This is a movie directed by John Ford about a western ledgend that has some fact laced with myth. The first scene is a cattle drive and it pictures the initial characters getting ready to stop for the night and a lone buggy drive by Walter Brennan playing old man Clanton comes close and the character played by Henry Fonda goes out to visit and the buggy. Old man Clanton wants to buy the cattle but he wouldn’t sell them. You learn that they are close to Tombstone, Arizona and the cattle drivers are heading for California. The three oldest brothers head for town leaving the youngest to clean up and watch the cattle.

Things begin to happen and in town you learn that Henry Fonda is playing Wyatt Earp. On their return to their camp they find that the cattle were rustled and the youngest brother James was shot dead. This puts the Earp clan and the Clanton family on a trail of a blood feud. The Earp’s particularly Wyatt befriends Doc Holiday played by Victor Mature.  Victor Mature was to physically robust to convey a consumptive Doc Holiday.  The movie has a real flavor of the west in the way that it was in the late 1800’s.

The story has all the fury of a storm as the families collide at the shoot out at the OK Corral. This is legend and the good guys win out and the bad guys die. While all of this is happening Wyatt falls in love with the new schoolteacher Clementine Carter an eastern love of Doc Holiday. The movie I viewed was the original version save for history and I saw excerpts of the released version. Not a lot of difference but very interesting. I recommend that you western movie buffs see the original. I have this movie on my top 100 best westerns, how about your list.

The movie is a Zane Grey story formerly “Born to the West”, staring John Wayne. This movie had a confusing beginning for me. Heading for Wyoming Dare, played by John Wayne, and his side kick, Dink, are involved in a cattle rustling.   They pick the wrong side which is the rustlers side and they are barely able to get free.  They find out that the cattle that were being rustled belong to his cousin who is also the banker of the town and President of the Cattleman’s Association. Being the big man in town Tom Fillmore also has the best-looking girlfriend, Judith, and Dare are immediately enamored by her beauty.

Dare takes a job with his cousin Tom and begins his career as a cattleman. He starts at the bottom as a trail drive cook. He takes the job seriously but he is traveling every night into town to see Judith.  He is undercutting his cousin’s position with the girl which is taken very graciously by Tom. Dare is given the job as a trail foreman for his cousin’s cattle. The previous foreman turns out to be a cohort of the bad man in town Bart Hammond who wants Tom’s cattle in the worst way and tries to steal them. When he can’t do it one way he talks Dare into a card game and a crooked card sharp almost cleans out the money for the cattle.

Tom arrives to save the day and wins back the money. Getting shot in the process Tom is saved by Dare and the arrival of the trail crew save the day.   The story is a true western and it represents the ups and downs of the life that was always a continual trial. I recommend this movie to all western lovers.

The movie was just a vehicle to complete a number of picture deals for Alan Ladd. This did not influence my look at the movie and I am glad that I did because it was a good western. The story begins after the Civil War and when John Chandler returns home to Atlanta his wife is dead and his son and dog are missing and when his search concluded he was found in Pennsylvania. The boy is mute in an orphanage with their dog. David is played by David Ladd and he did an excellent job. John begins to search the countryside for doctors who might be able to solve his son speech problem. He gets in trouble with Union law fighting sheepherders who try and steal the boys dog.  He is going to jail but instead is placed in servitude. Linnet Moore keeps David out of harms way as Harry Burleigh the large sheepherder played by Dean Jagger and his two sons beat Chandler down and out. Getting thirty days or thirty dollars he is headed for jail but Linnet Moore, played by Olivia de Havilland, says she will pay the fine and John can work out at her farm.

The story continues and attachments grow and John finds out that the doctor’s friend in Minnesota has had success in similar cases and it would only cost three hundred dollars for the trip and surgery. The only way to get the money is to sell the boys dog that appeared to be a prize sheep-herding dog, which he had exhibited several times. So as a last resort he sells the dog.

When the boy comes back not being cured and still mute he is devastated about the dog and takes it out on his father who feels terrible and goes to get the dog back but it is now owned by The Burleigh Clan.  They want to get even and then some for being thwarted in there efforts to take over the Moore Farm by simply stealing the range. The story continues and a gunfight is the beginning of the new life for John, David and Linnet.

This was a good story with right prevailing over wrong in the typical western way. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to any western buff.

This is an old classic western featuring John Wayne and James Stewart. The story begins at the small town of Shinbone and U.S. Senator played by James Stewart and his wife arrive in town to attend a funeral of a man who is going to be buried by the county because he is so poor and destitute played by John Wayne. The ex sheriff Link Appleyard played by Andy Devine and a young newspaper reporter who is after a career story meets the senator and his wife at the train. The movie is about the story that made the Senator, Ransom Stoddard, the man he is in the present.

Let me set the characters Ransom Stoddard is a young Eastern lawyer who follows the call the time Go West Young Man. He was strong willed and did not think that violence was any way to settle any disagreement. Liberty Valance, played by Lee Marvin, confronted him a great selection for a bad man. A hold-up of the stage where he verbally confronts Liberty with out a gun trying to protect a woman riding the stage. He is severely beaten, robbed and left to die while the stage was sent on into town. He is saved by Tom Doniphon and brought to town where he meets Hallie, played by Vera Miles, and the love triangle begins. This turns out to be more than a simple western in that Rance does not fold into the evil strength of Liberty and the interest that he represents the free grassers and large cattle interest.

The story continues to move into the confrontation between Stoddard and Valance with Doniphon  standing in the shadows waiting for what he knows is going to happen. The story is told by the Senator with the tangles of the story moving in a way that the truth is the only way through the complexity of every thing that happens.

This is an excellent story and the movie was great and I recommend it to all western readers. The line from the movie that is the key to it all is “When the legend becomes fact print the legend”. The newspaper headline read “The man who Shot Liberty Valance, came to Shinbone to attend the funeral of his friend Tom Donnavan”. If you have seen it is time to see it again.

This movie is about two old friends one still an active gunfighter and the other a sheriff in El Dorado. They have competed in many things and still remained friendly. The gunfighter Cole Thornton, is played by John Wayne and the sheriff J.P. Harrah, is played by Robert Mitchum. The story develops in the town where the Cole has come to town to go to work for a land grabber Bart Jason, played by Ed Asner. After talking to the sheriff he goes out to Jason’s ranch and turns down the job. As he heads back to town he is shot at and gut shoots Luke MacDonald the boy has been told how hopeless survival is from this kind of wound that he shoots himself. Cole takes the body to the MacDonald ranch. After he leaves, he is shot by Josephine MacDonald as she tries to even the score for her brothers death. The bullet can’t be removes and Cole leaves town after his recovery. Months pass and he saves a young mans life and hears about a job from another gunfighter who wants to hire him. The job is the same one he turned down but now the sheriff is a drunk because of women problems.

The story continues with many ups and downs. The two friends strengthen their relationship and do the right thing in there own minds. The story climax’s in a shot out where two cripples a green young man and an old Indian fighter defeat the bad guys. The two friends continue their long friendship.

This was a very good John Wayne western and a must see.  This movie is on my top 100 best western movies list check my page.

The final Disc on this Ken Burns Series is just as moving as the other four. The end of the War is approaching and the Confederacy is dieing a slow agonizing death. Lee is in control of all of the Confederate Army but he was out numbered by the volume of troops that were presented by the Union Army. Sherman was marching to the sea and Sheridan was destroying every thing that could be used by the Confederate troop in the Shenandoah Valley. Grant was chasing or pushing Lee into an ever tightening vice.

The question that hit me was how could the war keep going on? Lee’s Lines around Petersburg were breached in three places and the union troops poured through in there quest to raze Richmond. On Sherman’s march to the sea his troops destroyed over 100 million dollars worth of Southern stores and supplies. The army lead by Sherman blew a breath of life into emancipation by freeing over 25,000 slaves. Sherman’s army continued their destruction and became more efficient and harsh in their swing into South Carolina.

The losses on the field as well as the destruction of everything in front and along side the Union army’s caused famine and drove the population and Confederate troops to despair. The Theory of the Confederacy was being destroyed and trampled under foot by the surging Union troops. The Union would survive at a cost but they felt justified with their actions.

Lee and his troops fled west with Grant at his back making him fight every day. The Confederate Army on the field was down to 25,000 men with death, desertion, and sickness aiding in its demise. Grant had over 125,000 men closing in as Lee approached Appomatics Station. The war was coming to a swift close. April 7th at 10:30 AM , 1865 Lee surrendered to Grant at Appamatics Court House and the war was over except for a few small fights that wound down  in Texas.

Many survivors of the war had already returned home and were looking toward there future. Boys that went to war and survived came home old men. The South was battered and starved, everyone was blaming some one else for the defeat of the Confederacy. Over one/fourth of the white men of age to fight in the South had died.  Over three and a half million young men went to war and over 620,000 died.

Seven days after the war was over an assassin killed Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington DC. This was four years to the day that Fort Sumter fell and the war began. John Wilks Booth could not accept the loss of the war and was obsessed with killing Lincoln. He shot him in the back of the head ending his life and in the same act sentencing the South to a troubled and hard times rejoining the Union. Many wanted retribution and the feeling were bitter on both sides. This was our first President to be assinated.

The year 1865 has many unusual but predictable events. The 13th Ammendment is passed abolishing Slavery. The Klu Klux Klan is formed. Samuel Clements wrote his first story under the pin name of Mark Twain. The Civil War solidified us as a Nation.

This disc is the one that contains the turning of the war against the South. Highlighting the major Generals both North and South. The growing struggle of Lee and Grant where they would have to out think then out fight the other to win. Grant was the failure exhibited by his years of unsuccessful business adventures. He was un-glamorous but clear headed and determined under fire and his men seemed to pick up on his dogged determination. He was methodical and would totally concentrate to complete his desired objective. The North won battles at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga but still no end to the war was in sight. Grant’s basic plan that he conveyed to his supporting cast was continue to push forward.

His men they felt that he couldn’t be beaten immortalized Lee. He had been in many close battles but he had taken the long chances because of necessity and won, increasing his belief that he was invincible. At the beginning of the conflict he determined to side with his state of Virginia and became the military leader of the South through the number of successes that he had on the battlefield.

This war had turned into murder handed out on both sides. Battles were fought and great loss of life was inflicted for no gain or objective. This was a dismal year of death and more death highlighted by successes of Sherman and Sheridan in their continued push to create total victory. They were harassed by Nathan Bedford Forest around Atlanta and Jubel Early.

The Year of 1864 brought about the Unions darkest hour along with some successes. Nevada became a State. The national holiday of Thanksgiving was created and celebrated by the Northern troops. The number of Hospitals more than tripled in number. A setting president was re-elected during a Civil War. The improvement of weapons was felt by the south as union numbers and newer weapons came to the battlefield. The true question was would it ever end?

I hope I am making it clear to my readers that this is an important documentary about the Civil War and the years that it was fought. I view this series as a must see for anyone who is interested in finding out more about American History because this one event has and is still redefining our country still today.

This is a continuation of the special of Ken Burns on the Civil War. Some of the note worthy highlights of this year in the Civil War was that it was fought in over 10,000 places. Grant had victories and then began his siege of Vicksburg where he surrounded 31,000 confederate troops and held them captive until they surrendered. Lee with the able assistance of Stonewall Jackson threw back 14 assaults at Fredericksburg and 9,000 union troops lost their lives.

The victory of Lee at Chancellorsville was his most impressive win in all of his battles during the Civil War but it produced his greatest lost with the tragic elimination of Stonewall Jackson who was wounded by friendly fire and died within days of phenomena. The Union Army commanded by Fighting Joe Hooker lost 17,000 men at Chancellorsville. He was trying to make up for the inactivity that continually over whelmed the Union Generals that preceded him. A particular strong note was made of family members fighting against each other.

July 1st 1863 was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy not because the lost on the field of battle but because the number of fighters available for the South was depleted by 28,000 fighting men who died. The conflict was fought in a small hamlet in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg. The Union Army lost 25,000 men and neither army had a clear-cut realization of a victory. The Ground was covered with bodies and the earth was soaked in blood. Lee had believed in his invincibility, which would not let him leave the field before he lost so many men creating the perfect Hell on Earth.

Some highlights for the year were that it was a long wet winter and both sides suffered. One in thirteen men died of disease. Inflation was crazy on all staples and most strongly felt by the people of the South. Open opposition to the war came to light in both North and South towns. The Capital Dome was finished and the Emancipation Proclamation technically freed the slaves.

This second disc in two parts highlights the year 1862. The introduction of the Income Tax and the Inventions for making war show casing the Gatling Gun. This year highlights the fact that the weapons have surged far ahead of military tactics. General McClellan is in charge of the Union army but is unable to move himself to the necessities of war by attacking the enemy.

The Confederate army begins the first military draft of men to fight the war. A key provision is if you own twenty slaves you would be exempt from service. This lead the soldiers to the saying that this was a rich mans war and a poor mans fight. At the beginning of the year over one million men were massed and ready for war. The future of freedom is at stake for all people.

The soldiers were ready to fight and they did and suffered great losses up to and exceeding thirty percent losses in battle. Grant wins several battles and defeats the Confederate army in Tennessee. His success is at Shilo, meaning a Place of Peace in Hebrew.  This win lost him his command because he was too successful and his commanding officer wanted that recognition himself. The war continued along the Rivers and raged most noted on the Mississippi with the push from both ends. New Orleans fell to General Butler and Vicksburg held and a siege would begin. The images of war and death were recorded for the first time by the effort of Mathew B. Brady.

New tactics were called for to wage the war in a renewed direction. Without this change the War would be surely lost. This direction was the Emancipation Proclamation, which was to be in affect January 1st 1863 and it would free the slaves. The Union would be as it should be Free to all men.

This documentary continues to move me in strange and significant ways as it high lights to me the making of the western mystique.

This is a Louis L’Amour story of two brothers immediately after the Civil War. Each of the two older Traven brothers fought on opposite sides but are now heading home. The oldest one Daly played by Sam Elliot, fought for the Confederacy and was caught up in two separate events that almost took his life. The first incident he was saved by a Confederate detachment that was going to continue the war after getting more arms and money by trading grain and slave in Mexico. The Second event he was saved by his brother Mac played by Tom Selleck, who was a Union officer during the War.

The Confederate rebels were ravaging the countryside becoming killers, thieves and kidnappers. The rebels took the sisters of Mac and Dal and Dal’s sweetheart Kate played by Katherine Ross. The plan was to sell the women to brothels in Mexico and the men into slave labor in the Mexican silver mines. With this money the rebels could buy more guns and bullets.

The Traven brothers were determined to end the war in this part of Texas and they set out to free the hostages by destroying the Mexican connection and the rebels that felt they needed to push the war on.

I definitely enjoyed this movie even as it was very simplistic but it had all of the parts of a good western movie actors, scenery, and story. I would recommend this movie to any western movie fan.