Guest Appearance on the Tumbleweeds and TV Cowboys Podcast

As you may or may not recall, The Big Valley (1965-69) is my favorite TV western.  Today, I get to be the guest star on the podcast Tumbleweeds and TV Cowboys, in which we discuss my two favorite Big Valley episodes: "A Time to Kill" (1966) and "Showdown in Limbo" (1967).

You can listen to this episode on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts.  

I never really got into podcasts, but Tumbleweeds and TV Cowboys has changed that for me -- at least, for this particular podcast!  Might be the only one I ever listen to more than a couple episodes of, but that's okay.  I'm very much enjoying it!  It's like sitting down and chatting with western film-obsessed friends :-)

"Inmate 78" (The Magnificent Seven, Season 1, Ep 8)(1998)

It takes Chris Larabee (Michael Biehn) a whole two minutes and seven seconds of this episode to get himself sentenced to five years of hard labor with no chance of parole.  That Chris, he always is a fast worker!

Chris has had the bad luck to slouch into the town of Jericho, a scummy nowhere town rotting from the inside.  Folks there have a jolly little set-up: slap a passerby in jail, claim they're a wanted criminal, and get them or their family to pay a ridiculously high bail fee.  If they can't make bail, they get sent to a hellhole of a prison to work as what amounts to slave labor.

You don't even have to guess where Chris ends up.  Of course, the minute they get him inside the prison compound, he makes a gutsy escape attempt, which ends with him getting sentenced to a few days in The Hole.  Which, as you can see, impresses and frightens Chris a great deal.

Those poor prison officials have no idea what kind of a feral critter has just landed in their midst.  I could almost feel sorry for them if they weren't all (except one guard) sadistic bullies.  Especially the Warden (Art LaFleur), who takes Chris's defiant sass as a personal insult and makes it his mission to grind our volatile hero into the dust.

Meanwhile, back in the unnamed town where the Seven keep the peace, Mary Travis (Laurie Holden) is concerned because Chris has been gone for ten days without sending word when he'll be back.  She asks Buck (Dale Midkiff) and a couple of the other guys if they shouldn't start looking for Chris, but Buck is convinced Chris has just holed up in some nice little brothel hotel and will come back when he's good and ready to.

I'm rather annoyed with Buck here because he knows that Mary cares about Chris, but he giggles like a twelve-year-old over how displeased she is when he implies that Chris is staying away from town (and her) for such a reason.  I expect that kind of behavior from J.D. (Andrew Kavovit) because he basically is twelve, but Buck is usually a lot more gentlemanly and kind toward the ladies.  I blame the writers for forgetting this about Buck, not the character himself.

Meanwhile, eight days in The Hole have not sweetened Chris's disposition any.

This ep is never stressful to watch because you KNOW Chris won't crumble under whatever pressure they bring to bear on him.  This is Chris Larabee.  It's honestly kind of a joy to sit back and watch him sass and snarl his way through.

Well, Chris has been out of  The Hole for about half a day before the Lawless Brothers (headed by Don Swayze) find him and try to kill him for shooting their cousin a few years back.

That goes about as well as you'd expect, considering it's three against one.  Chris probably would have taken them all down if one of them didn't have a shiv and slice Chris up with it.

At least he gets taken to the prison hospital instead of thrown back in The Hole.  This whole part where he's handcuffed to a bed, mostly shirtless, would be a little too much fanservice if he wasn't getting the cut across his abdomen sewed up by a shaky-handed prisoner.  That makes it really hard to watch, at least for me.

Back in town, Mary Travis finally convinces the rest of the Seven that Chris's disappearance isn't natural.  Led by Vin Tanner (Eric Close), they ride off to find him.  For a group of guys who have been hired to keep the peace in town, they sure do ride off in all directions and leave it undefended a lot.  Hmm.

The guys ride into Jericho and find it an unpleasant and suspicious sort of place.  Because they are intelligent and savvy that way.  They make themselves at home in the boarding house's barroom. (Hint: boarding houses don't usually have a barroom, so this is a big signal this town is many flavors of wrong.)  Josiah (Ron Perlman) and Vin try to charm some answers out of Jessie (Julianna McCarthy), the sweet old lady behind the bar.

She seems super trustworthy, right?  (Hint: trustworthy little old ladies don't usually tend bar.)

Nobody in town has seen Chris Larabee.  Or heard of Chris Larabee.  However, the sheriff and deputy would really like the Seven to leave town.  Which, of course, makes our guys very, very suspicious.  (Hint: most towns want customers who spend cash money to stay and enjoy the town as long as their money holds out.)

Well, the best way to make these stubborn heroes stay someplace is to tell them to leave.  Is it any wonder I love them all?

Meanwhile, for a guy whose will is supposed to be crumbling under the pressure of the Warden's shiny bootheel, Chris sure is looking mighty pleased with his bad self over how quickly he's worked his way to the top of various pecking orders at the prison.

Chris's triumphant smirking lasts for about twelve seconds, right up until the Warden drags a sick prisoner out of the hospital tent and tries to beat him into starting work again.

Chris Larabee won't stand for that.  He may be volatile, smirky, broody, sarcastic, and given to random acts of brash violence, but he has Justice running through his veins.  He cannot and will not stand by and watch a sick man beaten by armed bullies for not being able to stand up.

Ohhh, you can just see the Hero Vibes wafting off him, can't you?

Of course, the Warden beats Chris to the ground for this.  And Chris keeps standing back up, getting between the Warden and the sick prisoner.  His obstinate courage inspires the rest of the prisoners, and they clink their tools against any handy object in aural support, like scruffy, filthy cheerleaders.  Including the Lawless Brothers, who wanted to kill Chris themselves not so long ago.

Meanwhile, back in Jericho, the guys find Chris's gun at a general store.  They set about trying to find real answers as to his whereabouts in various ways, some subtle and some not-so-subtle, depending on if you're Ezra (Anthony Starke) or not.

Meanwhile, back at the prison, the Warden is picking on Chris again.  His cruelty and malice eventually disgust one of his guards (Anthony Lee), who resigns his post in protest.

Doesn't do Chris any good, of course.  Back in The Hole he goes, and this time, the Warden intends to see to it that Chris will never come out alive.

Meanwhile, back in Jericho, the sheriff has found one of those pesky handbills with Vin's name and face on them.  Those do have a way of cropping up at the most inopportune moments.  He thinks if he waves that handbill around, five of his six problems will go away, and he'll be able to toss Vin in prison.

Vin doesn't seem any too perturbed, though.

Neither do any of the others.  The sheriff's expectation that they would scatter at the threat of their compadre's arrest goes completely awry on him.

As a matter of fact, Nathan (Rick Worthy) informs him that they knew all about that particular wanted poster, and it doesn't bother them a bit.

Instead of trying to run, Vin stands up and challenges the sheriff to a duel on the count of three.

Don't you dig how they frame our guys from a low angle in this scene to highlight just how in control of the situation they are?  Don't you also love how many shots of Vin I can cram into this little section since he's my favorite?

Well, the guys break into the prison camp in a reasonably clever way, which I won't spoil for you here.  One thrilling gun battle later, plus an unpleasant incident involving a rattlesnake, and off the Seven go, back home to their unnamed town.

Man, that ep hits so many sweet spots for me!  Wrongful imprisonment, attempted prison escape, a rescue mission, a guy standing up to protect someone helpless, people rallying together against a bully, Chris Larabee handcuffed shirtless to a bed Vin Tanner being ridiculously calm and cool and adorable at the same time -- there is no wonder this is my favorite ep of this show!

I have had such a great time reviewing "Inmate 78" that I think I just might start reviewing the whole series.  There are only 22 eps (here's a list of my 10 favorites, if you are curious), so it wouldn't take me that long, even if I spent two hours on each review like I did this one.

This particular review is my contribution to the 9th Annual Favorite TV Show Episode Blogathon hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts.  I love this event!  It is always such fun to focus on just one episode of a beloved show.

"The Sons of Katie Elder" (1965)

This is my favorite John Wayne movie.  My favorite American western.  My third-favorite movie of all time.  I absolutely love this movie.  

Why?  Um, because I love it.

Does that make any sense?  It's a total thing, for me.  There are some books, movies, actors, actresses that have been my favorite for so long that they simply are my favorite because they are my favorite.  Like, I can't imagine not loving them.  I wouldn't dream of not pointing them out and awarding "my favorite" honors to them.  I simply must.

It's not hard to see WHY this first became a favorite for me when I was a teen, though.  To begin with, you have John Wayne playing a Misunderstood Gunman who is trying to see that his father's murder is solved.  Then you have Dean Martin as his tricky, sly brother.  I mean, honestly, just watching those two pros play off each other is enough to make me love a movie.  Witness how wonderful they are together in Rio Bravo (1959).  Wayne and Martin were buddies offscreen as well, and I think that helps their rapport feel very natural, especially when they're playing brothers here.

The story opens with three of the Elder brothers waiting for a train.  Tom (Dean Martin) irreverently bets that he can predict where the train will stop.  Matt (Earl Holliman) chastises him for not being respectful of the occasion.  After all, they've only come back to town to attend a funeral.  Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.) doesn't say much.  He's more focused on who he's expecting to be on that train.  It's a small scene, but we get such a solid sense of who each brother is just from these few minutes.

To their shock, the only person who gets off the train is a surly stranger, a gunfighter called Curley (George Kennedy).  He heads off to call on Morgan Hastings (James Gregory), who hired him as a bit of extra protection, just in case trouble comes calling because of that funeral.

Disappointed that the eldest Elder brother didn't see fit to arrive on that train, the other brothers decide to go ahead and have their mother's funeral without him.  At the funeral, we learn a lot about their mother, Katie Elder.  The minister eulogizes her as "a friend to all, a comforter to the sick... a woman who wanted nothing for herself, wanted only to give rather than to receive."  After the ceremony, neighbors tell the brothers funny stories about Katie, even show them a baby named after her.  But Tom, Matt, and Bud are mostly focused on the fact that their oldest brother never showed up.

Except, he did.  High in the rocks overlooking the cemetery, John Elder (John Wayne) watches his mother's funeral from afar.  It's not until the mourners have left, and the burial detail too, that he finally comes down to pay his respects.  I dig a guy who does the unexpected and totally flummoxes his potential enemies that way.  And John Elder does this again and again.  Oh, he's a wise one, all right.

The Elder Boys learn that their father's death six months earlier has remained unsolved.  Oh, and by the way, he was shot in the back.  Oh, and by the way, that was the same night he lost his whole huge ranch of prime Texas grazing land in a card game.  Yeah, that's not suspicious at all.  Nope, nothing to see here.  Time for the Elder Boys to just go their merry way and ignore all that suspiciousness, yessiree.

Hah.  Obviously, they must investigate.  They set about asking all kinds of questions of everybody in town who might know something about that card game where their father lost his ranch.  Or about his death.  Or about any unsettled affairs their mother might have left behind.

Guess who won their family's ranch in a card game?  Morgan Hastings, the guy who hired Curley.  And speaking of Curley, he is one mean sonofagun.  He nearly drowns a man who didn't answer a question the way he liked.  He goads Bud into a gunfight that Bud obviously could never win.  He leers and sneers and cackles like a maniac.  I have nothing good to say about Curley.  Hanging would be too good for him.  Ugh.

Anyway, the Elder Boys can't seem to get any answers about their father's death, so they decide that they're going to get the money to send Bud through college as a way to make their mother's dreams come true for at least one of them.  The other three may be big disappointments but, as John says, "Katie wins this one."  To get that money, they make a deal to drive 200 horses north to Colorado and sell them to the miners there, and drop Bud off at college in Colorado Springs on the way home. 

This leads to a brief, happy interlude of the four brothers all getting along really well and all working together toward a common goal.  And also some gorgeous shots of horses running around in Texas (well, actually Mexico, but close enough).  This is my favorite part of the whole movie.

Only hitch to this happy new family life they've found is that someone shoots Sheriff Billy Mitchell (Paul Fix) in the back while he's on his way to the Elder home.  The sheriff was trying to bring Tom Elder in because he's got his name on a wanted poster.  Obviously, that means the Elders shot him from ambush before he ever got to their house to tell them why he was there, just because they're evil, or so Certain People would have us believe.  So now gung-ho deputy Ben Latta (Jeremy Slate) is determined to see justice done for his old boss, who got shot in the back exactly like the Elder Boys' pa.  Funny how he didn't care at all about that earlier shooting, but now that it's personal, he's all fired up.  And yet, Ben just can't seem to understand why the Elder Boys would have felt the same.  Ben is very, very young still.

MAJOR SPOILERS in the next two paragraphs!  Skip to below the picture of John Wayne silhouetted against a fire if you don't want to know how it all ends up.

Anyway, the Elders get captured, then get free again, except Matt dies in the process, and Bud gets wounded.  John and Tom decide they are going to take care of Bud forever and make sure he gets raised right, and that will start with finding out the truth about their father's murder once and for all.  

They finally get their answers from Morgan Hastings' son Dave (Dennis Hopper), just before he dies from a gunshot wound.  And then, it's just a matter of time before we reach the explosive finale.

Gee, I have no idea why I would love this movie, do you?  Families, siblings, justice, a murder mystery, Texas, John Wayne... it's only a fairly comprehensive list of my favorite things, that's all.

Although Katie Elder never appears in this movie, having died before it began, her presence permeates it.  Everyone in town tells the brothers how wonderful she was, how she helped them or befriended them or stood squarely on her own two feet despite her sons basically turning their backs on her and her husband dying in a suspicious way -- there is never any mention of her complaining or feeling sorry for herself.  She did fancy sewing and gave guitar lessons to earn her keep.  She gave freely of herself to anyone who needed her friendship or advice or compassion.  

One of the things that really fascinates me in this film is the theme of guilt that runs through this movie.  The sons all feel guilty for not having been better sons to their mother.  For not having valued her.  They stopped writing letters, they stopped sending money to help her and their father, they stopped coming back to visit.  Even Bud only went to college because he was scared he was going to get arrested for stealing a horse, not because his mother wanted him to.  None of them were there for her when their father died.  None of them came home for his funeral. Guilt, guilt, guilt!

But the thing is, Katie Elder felt guilty too.  She confided in Mary Gordon (Martha Hyer) that she felt like she'd failed to raise her sons correctly.  Why else would John and Matt run off to be gunfighters and Tom to become a gambler?  Why else would they have so little to do with her anymore?  She blamed Texas for stealing her sons for her, but I think that really, she blamed herself.  The actions of a child are not necessarily the fault of the parent -- but it's hard to convince the parent of that.  Katie even lied to those around her, saying that her fine, big sons were still sending money home to help support her.  She felt guilty for how they turned out, and she tried to hide it from just about everyone.

Everyone but Mary.  Katie told Mary all about her sons, even let her read the letters they wrote to her years ago.  She confided the truth in Mary.  At first, Mary confronts the brothers with their failures, trying to make them feel guilty for having neglected their mother.  But when she sees that they already carry that guilt, she softens.  John gives her some of Katie's things, like her favorite rocking chair.  John and Mary share a few wistful scenes, filled with a sense that if only things had been a little different, they might have had a future together.  By the end of the film, so much has changed that I sometimes hope they might find a way to share life in the future, even if it's only as very good friends.

This is the first movie John Wayne made after having part of a lung and two ribs removed because of lung cancer.  Filming was delayed so he could have the surgery and recover, but he insisted on starting filming as soon as the doctors would allow because he knew all the people involved in the filming were depending on him for their livelihood.  Between shots, he relied on an oxygen tank to keep him going, as most of the film was shot in Durango, Mexico, which is a much higher elevation than California, and his missing lung made breathing difficult.  

He insisted on doing as many of his own stunts as they would allow, to show that cancer had not slowed him down too much.  One of those stunts was seemingly easy -- he got pulled into a river during a playful altercation with the other main characters.  But the water was cold, and he was still recovering from cancer and surgery, which led to his catching a bad cold that nearly turned into pneumonia.  But it didn't, and filming was completed on schedule.

Is this movie family friendly?  Yes.  It has a grand total of one cuss word in it.  There's a fistfight, a couple of gunfights, some fatalities, some alcohol consumption, some dangerous situations.  I showed it to my kids (13, 11, 9) a couple weeks ago.

This has been my last contribution for Legends of Western Cinema Week.  I saved it for today because today is the National Day of the Cowboy!  And what more perfect way to celebrate, right?

Today is also the last day to enter my giveaway.  I'll choose the winners tomorrow!  And I'll post the answers for my Western Movie Casting Trivia Game tomorrow too.

My Ten Favorite Western TV Shows -- 2021 Update

Back in 2016, I posted my list of My Ten Favorite Western TV Shows for that year's Legends of Western Cinema Week.  Well, five years have passed, and I've found some new favorites, so it's time to revise that list!  And what better occasion than this year's edition of LOWCW, right?  Especially since I'm giving away several of these shows in this year's giveaway!  (Enter it here!)

1. The Big Valley (1965-69)

The adventures of the rich, influential Barkley family:  wise matriarch Victoria (Miss Barbara Stanwyck); sensible lawyer Jarrod (Richard Long); hot-tempered charmer Nick (Peter Breck); sensitive tough guy Heath (Lee Majors); and bold little sister Audra (Linda Evans).  Together or apart, they're always encountering excitement of one sort or another in and around the big California valley they own.  I've reviewed my two favorite episodes: "A Time to Kill" and "Showdown in Limbo."

2. The Magnificent Seven (1998-2000) 

A "found family" formed from seven archetypical loners:  a volatile gunslinger, Chris (Michael Biehn); wistful bounty hunter, Vin (Eric Close); a cheerful ladies' man, Buck (Dale Midkiff); a snarky card sharp, Ezra (Anthony Starke); a former slave learning to be a doctor, Nathan (Rick Worthy); a doubtful religious man, Josiah (Ron Perlman); and an annoying tenderfoot, J.D. (Andrew Kavovit).  They're hired by a circuit judge (Robert Vaughn) to clean up and protect a lawless town.  You can read the list of my 10 favorite episodes here.

3. Cheyenne (1955-63) 

Nomadic loner Cheyenne Bodie (Clint Walker) travels the west helping people, taking odd jobs, and doing the right thing wherever he can.  Kind of like the Lone Ranger, but generally without a sidekick, and always without a mask.

4. The Rifleman (1958-63) 

Widowed rancher Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) and his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) contend with all the bad guys who seem irresistably drawn to the tiny Texas town of North Fork, where Marshal Micah Torrence (Paul Fix) is forever needing Lucas and his famous, specially modified Winchester to help stave them off.

5. Five Mile Creek (1983-85) 

The daily lives of a band of strangers working together to run a small stage coach line and its way station in the Australia frontier.  Through a variety of adversities and problems, they forge a "found family" that I have wanted to belong to for as long as I can remember.  You can read my overview of the series here.

6. The Mandalorian (2019-) 

A bounty hunter seeks to reunite an orphan with its family.  Although this is part of the Star Wars universe, I consider it to be a western with sci-fi trappings, not the other way around.  I reviewed the first eight episodes individually, and you can find links to those reviews here.

7. Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958-61) 

Bounty hunter Josh Randall (Steve McQueen) is on a quest to earn money by capturing bad guys and delivering them to the authorities, with many moral dilemmas mixed in.  This may actually be the strongest western show of all -- it has very few "so-so" episodes and manymanymany magnificent ones.

8. The Lone Ranger (1949-57) 

John Reid (Clayton Moore) is the only survivor of an ambushed party of Texas Rangers.  After the lonesome Indian Tonto (Jay Silverheels) nurses him back to health, the two embark on a crusade to bring justice, law, and order to the West.

9. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993-98) 

Intrepid woman doctor Michaela Quinn (Jane Seymour) moves to Colorado Springs, adopts three kids, romances handsome and sometimes mysterious Sully (Joe Lando), and generally works to eradicate disease, prejudice, and ignorance.

10. Zorro (1957-59) 

The merry adventures of wealthy Spanish scion Diego de la Vega (Guy Williams) as he battles injustice, oppression, and greed in old California.  It's superduper fun, appropriate for just about any age... and currently unavailable on DVD because of a distribution rights dispute :-(  BUT you can watch the first few episodes in the form of the movie The Sign of Zorro on Disney+ now!  Disney edited eight episodes together and released them to the big screen as a movie in 1958, and it is absolutely delightful.

Have you watched any of these?  Do you have other favorites that I didn't list here?  Let's discuss over a cup of coffee by the campfire, shall we?

Announcing Legends of Western Cinema Week 2020

Howdy!  Didn't mean to sneak up and ambush you or anything, but Heidi (of Along the Brandywine) and I are all set to co-host Legends of Western Cinema Week again this year!  It'll be August 17-21, and you can consider this post your official invite!

In case you're new to these parts, I'll tell you a little about what Legends of Western Cinema Week is like.  It's kind of like a blogathon and kind of like a blog party, in that there will be lots and lots of ways for you to participate.  Basically, it's just an excuse for people all across the blogosphere to celebrate western films and TV shows for five days straight.

What can you contribute?  Anything whatsoever that has to do with western cinema, be it on the big or small screen.  Movie or TV show reviews, top ten lists, a tribute to your favorite cowboy or cowgirl movie star, musings on western film scores, whatever you can dream up!

Want to do more than one post?  Totally allowed!  Want to post about the same movie or other subject as someone else?  Totally allowed!  This is a party, not a blogathon, and we welcome as many posts by as many people as possible.

If you can't figure out anything to write about, but still want to participate, fear not!  Heidi and I are coming up with a blog tag you can fill out, plus we'll both be posting some blog games for you to play.

You can sign up for this event in the comments on my post here or on Heidi's post.  There's no official "roster" to get added to until the event actually starts.  We're being real laid-back about this, can you tell?

Many thanks to Olivia (of Meanwhile, in Rivendell...) for creating these spiffy blog party buttons.  Share them with your friends and neighbors on your own blog/site to spread the word!