Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619

Depends how tough ma was....

I could never stand Costner until he got old. Now I like him: Yellowstone, and The Highwaymen

And yet, half of the Westerns filmed have had the townsmen scurrying for shelter, rounding up the womenfolk, drawing down the blinds, when the lawman was out there in the street confronting the bad guys. Yet they were frontiersmen, Civil War veterans, etc. It's just an almost universal Western theme: the one lawman against the outlaws, while the towns people take flight. High Noon just makes it plainer than most. The original 3:10 to Yuma does, too.

Shane: there had to be the kid, because the book was told from the point of view of the kid. Butch Cassidy? The bicycle-riding scene with "Raindrops keep falling on my head" was the most ridiculous scene in all of cinema, before or since. I cringe even writing about it...

It's a good topic. The two most overrated are The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and the Searchers; two which are usually touted among the 'greatest'. Liberty Valance has great scenes. Like the steak scene, which shows Jimmy Stewart at his near-hysterical best. And the crazy villainy of Lee Marvin. But the painfully extended civics leasons are, well, just painful. And Wayne thinking he had the woman, but never actually ever asking her himself was just....sort of pathetic. The lesson: don't put Stewart and Wayne in the same movie; no comptetion. Except the Shootist. The Searchers? The famous cinematography is truly great. But: lose the half-wit sidekick (a concept that thankfully was eventually abandoned in Westerns). Above all-- eliminate the goofball grinning suitor, and the 'svenskis'.....And, John: if you want the woman, say so. Or go find another woman; it's not that difficult.....

My favorite Western movie line. From the parable of the Pharisee and the publican; Luke 18. Sam Peckinpah was a preacher's son and it shows in many of his movies.

Always fun! Mine: Hombre'; Seven Men From Now; Red River; Ride the High Country.

Nothing, I think, though there are still pards here who don't like Dern because of that movie. I knew little about him only until I saw him in "Nebraska" a few years back. He was great and I think he got an Academy award nomination for the role. He's an old man, now. Like some of the rest of us.....

The Bass Pro shelves here regularly now have a lot of rifle calibers, and 9 mm, and a couple of other auto pistola cals, but still are very lacking on 'standard' revolver loads; .44s, .38, .45 etc. Little .22. By no means back to normal; just better.

Great to see the kids involved and interested.

I was thinking more of one of those Firefly shooters....

Also cause for reflection: NYTimes reports today that 99% of US WWII vets are now deceased.

The 'law-talkin' man'! Love his stuff, and Troy McClure. Phil Hartman was the best! RIP

I liked the original show in spite of myself (I watched 2 or 3 seasons), because the macabre concept put me off. It was hard to take the proposition that Dexter was an actual compulsive serial killer because he was such a nice normal guy, just on a vengeance mission, which kept me watching. I agree about the sister. She was just a bundle of constant emotion; hard to take.

The new Narrows Bridge would have been there; it was built in 1950 in the same place. Now there's a second suspension bridge next to it, finished just a few years back: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=mRlmyr71&id=76F57A127EA9BDF94524FAFE33906F1DA3A2E0EA&thid=OIP.mRlmyr71_URjQDKI5stSrwHaE7&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fupload.wikimedia.org%2fwikipedia%2fcommons%2fthumb%2f1%2f1a%2fTacoma_Narrows_Bridge_2009.jpg%2f1200px-Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_2009.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.991966cabef5fd4463403288e6cb52af%3frik%3d6uCiox1vkDP%2b%2bg%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=799&expw=1200&q=tacoma+narrows+bridge&simid=608043717170317418&FORM=IRPRST&ck=A3480B96FD1555B381E9D656CADC21FD&selectedIndex=8&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

They don't actually show the scene in Tall T; when Randolph Scott comes back to the stagecoach post with the stick of candy for the kid, he's already been killed along with his dad and thrown into the well by Boone's gang, which has taken over the station. But it makes an impression.... True about Hombre perhaps, except for tying up the woman to let her die of thirst in the hot sun. Boone is good in The Tall T, and great in Hombre, I think. It's well-known, of course, that Hombre was based up the Elmore Leonard book. Less well-known is that The Tall T was based on The Captives, a short story of his. I think he had more Westerns made from his books and stories than any other authors. And if you add in his crime books, I doubt if any other author comes close to the number of movie adaptations of their work.

Cruel as opposed to just bad? Richard Boone killing the little kid and throwing him down the well in The Tall T qualifies, and he comes pretty close in Hombre, too.

I have their hammerless version. Beautiful shotguns.

There's no question about the kid's right. It's about his wisdom and judgment, which very few at that age have much of.

The Sunday NYTimes Magazine had a long article about the case this last Sunday. A remarkably dispassionate and balanced account. The trial could go either way, but the defense has a very good shot, I think. The big problem for the kid is that he should never have been anywhere near there. Another kid who had no wise mentors or guidance.

I bring a bottle of wine on most home dinner invites.

It wasn't a Colt. The New Mexico authorities will do a thorough investigation. Wait for the final report. Not a single one of us has anything to contribute to that. Not a thing. Is it a circus? Yes; and a lot of the folks here are part of it. I guess none of us can ever leave enough alone anymore. Myself included. We complain about the media. We're part of it, like it or not.

Not very raunchy, really, but suggestive dialogue; sparkling you might say. But whatever his talents, which were great, John Wayne was never all that great as a romantic lead; always a bit wooden. It's a really good movie, I watched it again a few months back.

We readily pigeonhole others-- and we pigeonhole ourselves. I know many self-identified liberals who own and use guns. But they would call themselves liberals, not progressives. I grew up hunting with Democrats, and I'll bet a lot of you did, too. There are many shades of opinion among gun owners and regular gun users, contrary to the assumptions of many.

Rust? That'd be a good name for a Western movie!