Posted on 10/08/2013 9:00:31 AM PDT by nanetteclaret
After many long days of painful, maddening, and sickening news, our family has been enjoying evening trips back to the thrilling days of yesteryear via the DVD time machine. Old TV shows have reinforced our remembrance of how America used to be, both during the times the shows were made and the stories of the wild west and America's "Manifest Destiny." It's been wonderful to go back in time, to re-visit stories of men who were for the most part valiant, courageous, honorable, full of integrity, law-abiding, and steadfast, and of women who were for the most part gracious, kind, gentle, motherly, and sweet. Of course, both sexes were honest, strong, capable, independent, and courageous.
The shows we have been watching have reminded us of just how free we used to be, before political-correctness ruined everything. Most of them seem to be set in the 1870s, after the Civil War, when people moved westward to start fresh, to homestead, and to make something of themselves by hard work and perseverance. No matter the series, most all of the stories have some sort of moral, and the good guys always win. They are good lessons, reinforcing the vallues that made America GREAT!
And another thing: Are “Manifest Destiny” and “Rugged Individualism” even taught in schools these days? I would guess not, but I don’t know for a fact.
It seems like my Junior High History teacher mentioned those two concepts every day.
Jake and the Fat Man...
There were so many good ones. I like ‘The Virginian” and “Wagon Train” too.
Best TV show is The Wild, Wild West. Wild Wild West took everything from the previous westerns along with end of era technology inventions that were used by and against James West. His arch rival was the most diabolical bad guy ever, and a Little Person.
One vote here for “Lash LaRue”
Wow !
I missed many of these...
High Plains Drifter...Desperado....Pale Rider...
Bump that! Love John Wayne movies.
Didn't take much to amuse us back then, our imaginations ranged far and wide. Walking back home in a pack of four or more after the Sat westerns we'd strut in our pretend cowboy boots. Popcorn boxes served as boot tops. Shooting off whatever caps remained in our pistols. Back then the theater operator invited us to bring cap pistols when there all western Saturdays. Like that could happen today.
TV shows: Rifleman, Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, F Troop, Maverick, Gunsmoke (pre-Festus), The Americans (starring Dobie Gillis’ brother - a great show that only lasted 12 episodes)
Movies: Rio Bravo, Tombstone (”I’m your huckleberry”), Silverado
In watching “The Big Valley” I’ve been amazed at how Lee Majors always seemed to gracefully jump on his horse without the use of stirrups. All of the actors were great horsemen and women and Barbara Stanwyk was impressive driving her little two-horse buggy. I would think doing that would take more strength than riding a horse.
The Hired Hand (1971)
The Commies made their own westerns in the 1960s from the perspectives of the indians to condemn American Imperialism.
These have since been released in the West to home video on arty farty DVD labels.
http://firstrunfeatures.com/defawesterns.html
Westerns with a Twist is part of the DEFA Collection.
Like Spaghetti Westerns, the Red Westerns are classic American Westerns created far, far from the American West – in this case, by Communist East Germany’s legendary DEFA Film Studios. Turning the traditional American cowboy and indian movies on their head, these beautifully shot films made the Native Americans the heroes, and cast the American Army and white settlers as villains – with obvious Cold War overtones.
Gojko Mitic, the famous Serbian actor, stuntman, director and author, stars in all three films.
Includes the films:
Apaches
The year is 1822, and the Mimbreno Apache Indians enter into an agreement with a Mexican mining company, relinquishing all mining rights and pledging the safety of the copper town of Santa Rita del Cobre. In return, the company guarantees the livelihood of the Indians, whose hunting grounds are fast disappearing. Unfortunately, American companies are also interested in the precious metal deposits, and the Apaches are ultimately massacred under their orders. On the eve of the Mexican-American war, Ulzana, a young Apache warrior, sets out to avenge the extermination of his tribe.
The Sons of Great Bear
When gold is discovered on lands belonging to a clan of the Dakota Indians, the area’s ruthless white settlers attempt to drive the Indians away, ultimately murdering the clan’s chief in front of his son, Tokei-ihto. Tokei-ihto refuses to move to a reservation in an infertile area with his tribe and is incarcerated. When the Dakota Indians have been defeated and resettled, he is released, and Tokei-ihto immediately sets out to avenge his father’s murder and reclaim his clan’s ancestral lands.
Chingachgook: The Great Snake
Based on James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Deerslayer. When English troops attempt to seize the French colonial settlements in North America in 1740, the local Indian tribes become involved as mercenaries - the Huron on the French side, and the Delawareans on the English side. Wahtawah, the daughter of the Delawarean chief, is promised to the young warrior Chingachgook, but before the nuptials can take place, the Huron raid the Delawarean camp and run off with Wahtawah. Together with his friend Deerslayer, Chingachgook sets out to free Wahtawah from her captors - and to convince the Huron that the war between the whites ought not concern the Indians.
“Westerns with a twist!” - The Hollywood Reporter
Links
Read That Was the Wild East: Film Culture, Unification, and the “New” Germany by Leonie Naughton
Read the rave review in the NY Sun...
The lead into the radio show went like this, "a Way out West there is only one way to handle the killers and spoilers that's with the US Marshall and the smell of… Gunsmoke! (Sound of firearm discharge and ricochet)"
Great stuff when you're a kid.
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