Taking a look at the BBC listings,I spotted a Western double bill.Recording the movies,I found details on Fritz Lang's Rancho Notorious to make it sound a more complex plot to Robert Mitchum's gunslinger,which led to me deciding,that for the first of this Western fest,I would walk to the salon with Big Bob.
The plot:
Bringing up his son Davy on his own after the tragic death of his wife, David Harvey decides that he and his son need a women round the house. Going to get a servant woman from settlement head Parson Jackson,Harvey gets pushed to accept Rachel as his servant,and to get married to her! Unwilling to accept Rachel as a new women in their lives,the Harvey's live Rachel as a farmhand. Believing that she will never be accepted,Rachel and the Harvey's are woken up by the Harvey's old friend Jim Fairways arriving in town.
View on the film:
Rushed out when Mitchum was arrested for possessing marijuana,director Norman Foster & cinematographer Maury Gertsman avoid any sign of rebellion, emphasised by Roy Webb whimsical score,soaked up in the stilted shots Foster uses to breath in the superb rural location. Firing an arrow to end the film on a Western battle with the Indians, Waldo Salt's adaptation of Howard Fast's story loads up the Melodrama's "Women's Picture."
Entering the Harvey's farm with Rachel,Salt wonderfully shows no fears in highlighting the harsher side of Davy and David,with the memory of their wife/mother leading to them wearing their Melodrama hats,until the arrival of Fairways,leads to them finally becoming aware of who Rachel truly is. Despite some of the dialogue being dry,the cast make the movie sing,thanks to an irresistible chemistry.Pushed around,the elegant Loretta Young gives a charming performance as Rachel,who despite being pushed away by everyone,is given a firm determination by Young.Changing the way the Harvey's (played by a great William Holden and Gary Gray) see Rachel in a new light,Big Bob (who also sings!) gives a terrific performance as Fairways who is given a Folk music glow by Bob's reunion with the family,with Mitchum given Fairways a glint of rebellion in his eyes,as Rachel meets the stranger.
The plot:
Bringing up his son Davy on his own after the tragic death of his wife, David Harvey decides that he and his son need a women round the house. Going to get a servant woman from settlement head Parson Jackson,Harvey gets pushed to accept Rachel as his servant,and to get married to her! Unwilling to accept Rachel as a new women in their lives,the Harvey's live Rachel as a farmhand. Believing that she will never be accepted,Rachel and the Harvey's are woken up by the Harvey's old friend Jim Fairways arriving in town.
View on the film:
Rushed out when Mitchum was arrested for possessing marijuana,director Norman Foster & cinematographer Maury Gertsman avoid any sign of rebellion, emphasised by Roy Webb whimsical score,soaked up in the stilted shots Foster uses to breath in the superb rural location. Firing an arrow to end the film on a Western battle with the Indians, Waldo Salt's adaptation of Howard Fast's story loads up the Melodrama's "Women's Picture."
Entering the Harvey's farm with Rachel,Salt wonderfully shows no fears in highlighting the harsher side of Davy and David,with the memory of their wife/mother leading to them wearing their Melodrama hats,until the arrival of Fairways,leads to them finally becoming aware of who Rachel truly is. Despite some of the dialogue being dry,the cast make the movie sing,thanks to an irresistible chemistry.Pushed around,the elegant Loretta Young gives a charming performance as Rachel,who despite being pushed away by everyone,is given a firm determination by Young.Changing the way the Harvey's (played by a great William Holden and Gary Gray) see Rachel in a new light,Big Bob (who also sings!) gives a terrific performance as Fairways who is given a Folk music glow by Bob's reunion with the family,with Mitchum given Fairways a glint of rebellion in his eyes,as Rachel meets the stranger.