Sheriff of Tombstone

Released in 1941, Sheriff of Tombstone stars Roy Rogers and the king of frontier gibberish, George "Gabby" Hayes. The film was directed by Joseph Kane, who actually directed over a dozen Roy Rogers films in the late 30's and 40's.

The basic premise of the film centers around a Dodge City lawman named Bret Starr (played by Rogers) who makes his way West to Tombstone. Once he arrives he's almost immediately mistaken for a man they call "Shotgun" Cassidy. Knowing "Shotgun's" reputation for being a corrupt lawman, Starr plays along and asks his friend Judge Whittaker (played by Hayes) to do the same. It turns out that Cassidy had been offered the job of Sheriff in order to help steal silver from a family who owns a mine just outside of town. Of course, even after the real Cassidy shows up in Tombstone, Starr and Whittaker foil the bad guy's plans.

Overall, I like this one. I like both Rogers and Hayes in the film and, with a runtime of less than one hour, it moves along at a decent pace. Is it one of the all-time great Westerns? No, but it's pretty entertaining. I give it a 3 out of 5.

The Sabata Trilogy

The Sabata trilogy, though not as well known as some other westerns like the famed "Man with No Name" trilogy, is still a solid series of Spaghetti Westerns. The films were all released between 1969 and 1971 and were directed by Gianfranco Parolini (Although he's credited as Frank Kramer). There are some additional knock-off films from that time that feature 'Sabata' in the title such as Wanted Sabata from 1970 and Dig Your Grave Friend... Sabata's Coming from 1971 but, these aren't considered part of the official Sabata franchise.

The first film in the trilogy, simply called Sabata, stars Lee Van Cleef as the title character. The plot centers a plan cooked up by the leaders of a small Texas town to rob their own bank, and then sell the bankrupt town's land to the railroad company for a big payout. Of course Sabata, a sharp-shooting gunslinger, foils their plan. Overall, I think this one is a good movie.

The follow-up film, Adios, Sabata, sees the title role recast with Yul Brynner. Interestingly, Van Cleef was offered the role in the sequel but was busy filming The Magnificent Seven Ride a sequel to the classic 1960 film The Magnificent Seven, which starred Yul Brynner. In this one, Sabata is hired to assist with a Mexican revolution by stealing some gold from the Austrian Army. Of the three Sabata films, this one is my least favorite. I don't find the story as compelling as the first and third. Also, nothing against Yul Brynner but, I like Lee Van Cleef better as Sabata.

The third and final film of the trilogy is Return of Sabata, released in 1971. It's a fitting title as it would feature Lee Van Cleef returning to the title role. This film starts off with Sabata working as a sideshow-gunslinger but, he quickly finds himself in the middle of a plot involving a corrupt mayor and counterfeit money. This entry in the series is a bit more comedic than the others but I think it works and I find it really entertaining.

Overall, while none of the films are perfect, I find each one enjoyable for different reasons. Sabata as a character is fun because while he is the protagonist of these films, he's not really a good guy. Yes, he helps out the people of these small towns that are being taken advantage of but, he always seems to care more about getting money for himself than anything else. If you are a fan of westerns and plan on marathoning the trilogy, it's going to eat up a little over 5 hours of your time but I think they're worth it.

Dark Was the Night

I haven't done one of my bargain bin reviews in a good while, so today's movie is Dark Was the Night from 2018. I actually found this one a few months ago but hadn't gotten around to watching it until now. The film stars Marisa Tomei (who is the main reason I picked the Blu-ray up), Charlie Plummer, and Timothy Olyphant. 

The main plot of the film is that Steven Lang (played by Olyphant) is murdered one night in a parking lot after breaking up an altercation. He leaves behind a wife Margret (played by Tomei) and a teenage son Marcus (played by Plummer). In the days and weeks following the tragedy Margret falls into a deep depression and starts drinking heavily, while Marcus tries to keep moving forward. As time goes on Margret starts going to AA meetings and does her best to pick up the pieces of her broken life. Simultaneously, Marcus starts going down the opposite path and is becoming more self-destructive and isolated. 

Overall, this movie was better than I expected. I thought it was a good portrayal of how people deal with grief differently. While the film is nothing ground-breaking, and it is a bit of a sad watch, I thought it was well-written and the acting was solid. 

This one was pretty good, 3 out of 5.

Today's Movie: Goon

2011's Goon was one of the films that just missed the cut on "My Favorite Sports Movies" list that I wrote a while back, and I seem to enjoy it more every time I watch it.

 The films stars Seann William Scott as a bouncer turned hockey enforcer named Doug Glatt. Doug is a polite, kind-hearted, and kind of dumb guy who is looking for his place in the world. Despite his very pleasant demeanor, Glatt happens to be really good at fighting and catches the attention of a minor-league hockey coach who promptly offers him a spot on the team. Even though he has no actually hockey skills to speak of and can barely skate at the start of the film, Glatt's determination and ability to knock-out virtually any opposing player quickly makes him a fan favorite. It isn't long before Glatt earns a call-up, to essentially be the on-ice bodyguard for a former high-end prospect who hasn't been same since being dealt a monstrous body-check by the goon of all goons Ross Rhea (played by Liev Schrieber).

While there isn't anything groundbreaking in this movie, it's just really well put together. At just over an hour and a half, the film movies along at a decent pace. I also think that, top to bottom, it was really well cast. If you're a fan of sports movies and haven't seen Goon, then I recommend checking it out.

4 out of 5.

Today's Movie: Pillow Talk

I decided to go with a classic today.

1959's Pillow Talk is a romantic-comedy starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Most romantic-comedies I don't get into. It's just not one of my favorite film genres. However, there are a few that I enjoy and this is one of them. The films plot is about two strangers, with very different personalities, who are forced to share a telephone party line. Rock Hudson's character Brad is a womanizing musician who hogs the phoneline all day, much to the dismay of Doris Day's character Jan. While they've never met in person, the two bicker over the phone and Jan even files a complaint with the telephone company. By sheer coincidence the two end up at the same nightclub one evening. While Brad overhears her name and immediately realizes it's the woman from the other end of the phone, she has no idea what he looks like. So, Brad puts on a fake Texas accent and basically acts like the opposite of himself. Over the course of the film the two start to fall in love but, as all these types of stories go, the lie is eventually revealed. 

    This premise itself is obviously nothing special. Two people who dislike each other falling in love because one (or both) of them doesn't realize who the other person is, had been done before and has been done since. Where this film shines is in the performances of not only Hudson and Day, but the whole cast. Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter, and Marcel Dalio are just as memorable as the lead characters. It's also well-written, it moves at a good pace, and a lot of the comedic beats do hit the mark. The film even won the Oscar for Best Screenplay beating out, among others, North by Northwest.

Overall, it's just a fun, light-hearted movie that I enjoy and recommend checking out if you've never seen it.

4 out of 5 

Today's Movie: Driven

2001's Driven is a weird movie. 

It stars two actors that I've always liked and even wrote about in my "10 Movies Everyone Should See" series, Sylvester Stallone and Burt Reynolds. It's also a sports movie (sure it's Formula 1 racing, but it counts). So I like the film for those two aspects but, overall it is a bad movie. Directed by career-hack Renny Harlin, the movie feels chaotic and unfocused for large stretches which probably contributed to it being a critical and commercial flop.

The story is about a young driver named Jimmy Bly (played by Kip Purdue) who, while in the midst of an impressive rookie season, is having trouble dealing with all the pressure of being a rising star in the sport. This leads the team owner Carl Henry (played by Burt Reynolds) to bring in an experienced, former pro to act as a mentor to Jimmy. That former pro is Joe Tanto (played by Sylvester Stallone) who feels like he should be the hero of this story but isn't because it's about Jimmy. There is also an odd amount of poorly scripted love triangle drama in this movie. Jimmy briefly dates his rival's ex-girlfriend but, she leaves him for the the other guy. Also, Joe Tanto's ex-wife is married to his friend, and Joe starts dating a reporter that the ex-wife seems to dislike for no reason. It's a mess.

Overall, I don't recommend this movie. The acting isn't great, and the script bad. However, by far the worst thing in my opinion is how the film is shot and edited. A single scene in this movie will feature close-up, cut, cut, close-up, cut, whip-pan, cut, close-up of a car, cut, another whip-pan, cut... it never stops. I get that they were going for intense and high-energy but, it just came off a distracting.

I give this one a 1.5 out of 5.