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DVD Chuka
Rod Taylor co-produced the 1967 Chuka and stars as the titular gunslinger whose lonely path leads to a U.S. Army outpost manned by foul-ups, degenerates, and a half-mad, alcoholic commander (John Mills). Surrounded by starving Arapaho Indians clearly getting ready to massacre the fort's inhabitants, Mills' character, Colonel Valois, refuses to yield to Chuka's demand that everyone clear out and allow the Arapaho to take provisions they need to survive. With Valois drunk and unbending, a creepy second-in-command (Louis Hayward) leading a mutiny, a two-fisted sergeant (Ernest Borgnine) defending Valois against any criticism, and the presence of two Mexican women (one of whom has a romantic past with Chuka) who will not be spared during a slaughter, Chuka does what he can to broker a peaceful way out of the dilemma. Directed by Gordon Douglas (The Detective), Chuka is self-consciously arty (camera angles turn up in the weirdest of places) yet dramatically enthralling. Very much an actor's vehicle that, on the one hand, allows the likes of James Whitmore to wallow in mannerisms, Chuka also features several startlingly emotional scenes. Among them is the aftermath of a brutal fight between Taylor and Borgnine, in which their bloodied characters--too exhausted to speak--communicate mutual respect by pawing at each other's heads, like infant brothers. --Tom Keogh
although the movie is " dated " any movie in which the American Indians ( Native Americans or The People ) win is a good movie.
Very Unusual Western
Rod Taylor plays a gunslinger named CHUKA (he was raised by a Chuck Wagon cook...and nicknamed chuka boy by the cowboys). He is on the trail during a winter storm and comes across a group of starving Indians. He shares their fire and gives them what little food he has. He leaves and finds refuge at a Cavalry Fort run by John Mills (an ex-British Officer and his SGT....Ernest Borgnine). Also at the fort is his long lost love and her niece. Chuka tells Mills that the Indians are starving and will attack the fort to get food. The plot thickens with other characters in the fort. Not a great movie but very entertaining and a pretty good "shoot-em-up". Worth buying for it's differences from other westerns.
Rod As Tough as They Come
A question arises from the movie's prologue, which is actually its epilogue: Did they all die? Then the story begins for this superior Western and gather 'round the campfire buckos, because its a humdinger!
At stake is a doomed outpost of misfit soldiers facing a nation of hungry, irritable Arapahoes, and an unfortunate group of visitors, including two beautiful Mexican ladies and the enigmatic gunfighter Chuka {Taylor). Chuka's duds are so cool, they rival anything Lee Van Cleef ever swaggered in. Late in the film, we are treated to witnessing his fast-draw, and I would say "eye-witnessing", but his draw is so fast, the gun is out before you even have a chance to blink! Taylor is tough as Chuka: his fight with the ape-like Ernest Borgnine literally rocks the timbers of the fort. I could easily imagine the film crew appauding after those scenes were done. Taylor is also incredibly tender in the long-awaited love scene with the Thunderball babe Lucianna Lallapollooza (sic).
This is a very good Western and a must-have for fans not only of Rod Taylor, but Ernest Borgnine and James Whitmore. Their characters are flawed and three-dimensional, but not given to the irritating idiosyncricies that passed for "character development" in later films and television. As the situation becomes more desperate, the interaction between the characters is so good that I felt not only absorbed, but involved in the plot. You might want to have a stash of Sauza Conmemorativo (the Duke's favorite) handy to join the fellas as they try to take a break from contemplating their doomed scenario. One of the best scenes comes near the end, as the tough hombres, now comrades, rouse early in the dead of night just before dawn, to share a sort of communion, confession, and coffee before the grits hit the fan.
I won't give the ending away, but if only one more scene had been added to assure me about the "second choice" I would give this movie 5 stars. Maybe I want too much. As it stands, it adds to my admiration of Rod Taylor. It is so frustrating that some of his excellent performances such as in Darker Than Amber and The Hell with Heroes aren't even available on videotape! I understand his fight scene in the former with body-builder William Smith REALLY rocks. And come on, The Hell With Heroes has Claudia Cardinale in her prime! Let's get more of Rod on DVD!
This restoration of Sam Peckinpah's 1965 western Major Dundee is nothing short of magnificent, a noble attempt at restoring a famously wrecked masterpiece. When Peckinpah went over budget and over schedule during the Mexico shoot, unshot scenes were canceled and the footage rudely cut by the studio. The director disowned the results. In 2005, surviving footage was patched back in, and a new musical soundtrack commissioned to replace the score Peckinpah hated. This raises some legitimate questions about interpreting a director's intentions, and about messing with film history, but Major Dundee--The Extended Version is such a rousing, mysterious experience, one feels grateful.
Major Dundee (Charlton Heston) is a vainglorious officer busted to the decidedly inglorious job... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Charlton Heston - Richard Harris Director(s): Sam Peckinpah DVD Release Date: Released the 20 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Although scarcely seen in its original 3-D, and entirely out of sight for a decade and a half after its producer-star died, Hondo has maintained a high rep among John Wayne fans--and it wasn't even directed by Howard Hawks or John Ford. (Actually, Ford did shoot some second-unit stuff while visiting Wayne on location.) Half-breed Hondo, companioned only by an antisocial dog, tends to be more sympathetic toward the Apaches than toward the white society he occasionally scouts for. He falls into uneasy friendship with a New Mexico farmwoman (Geraldine Page) whose husband deserts her for long stretches, and whose son (Lee Aaker) is blood brother to the local Apache chieftain. A good, spare frontier tale--Louis L'Amour via James Edward (Angel and the Badman) Grant--in which... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Wayne - Geraldine Page Director(s): John Farrow DVD Release Date: Released the 11 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Trapper Jed Cooper (Victor Mature) signs on as a scout at a remote army post in Oregon. In time, Colonel Marston (Robert Preston) arrives at the fort and, as ranking officer, relieves Captain Riordan (Guy Madison) of his command. Riordan is outraged to find out that Marston lost his fort and men to an Indian attack; in fact, he was assigned to a Western outpost after squandering the lives of 1,500 men in a Civil War battle. Marston's next plan is to order the men of the fort, almost all rookie soldiers, into battle against experienced Indian warriors. What would otherwise be a fairly routine Western drama is enlivened by Anthony Mann's direction, lavish CinemaScope cinematography, and fine, offbeat performances all around. The story line reflects the changes that were beginning to work... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Anthony Mann DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I don't know the real history of the gunfight at the OK Corral. I saw the recent movie TOMBSTONE with Kurt Russel and Val Kilmer and found it thoroughly enjoyable but I never considered it to be "historical". It was just hysterical.
HOUR OF THE GUN is another, older version of the story. It too is excellent and more believable as a historical drama but I have no conception that it is historical other than the recognition that Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Ike Clanton were real people; Tombstone, Arizona, Colorado, Mexico and the OK Corral are real places; and a gunfight really did take place at the corral. That doesn't matter to me because this too is a fine film and thoroughly entertaining. It has none of the comic element that TOMBSTONE had but it is a high quality western... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): James Garner - Jason Robards Director(s): John Sturges DVD Release Date: Released the 17 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Nineteen thirty-nine is often proposed as the movies' halcyon year, and three reasons why were directed by John Ford: Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, and Drums Along the Mohawk. In that exalted company Drums... would have to be accounted "merely superb"--even if it's the best film ever made about the American Revolution and, oh, only about eighth-best picture of its year.
Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert play newlyweds in New York's Mohawk Valley at the time of the Revolutionary War. That war is more a distant rumor than a direct concern of people with cabins to raise, crops to harvest, and firstborn on the way. When it comes to their valley, in the form of hitherto-peaceable Indians whipped up by a gaunt Tory with an eyepatch (John Carradine), life changes... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Claudette Colbert - Henry Fonda - Edna May Oliver Director(s): John Ford DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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