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Australia got me thinking about some films-with-leverguns that are actually good, and seem to be off of most lists for some reason.
Conagher (1991). This is a made-for-TV western with Sam Elliot and his wife Katherine Ross. It's a very low-key western that in many ways could have been made in 1935. Which may be why almost nobody knows about it. IIRC, Elliot's character packs a Winchester 73 in .44-40. It's likely one of his own rifles. The shootouts are realistic enough, but it's not a film that sticks your face in human misery like so many modern Westerns have done. Dare I say it, the film has values.
Streets of Fire (1984). This is the film Walter Hill made after "48 Hours." It's a very odd combination of rock n' roll biker movies and westerns. The plot is absurdly simple, and the characters are pretty two-dimensional. But the hero has a tricked out Marlin, which he uses to explode motorcycles You just have to go with it and leave physics aside. The end of the film also features a very good fight using huge hammers. Plus a scene which I believe features more leverguns being cycled than any other film in history.
There was a science fiction series that's basically a western in space (really) and a movie that was made later. One of the crew members carries a Winchester Mare's leg and a Marlin makes an appearance in a couple of shootouts. Name of the series is Firefly and the movie is Serenity. All are out on DVD.
SmokeEater2 wrote:There was a science fiction series that's basically a western in space (really) and a movie that was made later. One of the crew members carries a Winchester Mare's leg and a Marlin makes an appearance in a couple of shootouts. Name of the series is Firefly and the movie is Serenity. All are out on DVD.
+1
FWiedner wrote:That hammer fight is one of my all-time favorite scenes in cinema.
(...and Diane Lane is hot...)
+1 though I might lean more towards the was than is.
The Far Country (1954). This is a very unusual role for Jimmy Stewart, who plays a cynical and pretty ruthless cattle drover heading into the Yukon with the law on his trail. He does some handy work with a Winchester 92. I have to admit I prefer him in this sort of role to his "gosh golly" movies. I guess people back then just wouldn't accept him as anything but the earnest, innocent character he so often played. Also features the great Walter Brennan.
Death Hunt (1981). This is the only major film made based on the amazing manhunt to catch an odd fellow going by the name of Albert Johnson, who was holed up in northern Canada in the 1930's. Lots and lots of leverguns. It's not a perfect film, and it suffers from the same kind of goofiness that infected a lot of historical films back then. The real events were actually harder to believe than the fictionalized ones. Johnson, the Mad Trapper, was one tough hombre. They blew up his cabin and approached, only to have him rise up out of the ruins with a rifle in each hand! He led them on a chase through the deep cold. He had no dogs and few supplies, but he managed to outrun and outfight the toughest and best equipped Mounties and trappers. They finally got him in a last shootout, and even then it took several .30-30 slugs to bring him down. The picture of his face after death is haunting--he has a peculiar death smile that seems to summarize his intense contrariness.
Did not want to take this off topic, but I really need to sit down and write a narrative of the mad trapper of Gila County one day, there is just so much other stuff to do.
mescalero1 wrote:Did not want to take this off topic, but I really need to sit down and write a narrative of the mad trapper of Gila County one day, there is just so much other stuff to do.
mescalero1 wrote:Did not want to take this off topic, but I really need to sit down and write a narrative of the mad trapper of Gila County one day, there is just so much other stuff to do.
Yep, me too.
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
"Lonely Are The Brave" is a different "Western"...It takes place in the early 1960s when the film was shot... Kirk Douglas plays a free spirited Cowboy that enjoys liberty..whether it runs him afoul with authority or not...He and his horse and his trusty 1892 Winchester (take down model) rifle tell a great story..I've heard that this movie is Kirk Douglas's favorite movie...
"IT IS MY OPINION, AND I AM CORRECT SO DON'T ARGUE, THE 99 SAVAGE IS THE FINEST RIFLE EVER MADE IN AMERICA."
WIL TERRY
Ben_Rumson wrote:"Lonely Are The Brave" is a different "Western"...It takes place in the early 1960s when the film was shot... Kirk Douglas plays a free spirited Cowboy that enjoys liberty..whether it runs him afoul with authority or not...He and his horse and his trusty 1892 Winchester (take down model) rifle tell a great story..I've heard that this movie is Kirk Douglas's favorite movie...
I saw that movie one time and thought it had one of the saddest endings I'd ever seen.
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
Yes that Kirk Douglas movie was a great one. Do any of ya'll remember a movie with Peter O'Toole named "Lord Jim"? It was set in southeast Asia,he ran a boat and carried an 1892 Winchester carbine.
JerryB II Corinthians 3:17, Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
One of the best I have seen for really great and authentic lever action shooting was "Riders Of The Purple Sage" starring Ed Harris in about the late 90's. This is about the 4th film production of the Zane Grey novel and it was Harris' first western.
You just have to go with it and leave physics aside. The end of the film also features a very good fight using huge hammers. Plus a scene which I believe features more leverguns being cycled than any other film in history. 
.***