Reviews of movies with John Wayne.
Thursday, August 7th 2008
Grade: C-
Synopsis: When the US retreat from the Philippines after it falls to the Japanese in World War II, a US Colonel (John Wayne) remains behind to organize guerrilla resistance.
Back to Bataan is a mediocre wartime melodrama marred by an aimless script and an overabundance of propaganda.
With filming going on while actual the war for the Philippines was still being fought, the filmmakers were constantly scrambling to update the script in order to reflect the latest events. While this approach worked in John Ford’s superior They Were Expendable (1945), it fails here since the film is essentially a melodrama that falls apart without solid three act structure. MORE »
Posted at 11:16 AM in Movie Reviews and John Wayne.
No responses
Tuesday, August 5th 2008
Grade: B+
Synopsis: A gunfighter (John Wayne) and a half-Indian gambler (James Caan) sober up a sheriff (Robert Mitchum) and take on a corrupt rancher (Edward Asner).
El Dorado, at first glance, is simply a remake of director Howard Hawks and star John Wayne’s earlier collaboration, Rio Bravo (1959), but that’s not entirely accurate. Sure, the basic plot’s the same, and the two films do share some similar characters, as well as the same screenwriter in Leigh Brackett, but a closer look shows El Dorado to be less of a remake and more of a remix.
The film starts earlier in the story than Rio Bravo, with Wayne and Robert Mitchum’s characters meeting before Mitchum hits the bottle. Their interactions here are the best, and help amplify Mitchum’s fall later in the film. A nice change. MORE »
Posted at 3:56 PM in Movie Reviews, Howard Hawks, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum.
No responses
Monday, August 4th 2008
Grade: D+
Synopsis: In Timbuktu, an American (John Wayne) reluctantly guides a pious explorer (Rossano Brazzi) and a prostitute (Sophia Loren) into the Sahara desert in search of a lost city.
Legend of the Lost has some great location photography and a standard, charismatic performance from John Wayne. That’s about it.
The script by Ben Hecht and Robert Presnell Jr. is riddled with clichés, and never seems to find its footing. What starts as an adventure film morphs into a drama, which, in turn, morphs into a would-be horror film, before finally settling on an ending that has little relation to the 109 minutes that preceded it. It tries to give both Sophia Loren and Rossano Brazzi’s character’s big showy arcs while still finding plenty of screen time for Wayne, but, in the end, only succeeds in feeling disjointed and frustrating. MORE »
Posted at 6:19 PM in Movie Reviews and John Wayne.
No responses
Friday, August 1st 2008
Grade: B
Synopsis: An epic look at one family’s trials and tribulations over the course of four generations as they seek their fortune in the American west through the middle of the 19th century.
How the West Was Won is an ambitious, mostly well-executed adventure film that elevates many of the B-movie western plots to grand status. You’ve got bandits, mountain men, gamblers, civil war soldier, marshals, outlaws, railroad tycoons, and, of course, Indians, all rolled into one sprawling narrative that manages to encompass an epic, if fantastical, look at American expansion into the west through the eyes of a single family, from generation to generation. MORE »
Posted at 4:29 PM in Movie Reviews, James Stewart, John Ford and John Wayne.
No responses
Monday, July 21st 2008
Grade: B-
Synopsis: PT boat captains (Robert Montgomery and John Wayne) defend the Philippines against the Japanese in World War II, despite little initial support from Navy brass.
They Were Expendable is a different kind of war film, in that it feels more like a “slice of life” war picture rather than a traditional story. While the dangling plot threads and non-ending will no doubt be off-putting for some, the film is better because of them. Director John Ford handles the scope of the picture well, framing the character’s individual struggles against the greater battle for the Philippines, and the lack of a traditional plot allows him to capture the uncertain nature of life during wartime. MORE »
Posted at 3:22 PM in Movie Reviews, John Ford and John Wayne.
No responses
← older | newer →
