How does one describe the cinema of Samuel Fuller? Words like brash and bold tend to be used, perhaps even overused, when his name is brought up. Nevertheless, those adjectives fit, they capture the essence of his filmmaking, the energy, the almost primal disregard for convention and taste. Fuller didn’t make that many westerns altogether, but they are all interesting and memorable, not least for the way they show a director at work who was in love with that work. Forty Guns (1957) is an invigorating example of Fuller’s filmmaking, pummeling and assaulting the senses right from that famous opening shot; the movie charges at us head-on with fury and passion, a visual and aural challenge that is as neat an example as any of how much breadth and confidence the western genre had attained in the late 1950s.
That opening sequence sets the tone, and indeed the pace for everything that follows, a pounding, intimidating and disorientating sensation that rarely lets up till the movie reaches its shockingly unexpected climax a mere eighty minutes later. One hour and twenty minutes to introduce viewers to Griff Bonnell (Barry Sullivan), a Wyatt Earp style figure who is on his way to Cochise County to arrest a man. He’s accompanied by his two brothers, Wes (Gene Barry) who acts as his backup and Chico (Robert Dix) who is due to be packed off to California and a less hazardous life. The forty guns of the title (or forty thieves as Sullivan later refers to them, evoking the One Thousand and One Nights and thus adding to that fantastic unreality which the film wholeheartedly embraces) are in the employ of Jessica Drummond (Barbara Stanwyck), the de facto boss of the territory. Brockie (John Ericson) is her younger brother, a spoiled, psychopathic wastrel who uses his sister’s influence and the implied threat of her private army to terrorize women, the town marshal, and frankly anyone who attracts his attention with impunity. Jessica Drummond’s reputation precedes her, her riders have as near as not run the Bonnell brothers off the road, and then her brother’s anarchic spitefulness threatens to lay waste to the whole town. It is here that Griff Bonnell has his hand forced; coolly pistol whipping Brockie into submission and tossing him into jail, he lays down his marker even before riding out to the Drummond ranch with his warrant to arrest one of the hired guns.
It now builds toward a battle for supremacy, both of the heart and the land. The whole setup at the Drummond house continues this theme of the fantastic and if not unreality then perhaps hyperreality. Even if the table is rectangular rather than round, there is something positively Arthurian about the image of Jessica lounging like royalty at the head of that table, flanked on her left by the aggressive and unpredictable Brockie while taking pride of place at her right hand is the soft-spoken but cunning and tragically devoted sheriff Ned Logan (Dean Jagger). In a movie with more than its fair share of visually memorable tableaux, a long tracking shot leads into the kind of double entendre laden conversation one wouldn’t normally expect to find in a western from the 1950s, with an exchange about the potency and volatility of Griff’s weapon. How that got past the censors, I’ll never know.
The whole thing then winds its way through a number of Earp/Clanton allusions towards a conclusion which is not so much a gunfight at the OK Corral as a daring example of Fuller’s characteristic audacity, flipping one of the cardinal conventions of not only the western but cinema in general in a movie which has already stampeded across so many viewer expectations. The director never really lets up in this movie, goading and provoking at every opportunity, painting his picture with the kind of broad brushstrokes that only supreme self-confidence permits, and only a man who lives for making movies would even countenance the kind of risks such an approach runs. Frankly, this is not a movie that will appeal to everyone, it is, perhaps like Fuller himself, too vivid and stylized to gain universal approval. I guess it comes down to this, you either “get” Fuller and his filmmaking or you don’t, and there’s little or no room for equivocation about it. He may be said to have produced a good deal of stylized work but, unlike directors less committed to their art, it was not a case of style over substance. If realism was of little concern to him, then what did matter was getting at the reality of the feelings that dwell at the heart of the movie. That cocksure presentation eschews prosaic realism for a pulpy assertiveness. His demands for the viewer’s attention might seem cartoonish on occasion, but once he has captured that attention there is no doubting the sincerity of the emotion he has been striving to highlight.
That sincerity is apparent on a number of occasions, most notably in the scenes which see Dean Jagger interacting with Stanwyck. There is his slow departure from the dinner table when Sullivan pays his first visit to the Drummond ranch, a dragging reluctance to leave where Stanwyck’s dismissal and his compliance is achieved without a word being spoken, merely an exchange of glances that express a world of regret. Then there is that final three way scene, part confrontation and part confession that gives Jagger his finest moments in the movie. We get to see a character who has previously traded heavily on the ersatz and the disingenuous coming face to face with the consequences of his longing and loss, and at that moment understanding that the truth he can no longer avoid leads to only one destination.
Late on, there is a funeral scene, following hard on the heels of one of those startling and abrupt instances of violence. The contrast with what preceded it is marked, showing off Fuller’s restraint and Joseph Biroc’s cinematography. The camera tracks sedately from one side to the other against a lead gray sky, broken only by a short close up on Jidge Carroll as he softly sings “God Has His Arms Around Me“, beginning and ending with the widow as she stands motionless and terrible in her dignity and composure.
Forty Guns was the third time Barry Sullivan and Barbara Stanwyck appeared together in a movie and they play off each other well. Sullivan’s confidence matches that of his leading lady and his terse, clipped style of delivery hits the right note for a character who is painfully aware of how his time is running short, how a rapidly changing society is in the process of overtaking him. Stanwyck’s fondness for westerns is well documented; she could tap into the kind of insolence that befits her character, showing off her riding skills as she gallops imperiously over the land she has claimed, as well as having the grit to take on a particularly dangerous looking stunt that sees her horse drag her across rough terrain in the midst of a tornado.
Forty Guns always looked good any time I caught it, and the UK Blu-ray from Eureka, which may now have gone out of print if the prices I’m seeing online are any guide, certainly boasts a fine presentation. There is a lot of Fuller in this movie and that is a plus as far as I am concerned, although those who are less attuned to his style and sensibility will probably get less from a viewing. To my mind, this is a significant addition to Fuller’s credits and to the western genre itself, a film I never tire of revisiting.
Riding the High Country 
I’m with you 100% Colin. A powerful if very sui generis filmmaker. In many ways (this may seem an odd way to go …) he reminds me of Kenneth Branagh, an equally gutsy and varied movie maker who deploys a kind of primitive invention to eschew gloss. Got to see FORTY GUNS at the cinema and it was a real treat.
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That’s an interesting parallel. I like Branagh but I’d not thought of him in that way before.
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I remember watching a Fuller film in a cinema class (I think it was The Steel Helmet). In one scene, a soldier was talking about his life back home when he was suddenly shot in the head. Some of the class giggled because this was too obvious, cliched, and raw for a mid-90s audience to take seriously. The teacher stopped the projector and berated the class for a good ten minutes. I think he mentioned how we’d all been desensitized by Pulp Fiction and the like.
I don’t totally agree with his actions (an audience reaction is an audience reaction and there’s no arguing against it), but I can see his point. The hipness of modern audiences refuse to digest most of Fuller’s work. Underplaying has been the mark of expression for a while now (I blame Bill Murray!) and the madness of Fuller doesn’t come across well. Maybe he’ll be reevaluated in another 50 years and directors will try to copy him.
Anyway, 40 Guns has long been one of my favorite Westerns and I hope your review inspires a few people to check it out. It’s stunning.
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That’s a valid point about the way aTarantino and the like have ushered in the kind of postmodern wryness that has the effect of reducing the impact of shocking incidents. It does make it harder for some to appreciate what a director such as Fuller was doing, and I too would like to think that fashions may change with regard to this at some point.
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I loathe everything about the Tarantino approach to film-making. It’s everything I hate about postmodernism. Quite apart from the fact that all the good ideas in his movies have been “borrowed” from more talented directors.
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Tarantino showed lots of promise and talent when he first appeared. Yet somewhere after Pulp Fiction it feels like his referencing of earlier works, which I don’t think is in itself a bad thing, started to drift toward actually referencing himself.
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Wholeheartedly agree with your assessment. I’m a big fan of Fuller, and you’ve made me want to go back and rewatch this one again. Thank you!
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Excellent! I’m always pleased when someone feels motivated to visit or revisit something I’ve featured.
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Surely one of the most impressive opening scenes of any film, no music, just the thunder of hooves.
In contrast I thought the closing scene was weak .
But so many impressive scenes courtesy of Sam Fuller. Certainly not your standard western!
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As I understand it, the ending wasn’t the one Fuller originally wanted or envisaged. I can see how it might displease, although I’m fine with it and I especially like the build up to it with the great wide shots as Sullivan approaches and leaves the marshal’s office. And I appreciate his exchange with his brother:
“Chico, if she’d killed you, I never would have forgiven her. You know why? Because I’m not big enough; you gotta be big to forgive.”
I enjoy the tough simplicity of it and Sullivan’s delivery. Generally, there is a sense of calm and reflectiveness to the ending that I think contrasts with and thus complements the thundering urgency of that opening.
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Love that line from Bonell after he has shot Jessica – “Get a doctor, she’ll live!”
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Indeed, and the fact it comes right after that staggeringly unorthodox shootout adds zing. So much about the film goes beyond merely playing with expectations, it completely flips them.
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Nice review. I need to get the Criterion. I love Stanwyck and the over the top nature of the film. She could sit a horse with the best of them. The first Fuller film I ever saw was ‘The Big Red One’ on VHS – still a favorite war film.
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I’m not sure now which of Fuller’s films I would have seen first, though it has to be between Run of the Arrow and Merrill’s Marauders, and those would have been TV screenings back in the early 1980s. I wasn’t thinking in terms of filmmakers in those days of course, it was just a matter of types of movie, stars and whatever happened to be broadcast. It was only later on that I became aware of Fuller as a director of films to look out for.
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Forty Guns is wild and crazy and brilliant. I love Fuller’s movies – he just made movies the way he wanted to and if that meant ignoring or breaking the rules he’d ignore or break the rules. When you see a Sam Fuller movie you think to yourself – nobody else could have made this movie.
I’m a huge fan of both Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss where he gets really wild and crazy. House of Bamboo is great as well.
There just aren’t any directors like Sam Fuller any more. There’s no room in the modern film industry for inspired madmen and you can’t have a healthy film industry without a few inspired madmen.
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I hadn’t watched anything by Fuller for a while, which wasn’t a conscious decision or anything. Revisiting this film has put me in the mood for some more though.
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Great review of a movie that has a very special place in my heart. By far my favorite of the so-called “psycho-sexual” and decidedly loopy Westerns like Johnny Guitar, The Furies and Rancho Notorious.
Count me among the Fuller fans. The joy of his movies is that many of them are slightly off-kilter and unexpected.
For me Forty Guns succeeds where The Furies fails. It’s hard to root for anybody in The Furies, in Forty Guns you have a lot of flawed people who nevertheless manage to be sympathetic.
The opening scene is one of my all-time favorites and the closing scene is a stunner for completely different reasons. I had no problem with the ending. Jessica Drummond brought that on herself. She wanted to play in the big boy league.
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I remember you saying before that you were a great fan of Fuller’ work. I very much enjoy all of those films you grouped loosely together, although some of them more than others. I’d be tempted to add Pursued to that little posse – Niven Busch seems to tick a lot of the boxes that would grant membership to such a club.
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I really like ‘Pursued’ too. The doom and gloom is fascinating. Mitchum, Wright, Anderson, and Jagger are first rate. I love my Blu of it.
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I think I mentioned somewhere before that I really must look into upgrading my old copy. I mean it’s serviceable enough but a scrubbed up version would be good to have.
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I’ll have watch my old DVDs of ‘Forty Guns’ and ‘House of Bamboo’ now. The first time I watched both I was struck by the mastery Fuller had with the widescreen frame and how good black and white was used in one and color in the other.
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Both of those movies certainly use wide lens and their color choices well. They both benefit from strong central performances too.
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Good addition. We should also add the delicious Duel in the Sun.
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Yes, it too has those simmering passions, superheated atmosphere, heightened emotion and slightly off-center psychology. Actually, the more I think about that group of films, the more I love them .
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Duel in the Sun is wonderfully overheated. I liked it a lot and now I want to watch it again.
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I haven’t seen The Furies. Now I’m intrigued. I’ll have to add it to my shopping list.
And I must watch Rancho Notorious again. I saw it years ago and loved it.
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Not everybody is a fan of The Furies, but I quite like it and I’d have no hesitation in suggesting people check it out for themselves.
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Personally, I’d take “THE FURIES” over “RANCHO NOTORIOUS” anytime. Generally I like Lang’s films a great deal but Rancho doesn’t do it for me somehow.
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All of those films mentioned are going to be divisive and will draw varied reactions. Personally, I’d hate to be without any of them – they are all trying different things, perhaps not always successfully but I see the attempts as indications of the versatility and durability of the genre at that time and the confidence of those working within it.
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I agree wholeheartedly. Personally I much prefer divisive movies to safe bland movies.
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I think ‘The Furies’ is a fascinating film too. The Criterion Blu is such a wonderful edition. I really like how it comes with the novel and all the other neat extras.
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Yes, the book came with the old DVD too. It’s a neat addition.
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Dfordoom, you should definitively have a look at The Furies. It is fascinating in a strange way. Apart from Colin, Laura also wrote about it in her Western Roundup column. It has a good discussion too.
I’m not too wild about Rancho Notorious. The casting doesn’t work for me.
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I’ve ordered a copy of The Furies. I’m looking forward to it. And it is an Anthony Mann movie. I’ll definitely check out Laura’s write-up.
I ordered a copy of Rancho Notorious as well. It’s about twenty years since I saw it so it will be interesting to see how I react to it now.
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My Criterion DVD of The Furies arrived in the post today. And the DVD release includes the source novel! Not in some silly ebook format but an actual physical book, a proper paperback.
I think that is such a cool idea. I would love to see it done more often.
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Yes, it is a nice idea, one I appreciated. I think Criterion did the same thing with their release of Mr Arkadin.
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The book is a great extra. Unfortunately the same thing can’t be said for the audio commentary which reveals spoilers for all of Mann’s westerns. Then he starts using the word transgressive at which point I switched it off.
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Dee, I agree with you about proper paperback books. I just can’t get into reading eBooks, but to each their own. The sending of the source novel with the DVD is a cool idea. My Criterion DVD of THE FURIES was bought 2nd hand, so I didn’t receive the paperback, but I already had a paperback copy of the novel.
There’s just nothing like find a used bookstore, or flea market booth with vintage paperback books.
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I love finding old books too at antique malls especially hardcovers with dust jackets. I found an excellent hardcover reprint of Tom Lea’s ‘The Wonderful Country’ that was made into the good movie with Mitchum. It was a nice find and the book a most worthy more expansive story.
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Chris, I have a good hardback copy of Tom Lea’s THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY(1952), which I first read in 1973. It is a wonderful book, as is the movie with Robert Mitchum and Julie London, which was filmed entirely in Mexico in 1958 and released to theaters in 1959.
Finding vintage hardbacks and paperbacks, that I want to read, is a great pleasure.
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Yes I agree so much. Lea was such a great artist too. The book done on his WWII art is superb. He captured combat in the Pacific in a stunning fashion.
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Chris, yes, Lea is a superb artist. The work he did for LIFE magazine during World War II is amazing. THE THOUSAND YARD STARE is a fine work of art. https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-2000-yard-stare-tom-lea.html?product=canvas-print
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That is a great painting. It is used as the cover of the book. Also, his painting of the Marine shredded by machine gun fire is as graphic as anything in ‘Saving Private Ryan’. You feel you are there in his best work I think somebody like Sam Fuller would have appreciated the open honesty and brilliance of Lea’s work. I definitely recommend readers of this blog who watch war films to check his work out.
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That thousand yard stare painting is a rightly famous one. The artist also did some wonderful western themed work:
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Yes, as a writer, author he reminds me of the wonderful work of John Thomson who made the American Civil War, Napoleonic, and WWI come alive through great sketches and words. A distinct spirit of history is evoked.
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I agree about used bookstores. I not only prefer real books, I prefer old copies to modern reprints.
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I know. Some of the old covers are so evocative. The binding and pages were so much better then. Heck ‘book of the month’ editions were even better than lots of standard books now!
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Let us know how you like the movie.
The idea with the novel is nice.
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I thoroughly enjoyed The Furies. I loved the performances of Stanwyck and Walter Huston.
I liked the fact that Vance isn’t a conventional heroine. There’s a monstrous side to her, just as there is with her father, at times she’s an anti-heroine, but there’s enough to admire about her to ensure she never entirely loses our sympathy. She’s a complex conflicted character, just like the characters Jimmy Stewart played in Mann’s westerns. A very Anthony Mann western.
Now I need to read the book.
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Everyone seems to like Barbara Stanwyck in this thing, not me. She should be playing Barry Sullivan’s mother, Medea. In fact,from the late forties forward, her appearance and delivery were grating and overly aggressive. Prior to that, say in Union Pacific, she was winning and attractive. Pass.
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I like Stanwyck at all ages but I understand what you mean about the sort of two Stanwycks. Yet she could be raw and aggressive early on too in something like ‘Baby Doll’ which in its uncut nature is a pretty incredible film. Early on in her career she was a stunning looking woman. With age she hardened and seemed to like playing character like hers in ‘Forty Guns’ or ‘The Furies’ where she didn’t care whether you liked her or not. Lloyd Fonveille at his old blog (unfortunately he passed in ’15) had some interesting thoughts on her, ‘Forty Guns’, and ‘The Furies’: http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/2014/05/08/stanwyck/ http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/2010/05/28/the-furies/ http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/2010/04/12/forty-guns/
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Thanks for providing the links.
I’m a fan of Stanwyck in all stages of her career too. In fact, I’d say she’s one of my favorite actresses, so much so that her name in the credits is often enough to draw me to a movie. As it happens, I’ll probably be reviewing a book on her screen work later on this year.
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I meant ‘Baby Face’. Always get them twisted up title wise. Well Carol Baker was at least memorable too! Neat to see all these responses to Stanwyck. I like what Walter Matthau said about the immortal Mrs S.: ‘When she was good, she was very, very good. And when she was bad she was terrific’.
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Barry, just like with Crawford and Bette Davis, with Stanwyck it’s so often either love or hate.
Like Colin, I am a big Stanwyck fan. For me she could do no wrong. Well, almost. If I had only seen The Moonlighter and Blowing Wild, I could maybe agree with you. But even in the 1950s she made movies where she looked great. All I Desire (1953) comes to mind.
Chris, thanks for providing those links.
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I too am a big Stanwyck fan. She was very alluring and could look quite vulnerable in her earlier roles. I think she changed as needed to move with the times as her career progressed but she was always central to any film she was in. The fact she was a rancher at one point and loved making westerns makes her a firm favourite with me.
Both Davis and Crawford similarly changed to fit the times and keep themselves always relevant.
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Yes, that’s a good observation, Jerry. All of those actresses made whatever changes were necessary as they entered different phases of their careers, and of course that meant that there were quite radical variations to be seen over the years. They all had long careers, which called for intelligence as well as guts. Perhaps Davis was the gutsiest of the lot in terms of the characters she was prepared to portray.
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I like it too that she enjoyed making Westerns. I find it touching her ashes were spread over Lone Pine.
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You’re welcome. Please sure to check it out further for more posts on Stanwyck, John Ford, the Western in general, Hitchcock, and movies in general among many other subjects that Mr Fonveille astutely wrote about over the years.
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Crawford at least retained some semblance of good looks which Davis, great actress that she was, never had. From the mid-fifties on, none of these are stars in the classical sense, but exploitable remnants of the past.
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I know looks are clearly subjective but Bette Davis was pleasant enough looking in something like ‘The Petrified Forest’. Where does Hepburn fit in all of this? Was Katherine still a star or was she just being used for her past too? I admire about all these women the desire to entertain, keep going, and not giving in to anything it seems save death.
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Katharine was a star.
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I agree. Enjoyed all the interesting opinions.
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I’d say Hepburn, Davis, Crawford and Stanwyck were all stars. Sure some of their pulling power wore off over time, as one would expect, but they were and are names that even those who are not dedicated movie fans recognize.
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That foursome appear in four movies I wouldn’t be without – Bringing Up Baby, All About Eve, East Side, West Side and Johnny Guitar.
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I may not like every movie they all made, but their contribution to that medium we all love was immense. If I were to take the films they appeared in out of my own library, it would leave a very large hole indeed.
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I agree! What larger than life characters. I know she said it about the silents but Miss Swanson’s quote applies to these ladies too: ‘We had faces then!’.
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Hepburn remained a star in major projects.
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From the mid-fifties on, none of these are stars in the classical sense, but exploitable remnants of the past.
That’s certainly true of Davis and Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, a crass movie by a crass director. And of all Crawford’s subsequent movies. Oddly enough the last great roles Davis got were in Hammer movies, The Nanny and The Anniversary. Hammer had more respect for her than Hollywood did by this point. They actually employed her as an actress.
But yeah, they were no longer stars in the classical Hollywood sense.
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Right on.
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I don’t Fuller at all, but I can say by those stills that the cinematography looks impressive.
Yup … Stanwyck was always amazing. Hard to believe they tried to toss her away at the end of her career.
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What do you mean, toss her away?
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I’ve read that when they considered she was past her prime, she couldn’t get work anymore. This is fairly typical of what happened to several Actresses. But she didn’t put up with that. Katherine Hepburn – about the greatest Actress who ever lived – had to endure the same thing.
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Yes, so many actresses seemed to find their options severely curtailed after reaching around forty. That Stanwyck and some of the others mentioned kicked back against that and kept working one way or another says much for their determination.
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When?
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Who was they?
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The cinematography is without doubt impressive, and the same should be said for Fuller’s framing, mise-en-scène, and eye for the unusual and arresting.
Stanwyck moved into TV work soon after this and only made a couple of other cinema features. I liked most of her work in the 50s – maybe the box office returns weren’t as strong as they might have been, but that has nothing to do with my enjoyment of her work or my assessment of its quality. As ever though, roles for actresses over the age of 50 (and even to an extent, although it’s not as marked, with men too) were thin on the ground.
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Colin, I really enjoyed your very good write-up of Sam Fuller’s FORTY GUNS(1957). Yessiree, the description of “brash and bold” fits the work of Sam Fuller to a capital T. If the auteur theory holds any water at all, Fuller is a prime example of its fulfillment. His name is above the title, as in SAMUEL FULLER’S FORTY GUNS and to put a cap on the end titles, WRITTEN PRODUCED – DIRECTED BY SAMUEL FULLER. I don’t think that anyone can mistake a Sam Fuller movie for anyone else’s. His movies have a vitality and tough roughness that set them apart. He put a big stamp on anything he did, whether it was a movie, tv show, novel, or an interview. His influence on other moviemakers is evident in their works, but I don’t think they could match his passions. Needless to say, I’m a fan of his work and have been, even before I knew who he was.
FORTY GUNS is a movie that eluded me for years, but I finally caught up with it during the cable-tv explosion of the 1980’s. I first viewed it on Ted Turner’s Atlanta SuperStation Channel 17 in 1985. Although, the first Fuller movie that made an impression on me was THE CRIMSON KIMONO(1959), which I first recall viewing on Memphis, Tennessee’s WREC Channel 3 EARLY MOVIE in 1970. At that time, I wasn’t yet concerned about who made the movies, but this was a movie that stuck in my mind and is one that I recommend. Fuller really pushed the taboo envelope in this one, especially for 1959 movie audiences.
Sergio, I’ve never made the connection between Kenneth Branagh and Sam Fuller, but that is the wonderful thing about individuals seeing something different in their own mind’s eye and bringing it into the conversation.
James Scott, I find that the cinema class professor of the mid 1990’s did have a point about that particular audience’s reaction, but that isn’t surprising, in that many don’t know anything about the History of the movies and the time periods that particular movies were made. Also, we won’t have to wait fifty years for Sam Fuller’s movies to influence other moviemakers, because this has already happened. The French New Wave directors, German Wim Wenders, Finnish Mika Kaurismäki, Americans Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Quentin Tarantino, Dennis Hopper, and Jim Jarmusch have all acknowledged Sam Fuller’s direct impact on their work.
Barry, we will just have to agree to disagree on Barbara Stanwyck, the actress. I like her in all stages of her career, and I especially like that she loved to make Western Movies and did her own stunts.
Margo, Barbara Stanwyck looked great in THERE’S ALWAYS TOMORROW(filmed 1955, released 1956) and I think she looked great at seventy-five years young in the tv miniseries THE THORN BIRDS(filmed 1982, released 1983). I think she gave a memorable performance in this ratings blockbuster, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award.
Dee, I agree with Margo that you should take a look at THE FURIES(filmed 1949, released 1950) and also, Sam Fuller’s THE CRIMSON KIMONO(1959). Here is the link to Laura G’s write-up on THE FURIES https://www.classicmoviehub.com/blog/western-roundup-the-furies-1950/
Jerry, I agree with everything you wrote about Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, and Bette Davis. I don’t think we’ll ever see their like again.
Vienna, that was a memorable opening scene in FORTY GUNS. Sam Fuller knew that scene was made for Stanwyck. Again, thank you for your blog and the best for you in the future.
Chris, thank you for the links and the insightful words.
As anyone ever viewed Sam Fuller’s very controversial WHITE DOG(filmed 1981, not released to theaters in 1982)?
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Thank you Walter. Please be sure to check at Lloyd Fonveille’s blog when you get a chance. He really has some wonderful posts on the Westerns, Budd Boetticher, music, art, history, you name it. I don’t see eye to eye with him about ‘The Wild Bunch’ but his posts on it are still thought provoking. He gets ‘Cable Hogue’ though which is good as I like that film very much. His posts on a lost craftsman like Victor Fleming are very good indeed. The series of posts on Stanwyck and some of her films are first rate and filled with imagery of what a lovely looking woman she was. PS: His stuff on Preminger is great too.
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You think Victor Fleming is lost? None of the fashionable directorial talents on favorite blogs have careers that hold up against his. Not one.
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Yes Walter I have.
It’s one of Fuller’s best later movies.
Powerful then-perhaps more so now.
Wonderful to see you back with a bang @ RTHC
with your epic post which I enjoyed very much.
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John K, I guess you and I are the only ones who have viewed WHITE DOG. I think it is well worth viewing. This movie is Sam Fuller’s last Hollywood made movie. None of his movies whipped up a larger storm of controversy than this severe moral fable about a racist white German shepherd dog.
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I don’t. I just don’t think out there (wherever that is) he gets due respect as a director sort of like Curtiz or Walsh have struggled for respect over the years.
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Fleming, Curtiz and Walsh did not appeal to auteur-obsessed critics. Those same critics who get excited about second-raters like Nicholas Ray. Yes Ray has a more instantly recognisable style, but his movies just aren’t very good.
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It’s like Hawks. Nobody for a while wanted to recognize how great he was, then the French said so and people went that’s right but he had been great all along. Hitch was dumbly underrated like that too. Eventually history does tell.
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And Delmer Daves, another director the auteurists don’t want to know about but the guy made some great movies, movies that were better than most of the stuff made by the directors whom the auteurists admire so much.
The auteur theory totally distorted people’s understanding of movies. A great director is one who consistently makes extremely good movies and a bad director is one who makes mediocre movies. Whether they qualify as auteurs is unimportant.
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Sorry, but referring to Nicholas Ray as a “second-rater” is just wrong. We all have filmmakers whose work makes less of an impression on us than others, I know that’s certainly true as far as I’m concerned, but that’s as much down to our own preferences and dislikes as anything. Ray made some very significant films – which reminds me that I mean to feature something by him again some time – such as In a Lonely Place, On Dangerous Ground, Bigger Than Life and so on. Personally, I love these movies, although I can understand if others do not for one reason or another – there will after all be plenty of well-loved and respected movies that don’t appeal to me. However, it makes no sense to me to describe them as not very good.
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I agree and something like ‘Rebel’ is such a seminal, iconic movie. I need to own all those you mention!
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Actually, the more I think about Ray, the more I feel there are really only a handful of weak ones, and even those aren’t without some merit.
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For what it’s worth. Three movies and three actresses come to mind when I first recognized on screen greatness. Bette Davis (Of Human Bondage 1934), Katharine Hepburn (Alice Adams 1935) and Barbara Stanwyck (Stella Dallas 1937).
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I loved Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. That irritating grating quality she had really worked for her in that movie. She was playing a character who was supposed to be irritating and grating and it was extremely funny.
Unfortunately she was irritating and grating in all the movies she made.
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They were all grating, that was the mark of their stardom.
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I’d say something similar. Sure they moved into different types of roles as life and their careers moved on but they remained “names” that were immediately recognizable to most moviegoers right up till the last. Only Crawford’s relatively early death and her previous drift towards seclusion saw her drop out of the public eye a bit sooner. Stanwyck was still working in big TV productions in the 1980s. Even suffering from increasingly ill health and frailty Davis still worked tiil very late in life too. They weren’t leading ladies then, obviously, but they remained stars till the last.
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Sure, but I think Barry’s point was that they were no longer stars in the classical Hollywood sense. Stanwyck became a TV star. Davis and Crawford became B-movie stars and they were cast in deliberately grotesque roles, largely as figures of ridicule. They were playing caricatures of themselves. It’s a long way from Mildred Pierce to Trog.
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I should add that I understand why Davis and Crawford made those choices. It was either be a B-move star or be reduced to supporting roles as kindly eccentric grandmothers or dotty maiden aunts. Davis and Crawford felt that even movies like Strait-Jacket were preferable to that fate.
It’s not just an actress thing. Actors like Joseph Cotten and Ray Milland made similar choices, for the same reasons.
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When looking at the later careers of Stanwyck, Davis and Crawford you also have to remember that Hollywood was no longer what it once was. That became even more marked with the arrival of the New American Cinema which was very much guy movies for guys, with fewer and fewer good roles for women. Low-budget film-making in the 60s and 70s (in the US, Britain and Europe) was more interesting than big-budget Hollywood film-making.
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Perhaps, it’s a matter of semantics, but I’m uncomfortable with the view that they were no longer stars. My own view is that they remained so, but just not the main headline star as was the case in their heyday. This is generally true for all big stars, those who live or work long enough to have an extended and extensive career anyway. The industry changes, popular tastes and fashions evolve, and the performers themselves age. The fact producers were willing to hire them and use their talents and name recognition as draws feels like evidence enough for me of their durability.
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I do so agree with you about the merits of Nicholas Ray films. But at the end of the day, likes and dislikes, it’s all personal. I wish Crawford and Davis had not descended into their movies of the 60s – far better to retire gracefully, or at least be more selective in what they were offered – at least Hepburn and Stanwyck didn’t do a Trog or Baby Jane . ( my opinion!)
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I know what you mean. There are some actors and actresses whose late career choices are, to my mind, regrettable. Roles which tarnish their star a little and can sometimes cast a shadow over earlier, finer and more admirable work. That said, I’m well aware that everyone has to find a way to pay the bills, or perhaps just find a way to keep doing the job they love, and the passage of time does have a nasty way of narrowing options.
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Yes, their legacy was tarnished. You are right, they probably just wanted to keep on acting. Earnings wise, they were huge stars and should have salted away enough for a comfortable later life.
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Crawford’s choices were probably the poorest. The last half dozen or so films she made don’t have a great deal to recommend them.
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I liked I Saw What You Did (I’m a bit of a William Castle fan) but Crawford’s role is fairly minor and insubstantial. She’s totally overshadowed by the two teenage girls.
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That movie is of course derived from an Ursula Curtiss novel, which helps some in my opinion.
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Top stars with a choice do not work for Bill Castle.
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Davis was certainly doing better accordingly in the 60s. The Hammer films she made as well Dead Ringer and the pair for Aldrich were far stronger pieces of work.
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Hepburn was still working in top features with top billing.
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The term star goes to bankability.
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Hepburn did an awful lot of films, all big budget top line productions, though certainly not equal, she lasted more than fifty years.
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Really interesting to-and-fro debate here. I think the 3 actresses under discussion were beyond their peak by the time Hollywood changed forever. The 60s were not a good time for them cinematically for sure but Davis starred for Hammer in a rather good film, “NANNY”, in which she was excellent.
Stanwyck wisely embraced TV where she retained her star status. Her western series “BIG VALLEY” was a hit and ran for 4 seasons.
Crawford’s choices were perhaps the weakest.
She was truly one of Hollywood’s finest actresses throughout the ’30s especially.
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That does kind of sum it up neatly, Jerry.
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I think the 3 actresses under discussion were beyond their peak by the time Hollywood changed forever.
In terms of star power, in terms being stars in the classical Hollywood sense, certainly.
The 60s were not a good time for them cinematically
It was not a good time for any of the older acting generation, male or female. Look at Joseph Cotten’s 60s films, or Jimmy Stewart’s. Ray Milland made movies for Roger Corman because Corman offered him more interesting roles in more interesting movies than mainstream Hollywood was offering.
Even younger stars were getting out of Hollywood. Carroll Baker headed to Italy where she got great roles in interesting movies.
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I think this was simply a transitional era in .any respects, and the fact is many established stars were of an age where they were moving towards character parts as opposed to leading roles, and of course a new generation was making its presence felt.
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While we are on the subject of Barbara Stanwyck films, has anyone seen the recent comparison on the DVD Beaver site of the two Blu-ray editions of Sorry, Wrong Number here?
They look very different and I’m curious if anyone who happens to own the Imprint disc can confirm that the digital artifacts apparent in the screen captures in the linked review are actually as bad as they seem.
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I avoided the Imprint disc because of negative reviews-Paramount supplied an old master. I was unaware of the Shout Factory release. Paramount are forever updating their classic library and I’m holding out,hopefully for a restored version-= Signal One perhaps. I should imagine the Imprint version is OOP anyway. Paramount recently supplied Imprint with a 4K restoration of CATMAN OF PARIS so anything’s possible. I also endorse Gary’s “essential” review of MAD LOVE a spiffing transfer and the film still disturbs even today.
While I too dismiss the auteur theory (apart from Hugo Haas) 🙂 and I’m always impressed by someone who deconstructs
sacred cows I too regard Ray as a major talent-even minor films like RUN FOR COVER and THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES for me are most impressive and hold up with repeated viewing. Ray’s 1950’s output is a most impressive body of work. Never seen HOT BLOOD generally dismissed as a Ray “clunker” but would love too.
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I have to say I would be delighted if the likes of Signal One were to find a way to release Sorry, Wrong Number in the UK.
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Of the great female stars we have mentioned, one stands out, Irene Dunne, and her name has not come up. Now it has.
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For one reason or another, actors/actresses who were primarily known for comedic or lighter roles draw less attention than their counterparts who specialized in dramatic parts.
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94 comments! Is this a record, Colin?
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No, it’s at the higher end of the scale but there have been a number of posts with 100+ comments. I think the top one was 188 for Rogue Cop
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Yes, people went wild on ‘The Hanging Tree’ post and were stirred by Daves and Cooper. This time Fuller and Stanwcyk did the trick.
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Yes, and you never can tell which post will attract the most comments, it seems quite random. My stats page tells me the 11 posts with the heaviest commentary are:
Rogue Cop 188
The Flying Scot 183
Strangers When We Meet 181
Lightning Strikes Twice 178
Wyoming Mail 157
Hell’s Island 152
Coroner Creek 143
The Sun Also Rises 139
Black Patch 136
Ten of the Best – Western Directors 134
The Hanging Tree 130
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Thanks for that list. Fascinating what strikes gold.
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I have just seen notice of 2 recent deaths of actors known for their association with westerns.
Robert Blake, who played Little Beaver in Republic’s Red Ryder films, and in many later roles as an adult has died aged 89.
Sara Lane was the beautiful young actress who played Charles Bickford’s granddaughter for several seasons of “THE VIRGINIAN” TV series. Died far too young at 73.
RIP both
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What a great review and ensuing discussion! I really loved FORTY GUNS and frankly was almost a bit surprised I reacted so positively, as I had thought from prior impressions it might be a little too “out there” for me.
Though I didn’t like one plot development which will be left unsaid here, I otherwise thought the movie was terrific. It’s been very interesting to see not only three of Stanwyck’s ’50s Westerns in recent months (the others being THE FURIES and THE VIOLENT MEN) but Dietrich’s RANCHO NOTORIOUS. To a greater or lesser extent they are all quite melodramatic, sometimes over the top, but memorable viewing. It’s interesting to consider them as a group, along with JOHNNY GUITAR.
Thanks, Walter, for sharing the link to my review of THE FURIES.
Hope anyone who hasn’t seen FORTY GUNS yet will give it a shot (no pun intended….).
Best wishes,
Laura
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Thank you.
That group of western melodramas is is a remarkably strong one. As I mentioned, taken individually, those films underline the confidence of the respective filmmakers, and the point is reinforced somewhat when they are looked at as a group that the genre itself had grown in confidence had become big enough, as Griff Bonnell might say, to toy with its own conventions and with audience expectations.
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I also meant to add that all Fuller fans should read his own novelization of ‘The Big Red One’. It makes an interesting companion to the movie and you get Fuller unvarnished without worry for budget or any niceties. His unique voice and sensibilities shine through his WWII opus.
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Chris, thank you for reminding me that I should read Sam Fuller’s novel THE BIG RED ONE(1980). I bought this novel some years ago, but haven’t got around to reading it, yet. I’ll move it up on the to read list.
I just finished reading the hard-hitting novel THE BRICK FOXHOLE(1945) written by Marine Technical Sergeant Richard Brooks. Yes, writer/producer/director Richard Brooks. The movie CROSSFIRE(1947) was loosely based on the novel.
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This is starting to get embarrassing. Another film put up here by Colin is again one I have never seen. Thanks for the write-up!
Gordon
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Sure we all have plenty of movies we’ve not seen, my own list is long enough. If you enjoy Fuller in general, then Forty Guns is one you would probably have a good time with.
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I keep going back in my mind’s eye about 40 GUNS. Stanwyck is very good, but Sullivan is even better. JMO
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I find Sullivan was almost always good, even when the movie itself was on the weak side he tended to give it a lift.
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Scott S and Colin, I like to view Barry Sullivan in any kind of movie. In my opinion he is at his best in Post-World War II Westerns and Film-Noir. Check out another Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan teaming in JEOPARDY(filmed 1952, released 1953), of which Colin wrote a good review.
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I love Jeopardy. Sullivan though really got the thankless role here. Kudos have to go to Ralph Meeker for making his not particularly nice character dangerously seductive. If Jeopardy were full-blown Noir, I’d call him an homme fatal.
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Margot, Ralph Meeker was outstanding in the suspenseful desert drama JEOPARDY. Meeker is dangerous in this role.
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Testing…………
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Sorry about the above I tried to post the following several times
but kept getting WordPress Error…it all seems OK now.
If Ralph Meeker had only made three films he would still be a legend
THE NAKED SPUR-KISS ME DEADLY-RUN OF THE ARROW.
Colin-thanks BTW for turning me on to JEOPARDY
I enjoyed it and I’m glad you did.
Some interesting new releases from Warner Archive Raoul
Walsh’s A LION IS IN THE STREETS with Cagney and Stuart
Heisler’s blistering anti racist movie STORM WARNING both
from 4K restorations.
I’m very happy with my DVD of the Heisler film but will certainly
go for the Walsh.
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Yes, more Walsh is always welcome.
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Meeker is great as one of the doomed soldiers in ‘Paths of Glory’ too. His talking about the cockroach and what happens to it stays with you.
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Aside from his movie work, I remember Meeker having an excellent role alongside Vera Miles in the very first episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, directed by the great man himself.
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Colin, HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY! from a descendant of Irish ancestors. My paternal Grandmother Ollie was a Patterson. The Patterson’s of the Carolina’s, Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas.
For those interested, here are some photographs taken in Cong, Ireland. Several are of the statue of Mary Kate Danaher(Maureen O’Hara) and Sean Thornton(John Wayne).
https://thefrugalfashionistacdn.com/ireland-travel-diary-visiting-cong/
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Thanks, Walter! And thanks too for the link.
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Walter and Colin,
My paternal grandmother was a Furlong and came to England from Cork as a young woman early in the 20th century.
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In that case, having just got in from work, I shall raise a Bushmills whiskey to both of you and John too. Sláinte!
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Since this ever developing thread continues to gain traction I thought I’d chip in about Baroque Overblown Westerns. RUN OF THE ARROW which is not a Baroque Overblown Western is one of my personal top 10 Westerns-possibly my favourite Fuller. DUEL IN THE SUN which I’ve not seen in ages is possibly off my radar due to my total dislike of Joseph Cotten in Westerns. Cotten also has a most degrading role in Aldrich’s THE LAST SUNSET an everything but the kitchen sink Western which is both ridiculous and admirable-I’m very fond of it despite it’s many flaws. RANCHO NOTORIOUS I’ve not seen since the 60’s and I enjoyed it then and will certainly get the new Blu Ray which should look stunning. All I really remember is some very impressive hand held camera work as the camera tracks through a saloon. WARLOCK mainly stays on track as a traditional Western despite tormented often twisted characters-and that ending what was that all about-I’m talking about the prized Colts thrown in the dust-not what preceded it.
There are others but my top 2 have to be JOHNNY GUITAR and beating it by a mere whisker ONE EYED JACKS. Both films score by having casts chock full of great Western character actors-wonderful scenery and set pieces. I’m no Brando fan but ONE EYED JACKS is in my book a masterpiece a one of a kind Western that is as essential as SHANE or THE SEARCHERS. Do try to see the Blu Ray of Brando’s film certainly after decades of being stuck in p.d.hell.
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I’m not as big a fan of the Brando movie but I feel I ought to pick up the Blu-ray at some point, if only to see if the improved PQ makes it a more enjoyable experience.
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I’m shocked, John! Your favourite westerns as listed do not include a Scott or Mc Crea!! “One-Eyed Jacks” trumping all their output. Sacrilege LOL! Good fun list though.
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Jerry-
If you had read my post you would see
that I was talking about Overblown Baroque
Westerns not FAVOURITE Westerns. 🙂
As you well know RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY
is my all time fave Western.
The Blu Ray of ONE EYED JACKS is jaw dropping
and should be in the collection of anyone who loves
Westerns Ben Johnson as a racist cowpoke is outstanding.
ONE EYED JACKS does not make my top 10 Westerns list
but is my fave overblown “kinky” Western or whatever you
care to call them.
My Father was born & raised in Enniskillen Northern Ireland.
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A thousand pardons, John, for misreading the intent (put it down to my age!).
Yes of course I should have remembered your all-time fave western is the same as mine.
I’ve never actually seen OEJ. I probably should sometime but Brando is a turn-off for me, except for his excellent casting in “THE MEN” & “ON THE WATERFRONT”. Ben Johnson is quite another matter.
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Brando is a definite turn-off for me. Method acting in general is a turn-off for me. But ONE EYED JACKS is an interesting movie and if you enjoy slightly unconventional westerns it’s worth seeing. I haven’t seen it for years but I do recall that I enjoyed it, even with Brando.
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Thank you, Dee. That point of view of OEJ will make me seek it out.
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The Blu is brilliant. Really ravishing stuff. I like the movie and Brando flawed as both are.
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I’m glad you mentioned ‘Warlock’ as the novel by Oakley Hall is a must read. Fascinating stuff deeper and richer than the movie. Really the novel is worthy of a miniseries.
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Chris, I’ve read Oakley Hall’s WARLOCK(1958) novel and it is very good and I think ahead of its time. I agree that it would make a good tv miniseries.
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John K, I liked your use of the word “Baroque.” in your description of overblown Western Movies. In the past you’ve used the word “Grandiose.” which is also a good word. In my book DUEL IN THE SUN fits the description more so than ONE-EYED JACKS. I absolutely agree that ONE-EYED JACKS is, “a one of a kind Western that is essential viewing.” Also, I highly recommend Toby Roan’s book A MILLION FEET OF FILM: THE MAKING OF ONE-EYED JACKS(2019), because it is a well-researched, well written, enjoyable, and informative read. I hope it is selling well on Amazon.com.
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Thanks Walter and thanks so much for your
private e-mail as to not spoil the ending of WARLOCK
for those who have not seen it.
Regarding the ending I thought you really “nailed” it Buddy.
I also see Fonda as a sort of “Puritan” in that Western
similar to Scott in COMANCHE STATION and Lancaster in
LAWMAN (at least until he beds Sheree North)
and other Western heroes..
Always felt Delores Michaels was underrated and
WARLOCK was her best role ever-her scenes with Fonda
especially the very moving outdoor scene have a
magical quality about them.
The Blu Ray of ONE EYED JACKS is sensational
and the next best thing to the giant Vista Vision screen
in cinemas at the time.
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As Fuller and Lang are featured in this thread I thought I’d mention the little known CONFIRM OR DENY (1941) available,as far as I know as an old Fox MOD/DVD. The picture quality is pretty good if you are interested in tracking one down. Fuller wrote the original draft for which he was paid a reputed $20,000. Fritz Lang was signed to direct. Fuller’s darker version was lightened considerably-Lang jumped
ship after six days; he wanted to make a film as close as possible to Fuller’s original version. Contract director Archie Mayo replaced Lang.
When all is said and done CONFIRM OR DENY is not a bad little picture-the Hollywood version of wartime London (including the Underground) is most impressive. Don Ameche and Joan Bennett generate considerable chemistry and there’s some stunning Matte compositions evoking the blitzed London Ameche is impressive as the Fulleresque journo and recalls Robert Carradine in THE BIG RED ONE.
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That sounds, interesting, thanks. I’m going to keep an eye out for an affordable copy.
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And the hits keep ‘a comin’
Studio Canal will release at the end of March the
Brit Noir Classic Gordon Parry’s WOMEN OF TWILIGHT
from a new 4K restoration.
As creepy and disturbing as any vintage Brit Noir can be.
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That’s a very good movie, somewhat underrated I think as a result of not being all that widely known.
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