8/50: Tombstone

As I said before when reviewing 3:10 To Yuma I have never really been into Western films. I have, however, had my interest piqued with some of the well known crusaders of the west.

Because of that, I was very interested in viewing Tombstone during my 50 films of 2011. One of the things that stood out to me was just how small the Battle at OK Corral was. Hearing about it so many times I assumed it was a huge shoot out - when in fact it was four men taking out a gang of cowboys.

Anyway, the film depicts a retiring Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) joining his brothers Morgan (Bill Paxton) and Virgil (Sam Elliott) in Tombstone. Earp is well known for being a successful lawman, but is now looking to retire and make money panning for gold or owning a business.

The Cowboys, as they have been called (and also carry a red sash), have sort of taken over the town. When Earp arrives he is asked repeatedly to take over as sheriff of the town, and repeatedly turns them down.

One night, acting sheriff is gunned down my a drunk cowboy named Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Boothe) and Morgan and Virgil decide to take over as the town's sheriffs. It isn't until the Cowboys begin to mess with the Earps and their families that Wyatt decides to join the crew. With the three Earps and Wyatt's life long friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) - the four take on a bunch of the Cowboys in the Battle of OK Corral.

Things start to become worse as both Morgan and Virgil are shot by the Cowboys, and Wyatt and Doc round up a few other men to go on a Cowboy killing spree.

The movie was rather brilliant, not as great as I was hoping, but still very entertaining. The fight scenes were a little lacking for me, but for a 1993 movie I guess I can accept them. The absolute gem of the entire film was Kilmer's performance as Holliday. One of the best characters on film that I have had the pleasure of seeing. His performance alone bumped up my grade for the film, though I did enjoy it anyway.

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1/50: Red Dawn

At the beginning of the year I pledged that I would do my best to watch 50 films I had not seen during the coming year. I once thought this would be a difficult task, but I have already knocked out almost 10 of those movies and it isn't even the end of January. So, I decided to add another 50 to that list - but I must first finish the original 50.

So, the first film of the year that I watched from the list was Red Dawn.

Red Dawn came out in 1984 when I was just three years old, and for some reason (like many of the films on the list) I just never got around to watching it. I had the basic premise down, but I didn't know exactly how things played out.

Let me say, they wasted no time getting to the plot of the film. Not five minutes in and the small town is being attacked by Soviet/Cuban military.

A group of friends led by brothers, Jed (Patrick Swayze) and Matt (Charlie Sheen) find their way to the woods to try and wait out the attack. What they thought would be a few days begins to turn into months - fearing he worst the brothers and Robert (C. Thomas Howell) head back into town to see what is going on. The Soviet/Cuban military has taken over and tossed anyone who owned a gun into a prison, including Jed and Matt's father.

As they head back to their hideout, the group stops at a family friends house for food and shelter - only to be asked to take care of the family's granddaughters, Erica (Lea Thompson) and Toni (Jennifer Grey).

Realizing now that they are all on their own, the young group decides to become a militia - calling themselves 'Wolverines'. They end up being joined by a member of the US military whose plane is shot down, Andrew Tanner (Powers Boothe). Together, they take it upon themselves to take out as many of the Soviet/Cuban forces as possible.

I hear that this film is being remade, which is going to be very difficult. It is hard to believe that even in 1984 military forces could land in a small town undetected - but not in 2011. Plus, the group of kids had no communication to the outside world except a small radio - do you really think nowadays that none of the kids would have a cellphone on them?

I thought it was a pretty decent film. Weird to see a young Patrick Swayze and an even younger Charlie Sheen. Funny to see C. Thomas Howell's character go a little crazy and blood thirsty. And, weird to see so many of these characters in an action/war movie when we are used to them in romantic comedies.

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