Sunday, October 15, 2017

50's WESTERNS: MY TOP GUNS




                People hooked on vintage westerns tend to have their own favorite cowboy stars. For me, William S. Hart has the silent era sewn up.  A stark, iconic presence casting an imposing shadow over all the westerns to come.  For the 30’s I’d pick Bob Steele (uniquely intense, whether projecting vulnerability or scrappiness).  My 40’s choice would be Roy Rogers, solid in the early part of the decade and  unbeatable once Dale Evans joined the party in ’44.  The 50’s offer an intriguing range of possibilities.

Joel McCrea always registered as righteous, without ever coming across as self righteous - unlike Gregory Peck or Charlton Heston, who sometimes seemed bent on engraving their own images onto Mount Rushmore with each word.  McCrea had occasionally donned western garb in the 30’s. But it was the big post-war hit “The Virginian” that really established his brand as a sagebrush hero.
Raoul Walsh’s “Colorado Territory” (‘49) was a western remake of the same director’s “High Sierra” – and great in its own right.  McCrea  had already displayed expertise in all sorts of films. In 30’s romances, he held his own with the likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Irene Dunne, Loretta Young, Merle Oberon and Constance Bennett.  And he made an admirable Hitchcock hero in the exciting “Foreign Correspondent” (’40). Plus was there ever a more appealingly perplexed straight man at the center of Preston Sturges’ dizzy universe?   McCrea’s  work in both “Sullivan’s Travels” and “The Palm Beach Story” deserved Oscar attention.  But after the 40’s, the actor settled almost exclusively into westerns, a genre in which he was supremely comfortable.  He loved horses – and raised them on his own 3000 acre spread in California.  In “Stars in My Crown” (’50) McCrea played a western preacher and it’s a film that still generates critical  enthusiasm  60 some years later . But I especially like “Cattle Drive” (’51) where he’s beautifully cast as the patient,  resourceful  trail boss/mentor to a young city boy stranded out west.  It’s a part only McCrea could’ve delivered with such quietly expressive eloquence. 
                                   
“Gunsight Ridge”(’57) was a genuine out of left field gem, with McCrea in measured but relentless pursuit of charismatic outlaw Mark Stevens. The ambience was convincing, the script terse and compelling.  It wasn’t the last great western McCrea made (that would be ‘62’s “Ride the High Country”), but it may be the most unsung. Check it out.

George Montgomery radiated a kind of frontier authenticity. Not that surprising since he was born in Montana and raised on a ranch.  He was always active, agile and a natural around horses. While still in his teens, Montgomery headed to Hollywood to try his luck. And within weeks was working as a stuntman. The guy was tall, handsome and gifted with a great speaking voice, so  it wasn’t long before producers promoted him to speaking parts. 20th Century Fox  signed him in 1939 and within two or three  years  Montgomery was an established  leading man opposite some of the era’s top movie beauties – Betty Grable, Gene Tierney, Maureen O’Hara, Ginger Rogers.  For a time he and Hedy Lamarr were a much photographed twosome on the Hollywood social circuit - arguably the era’s most sublimely photogenic couple. In 1943 he married singer Dinah Shore, a union that endured for twenty years.   Montgomery  joined the Air Force that same year. Neither he nor Fox were enthusiastic about his first few postwar assignments.  He yearned for more independence and - parting company with the studio - began freelancing, at the same time getting involved in the production end of things.  Westerns were cost-effective and – pretty much on all levels – a comfortable fit for him. Although he’d made a few medium budget oaters in the 40’s, it wasn’t till the end of the decade that westerns  became pretty much his exclusive focus. He made twenty-three of them in the 50’s, establishing himself as one of the genre’s stalwart marquee attractions.
                                   
But his gifts extended well beyond those he displayed onscreen. A genuine lover of all things western, he eventually established a reputation (and a successful second career) as a painter and sculptor, mainly of western subjects. His work found its way into museums and private collections all over the world. Like Randolph Scott, Montgomery retained the leanness of his youth throughout his career. He also projected  a refreshing  honesty, a straight from the shoulder quality, that gave even his less substantial vehicles a kind of dramatic backbone. The early 50’s were busy and successful years for him.  In ’53, Montgomery took full advantage of the current 3D craze; his stereoscopic “Fort Ti” generated phenomenal profits.  Montgomery westerns I especially like  from the period  include “Indian Uprising” and “The Battle of Rogue River”.  But his best,  both complex and elemental, is probably 1957’s “Black Patch”’ a stark and moody western noir. 
 
Over the years, George Montgomery developed and perfected a singular screen presence; using his straight-talking style, a highly personal brand of dramatic short-hand, to build characters - sometimes romantic, sometimes remote - but always compellingly watchable. And it was inevitably in westerns that his finely honed talents achieved their fullest resonance.

Dale Robertson never lost his distinctive Oklahoma twang. But that was just one of the things that made him special. Movie cowboys often had sidekicks, on hand to supply a level of geniality while the hero functioned as straight arrow, spearheading the plot, handling the lion’s share of the action, settling whatever scores had to be settled. Robertson projected a geniality of his own, with a good-natured twinkle in his eye, even in his voice. Here was a man never reliant on sidekicks to inject fun into the proceedings. He projected plenty of that all on his own.  The thing was that he also possessed exceptional  leading  man good looks plus complete outdoor credibility –great with guns, horses and full-on action. And though naturally good-natured, Robertson was quite capable – at any given moment - of  leveling a gaze steely enough to unsettle the meanest of bad guys. In other words, Dale Robertson was the complete package. Studio publicity would have it that he was discovered when, as a WW2 serviceman, he had a photo of himself taken in LA for his mother. The photographer included the impressive portrait in his shop window display, where it was seen by film agents immediately eager to represent the budding Adonis. After the war, now a highly decorated veteran of 21, he took the Hollywood plunge. By the late 40’s, he’d already had small roles in several films. He was Jesse James in Randolph Scott’s “Fighting Man of the Plains”; it was just a supporting part, but he was noticed. Fox signed him and proceeded to develop him as a rising star. He played in lots of non-westerns including “O. Henry’s Full House”( nicely paired with Richard Widmark), the socially progressive swashbuckler “Lydia Bailey” and – on loan out to Howard Hughes and RKO – an entertaining Arabian Nights adventure, “Son of Sinbad”. He was also leading man in “The Farmer Takes a Wife” the best musical Betty Grable ever made (yes, he sang, too). Filmed outdoors, it glowed with the airy freshness of wide open spaces. A welcome antidote to those garish assembly line vehicles from Grable’s 40’s heyday, so many of them little more than parades of tired Tony Pastor era vaudeville routines.  Songs in “The Farmer Takes a Wife” were beautifully and imaginatively integrated into the action. Sadly, the public didn’t embrace this one- their loss. Dale Robertson worked – and worked well – in a variety of genres. But westerns were an especially good fit for him. He was just one of an especially large leading man contingent (Joseph Cotten, Cornel Wilde, Jeff Chandler) in Robert Wise’s excellent (and splendidly photographed) “Two Flags West”. But was more prominently spotlighted in “The Silver Whip” (an adroitly  fashioned vehicle for Fox’s then up and coming male heartthrobs Robertson, Rory Calhoun and Robert Wagner.
 
“City of Bad Men” with Jeanne Crain was another standout – a smart script, expertly executed.  As the old studio system floundered, Robertson became a freelancer – but westerns remained his preferred genre.  “Dakota Incident” is hands down my favorite Republic film of the 50’s. Notable for , among other things, superlative, award-worthy work from Linda Darnell and Ward Bond. Cast and crew stubbornly refused to just phone it in. Director Lewis R. Foster took the old disparate group of strangers on a stagecoach journey and made it fresh and vivid again. And the whole enterprise was anchored by Robertson’s bedrock-solid work at its center.