One Weird Western

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

Watched "Wild Bill" last night; 1995 movie with Jeff Bridges in the title role. Purportedly about the gunfighter, and free on Prime. Good cast besides Bridges: John Hurt, Ellen Barkin, Diane Lane.

 

It had some good scenes, and Bridges did pretty good. But the flic was deeply weird in its portrayal of McCall and everything surrounding the killing in Deadwood. I mean, strange. Totally divorced from the reality.

 

Unsurprisingly, the movie was a box office megadud. 30 mil to make; took in less than 3 mil.

 

I was glad I hadn't paid for it. Anybody else seen this? I hadn't heard of it before.....

[Dantankerous]

I've seen it several times and very much enjoy it. Even though some scenes depart from reality it was well acted, entertaining and I thought JB did an outstanding Wild Bill.

 

I'm sure I'll see it again.

 

If you want to talk weird westerns, check out Bone Tomahawk.

 

 

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

I'll have to agree that Bridges was a good Hickok. But sitting around for a half hour talking with McCall over whether or not he would kill him, along with a bunch of hired desperados was...something else.

[Alpo]

Wasn't there a scene where Wild Jeff got into a gunfight andIN a saloon with several Yankee soldiers? I'm sure I saw that somewhere, and that's the only movie I'm aware of where Bridges played Hickok.

[Wyatt Earp SASS#1628L]

Here ya go Alpo,

 

 

[Bart Slade]

I'm a fan of this movie "sort of".   

 

I don't like the handling of the Jack McCall subplot - which is unfortunately the primary subplot.

 

But the telling of the rest of the Hickok stories seems pretty consistent with the legend if not the truth, and I enjoy those scenes thoroughly. 

 

[Rye Miles #13621]

It’s historically inaccurate as heck! Terrible movie, one of the worst westerns!

[Yul Lose]

About like a Million Ways To Die In The West, I turned it off after the first 30 minutes.

[Warden Callaway]

49 minutes ago, Yul Lose said:

About like a Million Ways To Die In The West, I turned it off after the first 30 minutes.

I like that movie.   Got it on DVD from the discount bin.  Watched it more than several times. 

[Alpo]

4 hours ago, Wyatt Earp SASS#1628L said:

Here ya go Alpo,

You know, the more I think on it, the more I think that all I've seen of this movie is that clip on YouTube.

 

And Wild Jeff there did something that I absolutely would not have done.

 

The soldier come up and smashed his hat. He turns to the soldier and the soldier says "I ain't got no gun", so he took off his guns. Stupid stupid stupid

 

Soldier smashes my hat and I turn to the soldier and he says, "I ain't got no gun", I would have told him that he was awful damn stupid for starting a fight without carrying a gun. Then I will pull my gun and beat him severely with pummeling blows about the head and shoulders with the barrel. Fist fighting is for idiots. That's why man invented weapons.

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

Reading about the movie it seems the director based it on a play about Wild Bill, that revolved around the idea that McCall was Bill's illegitimate son-- in short, complete fiction.

 

Most Westerns bend history, but this one throws it out the window. I always wonder why moviemakers do that, because the real history is almost always more interesting than the 'artistic license' version.

[Blackwater 53393]

1 hour ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

Reading about the movie it seems the director based it on a play about Wild Bill, that revolved around the idea that McCall was Bill's illegitimate son-- in short, complete fiction.

 

Most Westerns bend history, but this one throws it out the window. I always wonder why moviemakers do that, because the real history is almost always more interesting than the 'artistic license' version.

I often find myself reminding myself that most of these movies are just entertainment.  Sometimes, not good entertainment!

[Sawhorse Kid]

Liked it enough to buy decades ago.

[Dogmeat Dad, SASS #48563L]

If you want a truly TERRIBLE Western, watch The Terror of Tiny Town.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_of_Tiny_Town

 

It's currently on Amazon Prime Video.

 

Worst western I think I have ever seen, and I've seen a whole lot of them!  I have boxes and boxes of Western DVDs.

[Alpo]

The Terror of Tiny Town is an excellent Western.

 

It has everything in it that is needed to make a western great.

 

You have the two big landowners. They started off as friends but as their ranches got bigger their friendship started to fade. One rancher has a grown son. The other rancher has a grown daughter who has gone back East to school and is now coming back to live with Daddy.

 

And we have the evil guy in town who is rustling from both of the big ranchers, leaving clues to make it look like they are rustling from each other, with the hope that they will start arrange war and kill each other and he will take over both of their ranches.

 

And rancher number one's son falls in love with rancher number two's daughter.

 

It is a perfect B Western. Zane Gray could have written it.

 

But because it's an all midget Western and they ride Shetland ponies people say it's a terrible movie. It's a great movie

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

SHOOT low , they be ridin' Shetlands 

 

  

[Warden Callaway]

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

The Terror of Tiny Town is an excellent Western.

 

It has everything in it that is needed to make a western great.

 

You have the two big landowners. They started off as friends but as their ranches got bigger their friendship started to fade. One rancher has a grown son. The other rancher has a grown daughter who has gone back East to school and is now coming back to live with Daddy.

 

And we have the evil guy in town who is rustling from both of the big ranchers, leaving clues to make it look like they are rustling from each other, with the hope that they will start arrange war and kill each other and he will take over both of their ranches.

 

And rancher number one's son falls in love with rancher number two's daughter.

 

It is a perfect B Western. Zane Gray could have written it.

 

But because it's an all midget Western and they ride Shetland ponies people say it's a terrible movie. It's a great movie

I second that.  Singing midget cowboy. 

 

 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

12 hours ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

I always wonder why moviemakers do that, because the real history is almost always more interesting than the 'artistic license' version.

Because they all want to put "Their own spin" on the story. That's why Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pixar, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are now dead.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

2 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

Because they all want to put "Their own spin" on the story. That's why Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pixar, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are now dead.

According to whom?

 

LL

[Cypress Sun]

 

Terror of Tiny Town...

 

An excellent movie.

 

I must admit that I was disappointed that there was no outlaw named "The Lollypop Kid".

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

2 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

Because they all want to put "Their own spin" on the story. That's why Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pixar, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are now dead.

 

9 minutes ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

According to whom?

 

LL

If you're asking about "Their own spin", almost every time a new Director or Producer take on an existing franchise, they TELL us that they are going to make the movie the way that they think it should be done. 

If you're asking why I think that Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pixar, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are now dead, just look at the latest release from all of them.

Every Star Wars release, from the last movie to all of the shows on Disney + have flopped. As have all the MCU movies and shows since "Endgame". The latest Indiana Jones movie was in the theaters for about a MONTH before it made it to "On Demand", and everything from Pixar has done no better. Disney, who owns all these franchises is hemorrhaging money to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a quarter. All because they wanted to make these movies and shows "Their Way". 

Disney has specifically hired writers who have NO history with these franchises. Anybody who has even read the comics that the MCU was based on could not have anything to do with it. Because Disney wanted to do it "Their Way.

[Warden Callaway]

I was decidedly disappointed in Bone Tomahawk.  If someone said it was horror movie,  I'd been more prepared. 

 

 

 

[Dusty Wyatt]

Liked some parts of it. But yes, it was pretty damned weird.

[Star Shooter]

On 9/26/2023 at 1:58 PM, Dantankerous said:

I've seen it several times and very much enjoy it. Even though some scenes depart from reality it was well acted, entertaining and I thought JB did an outstanding Wild Bill.

 

I'm sure I'll see it again.

 

If you want to talk weird westerns, check out Bone Tomahawk.

 

 

I agree that Bone Tomahawk is one weird western...that scene where they split the guy in half...just nasty!