When I watch this movie I marvel at the talent on the screen. John Wayne, Ron Howard, Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Scatman Crothers, John Carradine, and more. I watched it as a teenager in the 1980s at some point. The movie was released in 1976.
I really, really like this movie a lot and have liked it from the first time I saw it. Along with Wayne, it is fun seeing Ron Howard in his role here. No, it’s not the Clint Eastwood trilogy or John Wayne’s own The Searchers but a really good film.
This film has John Wayne at the end of his long career and Ron Howard at the beginning of his adult career. This was John Wayne’s final role before he died later. Wayne was battling cancer in real life during the film’s production, adding a poignant parallel to real life.
It was directed by Don Siegel and is based on the 1975 novel by Glendon Swarthout. The movie is set in 1901 and follows the story of J.B. Books (played by Wayne), an aging and ailing gunfighter who learns he has terminal cancer. Determined to face his final days with dignity, Books seeks peace but becomes embroiled in conflicts that challenge his desire for a quiet end.
James Stewart had not made a film for five years. He agreed to play the doctor as a favor to John Wayne and his hearing was getting bad by then.
Don Siegel was a very successful director. Some of Siegel’s huge movies came with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Coogan’s Bluff (1968), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), Dirty Harry (1971), and Escape from Alcatraz (1979). Siegel was known for his direct no-nonsense directing and ability to draw performances from his actors. Clint Eastwood said he was one of his mentors.
If you have the slightest bit of interest in documentaries or in silent movies, this is the series to watch. Not only is it a great wealth of info on the silent era…it’s one of the best documentaries I’ve ever watched. It is made up of 13 different one-hour sections. It’s quite a series at 676 minutes.
There is one misconception about silent films that most have. When you think of a silent film what do you think of? Some people think of the hard-to-see Keystone cops running about like they snorted Peru… that is NOT what most silent films looked like. They played at normal speed and the cinematography was breathtaking in many of them. They are as clear as any movie you will watch if the print has been taken care of or restored.
There was a problem with some prints after the silent era. The holes in the film were at a different gauge for the then-modern film projectors and they played them fast and transferred them fast…that meant everything was sped up.
This documentary is to the Silent Era what Ken Burns Civil War doc is to the Civil War. It starts with the pioneers of the movies to the very end when sound took over and changed and some people say ruined an art form. When movies were silent…they were international…no need for translations…just different text. The sound changed all of that and silent movies were at their height.
You get to know the great directors, actors, actresses, cameramen, stuntmen, and movie moguls.
They interviewed these ladies and gentlemen in the late seventies and it was many of their last appearances on film before they passed away. I’m thankful that Kevin Brownlow got this finished and we now have first-hand knowledge of films’ most exciting eras.
I do wish sound pictures would have been held off a few years. The studios weren’t ready for talking pictures. The first “talky” pictures were clumsy and still. The mics had to be placed in flower vases and other stationary places. The silent artists perfected the art of pantomime. Most had great quality (especially in the 20s) that looked better than movies 40 years later. One problem was with the early transfers from the films…now with Criterion and others cleaning up the transfers…we can watch these beautiful movies the way they were intended.
Just like today, you had your formula movies and your great movies. In my opinion, I think the best genre of silent movies is comedies. Not Keystone Cops…they are more like cartoons than films. For me, it would be Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. They both had some of the most subtle and genius gags. Many of their gags have been copied to this day. There were others like Harry Langdon and Harold Lloyd that were popular.
I know it’s a big task BUT…if you like documentaries or silent movies…this series is worth it! Every episode is out there on youtube.
This is the 12th episode and it is about two people…John Gilbert and Clara Bow. Clara Bow is my favorite actress of all time…and yes that includes today.
The cast listing is below the video.
Actors
Mary Astor
Eleanor Boardman
Louise Brooks
Olive Carey
Iron Eyes Cody
Jackie Coogan
Dolores Costello
Viola Dana
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Janet Gaynor
Leatrice Joy
Lillian Gish
Bessie Love
Ben Lyon
Marion Mack
Tim McCoy
Colleen Moore
Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers
Gloria Swanson
Blanche Sweet
John Wayne
Eva von Berne
Lois Wilson
Directors
Dorothy Arzner
Clarence Brown
Karl Brown
Frank Capra
George Cukor
Allan Dwan
Byron Haskin
Henry Hathaway
Henry King
Lewis Milestone
Hal Roach
Albert S. Rogell
King Vidor
William Wyler.
Choreographer: Agnes de Mille,
Writer: Anita Loos,
Writer: Adela Rogers St. Johns,
Press Agent/writer: Cedric Belfrage,
Organist: Gaylord Carter,
Cinematographers: George J. Folsey, Lee Garmes and Paul Ivano,
Writer: Jesse L. Lasky, Jr.,
Special Effects Artist A. Arnold Gillespie, Lord Mountbatten
Agent Paul Kohner
Producer/writer Samuel Marx
Editors William Hornbeck and Grant Whytock
Property Pan: Lefty Hough
Stuntmen Bob Rose, Yakima Canutt: Paul Malvern, and Harvey Parry, Rudolph Valentino’s brother Alberto Valentino
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