MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY (1959)

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Thursday, February 18, 2016

THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY (1959)

A real stinker. This barely functioning Western has Joel McCrea as Bat Masterson cleaning up Dodge City after his straight-arrow brother (Ed Masterson, who knew?) is taken out of action before the big election for County Sheriff. Toss in a couple of pretty gals to woo; a gaggle of trigger-happy cowboys shooting up Main Street; a philosophizing doctor to run a roulette wheel; plus a mentally handicapped pal to save from a hanging and you’d think something would stick to the wall. But a pretty decent cast smell defeat in the air and wisely phone it in rather than risk embarrassment. Hard to see what else could have been done under Joseph M. Newman listless megging. Note how quickly it all wraps up so everyone can get the heck out of there.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: McCrea, who may have been thinking about signing off with this one, came back after a three year break to star in a proper send-off: Sam Peckinpah’s memorable RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY/’62.

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A last thought before we go.

Well, enough from me. But before we sign off, here's a great quote from Emile Zola's L'OEUVRE (THE MASTERPIECE), which is about painting rather than the yet to be invented medium of film, but which points a fine critical eye toward the whole idea of art criticism. It's a good, if chilly, thought to keep in mind, especially when you surf the net.

"Has it ever struck you that posterity may not be the fair, impartial judge we like to think it is?

"Suppose the artist's paradise turned out to be as nonexistent as the Catholics, and future generations prove just as misguided as the present one and persisted in liking pretty pretty dabbling better than honest to goodness painting. There are some accepted masterpieces for which I myself wouldn't give a twopenny damn.

"Classical training has given us a wrong view of everything and forces us to acclaim as geniuses a lot of fellows who are no more than well-balanced, facile painters, while what we might really prefer is the work of more emancipated but less even artists known only to an initiated few. Immortality at present depends entirely on the average, middle-class mind and is reserved only for the names that have been most forcibly impressed upon us while we were still unable to defend ourselves...

"Perhaps that's the sort of thing that's best left unsaid. It's certainly the sort of thing that gives me the shudders!"- Emile Zola

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Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

Thursday, February 18, 2016

THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY (1959)

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A last thought before we go.

DROP ME A LINE