The Daily Grand and Sundry

This Blog considers WARLOCK an interesting Western, some consider it a great Western. It has a plethora of acting talent,  Anthony Quinn, Richard Widmark, DeForest Kelly, Dorothy Malone, Dolores Michaels….and HENRY FONDA.

The story line is a variant on Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, versus the Clantons, with Fonda playing the Earp character(CLAY BLAISDELL) and Anthony Quinn doing a homoerotic version of  Doc Holliday (TOM MORGAN).

All Great Classical Westerns are steeped with the anticipation of violence more than violence itself. The actors in Classical Westerns were adept at conveying the anticipation of the violent moment, in HIGH NOON, Gary Cooper watching the clock,in RED RIVER, John Wayne walking through the cattle herd to kill Montgomery Clift, in THE WILD BUNCH, Ben Johnson, Warren Oates,William Holden and Ernest Borgnine taking that memorable Via Dolorosa to free their friend,in THE SEARCHERS,the EDWARDS family hunkering down their home right before the Comanche attack, with the brave little boy wishing for one thing, that UNCLE ETHAN was there(a Comanche attack never seen).

Classical Western actors conveyed the electricity of the approaching moment of violence, like a fourth and goal at the one inch line. That ability to master the  anticipation of violence seems to be a dying art form in modern actors. They rush to do violence, the ballet has been transformed into a video game.

WARLOCK is a ballet. 

What enthralls me about this blogged scene is the extensive choreography expended in anticipation of violence. It is obvious Sergio Leone watched WARLOCK a great deal.

At the apex of this anticipation is Henry Fonda’s brilliant, benchmark line reading right before DeForest Kelly draws his gun.

“But whose to do it?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MYtI04vX7k

That line reading combines both the arrogance and the weariness which comes from being the best at a dangerous profession, in this case gunfighting.  The weariness of having to be perfect when imperfection means death. Dale Earnhardt could have said that line, Manolete could have said that line.

In this one line reading Fonda sums up the life, the back story, the hubris, the disappointment,the fatalism  that is being CLAY BLAISDELL.

In one line reading he did all that; that is ACTING.

This Western was Directed by Edward Dmytryk, who also Directed (among others), CROSSFIRE and THE YOUNG LIONS. The screenplay was by Robert Alan Arthur(ALL THAT JAZZ, EDGE OF THE CITY). So there is a lot of film noir and social realism lacing this Classical Western.

In the end,this film is all about Henry Fonda, and that damn line reading about the weariness of perfection; that line reading which  is the standard of perfection.

People agree about Fonda’s performance:’Henry Fonda was GREAT in this(WARLOCK). really a captivating performance. one of his better ones and that’s saying something!”

Some people even like this film more than this Blog:“”(WARLOCK) is one of those little known westerns that captivates you from the opening scene. It has everything you wantin this genre of film: a great story, excellent characters, excellent actors and beautiful scenery & music. I’d never seen this movie and came across it while checking out the cable guide and was attracted to the title because I’m a sci-fi/horror lover. I didn’t know it was a western. When I flipped it on, I noticed what kind of movie it was and almost changed the channel when I spotted DeForrest Kelly of Star Trek fame (I’m a devout Trekker). Then I saw Richard Widmark & Henry Fonda and just stayed tuned. I was taken my this flick and recommend it to anyone. I caught it in the middle so when it was over, I immediately went to the cable guide and searched for when it would be on again and made sure I watched it from beginning to end. WHAT A GREAT MOVIE! Definitely a MUST-SEE!!! “

This is the 500th Edition of THE DAILY GRAND and SUNDRY Blog.

This Blog  would like to honor this occasion by ruminating on the TEA PARTY, WILD RIVER and Ms. Jo Van Fleet, and the prescience of Elia Kazan. Fifty years ago, his film,  WILD RIVER was released; in it is the best explanation of TEA PARTY principles ever given, by Jo Van Fleet to Montgomery Clift. 

Over the  course of the last year, I have gotten quite a few emails from denizens of Europe asking me to explain the notorious TEA PARTY. 

To my European readers, The TEA PARTY is deeper than a slogan, or fecklessness, or cribbing glibness, or designer shallowness. It is Jo Van Fleet in WILD RIVER(1960). Fifty years ago, FIFTY YEARS AGO, 50 years ago, Jo Van Fleet laid it all out in the film WILD RIVER.  Jo Van Fleet gave birth to the TEA PARTY right then. 

BACK STORY

The Tennessee River was a killer, so the United States Government, under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, decided to tame the river, the wild river, by creating the Tennessee Valley Authority(TVA) and building a series of dams along the river.

The dams would flood out old homesteads, so Federal agents fanned out through the path of the floods to buy the land.  WILD RIVER is about the one woman who would not sell out to the Federal Government, the first Tea Partier.

WILD RIVER is one of the great American films EVER made. It starred Montgomery Clift as the young do gooder from Washington, brought in to convince the lady farmer to sell out, and a radiant Lee Remick as the young widow who falls for him.

It was Directed by the towering genius of American theater and film, Elia Kazan.

If you have ever wondered where the ideology of the TEA PARTY comes from, it comes from Jo Van Fleet articulating the rights of the people above the rights of the government, even above the rights of progress(something we should all remember concerning the situation in Afghanistan).

With great honor, and humility, in this 500th Edition, this Blog honors the 50th anniversary of WILD RIVER by sharing with you, Jo Van Fleet in WILD RIVER.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mUepS6mhL4

 Elia Kazan

This  Greek, born in a country which no longer exists(the Ottoman Empire) came to America at the age of four. This immigrant knew more about America, and the Tea Party  than any living pundit or politician, including Mama Grizzlies.

Jo Van Fleet in WILD RIVER, The First Tea Partier

Every week I get together with some old buddies from my days at the Defense Department, all divorced. Some weeks we play poker, other weeks we are engaged in a chess tournament, which I am losing.

Six guys, all of whom have acquitted themselves well in dangerous situations; all have proof that we are not cowards. We would all like to get married again; but each and  all are deathly afraid of modern women, not the power of modern women(that is a challenge), but their insane internal logic.

One of our favorite programs is the JOY BEHAR SHOW; it consoles us. After watching it, we know it is better to be single than married to one of those nitwit ninnies who appear on her program. Her show is a great relief to the loneliness of divorced men.

Case in Pont

See  this toothpick below , she wants a baby….at 35….so she is having IVF treatemnts which are televised on her own reality TV show.Her Doctor says that gaining five to ten pounds will enhance her chances of having a baby naturally, and she desperately wants a baby. But she does not  want a natural baby, naturally enough to gain five pounds. She thinks she looks good the way she looks now; thank God for Dominican women.

We use to hang Germans as war criminals when they made women this skinny.

My question is, with thinking like that, can the Apocalypse get here soon enough?

 

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT FOR HER APPEARANCE WITH HER DOLT HUSBAND ON THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, THIS IS UNEDITED.

GIULIANA RANCIC, E! NEWS: That was scary. You never want to hear your doctor say, “I`ve never seen that before.”

BILL RANCIC, “GIULIANA & BILL”: Yes, that`s not good.

G. RANCIC: So usually, the uterus in the middle?

B. RANCIC: Right. And this (INAUDIBLE) half their lifetime.

G. RANCIC: How weird is that.

Immediately I was like, we can`t have a baby. This is the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: She is the beautiful managing editor and anchor for “E News” and he`s the handsome winner of the first season of “Apprentice”; probably the best-looking one on there, besides Donald, of course.

Today they make married life look easy; I guess, they`re also magicians. On their hit reality series “Giuliana and Bill” on the Style Network.

Joining me now are Giuliana and Bill Rancic. Thanks for being here, guys.

G. RANCIC: Thank you Joy.

BEHAR: You know, you guys have been trying to get pregnant this season and I see that the cameras are right up there; a little intimate. I mean, Katie Couric did have a colonoscopy on television. So we`re sort of used to it at this point.

G. RANCIC: Right.

BEHAR: Are you?

G. RANCIC: If she did it, I can do it.

BEHAR: Yes.

G. RANCIC: You know what I mean, I know a lot of people call me and my mom is like, must you show your uterus on television? And I`m like, “Hey, mom if it`ll help people, you know and educate women, why not?”

BEHAR: Right.

G. RANCIC: Because what we are talking about and fertility is something that`s very taboo that a lot of people don`t talk about, especially people in Hollywood.

BEHAR: Why is that?

G. RANCIC: There`s a stigma tied to having a baby the unnatural way.

BEHAR: Oh yes.

G. RANCIC: But the way we feel is, it doesn`t matter if you have a baby through IVF, if through a surrogate mother, if you adopt a baby. At the end of the day, you have a baby, right?

BEHAR: What about the stork, have you considered that?

G. RANCIC: The stork?

BEHAR: Go ahead, Bill.

B. RANCIC: I just want to say, it`s amazing how many couples out there it affects. And how many people have identified with what we`re going through on the show. I don`t think a day has gone by in the last two months where someone hasn`t come up to us, whether it`s at an airport or whether it`s you know, walking across the street and saying, “I`m going through the same thing or my sister is going through the same thing.”

So a lot of people certainly have been identifying with we`re sharing in the show.

BEHAR: Do you like that when people come up and say I`ve seen your uterus on TV?

B. RANCIC: Well –

BEHAR: And I was wondering if you could help me.

G. RANCIC: Only when they compliment and when they go my God it`s a beautiful uterus.

BEHAR: What a gorgeous uterus you have.

B. RANCIC: That`s the best looking Italian uterus that I`ve ever seen.

G. RANCIC: You know, it`s a little funny at first –

BEHAR: Yes.

G. RANCIC: — but people used to come up to us for different reasons. And I actually would like them coming up to us for this reason, you know and saying thank you for helping us. More than seven women had problems getting pregnant.

BEHAR: It`s an age thing, right?

G. RANCIC: It is an age thing.

BEHAR: Mostly.

G. RANCIC: Yes.

B. RANCIC: For couples 35 years of age or older, it`s a — to get pregnant naturally on a monthly basis, you have about a five percent to seven percent chance. So the numbers are stacked against you –

BEHAR: Five to seven percent chance –

B. RANCIC: — of you getting pregnant –

BEHAR: — per month.

B. RANCIC: — per month, right.

BEHAR: Ok.

B. RANCIC: Of actually conceiving a baby.

BEHAR: Naturally, yes.

B. RANCIC: So — when you`re — when you`re 35 years old, the deck is — the odds are stacked against you.

BEHAR: I know.

B. RANCIC: You know, it`s not good.

G. RANCIC: When you`re 20, you can get pregnant like that.

BEHAR: I know and they never want to.

B. RANCIC: Right, right.

G. RANCIC: They never want to.

BEHAR: That`s the irony of it.

G. RANCIC: Of course and so meanwhile, they`re — we are — and that`s what I thought, I was in my 20s and I thought, my gosh, I would look at these women in Hollywood, these actresses with these kid and I would say, “Oh, when I`m 35, 40, I`ll pop out a couple of twins, too.

BEHAR: Yes, yes.

G. RANCIC: And then I reached 35 years old and I realized this is very difficult.

BEHAR: Yes, a lot of women in their 50s and 60s are having babies, too.

G. RANCIC: They are. They`re using surrogates, by the way. It`s because the egg –

BEHAR: Oh, right, so what about a surrogate?

G. RANCIC: You know, we`re not at that point yet. We`re not at that point yet, right now we`re starting our first round of IVF next week. So we`ll see what happens.

BEHAR: Right, now you were on “The View” this morning with me.

G. RANCIC: Yes.

BEHAR: Both of you. And people are buzzing. Of — after you left, there was buzz, buzz, buzz about your reluctance to gain weight. You`ve got a — let me show people what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

G. RANCIC: My doctor recommended that I gain weight in order to start ovulating consistently. You know –

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like a lot of weight like does he say like 15 pounds, 20 pounds?

B. RANCIC: Five to ten –

G. RANCIC: He said five to 10 pounds –

B. RANCIC: Yes.

G. RANCIC: — which I know isn`t a big deal and if you want to have a baby you should do whatever it takes. But it`s just — I had to bite that bullet.

B. RANCIC: Yes.

G. RANCIC: I finally did gain -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much?

G. RANCIC: — five pounds, five pounds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: Now, you realize if you get pregnant you`re going to gain weight.

G. RANCIC: Of course.

BEHAR: You know that?

G. RANCIC: Of course, but here`s the thing. I look at all these women who are thin and get pregnant. Look at Nicole Richie, she weighs 80 pounds.

BEHAR: She was considered anorexic at some point.

B. RANCIC: Right.

G. RANCIC: She had a couple of kids.

BEHAR: Yes.

G. RANCIC: You know, look at Angelina Jolie who carried twins, who`s half my size. So I see a lot of these women and my sister`s friends, I know a lot of people who have been very thin and gotten pregnant. Let me tell you something. If infertility were that easy, if the answer was to gain five pounds, infertility wouldn`t be a problem.

That`s not the real problem.

B. RANCIC: Yes.

G. RANCIC: And unfortunately we work in a very shallow business –

BEHAR: Yes.

G. RANCIC: — especially I do. Over — we`re not doing hard- hitting news over at E!, we`re critiquing fashion and the way people look. And so it`s a tougher bullet to bite. He doesn`t agree of course.

BEHAR: What do you think, Bill? Come on.

B. RANCIC: No, I think that`s — is that a factor? 100 percent, I think weight is a factor. When you exercise a lot, that puts a lot of stress on your body.

BEHAR: Yes.

B. RANCIC: Working the hours that she works, you know, you`ve got to — at some point you`ve got to slow the train down because your body is saying you`re not going to be able to have a baby with this pace and with this lifestyle.

G. RANCIC: But I have, I have.

BEHAR: But she has, but she`s reluctant.

B. RANCIC: Oh, very reluctant, yes.

BEHAR: She`s reluctant.

G. RANCIC: I`ve done, 35 years I`ve been busting my butt, you know, working hard. I don`t want to stop. I want to keep going –

BEHAR: I know, but that is that is the dilemma that women face constantly.

G. RANCIC: Right.

BEHAR: Because you know it`s a man`s world, Giuliana.

G. RANCIC: Yes.

BEHAR: I mean, really it is.

B. RANCIC: I don`t know about that.

BEHAR: In any way.

G. RANCIC: Yes.

BEHAR: It has to be, because who else gets IVF treatments and hormone shots and everything else.

B. RANCIC: Yes.

B. RENCIC: She`s got the hard job in this.

BEHAR: We had a guy on today who — his sperm count was like the worst. Yet his wife had to go through four years of IVF treatment.

G. RENCIC: Isn`t that incredible?

B. RENCIC: Well, it`s a bad deal.

BEHAR: But you know, I think, Giuliana, you might have to put some pounds on. Just gain some –

B. RENCIC: We`re going to take her out for a big bowl of pasta.

BEHAR: You know how to lose weight. You gain 10, you lose 10 the next month.

G. RENCIC: I know, I know. Everyone at home likes to e-mail and say, are you pregnant? You look fat today.

BEHAR: I know. But it`s unbelievable.

(CROSSTALK)

It is unbelieveable; she wants a kid, but won’t gain five pounds to get a kid, how do you deal with a mentality like that?

As we played poker, we were watching this show as background noise;as we paid attention, the six of us became very quiet, all born out of our time. We are six orphaned Knights Templar,all in love with Lee Remick(Yes Richard I read your email)

. LEE REMICK about to make a man out of Montgomey Clift in WILD RIVER.

WILD RIVER Directed by Elia Kazan is one of the great American films of all time, with two of the greatest female acting experiences ever, the one by Ms. Remick, and the towering one by Jo Van Fleet. 

This blog is in response to an email from Vicki D, from Newcastle upon Tyne

a-Thank you for your kind words about My favorite Westerns blog.

b-Thank you for your picture, yes it is a wonderful example of female empowerment.

c-I have honored your request and acknowledged you on the blog.

Now to answer your question,Do I consider BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN a Western?

No, even though it was set in the 1960’s West, it is a not a Western but a  drama set in the West, like HUD, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, or even ROAD HOUSE, THELMA and LOUISE.

My understanding is that the Western genre must be set in the  period between 1865 and 1916(the end of the Mexican Revolution, such films as THE WILD BUNCH and THE PROFESSIONALS).

A Western has to be set in the time frame in which the frontier was being tamed, no telephones nor air travel; horses not pickup trucks being  the primary source of  transportation.

Is a rodeo drama set in 1960 Wyoming a Western?
Is a love story set in 1960 Wyoming a Western?
Is a family drama set in 1960, a Western?
Is GIANT set in 1920s Texas even a Western?

I think not, a Western has to be set In its time, just as a samurai film has to be set in Medieval Japan to be a TRUE samurai film.

Now, it seems that  you, like some women, hunger for homoeroticism in a Western, therefore I suggest you find and rent RIDE VAQUERO  in which Anthony Quinn goes bananas when his “brother”, Robert Taylor falls for Ava Gardner. Or find and rent WARLOCK where Anthony Quinn goes bananas when his good “friend” Henry Fonda falls for a woman, Dolores Michaels.  There are tons of Westerns with homoerotic overtones, but RED RIVER is not one of them.  A movie is not a Gay movie just because Montgomery Clift is in it.

Finally, I  have found no homosexual overtones in the relationship between Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp; men who are killers, but who do not think they are bad people, always associate with each other , to reinforce the sense of righteous killing. Earp and Masterson of Kansas, Wild Bill Hickock and Buffalo Bill, the Texas Rangers.

Western killers are not gay; they are just killers.

RIDE VAQUERO, ANTHONY QUINN, AVA GARDNER, HOWARD KEEL, ROBERT TAYLOR

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