Post by petrolino on Sept 17, 2017 0:52:06 GMT
'Rawhide' is a dynamic western with a twist. Tom Owens (Tyrone Power) is a clean-cut rancher who maintains high standards. He's serving an apprenticeship under stationmaster Sam Todd (Edgar Buchanan) who runs the remote outpost Rawhide Pass, but Tom is due to return home within a week. Vinnie Holt (Susan Hayward) arrives with her niece Callie (Judy Ann Dunn) to take the stagecoach to St. Louis, Missouri but is refused further travel entry by Tom when a jailbreak is announced. Notorious murderer Rafe Zimmerman (Hugh Marlowe) has busted out with grizzled brawler Gratz (George Tobias), sleazy slimeball Tevis (Jack Elam) and childlike kleptomaniac Yancy (Dean Jagger) in tow. The gang are tracking a guarded gold shipment that's headed straight for Rawhide Pass.
Henry Hathaway's taut, suspenseful western 'Rawhide' is expertly staged and purposefully scripted by Dudley Nichols. It's exceptionally well lit like many of Hathaway's adventures and this is important because much of the action takes place in and around the tiny station house. Milton Krasner's confrontational camerawork is startling; there are moments designed to make the viewer shudder as the story presses a deep subtext concerning fear and how people react differently to it.
'Rawhide' is graced with fine performers firing on all cylinders. Tyrone Power is diligent and measured as Tom Owens but projects great vulnerability. Susan Hayward is tough as nails as Vinnie but her mask starts slipping to reveal a desperate woman clinging on to her confidence. The entire ensemble is outstanding, including tiny child actress Judy Ann Dunn who appears to have only just learned to walk, a small detail that proves relevant to the plotting. I'm not sure how Hathaway pulled off a couple of nailbiting moments but I'm constantly blown away by visual tricks he pulls in his movies.
'Rawhide' is an extremely thoughtful western that clocks in under 90 minutes. It's opened and closed by voluble narration from the actor Gary Merrill. The music score is composed by Sol Kaplan and Lionel Newman contributes the song 'A Rollin' Stone'. I think this movie's terrific - it goes straight into my list of favourite westerns of the 1950s.
The violent western 'Apache Territory' is entirely set within hostile terrain. Lone wolf Logan Cates (Rory Calhoun) signals a warning shot to a small group of travellers as a group of malevolent Apache Indians are fast approaching. Only 19 year-old orphan Lonnie Foreman (Tom Pittman) makes it out alive but Logan's able to rescue orphan girl Junie Hatchett (Carolyn Craig) whose parents were tortured and gutted by the Apache warriors. Logan's former lover Jennifer Fair (Barbara Bates) rides up with former Cavalry officer Grant Kimbrough (John Dehner) and they're closely followed by Sergeant Sheehan (Francis De Sales) and his depleted Cavalry unit which consists of Conley (Regis Parton), Styles (Fred Krone), the appropriately named Graves (Bob Woodward) and hulking horse whisperer Zimmerman (Leo Gordon). Lugo (Frank DeKova) of the Pima Indians tribe completes the party but disputes open up fresh wounds as the survivors ponder how they're going to escape hostile Apache territory.
'Apache Territory' is a fierce western capably helmed by genre specialist Ray Navarro. The raw mechanics are brutally effective and the small ensemble offer juicy characterisations. The cruel desert setting plays host to a terrifying "unseen" textural enemy only Big Smoky can feel, snakes and lizards scale steep rockfaces, an open fire is a deathly smoke signal and beans are the permanent menu. The Cavalry division is shown to be riddled by the ravages of institutional racism, leaving Logan stuck in the middle of hostile forces. Having co-produced this picture himself, Calhoun opted to take up a television slot for the next couple of years, headlining 'The Texan'.
Susan Hayward & Tyrone Power in 'Rawhide'
Henry Hathaway's taut, suspenseful western 'Rawhide' is expertly staged and purposefully scripted by Dudley Nichols. It's exceptionally well lit like many of Hathaway's adventures and this is important because much of the action takes place in and around the tiny station house. Milton Krasner's confrontational camerawork is startling; there are moments designed to make the viewer shudder as the story presses a deep subtext concerning fear and how people react differently to it.
"Henry Hathaway stages every scene for maximum impact, stylistically placing 'Rawhide' closer to a hard-boiled crime picture than a typical oater. The moment where Jack Elam's
- Justin Remer, DVD Talk
baddie uses the helpless baby girl for target practice
is one of the most harrowing sequences that has been committed to film. 'Rawhide' is the kind of film that is well-liked among the select folks who have seen it but is not often spoken about. Well, it deserves better. If you haven't seen it, see it. If you have, see it again and spread the word."- Justin Remer, DVD Talk
'This year’s Retrospective section of the 54th New York Film Festival will feature a two-part lineup headlined and inspired by Bertrand Tavernier’s magnificent epic documentary 'My Journey Through French Cinema': in addition to that film, NYFF will screen a selection of French classics featured in the documentary and a 12-film exploration of one of Tavernier’s favorite American directors, Henry Hathaway. Tavernier is truly one of the grand old men of the movies: his experience is vast, his knowledge is voluminous, and his love is inexhaustible. Tavernier knows his native cinema inside and out, from the giants to now overlooked and forgotten figures, and in this year’s 'My Journey Through French Cinema', which will be released early next year by Cohen Media Group, his observations and reminiscences are never less than penetrating and always deeply personal. The 2016 NYFF Retrospective complements screenings of Tavernier’s documentary with five rarely screened titles featured within it: Jean Renoir’s glorious revolutionary epic 'La Marseillaise'; Robert Bresson’s first film, 'Angels of Sin'; Jacques Becker’s post–World War II comedy 'Antoine and Antoinette'; Julien Duvivier’s final collaboration with Jean Gabin, 'Deadlier Than the Male'; Jean-Pierre Melville’s Cocteau adaptation 'Les enfants terribles'; as well as Tavernier’s own 2002 film about Occupation-era filmmaking, 'Safe Conduct'.
Additionally, in line with Tavernier’s passionate devotion to American cinema throughout his career, the Retrospective section will feature a selection of films by a director he has always greatly admired and championed, Henry Hathaway. Born near the turn of the last century, Hathaway started during the silent era as an assistant to directors like Josef von Sternberg and Victor Fleming, and he directed the first of his 52 films at the dawn of the sound era. He developed into one of Hollywood’s greatest craftsmen and most respected artists, taking on every genre from western to film noir, adventure stories to rural melodramas; pioneering the docudrama and the practice of shooting on location; creating technically complex visual effects that are still surprising; and building one of the most satisfying bodies of work in American movies, from the celebrated 'Kiss of Death' and 'Niagara', starring Marilyn Monroe, to the relatively unsung 'From Hell to Texas' and 'Down to the Sea in Ships' (all of which are screening in the series).'
- Excerpt from a Lincoln Center Film Society Press Release
"Henry Hathaway preferred to shoot on location whenever possible, seeking to project realism and get better performances from his actors. "Put your players in an actual environment," he once said, "and they cease to have to overact. They become natural. Even if you have to come back to the studio afterward, the thing is instilled in them, and they carry it over." Hathaway and producer Louis De Rochemont pioneered realism in post-World War II films, such as "The House on 92nd Street" (1945) and "13 Rue Madeleine" (1947). Hathaway sustained his feel for realism with "Kiss of Death" (1947) and "Call Northside 777" (1948). The latter starred James Stewart. He was regarded as a no-nonsense director, not pretentious about his work. He insisted that too many directors and producers were unduly influenced by the critics' praise of art films and thus lost sight of what the public really wanted to see. "There are men in this town," he told an interviewer in 1968, "who would rather get good reviews than make money. . . . I say let's look at the box office receipts instead of the reviews for a change."
- Jack Jones, The Los Angeles Times
'The Hurtin's All Over' - Connie Smith & The Sundowners
'Rawhide' is graced with fine performers firing on all cylinders. Tyrone Power is diligent and measured as Tom Owens but projects great vulnerability. Susan Hayward is tough as nails as Vinnie but her mask starts slipping to reveal a desperate woman clinging on to her confidence. The entire ensemble is outstanding, including tiny child actress Judy Ann Dunn who appears to have only just learned to walk, a small detail that proves relevant to the plotting. I'm not sure how Hathaway pulled off a couple of nailbiting moments but I'm constantly blown away by visual tricks he pulls in his movies.
Susan Hayward
Henry Hathaway
'Rawhide' is an extremely thoughtful western that clocks in under 90 minutes. It's opened and closed by voluble narration from the actor Gary Merrill. The music score is composed by Sol Kaplan and Lionel Newman contributes the song 'A Rollin' Stone'. I think this movie's terrific - it goes straight into my list of favourite westerns of the 1950s.
'Daddy Won't Be Home Anymore' - Dolly Parton
The violent western 'Apache Territory' is entirely set within hostile terrain. Lone wolf Logan Cates (Rory Calhoun) signals a warning shot to a small group of travellers as a group of malevolent Apache Indians are fast approaching. Only 19 year-old orphan Lonnie Foreman (Tom Pittman) makes it out alive but Logan's able to rescue orphan girl Junie Hatchett (Carolyn Craig) whose parents were tortured and gutted by the Apache warriors. Logan's former lover Jennifer Fair (Barbara Bates) rides up with former Cavalry officer Grant Kimbrough (John Dehner) and they're closely followed by Sergeant Sheehan (Francis De Sales) and his depleted Cavalry unit which consists of Conley (Regis Parton), Styles (Fred Krone), the appropriately named Graves (Bob Woodward) and hulking horse whisperer Zimmerman (Leo Gordon). Lugo (Frank DeKova) of the Pima Indians tribe completes the party but disputes open up fresh wounds as the survivors ponder how they're going to escape hostile Apache territory.
"Rory Calhoun’s version of Bill Longley, “The Texan”, took great liberties with the truth about the bigoted real life Longley who killed his first man when he was 15 in 1866 and was eventually hung in 1878 at 27. A little closer to the truth was the “Bill Longley” episode of “Stories of the Century” (5/20/54) with Longley portrayed by Douglas Kennedy. Longley, as conceived and played by Calhoun, was a fast gun, a loyal friend to the downtrodden and mortal enemy to lawbreakers in his Monday night half hour CBS series (9/29/58-9/12/60) primarily sponsored by Viceroy and Lever Brothers. (Reruns aired on ABC from 10/60-5/62, first in daytime, then on Saturday mornings.) "The Texan" Rory Calhoun gets the drop on badman Bob Hopkins in the episode "Ruthless Woman" ('60).Rory not only starred as “The Texan” but produced the series with partner Vic Orsatti through their Rorvic Productions. In their 2/13/60 issue, Rory prophetically told TV GUIDE he and Orsatti got together on “The Texan” because they were “thick as thieves. We’re both thieves.” According to some sources, Calhoun never received his “just rewards” from the partnership. Laughing at the time, Calhoun continued, “I did several pictures for Vic (“Ride Out For Revenge”, “Domino Kid”, “Hired Gun”, “Apache Territory”). We decided to go into television in ‘58 with our own series. Not ‘The Texan’. We had a sea story. But Vic lived across the street from Desi Arnaz who had ‘The Texan’. They got together on that and we held our other one back. Desi’s deal was better.” Episodes were budgeted at $40,000 and they filmed two per week on stage 11 at Desilu. Much of the location shooting was done at Pearl Flats in the Mojave Desert. Rory knew about the real Longley. “He was a part time rat. He’d work as a deputy in one town, then drift on over to the next one and hold up the bank. He just let his deputy work slide and robbed too many banks. They hung him. (In our show) I like to think of Bill as the Robin Hood of the West.”
- Boyd Magers, Western Clippings
- Boyd Magers, Western Clippings
"That they are dangerous is clear but like many things in nature, the story is more complicated. Crocodiles do not necessarily set out to hunt humans. They are clearly ferocious hunters, but they are opportunistic predators. Any animal that moves is fair game. They will even venture onto land to find prey. If that warm blooded mammal happens to be a human, they will not discriminate."
- Melissa Hogenboom, BBC Earth
Rory Calhoun
'Louisiana Man' - Connie Smith
