*tip of the hat* to Marlowe. I watched Rio Bravo last night and quite enjoyed that. Then watched the last Hanzo movie *smh* Spoilers?
Posted by
JD (aka Jason Dean)
Jun 5 '20, 08:38
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I guess that should more accurately be tip of a cowboy hat.
Can there be spoilers for a movie that is a decade older than I am?
As I couldn't do anything but watch the movie through all of the veils of the stereotypes that I've built up in a lifetime with regards to genres and actors, I had the following reactions
Wait that's Dean Martin as a falling down drunk, I guess that's appropriate.
Once I figured out that it was Angie Dickinson, I kept hoping for Feather to shoot somebody as I only knew her as Pepper from Police Woman.
When introduced to Ricky Nelson's Colorado, is this what it would be like if we put a boy band star in a top flight movie?
However the movie, while not perfect to me, was really good and showed more than the stereotypes.
With the exception of John Wayne, he was who I thought he was. Well mostly, showed some degree of awkward more general humanity than I had associated with his characters. However, it was almost to the point of distraction that at multiple times in the movies, he walks with that slow, stereotypical John Wayne walk? swagger? To the point, I found myself thinking he must actually walk that way?
The supporting performances are amazing Walter Brennan as Stumpy and Pedro Gonzales Gonzales as Carlos do way more with their roles than could be expected. Estelita Rodriguez as Consuela similarly does the max in an underwritten, stereotypical role.
The sequence with Carlos trying to explain how he ends up with a black eye is a masterpiece and Wayne's Sheriff always being behind and at a whole different pace.
What I absolutely was not expecting was the dialogue and delivery that reminded me of a romantic comedy via Dickinson's Feather. Absolutely charming until it crossed into the society norms of the time and in span of a line, she goes from smart and independent to being dependent on her Sheriff. It probably isn't exactly that bad but I watched from my perspective.
I also kind of cringed at their physical interactions as I kept thinking but, but, you look like you could be her father...
Dean Martin was the most pleasant surprise as I don't think I'd ever seen him in a movie where he's acting as opposed to being generally Dean Martin. Whatever the opposite of 'cleans up well' is, Dean Martin is doing that really, really well for a significant portion of the movie And then the plot line cleans him up ;-)
So while on the long side, I'm not sure exactly where one would make it shorter and among my disappointments is the final showdown. While showing creativity and teamwork over sheer numbers, it seemed a tad abrupt to me. There was the whole Alamo setup but I guess the Alamo didn't exactly turn out well in the end for those under siege.
I was going to originally have Western night and then watch Once Upon a Time in the West but it turns out that's really long so I figured I'd finish up the Hanzo The Razor trilogy as each of those films is less than 90 minutes
That was supremely jarring for at least the first five minutes as it couldn't have been more different from Rio Bravo. I think if they hadn't planned for this to be the last movie, this movie would've ended the series. The righting of wrongs is going after money lenders as well as a subplot about cannon building. Huh?
The movie pretty much dives into all of the now series check boxes including a cringe inducing version of his 'training' where he is doing this while holding a full conversation with his deputies.
I guess the movie does have some of the best action sequences as well as getting to see the defenses built into his house on full display but still the least of the trio.
If one is going to watch the Hanzo the Razor movies, well, I'm hoping you know what you're getting into and at minimum, make sure to watch the first movie (Snare of Justice) first. I can't even imagine how crazy things would seem without the setup movie. Don't get me wrong, it is not an origin movie but it does help to see the full versions of sequences that will be short handed later in the series.
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