic depiction for such a movie and such a time. It's a wonder it didn't give someone on the National Board of Review the vapors.


Another notable moment. Yakima Canutt was a stunt man, and later a stunt coordinator. He served as John Wayne's stunt double in many of these old movies. He started out a rodeo cowboy and got a part as an extra thanks to Tom Mix, then moved into the stunt business. He is the man who staged and directed the chariot race in Ben Hur. His bio at imdb says he was "the most famous and respected stuntman of all time." This is one of the few movies in which he has an actual speaking character role. He plays the unnamed outlaw gang leader who is ultimately the enemy of Brant and the friendly outlaw Jones.


Chariot race, anyone? When the stagecoach that Jones is driving spills over a bluff, everything breaks away except for the front wheels. Brant jumps on for no apparent reason other than to create this darn impressive footage of someone riding the wheels while being pulled by a bunch of horses. I'm guessing Canutt doubled for Wayne in this scene.


There really wasn't much development in this movie, romantic or otherwise, but that didn't stop Brant from planting a big on one Sally at the conclusion. Like I said, this was her only film. I don't know what ever became of her, but I like to think she got a kick out of telling her grandkids "I once kissed John Wayne."

Source: Western Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection
Runtime: 54 minutes
Amazon Search: Sagebrush Trail

We've taken care of everything...

The words you read, the songs you sing,
The pictures that bring pleasure to your eye...

Google publicly changes policy, announces: We are the Priests of Syrinx.

Now what, you may be thinking, is an "obvious change"? Is it one that is frivolous? (Thereby introducing a Google Frivolitimeter™ [Beta]). Or is it one that goes against the grain of the consensus? If so, then who decides what the consensus must be? Make no mistake, Google is moving into new territory: not only making arbitrary, editorial choices - really no different to Fox News, say, or any other media organization. It's now in the business of validating and manufacturing consent: not only reporting what people say, but how you should think.

Trust us because we say so.

Read the whole article for the full explanation. It was written by the same guy who, several years ago, caused something of an uproar by revealing how Google's search results could be rigged.

P.S. No more Adsense on this blog.

P.P.S. I just noticed that Blogger now has an import/export function.

via Sipsey Street Irregulars

Book Bomb: The Founders' Second Amendment

Received this by email and thought it was worth publicizing.

The SECOND AMENDMENT BOOK BOMB on Bill of Rights Day, December 15!
http://www.secondamendmentbook.com/

Monday, December 15, marks America's Bill of Rights Day, the anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. To commemorate this event, the SECOND AMENDMENT BOOK BOMB website has been created, a unique and powerful way to communicate the importance of the Bill of Rights' Second Amendment for the protection of liberty. With your help, we can launch constitutional rights to the top of national book bestseller lists, making a loud and clear statement that Second Amendment rights are inalienable!

The Second Amendment has already won a historic victory on June 26, 2008, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own and bear arms. However, the Heller ruling was immediately attacked and efforts continue on the national level and across the country to undermine gun rights. Therefore, to secure the Second Amendment now and for the future the American public must be made aware of the reasons why the Founders sought to protect this right.

And now we have the tool to do so. Fascinating, seminal, and inspiring, the new book, THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms, by Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook*, is the perfect way both to educate ourselves and to reach friends and family who don't yet understand Second Amendment rights. Our goal is to reach one million Americans with Dr. Halbrook's book during the Holiday Season and throughout the New Year ahead. Will you help?

To achieve this goal the SECOND AMENDMENT BOOK BOMB website has been established to create a phenomenon so great that even the mainstream media will have to take notice. Let's spread THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT so far and wide that Americans across the political spectrum, and all walks of life, will be discussing the Second Amendment in every possible venue.

With your help, we can make Dr. Halbrook's book #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. To make this happen, please go to the website and pledge to buy at least one copy of the book before or on the December 15th SECOND AMENDMENT BOOK BOMB date. Let's make this the most amazing and explosive event ever on the right to bear arms, and declare in no uncertain terms that the Second Amendment will be around for a very long time to come.

With your pledge to buy the book, we can:

* Make THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
* Make THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT a #1 bestseller on Amazon.com.
* Make THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT a #1 bestseller on BarnesandNoble.com.
* Make THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT a #1 bestseller on BooksAMillion.com.

Please help now by making your pledge here:
http://www.secondamendmentbook.com/

*Stephen P. Halbrook is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and author of THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms. Having won three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, he filed an Amici Curiae Brief in District of Columbia v. Heller on behalf of 55 members of the Senate, the Senate President, and 250 members of the House of Representatives.

So far there are five reviews at Amazon and all five gave the book 5 stars.

They got off easy

Man sprays 'toilet-papering' teens with fox urine:

A 50-year-old man told authorities he was fed up with teens toilet-papering his house during homecoming week. This year, he decided to defend his property — with a squirt gun filled with fox urine.

Now, Scott Wagar is in trouble with the law. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Kandiyohi County District Court to misdemeanor assault and other charges. He was released on personal recognizance.

According to police, on Sept. 16, Wagar used night vision goggles and saw 15-20 people running toward his place. He told them to leave and sprayed them with the fox urine. He also struggled with one teen who he says grabbed him from behind.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Wagar says he's innocent, and has a right to defend his property. He says groups of teens have been toilet-papering and egging his house during homecoming for about eight years, and each year it gets more destructive.

He says he sprayed the kids with a mixture of one-third fox urine and two-thirds water because "it stinks, but it doesn't hurt anything."

Fortunately for the teens, they chose to vandalize the property of a mere civilian, who is now charged with assault for protecting his property. If they had decided to egg and t.p. the Willmar Police Department HQ, I'm sure everyone would have had a good laugh and gone merrily about their business.

Yeah. I'm sure of it.

via The War On Guns

Rearranging

I'm pretty sure I had a good reason for putting both sidebars on the right, but I don't remember what it was. So I just put it back to the old format, with the part you read in the center. Feels more balanced that way. If it causes anyone major problems, let me know.

The next step will be a revision of the Blogrollonomicon .

Spaghetti West

I just watched a documentary that aired on IFC early this morning and which I DVDed called The Spaghetti West. Got this cool screen cap.


This is not from a movie. This is Van Cleef discussing a scene with some other actors. A vital bit of information to show that he actually did smoke a pipe and didn't just use it for a screen prop.

Now I have a list of more westerns that I need to look out for. I like both American and Italian westerns, for different reasons. The American westerns generally appeal to my more idealistic side; the Italian westerns to my naturally cynical nature.

This documentary also reminded me of a movie I haven't thought of in a long, long time: They Call Me Trinity. I saw that movie when I was in second grade and thought it was the best movie I'd ever seen. I wonder how it would look now. I saw it that one time only. I think I might have seen one of the sequels, but I'm not sure.

Anyhoo, check it out if you have an interest in Italian westerns. In 60 minutes (no commercials) they cover the entire genre from beginning to (arguably, perhaps) end.

A meme I haven't done yet

From a meme I read at Baboon Pirates.

Do you remember your first favorite song? If so, what was it?
Yes. The first song I claimed as a favorite was an old hymn called "Here We Are But Straying Pilgrims" when I was 3 or 4 years old.

What do you refuse to eat?
Bologna. Vienna sausages. Any organ meat. Macaroni and cheese. Spinach. Collard greens. Poke greens. Anything containing even the slightest sub-microscopic speck of avocado. Even typing the word "avocado" makes me feel a little queasy. You just can't imagine how sick that stuff makes me. I could go on.

Have you ever injected any kind of drug before?
Only when prescribed by a doctor, and then I didn't do it myself.

Do amusement park rides make you sick?
I don't know, because I've never been on one, and I don't care ever to try it.

Who is your favorite Star Wars character?
Obiwan Kenobi.

What kind of cheese do you put on your sandwiches?
I like all kinds of cheese, but I usually use American for the convenience.

What was the first thing you ever learned how to cook?
Frying a hamburger patty, probably.

Did you ever collect beanie babies?
You gotta be kidding.

When was the last time you got a haircut?
The last time I got a haircut was at least 20 years ago. I've been cutting my own hair ever since.

Have you ever been to a bachelor/bachelorette party?
No.

Where are you most ticklish on your body?
I'm not.

Have you ever bailed anyone out of jail?
No.

What's the last board game you played?
Monopoly with my kids.

Do you still own any VHS tapes?
Of course.

Do you shop at JC Penney's ever?
Once. My wife and I were given a JCP gift certificate for a wedding gift 15 years ago, and we used it to buy an ornamental rug.

If there was a real Jurassic Park, would you visit it?
No. I would nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Do you ever read the newspaper?
The local one. Not the big city one.

Do you eat your mac & cheese with a fork or a spoon?
See above.

Is there any medicine/pill you take everyday?
Only a multi-vitamin.

How many 20 dollar bills do you have on you right now?
None.

Would you do meth if it was legalized?
Would you shoot yourself in the head if suicide was legalized?

Do you think Obama will be assassinated?
I certainly hope not.

Have you ever made out with someone and then never saw them again?
No. Didn't happen often, but when it did it was with girls I associated with on a fairly regular basis for various reasons (school, work), so I always saw them again.

Do you drink egg nog?
I have, but it's not one of my favorite things to drink. And I think it's tastes disgusting with any alcohol in it. Milk & alcohol? Gurk. I'd rather make hot toddies or hot buttered rums or hot spiced wines.

What are you wearing?
A long-sleeved plaid flannel shirt and flannel pajama pants with glow-in-the-dark Jolly Roger skulls all over them.

Jolly. Roger. Pants. Make of that what you will...

How the Antikythera Mechanism works

A scientist has built a working model of the Antikythera Mechanism which you can see in this video. It's a hand-powered computer for determining exactly where the five planets (the only five they knew of at the time) would be for any given date.

I thought she had died long ago

Bettie Page dies at 85.

The Shooting Wire on H-S Precision

Shooting Wire:

That's why many consumers and manufacturers are baffled at H-S Precision's continued refusal to end their relationship with former FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi. If public opinion counts for anything, it will eventually have serious business consequences.

On Wednesday, after still not responding to numerous requests for contact, one H-S Precision executive went on the offensive (or off the deep end), calling and berating one gun writer who'd indicated he would never again deal with H-S Precision.

Here's a free public relations tip: "Never get into an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton."

I have a feeling H-S Precision is going to bring a whole new dimension to the term "Zumboed."

Sometimes it's not all dark

Physorg.com alerts us to the Biggest Full Moon of the Year:

It's no illusion. Some full Moons are genuinely larger than others and this Friday's is a whopper. Why? The Moon's orbit is an ellipse with one side 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other: see diagram. In the language of astronomy, the two extremes are called "apogee" (far away) and "perigee" (nearby). On Dec. 12th, the Moon becomes full a scant 4 hours after reaching perigee, making it 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons we've seen earlier in 2008.

I was treated to quite a fantastic view of the almost-full moon this morning as I was driving to work.  I leave home at 5:30 in the morning.  I did notice it was very large and impressive, and turned an eerie dusky orangish-yellow just before it set.

Oldest stash found

From Discovery News:

Nearly two pounds of still-green plant material found in a 2,700-year-old grave in the Gobi Desert has just been identified as the world's oldest marijuana stash, according to a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany.

A barrage of tests proves the marijuana possessed potent psychoactive properties and casts doubt on the theory that the ancients only grew the plant for hemp in order to make clothing, rope and other objects.

They apparently were getting high too.

Lead author Ethan Russo told Discovery News that the marijuana "is quite similar" to what's grown today.

"We know from both the chemical analysis and genetics that it could produce THC (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase, the main psychoactive chemical in the plant)," he explained, adding that no one could feel its effects today, due to decomposition over the millennia.

Drag, man.

Zombie Vampires and the futility of war

I just wanted to make sure no one missed this dinosaur comics.

The abysmal darkness within is filled with Christmas cheer

Okay, so apparently it wasn't just an allergy. Got lucky and had an easy day today, but when I got home I crashed. I did write up another movie post today, watched some Christmas shows with the kids, and so forth.

I am getting an enormous amount of traffic for this. You'd think it was the only @nim@t3d Chr1stm@s tr33 gif on the whole internet. I don't remember where I found it, but it had to come from somewhere, because I didn't create it.

There's a new Burger King on my route to & from work (Rigsby & W.W. White for the locals) that just opened and has free Wi-Fi. I'm not really a Burger King person, but I might have to give that Wi-Fi a shot. My laptop is supposed to be all set up for it.

P.S. The weather pixie. A goth girl with a cute little Christmas tree? What the...?!

Blame it on Oprah

Unexplained Mysteries :: Did Oprah cause the economic crash ?

If you don’t believe only ten million people could destroy the economy of the U.S. or that Oprah could influence a crisis in the economy I’ll show you how it works.

In 1996 Oprah had a guest talk about Mad Cow on her program and she said something to the effect that she wasn’t going to eat another burger. Texas cattlemen lost $12 million as cattle prices dropped and beef consumption went down. That was just $12 million in Texas. Total loses nation wide were likely $100 million. So in the past, Oprah has had an influence on at least one sector of the economy and if she endorses a book the author becomes a millionaire, count two of influence on the economy.

Phillip Tilley theorizes that Oprah's recommendation of a goofy New Age self-help book caused the economic crash. Interesting theory. The book has sold 4 million copies and the DVD has sold 2 million. It's #128 on Amazon's bestseller list.

But personally, I think if she did have anything to do with it, it was only one of many nails in the coffin.

But would it explain anything?

Urk

I hope the norther that's supposed to come through tonight blows the crud out of the air. Today has just been one long allergy attack. I took a generic loratadine this morning and it took the edge off, but I was still blowing my nose like a Norwegian bachelor farmer all day today. Fortunately I was in alleys all day, so no one had to see me launching snot bombs every 10 minutes. On the way home I fired up a pipe, which helped, because pipe smoke tends to clear my sinuses. Which is, by the way, the exact opposite of cigarette smoke, which clogs me up somethin' fierce.

No comment

Men under threat from 'gender bending' chemicals - Telegraph:

Scientists are warning that manmade pollutants which have escaped into the environment mimic the female sex hormone oestrogen.

The males of species including fish, amphibians, birds, and reptiles have been feminised by exposure to sex hormone disrupting chemicals and have been found to be abnormally making egg yolk protein, normally made by females, according to the report by Chem Trust, environmental group.

The authors claim that the chemicals found in food packaging, cleaning products, plastics, sewage and paint cause genital deformities, reduce sperm count and "feminise" males.

Fish have been specifically affected by the gender changing chemicals. In one study, half the male fish in British lowland rivers had signs of being feminised - as chemicals which block the male hormone androgen had been released- leading to the development of eggs in their testes.

Although the report only looked at the impact of gender bending chemicals on the animal world, its authors say the findings have disturbing implications for human health.

Gywnne Lyons, a former Government advisor on chemical pollution and author of the report, said: "Urgent action is needed to control gender bending chemicals and more resources are needed for monitoring wildlife.

"If wildlife populations crash, it will be too late. Unless enough males contribute to the next generation there is a real threat to animal populations in the long term," she added.

The paper lists the affected species and include, flounder in UK estuaries, cod in the North Sea, cane toads in Florida, peregrine falcons in Spain, and turtles from the Great Lakes in North America.

Some male roaches have changed sex completely after exposure to oestrogen from the Contraceptive pill pouring out of sewage works.

More.

Riders of Destiny, 1933

First I must say that this movie was so comment-worthy that I ended up with over 60 screen caps that I had to whittle down to these that I have uploaded. Deleting the ones that I did discard was not easy, but I just couldn't upload everything.

It was with a certain feeling of trepidation that I began watching this movie; indeed, a creeping sense of unease came over me even as I set the timer to record. The reason for this unease was that Dish Network's program guide summary showed John Wayne as the star of this film, and something about the star being a "singing cowboy." Surely, I thought, they must be mistaken. John Wayne isn't the star, they just listed him at the top because his name is now more well-known. But then I checked imdb and found that, indeed, John Wayne was the star, and he played a character called Singin' Sandy Saunders. I have not seen any of these really old John Wayne movies, and until now I had never heard of this character, which appeared in several movies, the singing always overdubbed.

Riders of Destiny, 1933

Riders of Destiny makes me think that they had a couple of boxes filled with slips of paper, one with nouns, one with adjectives, and perhaps another with verbs and adverbs for variety.

"We need a title today!"

"How about two nouns?"

"Okie dokie. We got 'destiny.' We got 'riders.' That's pretty good: Destiny Riders."

"Nope. Doesn't ring. Make it Riders of Destiny."

"Brilliant!"

The title has no relation to the movie. This is not unusual, but usually the title of a singing cowboy western is also the title of the movie's main song; it's "hit single," if you will. Not so with this one. And it seems quite a pretentious title for a story that's only about a local battle over water rights.

So there I was, an ominous feeling of dread creeping up the back of my neck at the thought of how painfully embarrassing it would be (although vicariously) to hear John Wayne try to be a singing cowboy. Fortunately, someone who could sing was used to overdub Wayne. His name was Bill Bradbury, brother of Bob Steele and son of director Robert Bradbury, Sr. Bill Bradbury had a short show-biz career, using it primarily as a way to make money to put himself through school. Once he became a practicing physician, he left show business. But enough about him.


The movie begins with Sandy Saunders riding along and singing a song. A strange, ominous, minor-keyed song called "A Cowboy's Song of Fate." I have captured it for your edification here. Click to go to box.net where I have it stored and you can play it (544 kb mono mp3). Also his guitar sounds like a ukelele. Keep your eyes on that guitar.


He finishes his song and sees something wrong in the distance. And here, at the 2:20 mark, we have the first of the dramatic musical flourishes that make sure we know something bad is going down. Just click through to listen to...DUMP DUMP DUMP DUMMMM!!! Remember the guitar, which is now slung over his shoulder.


He finds Sheriff Bill Baxter (Lafe McKee), who has been shot in the back and left for dead. He stops to help. Note the guitar lying on the ground behind the sheriff. So he helps the sheriff out, says that he'll recover even though he was shot in the back, and then...


Goes riding away. What happened to the sheriff? More importantly, what happened to the guitar?

Henchman Elmer (left) and Henchman Bert (right) provide the comic relief. They are like Larry and Curly without Moe around to give them coherence and direction. Pay attention especially to the one on the right. That's Al St. Johns, a.k.a. Fuzzy St. Johns, a.k.a. Fuzzy Q. Jones. Another vaudevillian who made the move to movies, he is a standard henchman/sidekick in old cowboy westerns and was everywhere (he played the friendly outlaw Slim in the previously reviewed The Oklahoma Cyclone, but if I keep doing this we will definitely be seeing more of him).


Click to enlarge the two pictures above and below. I wanted to get these two pictures in here so you could see Elmer's (Heinie Conklin) shootin' iron. Notice that it looks like the trigger is set well forward, like you would expect with a double-action, and his finger appears to be behind the trigger, gripping the back of the trigger guard.


Here's another shot of him holding it the same way. Notice the strangely-shaped curve of the grips. Does it have a hammer? Strange-looking firearm. I wonder if it was even based on a real gun, or if it was some kind of toy.

So anyway, the stagecoach that Bert and Elmer are driving gets robbed. Bert makes an awesome shot and kills the robber's horse from about 100 yards away without even aiming (or holding the gun steady). Singin' Sandy arrives just in time to discover a damsel in distress, her horse dead, said damsel having just robbed the stagecoach. Sandy gives her his horse so she can make her escape. Confusing, yes, but you see, Sandy is not what he seems.

It turns out that Bert and Elmer are crooks working for the Main Bad Guy named Kincaid. The damsel, Fay Denton (played by Cecelia Parker) and her father had some stuff on the stagecoach, but they knew their stuff was being stolen. So she preemptively robbed the stagecoach to get their stuff before the real bad guys could steal it.


Gratuitous pipe smoking. There's a lot of it in this movie.


Singin' Sandy ends up at Fay's house, where she lives with her father (George pre-Gabby Hayes). The guitar has mysteriously appeared again! He becomes friends with them, of course, and it is only natural that Fay begins falling in love with him.


This is the kind of scene that makes me wince. Before CGI, before green screens, before pretty much everything. Bert and Elmer have set up a trip rope to catch Sandy. This is a horse grinding its nose into the dirt after being tripped. It nearly turns a somersault before it's over. Yow.


But they don't catch Sandy, in fact, Sandy catches them and returns them to their boss, leaving a snatch of his haunting refrain ("so drop [or is it "draw"] your guns, outlaw, and cinch 'em on tight/there'll be blood a runnin' in town before night") floating on the air and making Kincaid and his hired gun Morgan go WTF?! Singin' Sandy always sings a little to let people know he's there. Some people leave a chess piece, some a playing card, some people sing. Then Sandy goes back to the Denton's place for supper, during which Charlie (Fay's dad) recommends his daughter's biscuits (cough), and after which Sandy treats Fay to a romantic ballad while Charlie enjoys a pipe.


She's thinking, "I am disturbed by your surrealistic lip-synching and somewhat confused that your guitar sounds like a ukelele."


This is Kincaid, the bad guy. He is thinking, "Let us pause for a moment while I smirk knowingly." He did this a lot. Kincaid controls all the water, except for a well on the Denton's place.


DUMP DUMP DUMP DUMMMM!!! Slippery Morgan, Kincaid's hired gun, faces off with Singin' Sandy.


Sandy's singing. "There'll be guns a blazin'/And singin' with lead/Tonight you'll be drinkin'/Your drinks with the dead." Tough words for a guy who never kills anyone.


He just permanently disables Morgan by shooting him through both wrists so he'll "never handle a gun again." Doesn't do him much good. Morgan is later murdered in cold blood by Kincaid, in a fit of rage.


You're a what?


Stuff is going down, but not without gratuitous pipe smoking.


DUMP DUMP DUMP DUMMMM!!!


Another scene that makes me say ouch. That's a real horse with what appears to be a dummy attached, plunging from a 20-foot cliff into a pool of water. The horse survives, but is obviously injured in its right front leg when it clambers back out on the bank. The ostensible rider is Kincaid, who doesn't survive. He drowns. Yes, the water magnate drowns. Such sweet irony!

I left a lot of stuff out because I don't want to fill in too many spoilers. The primary plot of this one is "bad guy controls water." (Sub-plots: hero has secret identity; only the sheriff knows the truth). The answer to "should you watch this movie?" is: yes, absolutely.


"I like your biscuits."


"You like my bmpf?!"


"Just wait until you try my muffins!"

This is a good old movie, if you don't expect too much out of it, and I don't know about you, but I really enjoy seeing people as famous as John Wayne when they were still new at the game. I also really like the idea of the gun fighter singing as he goes into battle. It's something that could be tried again. Bonus points for Gabby Hayes having such a prominent role and more than one closeup of him really enjoying a pipe. And with a modern sense of the ironic, this turns into quite an enjoyable movie that made me laugh out loud more than once. Just pay attention for lines that are now cliché and try to count how many times you hear DUMP DUMP DUMP DUMMMM!!!

Source: Encore Westerns movie channel
Runtime: 53 minutes
Amazon Search: Riders of Destiny

UPDATE: El Capitan may have identified Elmer's gun: the Colt Alaskan. It could be that the hammer simply isn't visible in this old film. There were a couple of other shots that I didn't include because it was so hard to see the details, but when in the holster this gun did appear to have a bird's head grip, like the Alaskan.

Forry

Two different blogs I read recently mentioned the passing of Forrest J. Ackerman, so I thought it would be a good thing to link them together. Click to read thoughts about this man from The Club Above and Power Of Babel.

Info bleg

I've been trying to track down an old Christmas movie that I saw once when I was a kid. It's about this man who is a widower who lives with his teenage daughter. The wife had died at some Christmas-time in the past and as a result, he had become bitter and no longer celebrated Christmas. However, his daughter still wanted to celebrate it. Her school had put a Christmas tree up, and when the holiday break came around, they drew numbers to see who got to take the tree home. His daughter won it, and brought it home, causing conflict with her dad.

I think it was made in the 70s but was set in some earlier time. I do know it was set in the time before they put "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance. I don't remember who was in it, but I think the father must have been some fairly well known actor. Does anyone remember a movie that sounds like this?

Yet another free mp3 download

You can download P is For Panda Mix Tape Vol. 1 from Amazon "for a limited time." As usual, I don't know how limited. A collection of 16 songs by 8 different artists/groups that float between rock and Americana. Pretty good stuff.

What's going on

I am having a lot of fun watching these old movies and subsequently writing about them. Here's a clip from what's up next.

Broadway to Cheyenne, 1932

With Broadway to Cheyenne, we have one of those Westerns that were set in the "present day," that is, the time that the movie was made. Made in 1932, we have both the glamor and modernity of New York City and the wildness and ruggedness of a small town some 20 miles from Cheyenne, Wyoming.

There's Rex Bell, playing a detective named Breezy Kildare. Gwen Lee is the blond next to him. She has only a small role at the beginning of the film.

The original movie was 60 minutes long, but the version on my DVD is only 51 minutes, and it's plain to see why. This film was not preserved well, and there are jumps and jerks throughout, but especially during the first several minutes, where they must have simply cut out the bits that didn't make it.

So what happens is, Kildare goes to this nightclub, see, to keep tabs on a gangster named Butch Owens (Robert Ellis). The Owens gang comes in and for some reason that I was not able to entirely fathom, makes a hit on some other guy in the nightclub. Kildare is caught in the crossfire and wounded, although he recovers, of course, since he's the main character. After mostly recovering, he is sent to his father's ranch in Wyoming to finish his recuperation. By sheer coincidence, the Owens gang has moved to the same area of Wyoming in order to set up a "protection" racket with the ranchers there. Breezy's dad is, of course, against joining the "association" or paying any "protection" money, so he is targeted by the Owens gang.

The premise is weak, in my opinion. They go even further in that another man who Breezy once busted for selling "real beer" (remember, this is during Prohibition) has turned up in the same town. He runs a pool hall that advertises soft drinks but sells "real beer" right out in the open. Breezy immediately sees that alcohol is being sold, but he just blows it off this time. Later at the end of the movie it is also made clear that Butch Owens is going to be hung without a trial. The overall atmosphere is that there are two sets of rules: one for the city folks and one for the country folks who still live in what is mostly "frontier." I think this was probably an accurate portrayal of the time.

Like I said, this was 1932 when things were still kind of mixed up, so it was entirely appropriate for there to be both automobiles, like this one used by Kildare...


...and horses and wagons as used by his dad's ranch hands.


Then follows a really stupid part. Breezy wrecks his car on the old road to his dad's house, it flips over and he crawls out.


His clothes are completely ripped to shreds but there's not a scratch on him.

Then all the old ranch hands are excited to see him, because he's been gone for such a long time. Gratuitous pipe smoking follows. The picture isn't all that clear, but it's the one on the right.


Here's a picture of the Owens gang in their automobile, armed with the latest cutting-edge weaponry: the Thompson submachine gun.


Note that this is the later version without the ribbed barrel like the movie gangsters are usually using. They stop here to leer menacingly and shoot a few cows. The Thompson is never shown being actually fired. They show the guy holding it, then they cut away and patch in the sound of a burst of fire.


He carries his "typewriter" around in a trombone case.


Breezy dons cowboy clothes now that he's not in the city anymore. I think Rex Bell was someone who actually knew how to handle a gun. Although this is a still screen cap, this scene shows him walking while holstering his gun without ever looking at the holster, he just feels for it with his off hand. In this still, it's not completely clear, but in the moving picture it seems fairly clear that his trigger finger is not on the trigger.


I think in this still I was able to get a decent shot of his Peacemaker. This is appropriate. The Peacemaker was the best non-semi-auto handgun ever invented, after all, and it remained in very widespread use for decades after its introduction. Note that his thumb is on the hammer. How many times have you seen a cowboy movie where you're thinking the bad guy is just going to knock the gun out of the good guy's hand because it's not cocked and his thumb isn't even on the hammer? This shows someone who is holding a single-action revolver in the "safest" position possible during potential combat; readying to use it if necessary without having actually cocked it yet.


Here's a youngish Gabby Hayes, credited as George Hayes, playing Walrus, the Kildare foreman. Check out his gun. It's a hammerless double-action revolver, but I can't figure out the exact make or model. Interesting, and again, appropriate for the time. If anyone can I.D. it, please do so. P.S. Pee Pool?


Yes, Pee Pool.


Another interesting gun that turns up is the pocket gun carried by Butch Owens. Obviously a small semi-auto, and from the barrel configuration I think it may be a Savage Model 1907. But I'm only guessing. I'm not sure the trigger guard is the right shape.


Here's Marceline Day, playing Breezy's girlfriend Ruth Carter. Look at them gams! Who needs a sidesaddle?


The Owens gang sets up an ambush with the Thompson. Breezy climbs up onto this overhang above them and ropes the gun out of the gangster's hands.


Here we finally get a clear view of the silhouette of a Thompson. But does he then use it against them? No, of course not. He climbs back down and takes on Butch with his fists.

There are a lot of dumb stunts in this movie, in spite of the interesting displays of period guns. For example, Breezy's father takes a full-auto burst from the Thompson right in the gut. His reaction?


"I'll pull through all right." By the end of the movie he's walking around seemingly unharmed, of course.

The violence in this movie is very toned-down, beyond even what I have come to expect from G-rated movies. Of course, this was before the current rating system, and back when violence was very whitewashed, but it was "passed by the National Board of Review." The original name of the NBR was The New York Board of Motion Picture Censorship, so that might explain some things.

So I finish by answering the question that I always ask: Should you watch this movie? No. I've already told you everything you need to know. But Rex Bell was an interesting character, I think. Born in Chicago, he moved to Nevada where he served as Lieutenant Governor. He was also active in politics (Republican) and the Boy Scouts. He died at the young age of 58 in 1962.

Source: Western Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection
Runtime: 51 minutes (officially 60 minutes, see above)
Amazon Search: Broadway to Cheyenne

Two more OOP cougars

That is, Out Of Place.

Louisiana, in the town of Bossier City.

The wilds of Georgia, where they once did live but were thought to have been "extirpated."

Stuff

Wow, not a single post for the entire weekend, even though I was actually on the computer a lot and did a lot of reading. Returning to work today was a lot easier than it usually is after a long weekend, except that my legs are a little sore, as they always are if I take off more than 2 days.

Is anyone else keeping up with Google's latest shenanigans? Although that may be too frivolous a word for it. I'm considering going as Google-free as possible, which would mean dumping this blog and starting again somewhere else. I've done it before, of course.

I've been trying to write another movie review, but I have discovered something: it is much easier to write a review about a movie you hate. The latest movie is so bland and mediocre there's not much I can say about it, except it has a couple of interesting and period-accurate guns.

I was following some links earlier and found this. That looks like a good collection of books. I have volume 2 of Tocqueville's Democracy in America. I know I once had volume 1 as well, but I have somehow lost track of it. The ones I have were published several decades ago, I think, in the same format, except volume 1 has a yellow cover and volume 2 has a red cover. Just more books that I picked up long ago in a used book store on the theory that I would need to read them someday. I have a lot of books like that.

Another way I spent my time over the weekend was trying to learn how to burn DVDs. All I can say so far is that I'm doing something wrong, but I don't know what. My next step is to get some regular DVD-R's and see if they work. My machine doesn't seem to be able to burn DVD-RW's. It came with it's own DVD burning software when I bought it. I've burned CDs many times, including using CD-RW's. It also came with its own DVD viewing software (InterVideo WinDVD), which operates much more smoothly than WinMedia and is what I use to take all the screen caps. I have successfully ripped some DVDs using DVD Shrink (freeware). I just can't seem to figure out how to burn the rips.

The Lee Van Cleef "marathon" on Encore Westerns was something of a let-down. I was expecting a marathon, but they showed only three movies. I did get all three, however. Two of them had him as the star, the third was a much older one which had him as one of the lesser bad guys. Van Cleef seems to have sort of gone backwards in his looks, that is, he was much uglier when young. He seemed to grow into his face better as he got older.

Now if one of those channels would just re-run The Master. Just so I could remind myself how bad it was, if nothing else.