Western Movies: Now Disc. "Unforgiven"

Cimino *did* try to make a comeback. Two things prevented it. One was: there were distinct rumours that he was sniffing more than the mountain air during the shoot, if you get my drift. The other was "Final Cut" the book Stephen Bach (one of the producers) wrote about the making of the movie. The book was so damning, that when Cimino tried his old tricks on his next movie "Footloose", this is what happened:

"In 1984, after being unable to finalize a deal with director Herbert Ross, Paramount Pictures surprisingly offered the job of directing Footloose to Cimino. According to screenwriter Dean Pitchford,[1] Cimino was at the helm of Footloose for four months, making more and more extravagant demands in terms of set construction and overall production. Paramount realized that it potentially had another Heaven's Gate on its hands. It fired Cimino and finalized the deal with Ross to direct the picture.

This episode, though seemingly trivial, had far-reaching effects for Cimino's career. After the Footloose episode, within the film industry, he was perceived as someone who had not learned his lesson with Heaven's Gate. In fact, executives came to the conclusion that, given the chance, Cimino would again make extravagant demands that might ultimately lead to another debacle. Therefore, Hollywood turned its back on Cimino after the Footloose episode. All his subsequent films would be financed independently, and not as part of a studio."

 

The Long Riders (1980).

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e1/Long_riders_ver1.jpg/200px-Long_riders_ver1.jpg]

The Long Riders is a 1980 Western directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the Best Music award in 1980 from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for this soundtrack. The haunting rendition of "I'm A Good Ole Rebel" is one of the great period pieces done in the modern era.

Plot

The Long Riders is a fictionalized account of the James-Younger gang.

Cast

The Long Riders is a notable film in part due to Hill's decision to cast four sets of actor brothers as the real-life sets of brothers:

* The Keaches: Jesse James (James) and Frank James (Stacy)
* The Carradines: Cole Younger (David), Jim Younger (Keith) and Bob Younger (Robert)
* The Quaids: Ed Miller (Dennis) and Clell Miller (Randy)
* The Guests: Charley Ford (Christopher) and Robert Ford (Nicholas)

It also features an uncredited appearance by Ever Carradine, daughter of Robert Carradine and niece to David and Keith Carradine.

Trivia

Some of the movie, especially the Northfield scene was shot in Parrott, Georgia.

Review (from DVD Times)

If one man deserves an award for "Services to the Western", it is Walter Hill. He has worked hard to keep the genre alive during times when it has been neither critically fashionable or commercially successful. Although many of his films are tinged with the Western spirit, especially Southern Comfort and Extreme Prejudice, it his unofficial trilogy of Western myths that show his love and respect for the genre. The Long Riders was the first in 1980, followed by Geronimo in 1993 and Wild Bill in 1995. Although the latter two are interesting and undervalued films, The Long Riders has emerged as a genuine classic. It has several weaknesses but the sheer passion of the moviemaking is what makes it special. In fact it's almost in the Peckinpah class, a commendation I don't throw around lightly.

Hill's film deals with the James-Younger gang, infamous outlaws in post-Civil War America. The leaders, Jesse James (James Keach) and Cole Younger (David Carradine), were accompanied by their brothers and friends. Hill's gimmick is to have the brothers in the gang played by real life brothers. So the Carradines - David, Keith and Robert - play the Youngers, the Keaches - James and Stacey - play the James brothers, the Quaids - Randy and Dennis - appear as the Millers, and the Guests - Christopher and Nicholas - are the Fords. This is both a strength and a weakness. On the positive side, there is a comradeship between the actors that you wouldn't otherwise achieve, but the problem is that some of the performances are a bit weak. Most seriously, James Keach is not up to the demanding central role of Jesse James and this creates a hole in the middle of the film which David Carradine's charismatic and good humoured performance as Cole Younger can only partially fill. Dennis Quaid has no character to play here, unfortunately, and the Guest brothers are reduced to looking treacherous.

The plot, which is curiously but engagingly rambling, deals with the ride of the gang from bank jobs in Missouri to the disastrous Northfield raid which ended in carnage. We see the men meet and marry their sweethearts, bicker and fight amongst themselves, visit the whorehouse of the infamous Belle Starr (a wonderful turn from the lovely Pamela Reed), and reflect on the tenuous possibility of retirement to respectable life. Meanwhile, the corrupt and incompetent minions of the Pinkerton Agency are tracking the gang down, managing mostly to kill their innocent relatives and ensuring that public sympathy is firmly on the side of the outlaws.

However, to some extent, the film is more about a time and a place than about the specific characters or events. The period of post-War reconstruction is beautiful

 

It is a wonderful movie, very nearly a great one. I would agree that James Keach lacks the charisma for Jesse James; David Carradine, OTOH, has charisma to burn as Cole Younger.

 

Pale Rider (1985).

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/42/Pale_Rider.jpg/200px-Pale_Rider.jpg]

Pale Rider is a 1985 Western film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. This movie has plot similarities to the classic Western Shane (1953), including a final scene that is very similar to the famous final scene of the earlier movie. There are also similarities to Eastwood's previous Man with No Name character, and his 1973 western High Plains Drifter. The title is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as the rider of a pale horse is Death.

Pale Rider was primarily filmed in the Boulder Mountains and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in Idaho, just north of Sun Valley in late 1984. The opening scenes featuring the jagged Sawtooth Mountains were shot outside of Stanley. The film also features Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Christopher Penn, Richard Dysart, Sydney Penny, Richard Kiel, Doug McGrath and John Russell.

Pale Rider is the only Eastwood film to have clear religious overtones throughout - though several of his other films such as High Plains Drifter also make heavy use of religious ideas and imagery.

The film is unique within the western genre because it focuses on the California Gold Rush. And although the film is not specifically dated, it may take place before the American Civil War.

Plot

The plot centers on the conflict between a group of simple, poor, panning miners and the most powerful man in the nearby town, Coy LaHood, the boss of a successful hydraulic mining outfit, that wants to take over their land. The film opens with the ruffians of LaHood riding into the panner's camp, shooting things up and pulling down tents and cabins. Soon after, one of the panners heads into town for supplies, and is set upon by the same ruffians. A drifter (Clint Eastwood) rides in and defends the miner with unexpected skill wielding a hickory axe handle. Upon returning to the placers camp, the drifter compounds this surprise by revealing a minister's collar when invited to dinner, thus acquiring the name "Preacher".

A classic western story line develops, leading to a final showdown in town between LaHood and Preacher.

Cast

* Clint Eastwood as "Preacher"
* Michael Moriarty as Hull Barret
* Carrie Snodgress as Sarah Wheeler
* Chris Penn as Josh LaHood (as Christopher Penn)
* Richard Dysart as Coy LaHood
* Sydney Penny as Megan Wheeler
* Richard Kiel as Club
* Doug McGrath as Spider Conway
* John Russell as Stockburn
* Charles Hallahan as McGill
* Marvin J. McIntyre as Jagou
* Fran Ryan as Ma Blankenship
* Richard Hamilton as Jed Blankenship
* Graham Paul as Ev Gossage
* Chuck Lafont as Eddie Conway (as Chuck LaFont)

Religious overtones

In an audio interview, Clint Eastwood revealed that his character Preacher "is an out and out ghost".[2] The idea that the Preacher is a supernatural, immortal being is suggested early in the film when he is shown with six bullet wounds on his back?wounds that no mortal could survive. Stockburn is shot in a near-identical pattern during the final stand-off. Furthermore, the Preacher character arrives riding a pale horse at the same moment that a teenage girl?who had earlier asked help from God?reads from the Bible in Revelation of the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse, Death riding on a pale horse.

When LaHood describes Preacher to Marshall Stockburn, the Marshall says the man sounds familiar, except that the man he's thinking of is already dead. Stockburn does indeed appear to recognize the Preacher in the film's climax immediately before his death.

There are several counterpoints to the idea that the Preacher is supernatural[citation needed] including: that the Preacher stores his sixguns in a safe-deposit box; that he possibly has sex with Sarah on the night before the big gunfight; and that his life is shown "saved" twice, once by Hull and again by LaHood thug Club.

C

 

I'm hamstrung by the fact that I really dislike the movie this is based on, though I think this is a better treatment of the material.

 

Ill say it once, I maintain that between Clint Eastwood and John Wayne as cowboys, Wayne may be the quintessential American cowboy, but Clint is still that much more intimidating
The fact that it took Shane and made it better is all the more sweetening, since Shane was one of the westerns that I really got into.
Quintessential scene(s): the final sequence with the villain, Clint reloading the Remington Army not once but TWICE, not saying a word, and yet speaking volumes of intimidation and bad-assery.
While its not THE Western to End all Westerns, its a goodie. I wouldn't go so far as to say the PReacher is supernatural, just the early version of the Punisher: A man whos name has been erased but now exists as a force, a signpost to all bad men saying "Turn back now or pay dearly."

at least that was my ipmression

 

It is better than Shane in many ways, but it's hardly one of Eastwood's masterpieces.

 

There are others that have more energy.

 

Silverado (1985).

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/17/Silverado.jpg/200px-Silverado.jpg]

Silverado is an American Western feature film, first released on July 10, 1985. It was directed by Lawrence Kasdan and written by Lawrence and Mark Kasdan. The movie features an ensemble cast, including Kevin Kline as Paden, Scott Glenn as Emmett, Danny Glover as Malachi "Mal" Johnson, Kevin Costner as Jake, John Cleese as Sheriff John T. Langston and Brian Dennehy as Sherriff Cobb. Music by Bruce Broughton.

Plot overview

Four "lawful outlaws"?Paden (Kline), Emmett (Glenn), Jake (Costner) and Mal (Glover)?meet and travel to the town of Silverado, where they thwart a corrupt rancher and the ruthless sheriff who is on the rancher's payroll.

The film opens with a gunfight; Emmett kills three men, henchmen of a man named Ethan McKendrick (though Emmett does not know it at the time), whose father Emmett had killed a few years before. Emmett has recently been released from prison for the killing. As he travels to the town of Silverado, he finds a man, Paden, lying near death in the desert. The men Paden had been riding with had robbed him of nearly everything and left him for dead.

Emmett and Paden ride to the town of Turley to meet Emmett's brother, Jake, who has been jailed unfairly for killing a man in self-defense. Paden is also jailed when he finds the man who stole his Colt pistol and hat and kills him. Emmett breaks the two of them out of jail and the three escape with the help of Malachi Johnson, a black sharpshooter who was run out of town by Turley's overzealous sheriff, expatriate Englishman Langston (Cleese).

After helping a wagon train of settlers recover their stolen cash from a group of thieves and leading them to Silverado, the group disbands to find their relatives, or, like Paden, settle into the town. Emmett and Jake hear from their sister's husband that Ethan McKendrick is attempting to seize all the land surrounding the town for cattle ranching. Mal finds his father's farm has been overrun by McKendrick's men and cattle, and his father has been driven illegally from his land and into a nearby mesa, where he hides in a cave.

The group soon discovers that the town sheriff, Cobb, an old friend of Paden's, is on McKendrick's payroll and is defending the actions of the cattle rancher's thugs. Emmett, Jake and Mal decide to fight back and Paden is left to decide whether to keep the lucrative job Cobb has offered him or pursue justice. At the film's climax, Jake, Mal, Paden and Emmett fight their way to McKendrick and defeat him. Paden later kills Cobb in a shootout and becomes the town's new Sheriff.

Featured cast

Actor Role

Rosanna Arquette Hannah
Ray Baker Ethan McKendrick
John Cleese Sheriff John T. Langston
Kevin Costner Jake
Brian Dennehy Sheriff Cobb
Jeff Fahey Deputy Tyree
James Gammon Dawson
Scott Glenn Emmet
Danny Glover Malachi 'Mal' Johnson
Jeff Goldblum 'Slick' Calvin Stanhope
Earl Hindman J.T. Hollis
Linda Hunt Stella
Brion James Hobart
Richard Jenkins Kelly
Kevin Kline Paden
Marvin J. McIntyre Clerk at Cavalry Post
Joe Seneca Ezra Johnson
Pepe Serna Scruffy, McKendrick Hand
Lynn Whitfield Rae Johnson
Amanda Wyss Phoebe

Awards

Silverado's score by Bruce Broughton was nominated for the Academy Award for Original Music Score in 1985. It lost to Out of Africa.

1986 Academy Awards (Oscars)

* Nominated - Best Original Score ? Bruce Broughton
* Nominated - Best Sound Mixing ? Donald O. Mitchell, Rick Kline, Kevin O'Connell, David M. Ronne

1986 Casting Society of America (Artios)

* Nominated - Best Casting for Feature Film: Drama ? Wallis Nicita

Trivia

* Lawrence Kasdan offered the role of Jake to Kevin Costner in part to make up for having cut Costner's scenes in The Big Chill.
* Earl Hindman, who plays J.T. (the brother-in-law of Emmett and Jake), plays Wilson on the television series Home Improvement, al

 

This film wasn't successful, partially because Scott Glenn *looks* as though he should have charisma, but doesn't, and the script is a collection of cliches--the evil cattle baron, for one.

 

Great cast tho'. This has been one of my fave westerns for many years because it is a solid, fun ride. Cliched? Sure. However, any movie that has a knife-wielding Jeff Goldblum called "Slick" has to be fun, no? It builds precisely as one should expect from a western: intro--dilemma--good guys buddy up--showdown. I think it would be hard to find someone who absolutely hates this film.

 

I certainly don't hate it; but it's a missed opportunity, I think.

 

I like Silverado. It is a bit of an oddity, coming after the heyday of the western, and before the gritty reinvention that occured with Eastwood's Unforgiven. I was going to say that having an ensemble cast is unusual in a western, but I guess The Magnificent Seven and various films about the Earp brothers rather proves that false; what I will say is that I can't recall another western where the various heroes have such different plot-threads rather than fighting together.

Not the best western ever, but not a disaster.

 

It could have been a great movie, but the cliched plot didn't help; also the feeling that a good deal of it was cut out.

 

Young Guns (1988).

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/Young_guns.jpg/200px-Young_guns.jpg]

Young Guns is a 1988 action/western film first made by Morgan Creek Productions and released by 20th Century Fox (in North America) and Vestron Pictures (outside North America). It was directed by Christopher Cain and written by John Fusco.

Its stars include Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, and Casey Siemaszko. It also features Terence Stamp, Terry O'Quinn, Brian Keith, and Jack Palance. Young Guns is a fictionalized retelling of the adventures of Billy the Kid (Estevez) during the Lincoln County War, which took place in New Mexico during 1877-1878. It was filmed in and around Los Cerrillos, New Mexico.

Plot

John Tunstall, an educated Englishman and cattle rancher in Lincoln County, New Mexico, hires wayward young gun men to live and work on his ranch. Tunstall's ranch is in heavy competition with another well-connected rancher named Murphy and their men clash on a regular basis. Tunstall recruits Billy and tensions escalate into the murder of Tunstall. Billy (Estevez), Doc (Sutherland), Chavez (Phillips), Dick (Sheen), Dirty Steve (Mulroney), and Charlie (Siemaszko), consult their lawyer friend Alex who manages to get them deputized and given warrants for the arrest of Murphy's murderous henchmen.

Billy quickly challenges Dick's authority as leader of the group, vowing revenge to Murphy and the men responsible for killing Tunstall. The men call themselves "The Regulators" and begin to kill many of the men they are charged with arresting, most of them by Billy's own hand. The men are stripped of their newly-found badges, which they find out about by reading a newspaper. That same paper also confuses Dick for Billy, showing a picture of Dick labeled "Billy the Kid", a nickname to which Billy takes an immediate liking. While the local authorities begin their hunt for Billy and the boys, The Regulators decide to finish off their list of arrest warrants. The last one on the list is cornered in an outhouse and an intense shootout begins that ends up killing Dick. Billy appoints himself as the new leader of the group. The gang becomes famous and the U.S. Army are brought into the arena, charged with bringing them to justice under Murphy's corrupt political influence.

The gang eludes attention for some time but are tracked down and trapped while in the home of their lawyer on the main street of Lincoln, New Mexico. An intense shootout begins as the authorities enter the house. A ceasefire is called for the night, but the battle continues the next morning when the Army rolls in, accompanied by Murphy. They torch the house and Chavez runs out the back of the house, appearing to desert the gang. As the house begins to burn down, the men come up with an escape plan. They begin throwing the possessions of Alex, their lawyer, out the windows of the second floor. Billy places himself inside of a large trunk, and when it lands in front of the house, he takes his opponents by surprise when he leaps out and begins to open fire.

Almost at the same time, Doc bursts out of the stairway leading to the top floor with guns blazing. He's followed by Charlie and Steve. As all the men make it to the lawn, Billy is shot twice in his arms. Charlie challenges the bounty hunter John Kinney; Kinney shoots Charlie and Charlie fires back. Charlie kills Kinney but in the process takes a few more bullets and dies.

Chavez takes the Army by surprise. He is riding a horse and has two more horses with him. He comes from behind the army and jumps their barricade to get his two extra horses to the surviving Regulators. Billy jumps on one horse as Doc gets on the other. Doc gets shot as his girlfriend screams; he rides over to her and picks her up, and they ride off. Chavez tries to get Steve on a horse, but Steve is unable to get on in time and Chavez is forced to ride off. Steve is left without a ho

 

Young Guns has been my favorite western movie since I was like 7 years old. So many great (yup, I said great!) actors in this one: Emilio Esteves, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Terrence Stamp, Terry O'Quinn and so on.

This will always be on my list of eighties movies I'll never stop revisiting. And I even enjoy the sequel quite a bit.

 

Young Guns II

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/64/Young_guns_ii.jpg/200px-Young_guns_ii.jpg]

Young Guns II is a 1990 western film, and the sequel to Young Guns (1988). It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christian Slater, and features William Petersen as Pat Garrett. It was directed by Geoff Murphy.

It follows the life of William H. Bonney aka Billy the Kid (played by Emilio Estevez) in the years following the Lincoln County War in which Billy was part of "The Regulators" ? a group of around 6 highly skilled gunmen avenging the death of John Tunstall ? and the years before Billy's documented death. The film, however, is told by Brushy Bill Roberts, a man who in the 1940s appeared claiming to be the real Billy the Kid.

While the film is not entirely historically accurate, it does show some of the key events leading up to Billy's documented death, including his talks with Governor Lew Wallace, his capture by friend-turned-foe Pat Garrett, his trial and his subsequent escape in which he killed two deputies.

Cast

* Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid
* Kiefer Sutherland as Doc Scurlock
* Lou Diamond Phillips as Jose Chavez y Chavez
* Christian Slater as "Arkansas" Dave Rudabaugh
* William Petersen as Pat Garrett
* Alan Ruck as Hendry William French
* R.D. Call as D.A. Rynerson
* James Coburn as John Chisum
* Balthazar Getty as Tom O'Folliard
* Jack Kehoe as Ashmun Upson
* Robert Knepper as Deputy Carlyle
* Tom Kurlander as J. W. Bell
* Viggo Mortensen as John W. Poe
* Leon Rippy as Robert "Bob" Ollinger
* Tracey Walter as Beever Smith
* Bradley Whitford as Charles Phalen
* Scott Wilson as Governor Lew Wallace

Plot

The film opens with a young attorney talking to an elderly man named Brushy Bill Roberts, who claims that he is William H. Bonney (aka Billy The Kid), whom "everyone" knows to have been shot and killed by Pat Garrett in 1881. The majority of the film takes place in flashbacks as the old man recalls his story for the lawyer, who asks if the man has any proof that he is the famous outlaw.

Brushy Bill's story begins with the remaining regulators having gone their separate ways. Billy has become part of a new gang with 'Arkansas' Dave Rudabaugh (Slater) and Pat Garrett (Petersen). The state governor has issued warrants for the arrests of those involved in the Lincoln County wars, including Billy, Doc Scurlock (Sutherland), and Jose Chavez y Chavez (Phillips). With the help of Rudabaugh, Billy springs his old comrades from prison and they make a run for the border along with local farmer Hendry William French (Ruck) and 14 year old Tom O'Folliard (Getty), who Billy rechristens "The Prince of Pensalvania". After the escape, the authorities approach Garrett and persuade him to use whatever resources he needs to hunt Bonney down and kill him. Garrett agrees and, forming a posse, begins his pursuit of the gang.

Billy and his gang are continuously tracked by the posse, narrowly evading capture a number of times. They do suffer casualties, with Tom being mistaken for Billy and killed by a long range shot fired by Garrett's second in command John Poe (Mortensen). Additionally, Scurlock is mortally wounded after the gang is cornered and sacrifices himself to enable his friends to escape. Hendry, Dave, and Chavez flee to safety, but the latter is mortally wounded and remarks that he will know he is dying when he sees a white horse (a spirit horse that is said to carry worthy souls to the other side) riding towards him.

Billy is caught and taken back to be imprisoned and tried in Lincoln County. He is sentenced to be hanged by the neck until he is dead, dead, dead, to which he tells the judge that he can go to hell, hell, hell. Waiting for the sentence to be passed, Billy escapes with the aide of a female accomplice, who has planted a gun in an outhouse. The younger guard raises his gun, forcing B

 

Estevez is good visual casting for Billy the Kid, as the Kid was short, blond, and looked half-witted. Unfortunately, Sutherland has much more charisma, so killing him off is a bad idea.

 

Dances with Wolves (1990).

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Dances_with_Wolves_poster.jpg/200px-Dances_with_Wolves_poster.jpg]

Dances with Wolves is a 1990 epic film which tells the story of a United States Lieutenant who travels to the American Frontier to find a military post. He eventually befriends a local Sioux tribe. Developed by director/star Kevin Costner over 5 years, the film (released November 9, 1990) has high production values and won 7 Academy Awards (1990) and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama. Much of the dialogue is in the Lakota language with English subtitles, unusual for a film at the time of its release. It was shot in South Dakota and Wyoming.

In 2007, Dances with Wolves was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Synopsis

The film opens during a US Civil War battle. Union Army Officer Lieutenant John J. Dunbar learns that his injured leg is to be amputated. Seeing the plight of fellow soldiers with amputated legs, Dunbar attempts suicide by riding a horse across the line of fire between the opposing Union and Confederate positions. His action has the unexpected effect of rallying his comrades, who storm the Confederate positions and win the battle. After the ensuing battle, an experienced general's surgeon saves Dunbar's leg. The commanding officer names Dunbar a hero, awards him Cisco, the horse who carried him in battle, and offers Dunbar his choice of posting.

Dunbar requests a transfer to the western frontier. After meeting with Major Fambrough, (Maury Chaykin) who has slipped into delusions of grandeur (apparently believing he is a king and Dunbar a medieval knight), he is paired with a drayage teamster named Timmons (Robert Pastorelli), who conveys Dunbar to his post. After the departure of Timmons and Dunbar, Fambrough commits suicide with his own pistol.

After a scenic journey, Dunbar and Timmons arrive with fresh supplies at the desolate Fort Sedgwick, finding it deserted except for a lone wolf that Dunbar befriends and dubs Two Socks from the coloring of its front legs. Dunbar, while waiting for reinforcements to arrive, sets in order the deserted post, left in complete disarray by its previous occupants. Meanwhile, Timmons, while returning to their point of departure, is ambushed by Pawnee Indians and scalped. Timmons' death and the suicide of the major who sent them there prevents Union officers from knowing of Dunbar's assignment to the post, effectively isolating Dunbar. Dunbar remains unaware of the full situation and its implications. He notes in his journal how strange it is that no more soldiers join him at the post.

Dunbar initially encounters Sioux neighbors when the tribe's medicine man, Kicking Bird (Graham Greene), happens upon the fort while Dunbar bathes out of sight, and assuming it abandoned, attempts to capture Cisco. After he is scared off by Dunbar, he is confronted by an aggressive warrior named Wind in His Hair (Rodney A. Grant), who declares that he is not scared of the white man. Eventually, he manages to establish a rapport with Kicking Bird, but the language barrier frustrates them. upon one visit to the tribe's camp, he interrupts the suicide of Stands With A Fist (Mary McDonnell), a white woman captured by the tribe as a child and recenty widowed, who recovers and acts as a translator. Dunbar finds himself drawn to the lifestyle and customs of the tribe, and becomes a hero among the Sioux and accepted as an honorary member of the tribe after he helps them locate a migrating herd of buffalo, which they depend upon as a source of food, material, and clothing.

Dunbar further helps defend the settlement against a Pawnee raiding party, providing the Sioux warriors with surplus rifles and ammunition from the fort. He eventually is accepted as a full member of the tribe, and is named ?uŋgmánitu

 

A lot of Westerns seem to be about Vietnam (see also: "Little Big Man")

 

The Last of the Mohicans (1992).

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/Mohicansposter.jpg/200px-Mohicansposter.jpg]

The Last of the Mohicans is a 1992 historical epic film set in 1757 during the French and Indian War. It was directed by Michael Mann and based on James Fenimore Cooper's classic novel, although it owes more to George B. Seitz's 1936 film adaptation than the source novel. The main cast includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Wes Studi, Eric Schweig and Jodhi May.

The soundtrack features music by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman, and a song by Clannad. The film won an Academy Award for Sound. The main theme of the movie is taken from the tune "The Gael" by Scottish singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean.

Plot

In 1757 during the French and Indian War, the British and French are battling for control of North America. Though they are bound by law to join the militia to aid the British, many settlers are reluctant to leave their frontier homes and families defenseless against Huron Indians allied with the French.

Chingachgook (Russell Means) (a Mohican elder), Uncas (Eric Schweig) (his natural son), and Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis) (his adopted white son), visit the Cameron household. Jack Winthrop joins them and tells Hawkeye that he is gathering volunteers for the British army. The next morning, Jack and a group of others go to Albany to obtain terms from General Webb, who agrees to grant them leave if their homes are attacked. Satisfied, the volunteers join the British forces at Fort William Henry, north of Albany, New York.

Cora Munro (Madeleine Stowe) and her sister Alice (Jodhi May) have received word from their father, Colonel Edmund Munro (Maurice Roëves), the commander of the British garrison at the fort, to meet him there. A native guide named Magua (Wes Studi) and a detachment of British soldiers commanded by Major Duncan Heyward (Steven Waddington) escort the women on the trail. However, they are ambushed by Hurons led by Magua himself. All of the soldiers except Major Heyward are quickly killed. He, Cora and Alice are rescued by Hawkeye and his companions, who have been tracking the war band. Magua prepares to shoot Cora, but Hawkeye distracts him. With the rest of his men dead, Magua flees into the forest. Uncas releases the horses the Major and the Munro sisters used to ride, which causes Alice to shout at him. Duncan asks Hawkeye why Uncas released the horses, assuming that he is the only one who can speak English. Uncas replies that the horses are easy to track by the surviving Hurons. The rescuers reluctantly agree to escort the survivors to Fort William Henry. Along the way, they discover that the Cameron homestead has been razed and everyone killed, though nothing has been stolen, a sure sign of a war party.

When they arrive at Fort William Henry, they find it under siege by the French. They manage to sneak inside. When Munro scolds his daughters for joining him, they realize that Magua has deceived them for unknown reasons. Munro tells Heyward that the fort can only hold out for three more days. Their only hope is to get a messenger through to General Webb at nearby Fort Edward for reinforcements.

Hawkeye tells the colonel and the colonials about the attack on the Camerons and the colonials demand that he release them to defend their homes, as General Webb agreed. Munro refuses, so Hawkeye covers for Jack and his friends so they can desert. Hawkeye, who stays behind to be with Cora, is arrested for sedition and sentenced to hang.

Several days pass. As the fort is on the verge of falling, the French commander, General Montcalm (Patrice Chéreau) offers Munro surrender terms. The garrison and their families are offered safe passage to Albany, on condition they return to England and no longer fight in the war. Munro reluctantly accepts, after Montcalm shows him an interc

 

How is this a Western? It's staged in Upstate NY for the love of crumbcake.

 

^^Agreed


Two movies I particularly like in the recent submissions: Pale Rider is by no means a masterpiece, but still a very, very good movie.

And Dances With Wolves has long been a favorite of mine.

 

Well...Northwestern, anyway.

 

Great movie, but it takes place in the Northeast a generation before the Revolutionary War. Calling it a Western is like calling Raiders of the Lost Ark a historical epic.