True giants don’t need to declare themselves, they just are, and William Blinn, the quiet man from Ohio, is a true giant. Blinn has a talent for...
A True Giant
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C. Courtney Joyner
Buried Treasures
During the 1960s, when Philadelphia’s channel 48 ran Satan’s Satellites, I had no idea I was munching popcorn through a serial (Zombies of the...
JUSTIFIED: SEASON FOUR
Who is Drew Thompson? That was the single thread of FX’s Justified’s fourth season, with a mystery structure carrying the episodes, rather than hard...
Old Tucson’s 75th
The year 1938 was an off year for Westerns. Cecil B. DeMille hadn’t traveled West since making The Plainsman in 1936, while Stagecoach and Jesse...
Shadow on the Mesa
Shadow on the Mesa ($15) is a solid Western from Hallmark, starring Kevin Sorbo, Greg Evigan and Barry Corbin. They offer fine support to Wes...
Universal’s 40th Discs
Two Universal Westerns have been released on blu-ray as “40th Anniversary Editions,” High Plains Drifter ($20) and My Name is Nobody ($25). Although...
Talking Dutch
I had shaken Elmore Leonard’s hand three times, twice at book signings and once on a movie set, years before I wrote him a letter in 2008 and asked...
True West’s Best Movies, TV Series & DVDs of 2013
The Lone Ranger: Masked Eye of the Storm Hollywood loves trumpeting its failures as much as its successes: 1963’s Cleopatra, 1980’s Heaven’s Gate...
Getting Shotgun Loaded
Civil War doctor loses his family, and his right arm, to a group of psychopaths who have come to rob them, leaving everyone dying or dead. The doc...
3:10 TO YUMA-Delmer Daves
In 1956, Delmer Daves set to work with Halsted Welles (The Hanging Tree) to adapt the late Elmore Leonard’s short story “Three-Ten to Yuma” for the...
Digging for Treasure
Bob Murawski loves movies, and not in that bogus “Citizen Kane resonates on so many levels” kind of way. His is a dedication to underdog flicks,...
Robert Taylor Westerns
When introduced to the world as Greta Garbo’s young lover in Camille, Robert Taylor was promoted as the “Male Garbo.” Movie after movie focused on...