Notice the last three westerns have flopped?

What few good actors that are left are getting old for the parts. Clint walker is 86 years old, james garner 85 and hugh obrian is 88! Sam elliot, (where is he?), tom selleck, (he is happy to play the mature role in blue bloods), eastwood is pretty old, I dont know any young good likely types out there but I really dont watch them wherever they are (if there is any). Its a new generation. They seem to be comedians that only know how to talk dirty, the small sensitive type, dirty wise alec rappers, muscel head athletes or whatever. Even if we had some potentials, who would direct them? We all are getting old and the younger generation isnt interested in paying to watching what we liked.
 
NCTexan said:
I thought the 2010 True Grit was a great movie that just so happened to be a "Western".
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There you go. If it isn't a good movie, it's going to do badly. The "last three westerns" the OP mentioned flopped because they were bad movies. Two of them arguably weren't even real westerns. (If it's got aliens, it's science fiction, even if some cowboys are running around.)
 
Biginge said:
Boys, I agree with Blujax. Explosions, explosions, and more explosions. Never have I seen such.

Median age here? I don't know but probably somewhere above "middle age" I would guess. We don't need explosions!! How many of us go to the range and shoot exploding targets? I don't. Anway, the last movie I saw Gabby Hayes was singing "Come back to Sorento." Hollywood does not get my entertainment dollar.

I am afraid that Cowboy Action Shooting (Sass) is on life support. Younger generation grew up with sci-fi, computer games, etc. Do they have any western computer games? Our early TV days were filled, almost completely with "horse operas" We are a product of our upbringing, or lack thereof.

It was fun while it lasted.
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About your first statement agreeing with Blujax. Antonio Banderes was the right guy for Zorro. But the acrobatics and super elaborate anti climatic ending was too much. I bring this up because I watched the great Tyrone Power 1940 version of Zorro again. It's old school Hollywood hokeyness, but the ending was a pure skill oriented sword fight between Power and an arrogant cocky Basil Rathbone. Movie makers don't think we have attention spans to appreciate that any more.
 
yeti said:
If Hollyweird wants to make a western...then they should actually try making a western.
Instead, we end up with odd movies, which serve as an excuse to insert the formulaic wizz-bang production.
A great western would require a plot, character development & good acting skills. That is hard.

Maybe most Hollywood folks can't pay attention long....without robots fighting?
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I agree two of the movies mentioned IMHO were sci-fi with western tones, and the third was comedy with western tones. The others movies mentioned by others True Grit, 3:10 to Yuma seemed to be remake or older films, same slightly different plot, different new actors. They try make a name for their self on older movies that worked I guess they are to many generations from the cowboy days.
Seems like those who wright scripts now a days can't wright good westerns like the old ones so they try to copy them, most for me don't work. They know sci-fi so should stick to it and just bring back the good old time proven westerns and the time proven actors.
 
These were brain dead flops on delivery.

Cowboys and Aliens, seriously? What idiot thinks that's a good concept to put 100 million in?

My Cat could have written a better script than Jonah Hex.

The Lone Ranger, one look at Depp's costume and I dismissed it as Pirates of the Caribbean on a horse.

Make a real Western, put some actual real men in it and people will come.
 
A rather recent western that only about eight people saw, was that Brad Pitt Jesse James movie. EVERYONE in this movie were excellent. My B-I-L hated it. Too sloooow. I loved it. Pitt was so close to the historical record of Jesse James. And the creepy kid who played Bob Ford should give his big brother Ben Affleck acting lessons. This film had expansive outdoor scenes, yet seemed cautrophobic because that's how Jesse James felt with his paranoia. This is a love it or hate it movie that didn't help the western genre any.
 
Okay, let the flaming begin: the hero types played by Wayne, Scott, Cooper, Murphy, et al., in the classic westerns were idealized figures who always triumphed over evil in the end--and real life in the Old West wasn't often like that. Nor were the historical figures we idolize to this day. Wyatt Earp was a gambler and paid protector of prostitutes as well as a lawman. Billy the Kid was a psychopath (and not lefthanded, by the way). Jesse James was an icy killer.

Most movie portrayals of these guys have been about as realistic as the awful way "Bonnie And Clyde" prettied up and glamorized a creepy little sociopath and his airhead girlfriend.

Gary Cooper's character in "High Noon" was wonderfully written and acted. A few others were as well. But "Unforgiven" and the remake of "True Grit" were probably closer to real life in that time than ninety per cent of earlier westerns. "Lonesome Dove" was brilliant.

I enjoy watching the old classic stuff, but I'm also a lover of history and a student of human nature. I like complex characters because I am one, and know that nearly everyone is.

Your mileage, etc. I'll go take shelter now...
 
Iggy said:
Don't need a script, just a big butt.
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Where is Sir Mixalot when you really need him?:D:D:D

kozmic said:
It's too bad that Jim Carrey has swore off movies with gun violence.:( He would make a totally awesome western star. His name would be synonymous with the great western genre movies just like; Wayne, Eastwood, Rogers, Stewart, Duvall and Hackman. I get goose bumps just thinking about it!

Any western movie with Carrey's name associated with it would be a guaranteed classic and a box office block buster. :)

If you've seen his parity on gun control you already know he does Charlton Heston better than Charlton Heston does Charlton Heston!:confused: He is a true master at his craft.:)

As a Canadian, he fully grasps the American spirit of the wild west and his dramatic acting stills are beyond reproach. Just look at his body of work. It is both timeless and priceless.


Now please excuse me while I go throw up.:D:D:D
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One of the funniest posts I've read in a long time!

Have you noticed that moral movies usually do pretty well? I don't think that Hollywood knows why! Folks down there (maybe with the exception of Sip) think morals and character are outmoded concepts. Sad state of affairs.

Did anyone notice that Despicable Me 2 blew out everything else this past weekend? I think folks were going to the movies to be entertained, not to be preached to.....
 
kozmic said:
My take is that the Hollywood jet set don't understand American history and certainly can't comprehend the American mindset (then or now) as seen through the eyes of anyone but themselves.
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And, of course, the problem manifests itself in much more serious ways than motion pictures, not that they aren't a serious enough problem.
 
shouldazagged said:
And moral movies aren't preaching?

Just asking...
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Yes, they are. But they preach to what most of us consider high ideals, for everybody, based on God's instruction/revelation/whatever in accordance with your exact religion. Some Hollywood stuff is based on destruction of religious ideals, and some Hollywood stuff is based on relatively new "religions" which, although they sometimes espouse good things, are obviously based on a false religion of self-congratulation. [I do notice that self-congratulation is occasionally a problem with observers of traditional religions, as well, but, IMO, less frequently these days, and they don't have to make up a whole new religion to do it.] IMO, the bottom line is that most folks see through the falsehood of many Hollywood lines, whereas a "moral movie" usually doesn't have any falsehood to see through. Of course, it could also conceivably be boring, nothing new, or simplistic.

Leastways, that's how I see it.

It IS nice to read the reviews here and get some idea of what might be worth watching.
 
These days Hollywood's agenda is to break down what's left of morals and decency and replace it with gutter based "fun". The idea is that eliminating any form of "morality" will help a movie succeed because no one will be offended ... all good fun!

I didn't think the latest "True Grit" was in any way better than the original, the Texas Ranger was a child molester and "Rooster" was "The Big Lebowski" in a hat.
 
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the last movie I seen was "Open Range" and that has been quite a few years ago. there hasn't been any movie since that I thought might even be interesting
 
OK, to be a western it has to fit the western mold. It cannot be some movie just set in the old west. To be a Western it should have a central character who can do it all. And at the end this central character has to be the winner. To my mind Unforgiven, True Grit, and Lonesome Dove all fit that category. There are plenty of western characters who could be portrayed. Instead Hollywood writes a script and sets in the old west. Often they have 19 century characters with 20th century ideals. It stands out like a sore thumb when I watch older westerns today. Jesse James would not hesitate to shoot a (Northern) lawman, but he never would have reached up under a woman's dress to get jewelry she had hidden there. If he had he would have been hounded to death and no one would have sheltered him. Yet you see westerns where the "bad guys" leer at women and make suggestive threats.

On the Lone Ranger thread I said I would probably go. I haven't seen the movie and probably will not go. I hear the first hour and last half hour are good and the middle is awful and violent.

BTW, I just bought a Blu Ray DVD of Bonnie and Clyde. Like a lot of historical characters they are a mix of good and bad. They richly deserved the end they got, but to just write them off as a couple of homicidal youngsters is a mistake. Just go on Amazon's website and read the reviews. Same with Billy the Kid. He was a product of his time and place. He saw his mentor and friend murdered by a corrupt lawman. Later, he was promised a pardon and the Governor reneged. There weren't many "good guys" in that part of New Mexico. And yes he was right handed.

I have a DVD of "The Professionals" Other than having Jack Palance play a Mexican revolutionary, I thought the casting and acting was great. The story is professional hardcases are hired to bring a wealthy rancher's wife back who was supposedly kidnapped by a Mexican revolutionary (Palance). As it turned out, she ran off with him and the "professionals" decide to leave her where she wants to be. Now, I don't believe for a minute that they would have actually acted that way, but that is the way Hollywierd scripted it.
 
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