This is an ad for The Shootist from 1976. It was John Wayne's final role. The movie also starred, Lauren Bacall, Jimmy Stewart and a very young Ron Howard.
John Wayne plays an aging gunslinger dying of cancer. He travels to a small town to live out his final days. His presence in the town, however, stirs up certain residents, including an idolizing small boy.
Finishing western week with a double feature of movie ads.
Duel in the Sun from 1946 (this ad, however, is from a re-release in 1954) stars Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Walter Huston, Lionel Barrymore, Butterfly McQueen and Harry Carey (not that Harry Carey). Jennifer Jones plays half-breed Pearl Chavez who moves to a distant relative's ranch in Texas after her father is hanged for killing her unfaithful mother and lover. At the ranch, Pearl butts heads with the ranch owner and scandalously entertains the attentions of his womanizing younger son, Lewt. The movie garnered the nickname "Lust in the Dust" for it's highly sexualized characterizations of Pearl and Lewt's relationship.
This movie was produced and sometimes directed by David O Selznik. He envisioned it as a big budget, hugely epic western in the same vein as his previous Gone with the Wind. He got his way as production delays and the hiring/firing of 7 different directors caused the movie's run time to balloon up to 26 hours and the production cost to reach a then unheard of $6 million.
Lust in the Dust from 1985 was a cheesy comedy western. It starred Tab Hunter, Divine and Cesar Romero. John Waters was originally asked to direct but he turned it down because he didn't write the script. The movie took its title from Duel in the Sun's tongue-in-cheek production nickname. The movie is about a bunch of unscrupulous characters searching for buried treasure in the old west.
Take a look at the hilarious taglines in this ad. Ninfa: The hooker with the chest of gold.Hardcase Williams: They called him garbage wrapped in human skin. I think those get across the tone of the movie quite nicely.
If you look under Lust in the Dust, you'll see also playing is Rustler's Rhapsody, which is another comedy western and one of my favorites. However, I didn't get to that ad this week. Some other time.
Here's a little movie that Harrison Ford did in between Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. It also stars Gene Wilder as a rabbi who travels to the Old West.
It's western week this week, so I'm looking at all western movie ads.
Here's an ad for the Tom Selleck vehicle Quigley Down Under. It's a great little movie with lots of humor and an awesome turn by Alan Rickman (as usual). This movie is just a lot of fun. I'm torn on Laura San Giacomo, though. I don't know if she helps or hinders the movie. Some days I hate her and some days I don't mind her.
I've been reading a bunch of westerns lately, so I'm in a western mood. This week is going to be western week.
Here's an ad for The Quick and the Dead from 1995. It was directed by Sam Raimi and starred Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio with appearances by Lance Henrickson, Keith David, Tobin Bell, Gary Sinise and Pat Hingle.
Sharon Stone is ostensibly the star of the movie, however she's the least interesting character as well as the worst acted. When you watch this movie you watch it for Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. It's amazing and one of my favorites.
Here's an ad for the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katharine Ross. One of the greatest westerns of all time featuring two of the time's greatest stars.
The wonderful sequel to the 1988 hit, Young Guns. Emilio returns as Billy the Kid. Also returning is Keifer Sutherland as Doc and Lou Diamond Phillips as Chavez.
This movie was a fictional account of the life of William H Bonney, aka Billy the Kid. Next to his Brat Pack roles, this is probably Emilio's most famous role.
