Westerns On 60's Ways Down


Audie Murphy Seeks 40 Guns To Apache Pass (1967)

Audie Murphy had to scratch for work after being let out of Universal, his kind of westerns not long for an industry leaned toward spaghetti flavoring a genre gone flat. Murphy was fed up with saddling, but needed cash. He'd like to have done other sorts of projects, developed a few, but with no takers toward financing. Don Graham's fine AM bio says the faded star got a mere $50K to do 40 Guns To Apache Pass for producing Edward Small, one of four they teamed on with budgets of $400K each. Small by this time may have figured his output had more value on television, that being where these likely broke even or took modest gain. Director William Witney got his 40 Guns crew out to rocks where I guess he'd been innumerable times for westerns near identical to this one. Witney was thirty years at the game by now, time enough to fill an ocean with actioners. The fact of some being a best in their class still awaits proper recognition, and though 40 Guns isn't that, it still plays efficient and more so if seen at proper 1.85. 40 Guns To Apache Pass was essentially an old western newly made, last roundup for hands long calloused by outdoor work. What became of so many men who saw their way of life and living suddenly put aside? We'd sit through films like 40 Guns To Apache Pass at the Liberty, impatient for them to end for horror or sci-fi to follow. Someone might have whispered, a la Rhett Butler, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to see them go if I were you ...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Striking 50's Club Scene

Image
  This Could Be The Night (1957)  Pleases In B/W Scope A picture that J.J. Hensecker would have enjoyed if J.J. Hunsecker had been a real person, and perhaps a last to depict New York on Damon Runyan terms. MGM even arranged to have Earl Wilson host a trailer, him a columnist who would certainly have frequented spots like where action happens here. He appears on-camera with chanteuse Julie Wilson and mentions that he hasn't seen her around town lately because she's been in Hollywood mak ing this movie, such insider talk maybe a turn-off to rurals otherwise disposed to go see This Could Be The Night . It would probably have lost money anyway, this being 1957 when most of what MGM released lost money. For director Robert Wise, Night came between hit that was Somebody Up There Likes Me , and Until They Sail , a feature trio to argue Wise's reliability for polished product. Wise could take good material and reliably make it very good, like story-and-tempo minded filmmake...
Read more

Jet Aces On Short Rations

Image
Hell's Horizon (1955) Takes To Low Columbia Ceiling Slow build to a Korean air mission where bomber crew will sustain or crack-up according to character they've revealed in Acts One-Two. John Ireland is chief pilot, tip-off to modest cast otherwise aboard: Bill Williams, Hugh Beaumont, Jerry Paris, Bill Schallert. Love Is Splendor-ish girl interest is Marla English, borrowed from Paramount, striking Eurasian pose a la Jennifer Jones in the 20th Fox hit. Marla would be a cult chiller throb as The She-Creature , which she probably didn't find half so rewarding as this part, a better calling card for elevation out of B's (ME would instead quit biz altogether). Horizon saves its fuel for determining mission, which came excitingly at point where I'd almost lost hope for this Columbia release of a "Gravis Production," the independent set-up by producer Wray Davis and writer-director Tom Gries. Money man for Gravis was actually Jack Broder of Realart fame, who ...
Read more

Vitaphone Digs In

Image
The Divine Lady (1929) Is Big-Scale History with Sound A Vitaphone special that lost money ($520K). The novelty of sound as end in itself was spent by 3/22/29 and release of The Divine Lady , which suffered too from word got round of its lacking dialogue, the Vita boost limited to scoring and infrequent song. Latter was said to have been sung by Corinne Griffith , but audiences were beginning to smell rats re stars bent on vocalizing, and besides, Griffith looked barely in sync with lyrics (her being dubbed was outed by  Photoplay magazine). It was critical that tunes be emphasized, Warners having learned how much a hit theme could enhance both attendance and song sheet sales. A distinct advantage to sound movies was their ability to promote music the studios al so owned, that much made clear by success of the early Al Jolsons . The Divine Lady was hugely expensive, more so than Noah's Ark of same year release, so getting back investment may have seemed hopeless going in. P...
Read more