Westerns (part 1-29 of 50)
I'm an old movie buff. Until this year, I'd only seen a few Westerns, and I was okay with that -- I always had this notion that Westerns weren't worth my time. There were only three plotlines that I can think of. There are good guys and bad guys! The railroad's comin' - everythin's chaynging! I'm an old macho guy and I need to shoot you!
About a year ago, I saw The Searchers, and realized how wrong I was. If anything, the constraints of the genre draw the filmmakers out, and they tell intensely personal stories.
I decided to start gobbling up Westerns. I'm a member of Film Forum, and this past March they showed 30-40 Westerns. At that point I decided I'd make a goal to see 50 Westerns in 2005. Why 50? Because that's the number of eggs that Paul Newman says he can eat in Cool Hand Luke. C'mon people, that's the bragging benchmark.
So I saw 12 Westerns that March at the Film Forum. I devoured them. They were all running together, but I didn't care. The American Southwest is one of the most beautiful places on earth and it looks gorgeous on screen, even in black and white. They're quotable as hell. Bourbon is water, and cigarettes are air. Everything's so simple, and everyone's a loser. What an easy world to live in! No expectations.
Well, as I iterated in my 2nd post on this blog, I don't make any of the goals I set for myself, so I won't make it to 50. Since the 12 I saw in March, I've only seen 13, and I'm only up to 29. I'd have to see about 3 a week to make it, and it isn't going to happen. But I'm glad I took up this crazy cause, if only to grab one pearl of wisdom, taken from Sam Peckinpah's 'Ride The High Country', as spoken by Joel McCrea:
'All I want is to enter my house justified.'
About a year ago, I saw The Searchers, and realized how wrong I was. If anything, the constraints of the genre draw the filmmakers out, and they tell intensely personal stories.
I decided to start gobbling up Westerns. I'm a member of Film Forum, and this past March they showed 30-40 Westerns. At that point I decided I'd make a goal to see 50 Westerns in 2005. Why 50? Because that's the number of eggs that Paul Newman says he can eat in Cool Hand Luke. C'mon people, that's the bragging benchmark.
So I saw 12 Westerns that March at the Film Forum. I devoured them. They were all running together, but I didn't care. The American Southwest is one of the most beautiful places on earth and it looks gorgeous on screen, even in black and white. They're quotable as hell. Bourbon is water, and cigarettes are air. Everything's so simple, and everyone's a loser. What an easy world to live in! No expectations.
Well, as I iterated in my 2nd post on this blog, I don't make any of the goals I set for myself, so I won't make it to 50. Since the 12 I saw in March, I've only seen 13, and I'm only up to 29. I'd have to see about 3 a week to make it, and it isn't going to happen. But I'm glad I took up this crazy cause, if only to grab one pearl of wisdom, taken from Sam Peckinpah's 'Ride The High Country', as spoken by Joel McCrea:
'All I want is to enter my house justified.'
posted by stinkrock at 1:43 AM
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