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Midweek Movie Free Talk
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
welp, I watched The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) tonight.
Great film -- but the horse on stage toward the end is my favorite.
One thing that really hit me is how bad the performances are in the first half an hour or so --- then, on a dime, suddenly everybody is excellent. John Wayne's physical acting when drunk was a real treat.
Anyway, great film once it gets going. Always nice to see Jeanette Nolan.
I liked it too. I have seen it more than decade ago, but could hardly remember. Not even who actually shot Liberty Valance, so that was still a surprise. It is very classical in its look and feel, with its black and white color, flamboyant acting and sound stage production. It reminded me more of the westerns of the 40s, so it might even have been retro in the 60s. Though it is a bit more revisionist it how it deals with the old trope of the male western hero, with the conflict of how John Wayne's character resolves things the old fashioned way, and then James Stewart with his modern ideas of law and justice. It reminded me of The Shootist which also stars both Wayne and Stewart, and I have come to prefer the later John Wayne films as those are often more self critical on the type of western persona he has come to represent. The narrative is really well structured around the title, that gives you a false sense of security in thinking you know where it ultimately goes. I also enjoyed seeing Lee van Cleef being just a mean henchman. That was quite fun.