"The Big Country" (1958)

"THE LONE RANGER" (2013) Review

My memories of the 1950s televisie series, "THE LONE RANGER", is a bit sketchy. Actually, it is downright vague. I can recall Clayton Moore and vlaamse gaai, jay Silverheels in their costumes - the latter wearing a mask. I can recall Moore bellowing "Hi ho Silver!" every once in a while. And I do recall that the series was shot in black-and-white. I have no memories of a particular episode of storyline. I never invested any genuine interest in the series during my childhood.

When I learned that the Disney Studios and Jerry Bruckheimer planned to produce a movie about the Lone...

"CENTENNIAL" (1978-79) - Episode Nine "The Crime" Commentary

The ninth episode of "CENTENNIAL" proved to be an improvement over the last installment. Picking up a few months after "The Storm", "The Crime" proved to be an intriguing episode that featured a blossoming romance, psychological warfare and two shocking events.

"The Crime" begins during the spring of 1888, which finds Oliver Seccombe at the end of his reign as manager of Venneford Ranch. Unable to face a future in disgraced and unemployed, Seccombe commits suicide to end his misery. His widow, charlotte Seccombe returns to England...

"HOW THE WEST WAS WON" (1962) Review

The 1962 movie, "HOW THE WEST WAS WON", was among the last of the oubollig, ouderwetse "epic" films that was released door Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Filmed using the Cinerama widescreen process, it featured an all-star cast directed door at least three directors.

After making the decision to use the Cinerama wide-screen process, MGM decided to produce a cinematic adaptation of LIFE magazine's 1959 series of artikels about the history of the American West. Screenwriters James R. Webb and John Gay (uncredited) achieved this door focusing the film on two to three generations...

"CENTENNIAL" (1978-79) - Episode Ten "The Winds of Fortune" Commentary

This tenth episode of "CENTENNIAL" called "The Winds of Fortune" marked the last one set in the 19th century. The episode also featured the end of several story lines - the troubles with the Pettis gang, Axel Dumire's suspicions of the Wendell family, Hans Brumbaugh's labor problems and Jim Lloyd's romantic problems with charlotte Seccombe and Clemma Zendt.

The range war that the ranchers began in "The Shepherds" finally gasped its last breath in this episode. The last remnants of the Pettis gang (the killers hired door the...

"FORT APACHE" (1948) Review

Between 1948 and 1950, director John Ford made three Westerns that many regard as his "cavalry trilogy". All three films centered on the U.S. Army Cavalry in the post-Civil War West. meer importantly, all three films were based upon short stories written door American Western author, James Warner Bellah.

The first film in Ford's "cavalry trilogy" was "FORT APACHE" released in 1948. Starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda, the movie was inspired door Bellah's 1947 Saturday Evening Post short story called "Massacre". Bellah used the Little Bighorn and Fetterman Fight battles...