If the heroes of Ford are sustained by tradition, and the heroes of Hawks by professionalism, the heroes of Walsh are sustained by nothing more that a feeling for adventure.
Constructed partly as allegorical Odysseys and partly as floating poker games where every character took turns at bluffing about his hand until the final showdown, Boetticher's Westerns expressed a weary serenity and moral certitude that was contrary to the more neurotic approaches of other directors on this neglected level of the cinema.
The eight films Anthony Mann made with James Stewart are particularly interesting today for their insights into the uneasy relationships between men and women in a world of violence and action.
--Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema (Dutton, 1968)
There are many Westerns on Turner's schedule in July and I recommend all of those by Ford, Hawks, Walsh, Boetticher, and Mann. My own favorites are Ford's The Searchers, 1956, being shown on July 5; Boetticher's Ride Lonesome, 1959, on July 6; Walsh's They Died with Their Boots On, 1941, July 8; Mann's The Man From Laramie, 1955, July 10; Hawks's Rio Bravo 1959, July 20. Other Westerns I recommend are Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 1968, on July 19 and Sam Peckinpah's moving and funny The Ballad of Cable Hogue, 1970 on July 6, as well as George B. Seitz's elegant tribute to the American Indian, The Vanishing American, 1925, on July 5.
Other movies on Turner in July:
Fritz Lang's fatalistic period piece, Moonfleet, 1955, on July 2
Three intelligent comedies on July 8: The Lady Eve, 1941, and Sullivan's Travels,1942, both by Preston Sturges and Chaplin's Modern Times, 1936
July 9 has James Whale's The Great Garrick, 1937 about 18th C actor David Garrick and on the 10th is Robert Hamer's pessimistic It Always Rains on Sunday, 1949. Also on the 10th is D.W. Griffith's terrific Orphans of the Storm, 1921 and Blake Edwards's corrosive comedy about Hollywood. S.O.B.,1981
On the 13th is Nicholas Ray's modern Western, The Lusty Men, 1952, and on the 15th is Lamont Johnson's One on One, 1977. as well as Mitch Leisen's effective soap opera To Each His Own, 1946.
On the 17th is Preston Sturges's witty The Palm Beach Story, 1942, and on the 18th is Jacques Tourneur's intense film noir, Out of the Past, 1947.
On the 22nd is Walsh's period comedy with James Cagney and Olivia DeHavilland (who turns 100 this year). The Strawberry Blonde, 1941; on the 26th is Buster Keaton's Go West, 1925, and on the 30th is Don Siegel's great crime film The Lineup, 1955
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