Mrs. Lowe tries to conceal the fact that her husband has left and not likely to return. Hondo moves on but is deeply attracted to Mrs. Lowe, played by Geraldine Page. He accidentally meets her husband and they instantly rub each other the wrong way. Mr. Lowe follows Hondo from the fort as he is going to take some supplies and try and convince Angie to come back to the fort. Hondo is about to get ambushed by Apaches and Mr. Lowe and his side kick run into the middle of it.  When everything is done and Hondo had saved his life he still tries to kill Hondo but ends up on the short end of a bullet.

The chase begins and Hondo is trapped and over powered. He is waiting his end with defiant courage when the tintype of Angie’s boy is revealed. Hondo doesn’t know that Vittorio has taken him as a son and a strong father is needed to help raise the boy. After a knife fight for honor he is taken to the Lowe’s ranch and dumped in front of Angie and she is ask if this is her man and she slowly but definitely answers yes.

This is a very good western and I would recommend all western fans to revisit this movie and soak up the western essence of John Wayne. The support of Ward Bond as Buffalo Baker is just one of the appearances he is renowned for in Wayne’s movies.

This movie opened up with the tough western man who was challenged to die or survive by his old one-time friends when water separated them. Their was water only for two and his partners teamed up against him and left him with nothing in the middle of the desert expecting him to die. In 1908 the west was beginning to change but Cable Hogue, played by Jason Robards, was yet to embrace the changes. In desperate need of water Cable was stumbling along in the sand of the desert in need of water but none was in sight. A muddy boot toe startled him and water was found. He was in the middle of the desert on a stage line and he found water.

Starting a business of selling water he also began his own graveyard when one customer refused to pay. Still unable to change and accept the modern ways he chose to sit and wait for his two ex partners to show up again for a drink of water and he could extract his revenge. Many things happened but the best event seemed to be the introduction of Hildy, played by Stella Stevens. She was an eyeful that attracted Cable into a love story and songs rolled out of this combination.

The director Sam Peckinpah changed his view of the western frontier from violence to one of whimsy odd happenings. I enjoyed this movie but it seemed a little far-fetched and not totally believable in the west that I recognize. I still would recommend this movie a western example of tongue in cheek humor.

This is a post Civil War movie that highlights two men and the hatred that is enacted by the actions of war that grow from the obsession of righting a wrong into the breeding ground for revenge. An ex-Confederate Colonel Carver played by, Liam Neeson, is chasing an ex-Union Captain Gideon played by, Pierce Brosnan, in the hope of clearing his mind of the torment generated by the loss of his complete family at the hand and order of Gideon. Neither man is aware of the torment that is haunting the other about that particular day. Many things are done in war that drive men long after the war is over and this is the case with these two men.

The chase has continued for five years and Carver feels the closeness of the end but he wants to look into the eyes of the man that inflicted this terrible calamity on his life. The opening scene is on top of a mountain and Gideon is shot and would probably die but he is chased, so his survival instinct clicks on and the hunt begins with Carver and his posse of four bounty hunters are on the heals of the wounded Gideon.

The landscape is a major character in the beginning all the way to the end. Water, cold and snow is finally at the end of the chase is replaced by desert, heat and no water. The abundance of water can kill you and the lack of water will also kill you. The location is New Mexico one of the few places in the United States that you can get all of these combinations. The two characters in the beginning look similar in appearance from there use of clothing and in the end they look similar in appearance again with there lack of clothing.

This is an anti war movie that highlights mans inhumanity to man. The question is why can’t they let it go. The ravages of war on both men are struck on the chest of each man. The movie was very well done but it did not play well on the big screen and I missed it there. It is a very good western and I will have to decide if it will replace a movie I already have in my top one hundred best western movies.

This movie is adapted from the novel of Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s by the same name. This movie is a tense drama highlighting the dangers inherent in the nature of man. The vision is that of a mob mentality that can and will replace reason.

Henry Fonda and Henry Morgan portray cowboys new into town that is plagued by cattle rustling. The news of a local rancher getting murdered raises a storm of fury in the community and a posse of local men most bent on revenge is formed. The leader is an ex-Confederate major who wants to toughen up his son. The two cowboys are sweep up in the posse because not going would make them look guilt being new in town. The vigilante justice delivered by the posse casts a blind eye to the possibility that the three men may be innocent and hangs them all. The meaning is visibly clear that blind prejudice can lead to the death of innocents.

This life lesson was and is always true. This western movie contains an important living truth that things done in the heat of a crisis can often result in the wrong action. I highly recommend this movie as one to see.  The movie was nominated for an Oscar in 1943 as Best Picture and lost out to Casablanca.

This is a western movie from a Louis L’Amour story by the same title. The story revolves around the lives of two people of the west. We have a recently widowed Evie Teale, played by Katherine Ross, who is sticking to the land her husband brought her to. He then road off to buy cattle and lost his life but know one knew. Her story is about the loneliness of her life even with two children and also it highlights her pioneer spirit, which kept her trying to live her life on her terms. Conn Conagher, played by Sam Elliot, admires a woman with nerve and Evie has plenty of that.

The story has action with the usual array of western characters showing how the western life looked. Conagher is attracted to Evie and moves in and out of her life as time passes and many events and people trying to make him take a pathway that he would be less comfortable with. The question is can Evie keep him from drifting out of her life again.

I recommend this movie because of the actors and how it is portrayed. The movie is a western in the truest since of the word. It is a must see for all western film buffs.

This Black and White Western Movie is set in 1847 California. The basis of the story is on land grants and how crooked men were able to gain control over large parcels of land and try and rule it like its own kingdom.

Senor Sebastian used his land grant to initially save his life and then it was potentially take away by an act of attempted murder. The ruthlessness of Angus Clyde McKainn draws the attention of a father and son who are a Federal Judge and U.S. Marshal. The story highlights the greed that McKainn has for land and cattle and his total disregard for the law and the little people who have been on the land for many years.

Some points that a modern viewer of westerns would find as not true to the time were the cattle were Herefords in Early California, Comanche warriors and the marshal very seldom missing a shot even on a running horse. Positive things were that they actually had scenes where he horses were running at a full gallop.

This was an interesting movie with good action and some believable parts. If you want to see some older style westerns this could be for you.

This is a western story by Elmore Leonard ( Get Shorty, Out of Sight ) turned into a movie. The story is about a family that is reunited after the father returns from the Civil War as a changed man but inside he is still the same and the family returns to their home in Arizona.

Tom Selleck plays Paul Cable an ex-Confederate cavalryman who rides back to his strong willed west Texas wife played by Suzy Amis. Together they head back to there home in Arizona angry with each other but willing to see if they can make a new start in their life together. The conflicts between husband and wife have a very difficult time being resolved because so many events and people get in the middle of their business.

Cable is searching for a peaceful life but the war ends and he still has another big battle to complete before he and his wife can begin their healing.

This is an excellent western movie with believable actors playing realistic down home people. The story is engaging and I personally believe that the events in the story happened many more times than we would actually acknowledge. This is a definite see for a western movie I completely enjoyed it.

This is a very early John Wayne western released in 1934. The opening scene has the good guy, played by John Wayne, sneaking into the hotel and finding a cubbyhole to hide in and rest. The sheriff played by Gabby Hayes comes in next and is looking for a dry place to spend the night he is looking to catch the Poky dot bandit who has terrorized the country. The sheriff is put up in the manager’s room that has a hole in the floor that enables him to see all of the room below.

The next people to come through the front door are the passengers on the stagecoach. They get their rooms and away up the stairs when the driver comes into the lobby to get a room and place the payroll for the Lost Lode Mine in the safe over night. The Poky Dot bandit sees the combination threw the window. Later in the night he sneaks in and opens the safe and takes the money. As he is leaving he makes some noise and awakens the first person that came to the hotel. He is seen by the sheriff threw the hole in the floor but runs away as the sheriff comes down the stairs.

Like most old movies it seems that the dialogue and actions were slow and unreal to the way people really talk and act. Part of it is the cameras used and the recordings done. The moviemakers must have thought their audience was very slow and needed to be shown everything.

The true plot is finally revealed in that the bad guys are trying to get all of the homesteaders to leave town and their homesteads so they can buy up there land and have the hidden gold under their property. The story moves along and the girl is kidnapped after the bad guys kill her father. The events continue and several more things happen but in the end the good guy John Wayne gets the girl and they ride off in the sunset together.

I enjoyed seeing this very old western. Every body knew how to ride a horse or drive a buggy. The hats were all very tall. John Wayne rode a white horse. I was amazed by the long pistol shots that brought down and killed various people. Most of these shots were taken from moving horses