Last night, in our trek through Western history, we went all the way back to the beginning (or close), with William S. Hart, the biggest cowboy star of the Silent era. In the classic "Hell's Hinges"(1916), he plays "Blaze Tracy", a two-fisted, hard drinking gunslinger who has an unlikely religious conversion. It's a simple story, about a preacher who goes West with his sister. "Parson Bob Henly" (Jack Standing) is a man of little faith. He's like an actor playing a role, rather than a true believer, and while some of the ladies in his congregation are devoted to him (because he's handsome), the church leaders think it would be best if he was sent out to a smaller parish in the country. The big city is beyond his capabilities. In short, he's a phony, given to preaching for the attention it gets him, rather than because he believes.
His sister "Faith" (Clara Williams) accompanies him out West, to a town called Placer Center but nicknamed Hell's Hinges because of it's lawless reputation. Two men run the show there: The saloon owner "Silk Miller" (Alfred Hollingsworth), and Blaze the top gunslinger (Hart). They don't get along, but they do agree on one thing: no lawman or religious leader will ever set foot in Hell's Hinges and live to see sundown. Blaze pounds shots at the bar and laughs about that promise. However, no sooner do the preacher and his sister disembark from the stage, than Blaze is transfixed by her beauty and piety. There's something in her eyes he can't resist, and he goes back into the saloon to tell the honchos to lay off. "Don't nobody bother that parson or his sister. As long as they mind their own business, we're gonna leave 'em alone".
Silk the saloon keeper is stunned by this change. He expected Blaze to kill 'em off straight away, or at least run 'em out of town. But the next thing you know, Blaze is attending the parson's first Sunday service, held in a barn. He goes home that day and pulls out an old bible. Soon, he's courting Faith, the parson's sister. The few religious folk in town (known derisively as "The Petticoat Brigade") are the ones who sent for a parson in the first place. They help build a church, and now the parson has a small congregation, but he's still a phony, susceptible to women and drink. Silk the saloon keeper can see this, so he asks the parson to give a private service for the local dance hall girls. "They really need saving, you know how it is." The most beautiful dancer stays over after the service and seduces the parson, gets him hammered and spends the night with him. He winds up missing church the next morning.
He wakes up hung over and is discovered in bed with the dancer (Holy Pre-Code, Batman!) by the town's rowdy honchos, who are out to expose him anyway. They parade him around Main Street, still hung over, in front of the petticoat crowd, then they take him to the saloon and ply him with more drinks - hair of the dog donchaknow. By this time, the honchos have the townsfolk in a frenzy. They head en masse to the newly built church, and proceed to burn it down, hauling the besotted parson to the door with a lighted torch in his hand. In this way, he becomes a parody of the Christ figure, a mockery of his religion, and this scene is unforgettable in it's sheer humiliation.
Blaze Tracy, who was away during the persecution of the parson, comes riding out of the hills like greased lightning once he sees the smoke, and a gunfight erupts. The parson is shot and dies in his sister's arms, but Blaze corners the leaders of the mob and promises to send them back to hell, the namesake of their town. "You're all goin' back where you belong."
This movie, which I had never heard of before tonight, was chosen for the National Film Registry, which is a big deal.
We in the Valley know William S. Hart from the Hart Ranch and Museum in Newhall, a place I've visited on my hikes in recent years. Dad took us there as kids, it's an enormous estate: a 22-room Spanish style mansion sitting on 260 acres of land. Hart, born in 1864, made a fortune in the movies but began his career on the stage. I didn't know until I read his bio that he was a Shakespearean actor; his talent is evident in this movie. So is that of the crew, the cinematography is simply incredible. The shots in the church fire scene are among the greatest ever filmed. You can tell that they were likely an influence on future fire scenes by Tarkovsky and Terrence Malick. This is a restored film that looks amazing considering it's 106 year age. I always find it interesting in very old films that the faces look modern, just like the people of today, and the action is worthy of a Cecil B. Demille production, with huge crowd scenes. There's only one possible rating for a film of this caliber, and that's Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. I know that Silent films are not everyone's cup of tea, but please don't miss this one. There are plenty of title cards to keep you up on the dialogue, and the plot moves constantly forward. Let's hear it for William S. Hart! We'll be looking for more of his movies. /////
The previous night, we watched another classic star for the first time: William Boyd aka "Hopalong Cassidy" in his first ever movie of the same name (1935). A range war is brewing out in Lone Pine, California. Big "Jim Meeker" (Robert Warwick) of the Meeker Ranch is grazing his cattle over the border of the land of the Bar-20. Or at least what the Bar-20's owner considers his land. Meeker maintains that the land is public and he can graze his cows any-doggone-where he likes. Bar-20 ranchhand "Johnny" (James Ellison) goes out to run Meeker's cattle off but is stopped by "Mary Meeker" (Paula Stone), the daughter of Big Jim. There's friction between the two (which means romance is also brewing), but Johnny ultimately leaves Meeker's cattle alone, until he can talk to "Bill Cassidy" (Boyd), an expert cowhand & gunman who's a longtime friend of the Bar-20's owner, "Buck Peters" (Charles Middleton).
Johnny, a pretty-boy hotshot, is jealous of Bill and sick of hearing about his exploits. When Bill shows up, with sidekick "Uncle Ben" (Gabby Hayes) in tow, he sees the potential in Johnny despite his attitude, and takes the kid under his wing. Now, the trouble is getting worse between the Meekers and the Bar-20. Someone has run 50 head of Meeker's cattle over a cliff. The Meeker foreman wants to go over and shoot the Bar-20 boys, and he organizes a group of henchmen to do just that. Johnny is attending a party that night at the Meeker ranch, by invitation from Mary, and the henchman arrive and take him away with plans to hang him. Bill Cassidy rides up just in time and stops the hanging, but is shot in his effort, which is how he acquires the nickname "Hopalong", because the shooting leaves him with a limp.
The Meekers and Buck Peters of the Bar-20 remain at odds and ready for war, until the foreman at the Bar-20 finds an old piece of buckskin out in the desert. It bears the brand HQQ, the same one that was found on a dead calf halfway between the two ranches. The Bar-20 foreman surmises that a third party is involved, a middleman who is stealing cattle from the Meekers and the Bar-20 and pitting them against each other, playing both sides against the middle. Hopalong, knowing of a shack in the desert that has a vantage point of the entire range, has Johnny situate himself there as an observer and potential sniper, to witness who might be behind the HQQ brand. The problem for Hopalong, is that at the same time, Mary Meeker is trying to persuade her father to stop the violence, by offering herself as bait to trick Johnny into leaving the watchman's shack. Her deception works, and in the middle of it, while the Meekers and Bar-20 are fighting one another yet again, the third party HQQ group makes another run to steal the Meeker cattle. But this time, Uncle Ben sees them out in the desert, and gets shot. I can't tell you by whom because it's a plot twist.
By now, Jim Meeker and Buck Peters have agreed to stop fighting and team up. They ride out to the Alabama Hills, where Hopalong has found the body of his dear friend Uncle Ben, and they spot the third party gang up in the rocks. It turns out they're being led by a man named "Pecos Jack" (Kenneth Thomson), a rustler/organizer we briefly saw at the beginning of the film with Ted Adams. This should've been a dead giveaway, as Ted is the Snidely Whiplash of old Westerns. A spectacular finale takes place, with shootouts, punchouts, and incredible photography. I can see why William Boyd is acclaimed as one of the greats of Western cinema, though he's more in the mold of Harry Carey than Johnny Mack or Tom Tyler. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Hopalong Cassidy". As with all the others, we'll be looking for more of his films.
That's all for tonight. I hope you're having a nice weekend. Very sad about Taylor Hawkins, I remember Grimsley calling up a couple years ago to say he had just delivered flowers to his house. His wife answered the door. Grim saw Taylor in the pool with his kids. Said what everyone else is now saying, that he was the nicest guy. It just seems like so many musicians, actors, people with a lot of talent and/or pressure, can't make it without a large combination of psychotropic drugs and opioids. It's just an observation on my part. Life is hard for showbiz people. It looks easy but it's not, and a lot of people with high talent are also very fragile psychologically. Look at Chris Cornell or Robin Williams. I think, in some musicians' cases, their bandmates know they are using, and taking too much of one thing or the other, but they figure "well, as long as so-and-so is maintaining, and not messing up on stage, who am I to say anything"?
The pharmaceutical drugs, the benzodiazapenes and such, are so toxic. A similar combination killed my friend Mr. D. They just stopped his heart. But again, life is hard, and some people have a difficult time getting by without drugs. I'm glad I was able to stop (25 years ago now, including pot), but I understand those who can't. God Bless Taylor Hawkins. From what I am reading, everybody loved him. It's easy to say, "how could he take drugs when he had a wife and kids?", but again, people are fragile, and love is what counts.
That's why I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment