Posts tagged Shane

Hits of the Past — All OVER 60!

May09
2013 Leave a Comment Written by classicmovieguys

Last week to mark our second anniversary we mentioned some films (and one song) which were celebrating their 50th anniversary.

Hello, everybody.  Joe Morella and Frank Segers, your classic movie guys, back again and thinking about classic films which are celebrating their 60th Anniversary this year.

Yes, 60 years later and these films are still riveting and entertaining. That, of course, is our time honored measure a classic movie — films that stand up decades after their creation.

Sixty years ago Americans were introduced to a bright new star, Audrey Hepburn, in Roman Holiday. Gregory Peck was supposed to have solo top billing, but after he saw the final film he suggested Hepburn share co-star billing.  He knew she was destined to be a star.

The film remains charming and a perfect travelogue of Rome of that time.

Also released in 1953, one of the greatest Westerns ever filmed, George Stevens production of Shane. Although he was a mite too old for the part, Alan Ladd gave a good performance. Even better performances were given by Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, (then child star) Brandon deWilde and Jack Palance as the title character’s gunslinger nemesis.

Two other favorites of ours which have stood the test of time are the dark drama Pickup on South Street and the light  romantic musical Lili.

Richard Widmark, Jean Peters (above) and Thelma Ritter star in the first. Sam Fuller wrote and directed this film noir which is a must see.

Lili is a delight. And a perfect film if you’re looking for a family film.

Leslie Caron, as an innocent waif, joins a carnival troupe and learns about life and love. You might remember the song, Hi Lili, Hi Lili, Hi Low.  Of course the really famous song of the day from another 1953 film was Secret Love. Recall that one?

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Alan Ladd — The Shortest Leading Man In Movie History?

Oct04
2012 Leave a Comment Written by classicmovieguys

He was probably the shortest leading man Hollywood ever produced.  Through the years there have been many versions of just how tall he was (read on for our count).

There have been many stories about leading ladies having to stand on a box to photograph love scenes with him. Whatever the truth is, Alan Ladd was one of the biggest box office stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Hello, everybody.  Joe Morella and Frank Segers, your classic movie guys, here today to suggest that shorter might in some cases be better.

Ladd once said of himself that he had the face of an aging choirboy. Whatever, by the early-to-mid 1940′s he was at the height of his reign as Paramount Pictures’ biggest male star.

Although never a favorite of critics, Ladd was hugely popular with general audiences who flocked to see the seven movies he made with favorite costar, Veronica Lake, from 1942 to 1946. One of these — The Blue Dahlia with a screenplay by Raymond Chandler –is a film noir classic that stands up well to this day.

Born in 1913 in Hot Springs, Ark., Ladd endured a hard scrabble childhood that more than occasionally left him malnourished.  He was undersized as a result (his nickname was “Tiny”).  At 5-foot-6-1/4-inches, the fully-grown Ladd was indeed one of the shortest leading male figures in Hollywood history.

He knew it and always resented it. In the early Fifties — while starring as a stalwart, Indian-fighting Mountie in Saskatchewan, director Raoul Walsh’s Canadian “western” — he was introduced by costar Shelly Winters to her second husband, Italian actor Vittorio Gassman, who stood 6 feet, 1-1/2 inches.

I introduced him to Alan, Winters wrote years later in her autobiography, then told him to sit down quickly in the director’s chair. (Gassman) didn’t know why, but he did it. After the shooting, I explained to him that he was too tall and I felt that Alan Ladd, whom I liked very much and wanted to get along with, had a terrible complex about his height.   

All manner of devices — hidden platforms, low camera angles, shoe lifts — were employed during filming to mask Ladd’s diminutive stature especially relative to his leading ladies.  Ladd is best known today for his superb role as the weary, gentle-spoken gun fighter in director George Stevens classic 1953 western, Shane.  

Next time you see the picture (and we recommend that it be sooner rather than later) watch carefully how Stevens filmed the climatic gunfight scene showing Ladd squaring off against 6-foot-4-inch Jack Palance as the cold-blooded villain.

However short in stature, Ladd enjoyed a lengthy career, appearing in more than 90 movies. He also had his share of problems towards the end.

He eagerly sought the lead in Lawrence of Arabia that went to Peter O’Toole. A long second marriage to agent Sue Carol was showing signs of strain. Ladd embarked on an unhappy affair with June Allyson.

He died in 1964 in Palm Springs, California, of an alcohol-barbiturate overdose. He was just 50 years old. (Final factoid:  As a struggling actor, Ladd appeared in a small role as a newspaper reporter in Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece, Citizen Kane.)

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THE OTHER BUTCH CASSIDY

Jun08
2011 Leave a Comment Written by classicmovieguys

Hello Everybody.  Mister Joe Morella and Mister Frank Segers here again. Mr. Jordan’s out at the moment.

Today guest contributor Larry Michie, who writes our BOOKS 2 FILM blogs, came across this bit of movie flotsam.  We bet you, like us, were not aware of that other Butch Cassidy movie.

Here’s Larry:

“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” perfectly played by Paul Newman and Robert Redford, is possibly the most popular Western movie ever, along with George Stevens’ “Shane” and Fred Zinnemann’s “High Noon” (for a slightly older generation) and maybe Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” (my own favorite). (Frank favors Sergio Leone’s masterpiece,“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” while Joe’s pick is Howard Hawk’s “Red River.”)

But hold on, pardner! A version of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” was filmed 15 years before the Newman-Redford version.  It was a real stinker, but let’s give it some credit — it got there first.

Paramount Pictures filmed a cheapo oater (oater being the generic name used by Variety in the old days to categorize a Western).

The movie was called “Wyoming Renegades,” and came out in 1954”

Butch was played by Gene Evans, a generic bad guy, and William Bishop was the Sundance Kid.  Bishop died five years after the movie was made, but Evans lived on to 1998.  Although the cast of “Wyoming Renegades” included such reasonably well-known B-list thespians of the time such as Philip Carey and Martha Hyer, Evans and Bishop never even came close to attaining the star power of the Newman-Redford combination.

The movie’s plot: A member of the gang named Brady Sutton got out of the state pen, along with Sundance, but while Sundance promptly rejoined Butch, Sutton went straight, resuming a blacksmith career back in his home town.

His girlfriend, played by Hyer (with a huge head of frighteningly yellow hair), promptly began setting the wedding date. But wait! There was trouble! Butch Cassidy and his gang came into town and robbed the bank. Lots of bad things happened.

It’s all too dreary to report at length, but clearly the movie was an earlier version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There was even a reference to The Hole in the Wall Gang, and there was casual mention of Butch’s real name, LeRoy Parker.

One amusing landmark aspect of the plot: At the grand climax shootout (staple of every oater), all the women in town armed themselves with rifles and rounded up the bad guys, shooting a few who didn’t take them seriously. Give a big cheer for the pre-feminist uprising!

The movie is clocked at 73 minutes, and the director was Fred F. Sears.

As Butch would say:  Who are those guys?

 

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HOW TALL WAS ALAN LADD?

May03
2011 Leave a Comment Written by classicmovieguys

 

Hello everybody.  Morella and Segers here.

The never before published photo of Alan Ladd  which we ran yesterday — (he once said of himself that he had the face of an aging choirboy) — was taken by Donald Gordon in the early-to-mid 1940′s when Ladd was at the height of his reign as Paramount Pictures’ biggest male star.  Although never a favorite of critics, Ladd was hugely popular with general audiences who flocked to see the seven movies he made with favorite costar, Veronica Lake, from 1942 to 1946. One of these — “The Blue Dahlia” with a screenplay by Raymond Chandler –is a film noir classic that stands up well to this day. Born in 1913 in Hot Springs, Ark., Ladd endured a hard scrabble childhood that more than occasionally left him malnourished.  He was undersized as a result (his nickname was “Tiny”).  At 5-foot-6-1/4-inches, the fully-grown Ladd was one of the shortest leading male figures in Hollywood history.  All manner of devices — hidden platforms, low camera angles, shoe lifts — were employed during filming to mask Ladd’s diminutive stature especially relative to his leading ladies.  Ladd is best known today for his role as the weary, gentle-spoken gun fighter in George Stevens classic 1953 western, “Shane.”  (pictured above) Watch carefully how Stevens filmed the climatic gunfight scene showing Ladd squaring off against 6-foot-4-inch Jack Palance as the cold-blooded villain. However short in stature, Ladd enjoyed a lengthy career, appearing in more than 90 movies. He also had his share of problems towards the end.  He eagerly sought the lead in “Lawrence of Arabia” that went to Peter O’Toole. A long second marriage to agent Sue Carol was showing signs of strain. Ladd embarked on an unhappy affair with June Allyson.  He died in 1964 in Palm Springs, California, of an alcohol-barbiturate overdose. He was just 50 years old. (Final factoid:  As a struggling actor, Ladd appeared in a small role as a newspaper reporter in Orson Welles 1941 masterpiece, “Citizen Kane.”)

We’re giving you another day to come up with those answers to the Bogie Quiz.

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