Archive for November, 2014

Gunmans Walk 1958 – Van Heflin

This film was on Television here in England today Saturday 29 November 2014.   I must say that I hadn’t heard of this one at all which surprises me because this was in an era when I was very aware of the films released.    Anyway seeing it today, I thought how good it was.

The storyline goes as follows :-

Van Heflin plays a tough cattle rancher who wants the best for his two sons. – one (Tab Hunter) is wild, spoiled and bitter about following in his father’s shadow, the other (James Darren) is soft, gentle, not prone to gunplay like his older brother. Heflin is very effective at playing the father who seems blind to the realities that both boys are dealing with.

The conflict begins when Hunter and a half-breed Sioux (Bert Convy) that his father has hired, race after a prized white stallion that they’ve been trying to catch for some time now. Hunter runs his horse into the Indian, forcing him off a cliff, plunging to his death below. Two other Indians witness this and will later testify against Hunter at his trial. At the trial, a drifting horse trader (Ray Teal) testifies in favour of Hunter for a price of 10 mustangs and the white stallion. Heflin catches on to Teal’s game and agrees to it in order to protect his son, but warns Teal to get out of town and don’t come back or else.
In the meantime, Darren has fallen in love with the dead Indian’s sister (Kathryn Grant). As Hunter sees Teal riding the herd including the white stallion inot the local town, he goes down and confronts Teal and demands the white stallion back. When he refuses, he draws on Teal and shoots him off his horse, severely wounding him. Hunter is placed in jail but once again his father Van Heflin covers up for him by offering Teal a bribe he can’t refuse.
In the end though this does not matter at all because Hunter breaks out of jail, killing the unarmed deputy (Mickey Shaughnessy) in the process, and forcing the town to form a posse to go after him. Van Heflin knows that he is not able to save his boy at this point, but he knows where he will go to and he gets there before the posse does. There is a  showdown between father and son and a final gun battle
Directed by Phil Karlson, with a good story, and a powerful performance by Van Heflin, this is one to see.
[ GUNMAN'S WALK POSTER ]
The previous film Van Heflin had made was another great Western – 3:10 to Yuma with Glenn Ford – another of my favourites.
I featured another Van Heflin film on the Blog some months ago – and it was one I did remember well – Tanganyika 1953 with Ruth Roman.
I liked that one.
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Tippi Hedren – Astonishing pictures

Hollywood actress Tippi Hedren has revealed her embarrassment and regret that she let a fully grown lion live with her family in the 1970s, saying they were ‘stupid beyond belief’ to let the beast play with her daughter Melanie Griffth, then aged just 13.

Tippi Hedren has revealed that looking back she finds the pictures humiliating and admits she ‘should never have taken those risks’.

Mane event: Neil grabs Melanie's leg as she jumps into the pool, aged just 14, in her Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, home 

Life in the roar: Melanie Griffith's mother Tippi Hedren, muse to the famed director Alfred Hitchcock, fearlessly toys with Neil the lion

 

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Pardners – Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

M&L Pardners record

Directed by Norman Taurog
Starring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Agnes Moorehead, Lori Nelson, Jeff Morrow, Lon Chaney, Jr., Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef, Bob Steele

Warner Archive have released  the Best of Martin & Lewis Volumes 1 and 2. Pardners is in the second batch.

Dean-Martin-Jerry-Lewis-Pardners

Pardners would be the next-to-last picture Martin and Jerry Lewis made together. This photo seems to sum up their relationship at the time. (The battered record sleeve seems appropriate, too.)

For some reason I remember so well the final scene where The End appears on the screen and the two of them say they are not ready for the end of the film, so they draw their guns and shoot out the letters in front of us all. Very well done and very slick.

See Below :-

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The Story of Robin Hood 1952 – on set at Denham

The Story of Robin Hood 1952 - Walt Disney

This is a publicity still with Richard Todd and James Robertson Justice from around June 11th 1951 – the film The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men was released in 1952.    As we all know this was a Walt Disney picture and one he took a great deal of interest in. He did in fact come over during the summer of 1951 to England and spent some time at Denham Film Studios and at Burnham Beeches where some of the out door action was filmed.

This picture was a studio set piece and does not feature in the film as the quarter staff fight takes place over a wooden bridge in Sherwood Forest – but actually this was indeed another beautiful studio set designed and constructed by Carmen Dillon whose work on this film was exceptional.     Robin-and-Little-John On the Bridge

 

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