Film: "Rio Grande"

/ TITLE: Rio Grande / GENRÉ: Western movie / FORMAT: DVD /

Alright, to start off, this film is probably very politically incorrect and won't go down well in some quarters. But then, again, films reflect their time and what politically correct today might be incorrect at another time and this film is full of evil native americans (who are obviously called "in'juns") and a stereotypical irish-american seargeant, who likes his drink and fights and don't think too much.

The other thing which really struck me about this film, which is from 1950, is how much plot and drama there is to it. Western movies were to that generation what action flicks were for me, growing up in the 80's/90's and John Wayne, who does an excellent job at playing the lead character, Kirby York, was to them what Arnold and Sylvester was to my generation. It's all boys movie, this one. The women are beautiful, the US cavalry rides good, shoots lethally and party hard, whereas the native americans are genuinely evil and can't shoot.

But the big difference between this movie and today's action movies is of course the plot. When you watch an action movie today, like the Bourne trilogy, you get loads of shooting and spectacular stunts, but not much of a plot. This film was made at a time when you hadn't the same budget or technique for special effects and so, the plot and amount of drama is important and you get action as well as a very and genuinely good seeing-experience.

The other thing which stands out in this movie is the fact that it's full of good late 40's/early 50's Americana music and even if you don't like the plot, at least you can watch the film for the music in it. And if you don't like that kind of music, why the hell do you read my blog?

The story goes as follow, colonel Kirby York, with the US cavalry has trouble fighting native americans of the apache nation. The apaches keep making deadly attacks against the fort commanded by colonel York and then they retreat into Mexico. York is sickened tired with this and wants to move into Mexico and them apaches down and kill the lot of them. He asks for reinforcements, but is in for a rude awakening when first his son, whom he hasn't seen for fifteen years, arrive as a volunteer and then his estranged wife appears at camp, with the intent of bringing her darling baby boy home.

You get, as I've said, a lot of plot to this movie and there is a romantic undertone in the drama all the way, but there is also action with a few fights and skirmishes before it all ends in the anticipated showdown with the apaches.

Wayne plays the usual character he always plays, a man of duty, but also of morals. He doesn't like what the decisionmakers in DC are up to, but he defends his country's interests.

I loved this movie and if you're into western movies, you'll love it too. There is no room, however, for the revisionist western fan, this is traditional, good vs evil.

I'd recommend it to all my readers. A good flick like this lands a flippin 78,3% in rate of approval!

Film: "True grit"

TITLE: "True grit" / GENRE: Western movie / FORMAT: DVD /

The title to this blog is "A Swede on American Culture" and few things are as American when it comes to culture as movies are. I for one loathe modern Hollywood productions, but I think old movies like this one, the original with John Wayne in the lead, embodies Americana like Merle Haggard does.

Therefore, I have decided to branch out from just writing on music to write a bit on films as well.

The story is simple, classical western stuff, someone gets murdered and his family, in this case a young and angry daughter, seeks out revenge. The daughter, Mattie, is angry, but sympathetic all way through the movie. It's girl power decades before The Spice Girls. A bit of Loretta Lynn's Fist city embodied, though she remains a Christian young girl who refuse to accept her accomplices drinking habit.

The other lead part is played by the legend himself, mr John Wayne. Wayne plays "Rooster", a hard federal marshal and gun fighter, who drinks too much and shoots before he talks.

Rooster, Mattie and Labeef ( a Texas ranger) goes out on a manhunt to catch or kill a geezer called "Chaney", who was employed by Mattie's old man, whom he killed under the influence of alcohol. Labeef plays a slick, but deadly Texas ranger, who starts out courting Mattie, but she will have none of his antics and after a few conflicts, the three decide to hunt Chaney down together. Throughout the film, there a refreshing feeling of underlying conflict between the three.

I think this is one of John Wayne's better movies, cos it dives into controversial issues and "Rooster" is portrayed unsentimentally, when it comes to his drinking, as well as his habit of shooting first and asking questions later. Central to the film is the question of justice. You may point finger at me and criticise me, cos I am a pro-lifer and pro-death penalty kind of man. However, I think there should be justice done when someone has killed someone. True, the film is stereotyped and the bad guys are classical bad guys, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that this a film with a message of justice and that message never goes out of date.

This is not just one of the better John Wayne flicks I've seen, but also one of the best Western movies I've seen. Bleedin love it.

Therefore, a good, almost perfect flick gets 91,3% in rate of satisfaction!