Westember Day 6: Pursued (1947)

Today we tackle Raoul Walsh's Pursued and the noir/western subgenre.

A few years ago I reviewed another noir infused western, Forty Guns (1957).

Tomorrow, another John Ford classic...

Westember Day 5: The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

 

Today I examine perhaps the bleakest western ever made.

     The Ox-Bow Incident is driven by a riveting script from Lamar Trotti and powerhouse performances from Henry Fonda, Henry Morgan, Dana Andrews, and Harry Davenport. A young Anthony Quinn is also featured in a memorable supporting role.

Westember Day 4: Jesse James (1939)

 

Today we look at Jesse James (1939), a film that beat Stagecoach at the box office.

Check out my review from earlier this year if you want some more in depth thoughts.

Westember Day 3: Stagecoach (1939)

      Today I covered Stagecoach, one of my favorite films ever from my favorite director, John Ford.

     I feel pretty confident in saying that Stagecoach is the most influential western ever made. Though the genre existed before Stagecoach it would never be the same afterward. I might even argue that it's the greatest movie ever made, in any genre. It's influence on film-making is pervasive, with everyone from Orson Welles to Steven Spielberg citing it as an inspiration.

Tomorrow will look at another western from 1939, one that, at the time, had an even bigger impact...

Westember Day 2

Once again there are two videos today (this will not be the norm).

     First off an interlude of sorts about series westerns (sometimes called B-Westerns) and specifically Tom Mix. I originally intended to include some specific films from this sub-genre but ultimately decided that it was more important collectively then any one film was individually. Honestly I could do a whole other series just talking about series westerns.

     Secondly a video about The Covered Wagon (1923), arguably the first really "epic" western.

     Tomorrow we'll look at one of the greatest westerns (and indeed one of the greatest movies) ever made. 

Westember Day 1

Here's the first round of videos for the Westember series I announced last week.

Introduction:

Hell's Hinges (1916):

For more on Hell's Hinges see my review from earlier this year.

Update: Announcing Westember

     I haven't posted anything for quite some time. The reason for this is that I've been incredibly busy. For one thing, I have been prepping for a super-involved Dungeons and Dragons Campaign (I DM for some of my siblings) and I've also had a big project in development for my YouTube channel, which brings me to the subject of this post.

     Beginning on September 1st I will be posting a new video everyday detailing the history of the western genre. This is something I've wanted to do ever since I first watched Cinemassacre's Monster Madness way back in 2012. Other then Jaws, I had never seen a horror film up to that time and had no real interest in the genre. James Rolfe's passion for the genre was so infectious that I wound up becoming a bit of a fan myself. Being such a massive fan of westerns (as anyone who follows this blog well knows) I hope that this series might do the same for movie fans who are trepidatious about western movies. I've yet to decide if I will post the videos daily or do a weekly round up akin to what I was doing with my comic book reviews not so long ago. Let me know what y'all think.

Here is the announcement video:

And, for the readers of this blog exclusively, here's the first (excluding the introduction) video in the series.