I like westerns. That's something not many people my age like. Western movies were really popular in my parent's times. In the 1940's and 1950's. Bu I've come to enjoy them a lot. They are a truly original American art form. They have their own rules, their own storytelling myths. And they allow for the telling of some really radical ideas. "High Noon" allowed Fred Zinneman to comment on the Communist blacklist of the 1950's. Directors like John Ford, Howard Hawks and Sam Peckinpah took the genre and elevated it to true art. It is also not strange, that almost every big director, American and European has tried his or her hand at creating a Western.
Which brings me to this great film I saw this afternoon. It's called "3:10 to Yuma".
a 1957 classic movie about a man (Van Heflin) who is about to lose his farm. He's presented with the job of taking a prisonener (Glenn Ford) and making sure he gets on a train to Yuma. Only an interesting realtiosnhip develops between the two men. Honorable man and outlaw each begin to respect and understand each other. It is an amazing psychological movie. It also refuses to see the world in terms of good and evil. The outlaws seem to have a higher code of honor than do the good guys. This movie is full of such themes.
This excellent movie is palying on Encore Westerns.
No comments:
Post a Comment