When A Stranger Comes...

John Wayne did it best in HONDO (1953), the movie from which one of his iconic images comes from, but the story of a stranger coming to the rescue of a women and her son or sons has been repeated many a time in Hollywood, probably ignited from the Louis L'Amour short story "The Gift of Cochise" (1952).

The story line goes like this... Stranger down on his luck, wanders in from nowhere to find a women and child in need of saving, saves them and usually everyone else around them. I could use words like Epic, Ethos and Archetype to describe the classic hero character, but I won't, you can click the highlighted classic words for their definitions. I am  impressed that I remember some notions from my literature classes in college. 

The gist? 

There are only so many character types in story-the hero, the villain, the damsel, etc. be it movies or literature and you can't get any more classic than the hero saves the day and gets the gal. Except in these movies, the stranger/hero is blamed or actually does make the women a widow, which puts a kink in the attraction exuding from the screen between them. 

Clint Walker, star of the first hour long television western CHEYENNE... 

did it  a little bit more sultry a few years after HONDO in FORT DOBBS (1958)  with Virginia Mayo...

An outlaw on the run, Gar Davis (Walker)  makes it barely through Comanche Territory, only loosing a posse on his tail by trading jackets with a dead man that was not so lucky and rolling him off a cliff.

Okay, I digress...Comanche Territory is in Eastern Colorado, New Mexico and western Kansas and Oklahoma, not in Utah where the movie was film.... I'm done, for now.

Coming upon a small farm and trying to steal a horse, Gar is stopped by a feisty young boy played by  Richard Eyers, who is best know for battling a pet goose in...

FRIENDLY PERSUASION

In FORT DOBBS, Davis wakes up with a bullet wound to his head but finds mercy from the mother,  Celia Gray (Virginia Mayo),who informs him he could have just asked for a loan of a horse. 

Davis soon is making amends saving Celia and her son,  sneaking them out in the dark of the night...

                          

from the Comanches, which are really Navajos, dressed up like Comanches, because Comanches never raided in the red rock canyon country of Utah. Why all the Western directors like Gordon Douglas or John Ford seems to like to make the bad Indians Comanches, I do not know. Does Comanches sound more threatening than Navajo or Ute? 

Back to the story line, Davis leads his helpless brood, in a round about way towards Fort Dobbs, which is actually in North Carolina and was built in 1755.... because there are no forts in the West? I'll get back to that too.

But after Davis saves Celia from the rushing water of whatever river the Colorado is suppose to be, there is some steaming bantering as their clothes dry and the boy sleeps nearby. I wont go on another rant that although they travel by day around the red rock country near the Colorado River, easily find themselves up a couple thousand feet each night in wonderful lush campsite surrounded by aspens.

clip of the romantic interlude from Turner Classic Movies... here 

The steamy connections cease when  the dead man's jacket is discovered and Davis is accused of killing Mr. Grey. 

Even though Celia still believes Davis killed her husband, he deposits her and boy  on the outskirts of Fort Dobbs, where inside the possibility exists she could expose him.

This fort is actually near Kanab, Utah and has been used for quite a few Westerns...go here to see its many transformations

In FORT DOBBS, when the Comaches come again the hero emerges and Davis risks it all for the woman he loves and most of the townsfolk as well.

Story line of Hondo?

 HONDO Trailer HERE

About the same...in comes a stranger, stranded women and boy, in danger from the Apache this time...

some smoldering attraction between Wayne and Geraldine Page...

another cute kid played this time by Lee Aaker, who would go on to television...

to star next to RIN TIN TIN

What is different in HONDO? 

Wayne does kill the husband and father of the family he starts to desire after, but of course he doesn't have a choice. The guy did break every Code of the West going for his gun after Hondo saves his life from the Apaches, which would be accurate where the movie was filmed in Arizona, old Mexico and Utah, though according to the open screen of the trailer it takes place.,..

I don't get it. But then thing like...

IS filmed in New Mexico, though it is suppose to take place in Wyoming. Off track again...

Like I was saying, Hondo confesses and is forgiven, saves the women and boy from the Apaches 

though the two leaders of the Apaches who have speaking parts are really an Australian and a Mexican. 

It would be a very long time before the idea stuck in Hollywood to use actual "native" actors to portray their own culture.

THE LAST SAMURAI (2003) which other than in the setting is a Western, took the archetypal Hero story line much further this time. The hero, Nathan Algren, played by Tom Cruise...

is the enemy...

and everyone knows it, even the son of the fallen Samuria Algren has killed...

and his widow, who out of utter obedience, finds the wherewithal to save the life of the soldier who killed her husband.

Trailer Here

Again the hero is forgiven...

But this time... 

he does not save the day.

What makes these epic journeys of heros so different than other classic Westerns, even though one is set in Japan? 

Simply, these men hang up their guns, or swords as much as the world will let them and settle down with a good woman. 

Most Westerns the hero rides off into the sunset, after a slow drawl of how he can't change now, too set in his ways, with the notion that his brief encounter with those he rescued has to be enough...

Like in WILL PENNY starring Charlton Heston and the Iconic SHANE

Last Scene of SHANE (1953) here

I hate those movies and I guess the big difference is also that the husband, the father, no matter how much less of a man he is to the hero is still around.
But, bet your gonna hear "Shane, Shane come back..." in your head the rest of the day.

It's About Time....

So, I'm up here...

 for this...

The 42nd Telluride Film Festival. I think this is the fourth year, (starting HERE)  I have mosied up the canyon and rubbed elbows with locals and those from the East Coast, West Coast and other movie lovers to partake of a selection of secret films, since the line up is not released officially until Friday morning.  Unofficially you can find out via the Hollywood Reporter or Variety the night before.

In past years, do to the generosity of friends with a house in Telluride, I have stayed up there and attended both as an ACME passholder, the mid range pass that gets you in to most things and as a CINEPHILE, that doesn't, which was just frustrating.

Friends having sold their house, this year, I'm driving up the canyon each morning, not a horrible way to start the day...

and  going for free and this afternoon, enjoyed a pairing of documentary on two unknown but impressive Chinese artists and well, a little talk in the park, with...

Michael Keaton ( Beetlejuice, Batman, Mr. Mom, Kramer vs Kra mer), Sarah Gavron ( director of TTF entry Suffragette), Meyrl Streep ( Devil Wears Prada, Bridges of Madison County, Out of Africa, etc.), then on the other side of Moderator- Annette Insdorf that would be Tom McCarthy ( writer of Pixar's  Up). The panel rounded out with Rachel McAdams ( The Notebook, The Time Travelers Wife) and then here to promote their movie, SON OF SAUL...

about those in the Holocaust who had to do the truly dirty work, Lazlo Nemes and Geza Rohrig.

It has been over a year since I have posted anything new "On Popcorn and Movies" because I haven't found anything that interesting to talk about in the world of cinema and television. How many superhero movies can you review? How many regurgitation of old stories can you talk about? So my focus went to my art, my writing and left this movie blog to sit.

Oddly, my last post, on May 5th, 2014 was THIS, a ponder of how often Rachel McAdams movies are about time. No joke, and now here she is...

promoting her new movie with Michael Keaton, SPOTLIGHT...

 about the news-team that finally uncovered the story of Catholic priest abuse of young boys and the church's cover up of the crimes.

So I guess it is time for me to be optimistic that there will be enough fresh things to talk about to keep this blog going for awhile. I already have three more post waiting in the wings and will be heading back up the canyon tomorrow for another day of what the festival has to offer for free or at least with an $30 dollar ticket, once the patrons are all seated. Fingers crossed to get into SUFFRAGETTE tomorrow morning at 8:30. Means I have to leave my house about....6

All of Rachel McAdam's films are...ABOUT TIME

Okay, not all Rachel McAdams films have to do with time, just most of them.

Case in point is the 2004 adaption of the hugely popular book by Nicolas Sparks....

Yup, apparently she looks good in rain. In THE NOTEBOOK, she loses time to the devastating disease of Alzheimers, getting  her memories back when  her husband reads to her about her life...

Then....Deja Vous, it happens again in...

THE VOW (2012)

where she losses her memory in a car accident. Weird similarities do no stop there, she is a repressed artist in both movies, Her lovers played so finely by Ryan Gosling and Channing Tatum aren't deemed good enough by her families, but in both movies, love conjure all....

In THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, not so much...

based on the popular novel by Audrey Niffenegger...

Adams is not who battles with time but her husband, played by Eric Banna, who has no control over his time travel and  is ripped from those he loves in a moment and hurled somewhere else with no control. It does not go well...

Domhnall Gleesoon, who is better know for being the older brother of Ron Weasley in HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, has a better control of time in McAdams most recent offering...

ABOUT TIME (2013)

though he can only go back as far as the birth of his child to the determent of his family. The ability is passed from father and son and the movie is all Brit with Bill Nighy, also a Harry Potter alum and the crustacean villian from THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN'S CHEST, Davy Jones, as his father, who tries to teach his son all he knows about the family's secret ability, before his time runs out...

According to Rachel McAdams IMDB.com page , she will be starring in the Spy Thriller ....

in 2014 and has some more projects in post production, but I think  it is ONLY A MATTER OF TIME, until we see her again  in her favorite genre. Has anyone used that title yet?

I'll Watch About Anything...

Was pondering what I should write about this week On Popcorn and Movies, when Paula, over at PAULA'S CINEMA CLUB...

made it easy, nominating me for a...

Which for sooo many reasons right now, I can't accept, mostly  because part of it is thinking up 11 unique questions  and nominating 11 other bloggers.....ahhh, did I mention that I am doubling up on this posting, I have 30 minutes and then have to go on to the next thing on the list, about 7 other deadlines before end of March. 

But Paula was great in saying "Please don't freak out if you don't have time..." so I won't. But her questions are so cool, I am totally answering them for this blog post, which I have time for, because she did half of it for me...

And here are her questions....

1. St. Patrick's Day was this week. What is your favorite film set in Ireland? 

                                                  

LEAP YEAR is a sweet RomCom starring Amy Adams and the very yummy Matthew Goode, about the Irish Tradition of women asking men to marry them on the occasional Leap Year. Some other sweet romance comedies from the British Isles can be found HERE...

2. What movie job would you  like to try? Director, screenwriter, stunt person, costumer...? 

All of the above other them stunt person or anything in front of the camera. I would totally direct, write or clap the sound card, happily. In my other life, I am actually a textile artist and would  happily sit for months doing embroidery work on epic costumes like those in the LORD OF THE RINGS series.

3. Under  what circumstances, if any, would you appear on a reality TV show?

None.

4. There's a lot of mediocre sequels around, but are there any films that should have a sequel but don't?

I can't think of a sequel of a recent film, but can think of dozens of old movies that the story line is so good, Hollywood should do them again, instead of doing the like 5th Spiderman! Here are two I have bemoaned about ON POPCORN AND MOVIES.  Click on title for my ponderings

The Philadelphia Story...

                                        

 and HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON...

                                             

5. Have you had any brushes with fame...where and who was the famous person?

Well, I have posted how I have been able to see a few famous actors up at the Telluride Film Festival. HERE is a post on how unimpressed the famous dogs of the mountain town are with the top Hollywood actors and directors that come each Labor Day...      
                                 
                                  

6. What is your favorite time of day?

Morning- for the new day and the productiveness and evening- for the winding down and the family time.

7. Who should play in your biopic?

I can't get past the thought that anyone would want to make the story of my life, to think of which sexy Hollywood actress would play me.....right there it would stop being based on a true story.

8. Is there a book that has not been made into a movie that you think would be good?

Yeah, mine! While I have no desire to subject anyone to the story of my life, I would love if one of my manuscripts, either already on paper or in my head were made into a movie....well if I could write it as the screenwriter that is.

9. Sleepless nights....do you get up and do something, stay still and try to relax, or..?

Or... I think up the story lines I hope get published into novels that will be turned in to movies!

10. Do you have a recurring dream?

Yeah, that one where you come to class at the end of the term and can't get your locker open or just wandering through a house that never ends, room into room into room, etc.

11.  Fill in the blank: People would be surprised that I really like....

about every kind of movie and T.V. show out there. Well, I guess not if you read this blog...

Classic Movies...
                                             

All Kinds of T.V Shows...

                                     

Even Espionage ....

and Sci Fi...

Blame my brother, he was older the me and had more control over the remote on a Saturday at home, well, for a long time there was no remote, you got up. I'd watch classic movies until he came around and than it was James Bond reruns and Star Trek.

Probably most surprising, well not, I wrote about it HERE, is I have Dyslexia...that is why I put sooooo many pictures in my postings. Can't stand huge blocks of text. I write novels, but listen to them on tape, and they have to be pretty good to hold my attention, while, yeah, I'll watch about anything.