Virgil_Hilts_1964 Reviews

Trackdown (1957–1959)

Early "different" western TV series

[13 March 2004]

This, along with Wanted Dead or Alive, was one of the better written and scripted of the routine weekly western TV dramas that glutted late 1950s TV.

Robert Culp was unique in his character of Hobie Gilman. Gilman looked for the moral justice behind each situation he found himself in. It was not just 30 minutes of chase 'em and shoot 'em.

Interestingly, Steve McQueen got his first shot at a TV series by playing Josh Randall on an episode of Track Down. His spin off series Wanted Dead or Alive was also a unique series, and launched another great actor's career.

By today's standards, yes, most of the 1950s westerns were formulaic. But if you have the time to catch a group of them for comparison, Track Down stands out. Culp is a great actor, as subsequently shown in every piece of work he did later on.

Junior Bonner (1972)

Pointless waste of a superb actor's talent

[11 February 2004]

I saw this movie when I was in the army, at an outdoor sit-down theater on the beach in Southeast Asia. The ticket cost a quarter. The weather was warm and balmy. The beer was $.15 cents a can, even though all they had was "Ollie". If it had not been for these facts, the movie would have been a total waste of my time.

SPOILER: This is a pointless movie. It has no real direction. Although the plot seems to revolve around the fact that McQueen's character was knocked off a famous bull in a previous rodeo, and he needs to draw the same bull again in the upcoming rodeo to re-establish himself, this is almost an insignificant side plot.

What this is really about, is a loser of a rodeo cowboy who rides around in a beat up Cadillac. Somehow the Caddy is supposed to represent something but I never figured out what. He gets into a fistfight with his father. But it is all still pointless. I kept waiting for something to happen and it just never did.

McQueen made some very great movies. But like Mickey Mantle of the NY Yankees, no one seemed interested in managing and preserving his talent, so he got into a lot of trouble that hurt his career. He made some very bad film choices, both in the poor roles he accepted and the good ones he passed up. I still can't believe he turned down playing the Sundance Kid because George Roy Hill would not give him top billing over Paul Newman, his rival at the Actors' Studio in the early 1950s.

Junior Bonner is just another mundane flick that, if it were a 1960s rock album, would be at the drug store in a discount pack, along with Soldier in the Rain and Baby the Rain Must Fall.

Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)

Two great actors in the wrong movie together

[11 February 2004]

I am a great fan of both Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood, but this movie just didn't work, for me anyway. I had a hard time buying into Josh Randall and "The Great Natalie Wood" portrayed as a couple of blue collar losers. It appeared like someone just wanted the hottest male and female actors of that period to star with each other as soon as possible and "Stranger" was the first script that came along.

They both looked good. That is, they were still young; McQueen was trim and rakish at 33; Wood was still only 25 and as hot as she ever looked. Hard to believe she had been a major star for a decade and was still only in her mid-twenties.

But the script was flat and depressing. Being filmed in black and white didn't help it either. The scenery was depressing.

I'd rather have seen them opposite each other in The Thomas Crown Affair. I'm still trying to figure out how things would have worked out if McQueen had accepted the first offer to play the Sundance Kid opposite Paul Newman (which he turned down because he could not get top billing over Newman and thus entered Robert Redford). What if Newman, McQueen and Wood had been the three lead characters in Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid? Or McQueen and Wood were in Bonnie & Clyde together? (I read somewhere that Wood was Warren Beatty's first choice for Bonnie but Robert Wagner wouldn't let her do it due her previous affair with Beatty when they starred in Splendor in the Grass).

All this aside, every woman I know that saw this movie said it was great. I guess this is what they mean by a "Chick Flick".

The Great Escape (1963)

Best war/adventure film I ever saw.

[10 February 2004]

Those of us who think McQueen was the best action star of his time know this is his best film. No one but McQueen could have played this part. I keep watching it, hoping one day I'll be able to make the bike finally jump that second barbed wire fence, and I'll ride away to eak.

The Comancheros (1961)

Cut and Paste Duke Movie

[19 January 2004]

Someone already noted the historical inaccuracies of this film, like the late 19th Century rifles being used; not to mention the Duke's ever present Colt six shooter which wasn't invented until after the Civil War either (I told you not to mention it!). For that matter, the outfits the characters wore were clearly late 1800s as well (except for Stuart Whitman's riverboat gambler ensemble, and he DID duel the guy in New Orleans with flintlock pistols).

That having been said, this is a typical shoot 'em up John Wayne flick. Cut and paste the characters and time, it's still John Wayne defeats the bad guys. And if you disregard the historical inaccuracies, it measures up to most of the westerns he made other than Stage Coach, the Cavalry Trilogy and The Searchers, which were clearly the best westerns anyone ever made.

And besides, there are worse things to do than spend two hours looking at Ina Balin's rack. POSSIBLE SPOILER: And thank goodness Lee Marvin's character was killed off early on. Unfortunately he resurfaced the next year in black and white as Liberty Valence. THERE'S a movie to dislike....but back to Ina Balin's headlights...

Tom Horn (1980)

Actually a better film than advertised

[14 January 2004]

I often wonder how pre video audiences were able to take in the full effect and minor nuances of films as we can today. Watching a film again and again allows one to really study the work and pick up the director's deep intent for character and plot.

Watching Tom Horn a few times allows one to see that it really is a good movie. And after more than 20 years in motion pictures, McQueen finally just fits into his role, and does not "act" or play Steve McQueen.

The first scenes are excellent. McQueen establishes his character as a man who knows, and has seen most of, what the west is about. He knows who he is, and what he's accomplished, so he doesn't need to brag. The way he virtually walks into a fight in the bar with the pompous British fighter and his manager is superb. "Well, if he ain't won the fight yet, then he ain't the champ yet" is delivered with believable aplomb. When he says the guy's mother would have to stand on his shoulders just to kiss Geronimo's ass it is priceless. Especially good is his question "OK, if I win this fight, then does that make ME champion of the world?" He knows he is going to get his butt kicked but does all this for principle's sake. His running out the door and yelling oh s***, then throwing the plate of food at the fighter is one of the better acting sequences done anywhere.

His work as the stock detective is classic McQueen without his earlier years of mugging and panning. Good stuff.

The open spaces of this film, and Horn's subsequent incarceration gave me a feeling of freedom and claustrophobia. It worked well

The 7th Dawn (1964)

Haunting movie..saw it with a haunting girl

[8 January 2004]

Saw this film while in high school. I thought it was special then as well as today.

Every time I see it now I am still impressed with its beautiful cinematography, story lines and the rapturous good looks of Capucine and Suzanna York when they were young. ..and somehow it is even sadder today because I always think about that girl I was with.

Nevada Smith (1966)

Has some flaws but is still a good film.

[22 November 2003]

The problem with any Steve McQueen western is that none measure up to The Magnificent Seven, his best cowboy role and one of the best westerns of all time.

Nevada Smith is not a perfect screenplay but it is nonetheless entertaining. It is the tale of a young boy who seeks revenge on three men who viciously tortured and murdered his parents. It has a predictable plot and some directorial flaws, but overall it meets the criteria for a good film; it is entertaining.

At age 36, McQueen is a bit hard to believe as a 'kid'. The story obviously spans many years in Max Sand's life and if the writers had played this up more McQueen's age would not have mattered. Even showing Max and Alex Chord in a winter setting followed by spring, something to show an extensive passage of time would have helped make McQueen's age more fitting (if he'd lost weight prior to filming it would also have helped). More emphasis should have been placed on his progression from illiterate, green half-breed to savvy gun slinger. The passage of time while he learned to read, use firearms, kill his first victim and recover from wounds at the Indian village, should all have been used more extensively to make Max Sand age into the character portrayed by McQueen.

But regardless of McQueen's actual age, by the time Max kills the first of the three men he is tracking and then gets himself thrown into a Louisiana prison to find another one, his character's age and looks are believable.

A superb cast of supporting actors backs up McQueen. Brian Keith is the perfect father figure who takes Max in and teaches him to use firearms and tells him about life and how to find the men who killed his parents. Suzanne Pleshette cannot be made to look bad no matter how hard the make up department tries. Even dirty and sweaty in the swamp, her natural beauty and class shine. These traits and her unique voice and soft movements steal any scene she is in. She almost upstages McQueen. Martin Landau, Arthur Kennedy and Karl Malden are as bad as any movie villains I ever saw.

POSSIBLE SPOILER: In the end, Max does the right thing. He purges his hate and embraces the bigger meaning of life. He doesn't forgive the murderers; he just elevates himself above them. He doesn't kill Fitch, instead after wounding him severely he walks away from a life of violence. For some reason, I believe he returns to the Indian tribe of his birth and to Neesa, the Indian woman who truly loves him. In any case, ultimately the film works.

The War Lover (1962)

A morality play that came true.

[23 October 2003]

I was a Steve McQueen fan long before he was a major megastar. A couple of years after this movie was made, I met a really nice, shy girl who was also a big fan of his. Scarlette even had an autographed photo! One night we saw The War Lover together at a drive-in. We were both such fans that we actually WATCHED most of the movie!!!

This is a great morality play. Yes, there are some major faults in the screen play, a few really corny plot lines and it bends the original John Hersey book's literary track a bit, but it still has a tightly woven script, with a steady pace and a clear moral message. No matter how good you are at your job, your moral compass is the only thing that will ultimately guide your life. Buzz lost or never had a moral compass. Consequently he was headed nowhere but just didn't know it. His life ended abruptly, and in a way that denounced his raw talent as a pilot, because a bankrupt soul cannot endure.