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moewadle
Reviews
The Raiders (1963)
A fight by post-civil war Texans to bring back their economy
This appears to be a 1960s made for TV "special", perhaps with hopes of being a series. The credits say that Brian Keith is a guest star so this description means it was made for TV, not the movie theater. The running time is 75 minutes, which would likely have been a 90 min. TV "special" with commercials when made in 1963. While there are some prominent names in lead roles, as well as supporting cast (Robert Culp, Brian Keith, Harry Carey, Jr.) the story deteriorates rapidly and the production standards are ridiculous. Calamity Jane is one of the characters and, as pointed out elsewhere on this site, her costuming and make-up are so incredible that it borders on high camp. In summary, I am a 71 year-old western film fan and have a large collection of western films. On the one hand this makes me hard to please because westerns are one of my "specialties," but on the other hand I can sit through a somewhat poor western because I can enjoy the sets, costumes, characters,etc particular to that genre. However, in this case, when I found it on the Encore Western Channel, I watched it for 30 minutes and found it so boring that I could not finish. So, my behavior is my recommendation. Do not waste your time.
Wyatt Earp (1994)
Most historically accurate of all the films about Earp/Tombstone
I agree with the review by Senator__Noc I think it is who states it is the most historically accurate and that Costner plays Earp like Earp was. I agree with the first part of that, it is the most historically accurate because of my readings about Earp and Tombstone, Arizona. You may like the film TOMBSTONE better than the film, Wyatt Earp, but this one is the most accurate. However, why not just see both of them and enjoy them for what they are.
Some examples of historic accuracy: How gunfight was shown...just before it you see Morgan Earp and DoC walking together and one says to the other, "Let's get'em." This is straight out of a history quoting an eyewitness who heard that remark. Also, Wyatt's relationships with women. He was married to Aurelia in Missouri and she died. He did have a relationship with Mattie Blaylock and he did meet Josephine Marcus and they hooked up in Tombstone after Josephine had a relationship with John Behan. And John flashing a partially nude photo of Josephine is something that is written about in one history. I could go further but that is enough considering all the other reviews.
Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life (1992)
Do not buy this film
I bought this film as one of ten in a two-DVD set at a Wal-Mart dump bin for $5. Well, you get what you pay for. That, technically, made it 50 cents per movie but I bought the set for this one because the others were westerns you always see on real cheap DVDs. Anyway, this was made in 1992 and I was bitterly disappointed when the story ended very abruptly with no resolution, whatsoever, to the mystery created in the story or the finding of the bad-guy, etc. It just ended....well, I found out rapidly why, that as I had guessed, this was a pilot for a TV series and the series, I am sure, was supposed to eventually resolve all the unresolved in the pilot. Imagine how cheated I felt and how you will feel if you do buy this and watch it. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!! I might also add that the story is no where enjoyable enough otherwise to make up for the ending which cheats the viewer.
Swing Shift (1984)
I thought the movie was good but I wanted to register a goof made in the production.
There is a goof that would only be noticed by someone about as old as I am . There is a scene where a car pulls up to a stop sign. In fact the camera puts a rather big part of the stop sign in a brief scene. Now, currently we all know that stop signs have a standard coloring of white lettering on a red background. But in the 1940s, during World War II and perhaps into the 1950s stop signs had black lettering on a yellow background. This is probably not realized by many people born in and after the 1950s because so much of the photography back in those days was in black and white. So, you don't often see a an old magazine photo of a street scene in color so even if a stop sign was in the hypothetical magazine photo it would have to be in color to be noticed. So, the movie showed the stop sign as white on red but to be accurate for the time period it should have been black on yellow. I remember being perhaps 8-10 years old (born in 1942) when the standard stop sign color scheme was changed to present white on red. This was reported to be easier to see by drivers so traffic safety was increased. So, I want to register this blooper by the makers of the film. Moe in Iowa