Classic Western Film on Turner Classic Movies Tonight!

[Watchdog]

TCM will broadcast Winchester '73 at 8:00 p.m. tonight.

If you like the classic westerns, or if you haven't seen it, this one is a must-see.

Winchester '73 is the first of five groundbreaking westerns James Stewart did with director Anthony Mann in the fifties.

In the film, Stewart steps away from his usual laconic good guy image. He plays a man totally obsessed with hunting a man down and taking his revenge on him.

The film is pretty much a film noir western...the only thing keeping it from being true noir is the lack of dark shadows and dimly lighted scenes, and the absence of bad guys whose faces are half hidden. There are strong psychological themes running throughout the film, and they affect just about everyone in the plot.

An interesting thing to me about Mann's westerns is that he didn't make a habit of casting Hollywood pretty boys in major roles. James Stewart's friend/sidekick in the film is wonderfully underplayed by an actor named Willard Mitchell...who looks like the guy who might have come to your house to install a new commode or something...but in the film you get the idea he's just as mean and good with a gun as Stewart's character. If you saw him on the street, though, you wouldn't give him a second glance.

And a side note: There are some interesting little cameo roles in the film, one of which is an almost impossibly young Will Geer as Wyatt Earp

and a young Rock Hudson as an Indian.

Anyway...Winchester '73...8:00 tonight. I'll be watching.

 

[jimbo728]

Beats watching "It`s a wonderful Life" again and again and......
Jim

 

[sheepdawg]

All of his trick shots were done by one of the very best, Herb Parsons, from right down the road in Somerville, Tennessee.

Herb Parsons

 

[J. W.]

Thanks for the heads up! IMO, Stewart's westerns rank right up their with John Wayne's and Clint Eastwood's.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rog8732]

I think "Willard" Mitchell is actually "Millard Mitchell". He played a very strong role in a movie with Gregory Peck called "Gunfighter", and many other side-kick roles.

And you're right W D he looked as though he may have installed plumbing fixtures before he got into movies.
A "greasy" Dan Duryea does a convincing job as a low-down.

 

[rockquarry]

Millard Mitchell had lots of good roles.

As for a comparison of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and James Stewart westerns, I think Stewart was probably a bit better than John Wayne overall as Stewart played a character; John Wayne usually played John Wayne. His role in "Shootist" may have been the exception. I'm not sure.

Clint Eastwood westerns, from an overall perspective, were a very distant third to those of Stewart and Wayne. Eastwood's non-westerns were much better.

 

[loknload]

Jimmy Stewart was great in anything he played in!
I loved ,,,,The Cheyenne Social Club But he has way to many movies that I liked!
But my all time favorite western is High Noon

 

[Watchdog]

I think "Willard" Mitchell is actually "Millard Mitchell".

You're right. My afternoon inattentiveness caught up with me.

 

[BearBio]

Unfortunately, conflicts with "The Vikings" in my time zone/ satellite.

It is MUCH better than the re-make(s).

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...one of my favorites...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFDoXUhpNPg[/ame]

 

[Jack222]

It was on here the other night but it was the remake without Stewart and I couldnt get into it. 1967. I hope tonight is the good one!!!1950.

 

[rockquarry]

A couple of other good films Millard Mitchell was in ... everyone's seen "Twelve O'clock High". Mitchell plays a high-ranking American officer, maybe Gregory Peck's boss.

"Thieves' Highway"; a much lesser seen movie, but a fine film worth watching. One of Richard Conte's best films and Mitchell has a good role in it. Don't remember for sure, but late '40s I think, same era as "Twelve O'clock High".

 

[UncleEd]

Millard Mitchell was also with Stewart in Naked Spur,
another fine Anthony Mann Western.

A side note on "The Gunfighter" with Mitchell and
Gregory Peck: They decided to grow mustaches for
the film despite the studio boss telling them not to.
Then the boss went on vacation and the movie was
made with mustaches.

 

[ordnanceguy]

Agreed on Winchester 73 as being one of the best.

Millard Mitchell was a wonderful character actor. As mentioned above he played in Twelve O'Clock High, one of the greatest war films ever made. He played in the role of USAAF "General Pritchard", a role that was very similar to the real-life General Ira Eaker of the 8th Air Force, a staunch advocate for daylight precision bombing.

Mitchell is seen below in the trench coat at right.

 

[Watchdog]

Agreed on Winchester 73 as being one of the best.

Millard Mitchell was a wonderful character actor. As mentioned above he played in Twelve O'Clock High, one of the greatest war films ever made.

Mitchell is seen below in the trench coat at right.

It is one of the best, isn't it? It's also one of the most underappreciated ever made. It hardly ever shows up on TCM or even AMC. It's a film not to miss, though.

 

[crazyphil]

Stewart, Wayne, & Eastwood were all good, but one more worth mentioning, and my personal favorite, Gary Cooper. You want to see
a good western and get a few laughs along the way, pick up The Westerner. Walter Brennan won the Academy Award for his role as
Judge Roy Bean. It's a hoot. Cooper also won an Academy Award for
his performance in High Noon. He was a real authentic cowboy from
Montana.

 

[LDM]

I love the first exchange between Brennan and Cooper in The Westerner.
Brennan, "Where d'ya hail from?"
Cooper, "No place special."
Brennan, "Where ya headed fer?"
Cooper, "No place in particular."

 

[jimmyj]

IIRC (?) The Winchester 73 "One Of A Thousands" was no different from other 1873s. This was a "Sales Gimmick" by Winchester Company for advertisement purposes

 

[doublesharp]

Thanks for the tip!

Bend of the River is up next and it's another good one.

 

[rog8732]

I always got a kick out of Stewart's and McNally's shooting style with the rifle, when they snatch it up to their cheek.

Young Shelly Winters "fleshened-up" a tad by the time she got to "The Poseidon Adventure" .....So have we all.
She said two things about being "hefty". Said she wasn't fat, she was just 9 inches too short,... and, "where do you go to find this anorexia I hear about" ?