AFI 100 Movies #80 The Wild Bunch (1969)

Sam Peckinpah's reputation for creating violent, action packed, blood soaked movies, on the strength of this viewing is deserved.

The Wild Bunch starts out in Texas in 1913. Pike Bishop, played by William Holden, is the leader of a gang of ageing outlaws, who plan to do one more robbery before retiring.

The gang featuring, amongst others, screen legend Ernest Borgnine (Dutch Engstrom), set out to rob a railroad office, where they learn that a cache of silver is being held.

Unknown to the robbers, the railroad office is being staked out by a posse of men hired by the railroad company, lead by Bishop's former partner Deke Thornton played by Robert Ryan, who has been promised a full pardon if he apprehends the wild bunch.

After the botched robbery attempt, the outlaws make their escape across the border to Mexico, and encounter General Mapache, a corrupt dictator, who wants the outlaws to steal a large consignment of weapons being taken by locomotive to a U.S. army base in exchange for $10,000 in gold.

Angel, a member of the gang, who is opposed to Mapache's regime, makes a deal with Pike to exchange his share of the money offered for one of the cases of weapons to be smuggled to a group of rebels, who want to bring down Mapache.

As you might already have gathered, things go rather awry.

Comparing this film to fellow AFI 100 selection #96 The Searchers, although they're both westerns, The Wild Bunch has a visual style of it's own, with multiple camera angles, as well as slow motion sequences that really emphasise the grimness of the graphic shoot outs.

Although the film runs for a total of 145 minutes, it never feels like any undue padding has been added, and the pace of events keeps you wanting to know what happens next.

So overall, a good solid western.

Doctor Who: Earth Story Boxset

I bought this because of my typically nerdy completist need to own all of the classic series DVDs.

I watched The Gunfighters first as it has been championed by Steven from the Radio Free Skaro podcast and others such as Toby Hadoke (who moderates the commentary on this DVD).

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The story is quite fun, and is a light hearted take on the classic western movie genre.

The Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive in Tombstone in the 19th century just in time to witness the events that took place prior to the famous shoot out at the OK Corral.

The show is played out as a comedy/drama with the emphasis on comedy. This could be seen as William Hartnell's last full story in the role of the Doctor, as Mr Hartnell's ill health forced the production team to find new and inventive ways to take him out of the story for the bulk of the subsequent serials of the third series.

And I have to say, he's pretty good! Often seen as a rather grumpy individual, Hartnell takes to the comic role with aplomb. Peter Purves should get a special mention also as he was increasingly required to carry the show toward the end of his stay on Doctor Who.

The story is paced well, which can't be said of all 1960s era episodes, the only negative thing I could say, having watched it for the first time, is the frequent use of 'The Ballad Of The Last Chance Saloon' sung well by Lynda Baron, which I found somewhat grating. In fairness this story was only ever considered by the production team to be transmitted once over a four week period, rather than watched back to back in one go.

So, it does enough to shake off it's "worst ever episode" tag (if you have any suggestions post them below), but not quite a classic.



The second DVD in this set is 1984s The Awakening, starring Peter Davison as the Doctor with Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson as Tegan and Turlough.

The story takes place in 1984, in the normally sleepy English village of Little Hodgcombe. Tegan asks the Doctor if they can go and visit her grandfather who lives in the village. It doesn't take long for them to realise that something is wrong.

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Tegan's grandfather has mysteriously disappeared, the rather unpleasant Sir George Hutchinson has sealed off the village so that no one can get in or out, while he plans a re-enactment of a battle that took place in the village during the civil war in 1643, and has plans to make Tegan "Queen of the May", which is not something you would want to be selected for.

During the course of the story, the TARDIS crew befriend Will Chandler,  a peasant from 1643, who has crossed a timeline and ended up in 1984. The Doctor investigates the strange goings on and discovers evidence of an aborted alien invasion back in Will's time, but did all the aliens leave?

I remember liking this watching it the first time around as an eleven year old (God I feel old!), but as John Nathan Turner once famously said "The memory cheats".

There are some good performances, the regular cast are all on full form, and there are some decent turns from the guest cast, particularly Polly James as Jane Hampden and Glyn Houston as Colonel Wolsey.

The problem seems to stem from the lack of time over two episodes to cover all the plot points in a satisfactory manner. In the DVD extras, it is revealed that the story was originally intended to be a four part story, which would explain what would seem to be a rather rushed ending.

As with much of the classic series DVD releases, the bonus material is excellent, with commentaries for both stories,  a retrospective look at the latter part of William Hartnell's tenure as the Doctor, a making of for The Awakening, and the usual informative and entertaining info text, to name a few.

Overall a good value set, but possibly not the one to use to introduce friends to 'Classic Who' for the first time.

AFI 100 Movies #96 The Searchers (1956)

The Searchers starts in 1868, John Wayne stars as Ethan Edwards, who has just returned to his brother Aaron's homestead from fighting for the Confederacy in the civil war.

Not long after Ethans return, Aaron's Neighbours the Jorgensens have their cattle stolen by rustlers. Ethan, Captain Samuel Clayton and a band of Texas rangers set out to try and track down the thieves.

Upon their return to the homestead they are horrified to discover the ranch ablaze. They find Aaron, his wife Martha, and their son Ben, murdered by comanches, and Aaron's two daughters, Lucy and Debbie (Natalie Wood) are missing, presumed abducted by the natives.

In the film, although it is never explicitly spoken of,  you get the impression that Ethan was closer to his brother's wife than he should have been, and that Ethan might secretly be the youngest daughter Debbie's father.

A group of men is quickly assembled to track down the comanches and rescue the girls. When they find their camp it is deserted, they continue searching and are almost done for when the natives stage an attack.

Although the group survive the comanche assault, only three men go on to continue the search; Ethan, Brad Jorgensen (Lucy's fiance) and Martin Pawley (the girl's adopted brother) played by Harry Carey Jr and Jeffrey Hunter respectively.

The three men's journey goes on for many years, however, three soon become two, when Ethan discovers Lucy's body (there is an inference that more than murder has occurred) Brad goes into a rage and storms into the native camp and is killed.

Something that struck me, watching this film in 2011, is the racism displayed by many of the characters. John Wayne's character Ethan, discovers that Debbie has been indoctrinated in to the comanche tribe, he would rather see her dead than live as an "Indian". Even one of the more sympathetic female characters tells Martin that Debbie's mother would have approved of Ethan's threat to "put a bullet in her brain". The director, John Ford, has commented on this element of the film, suggesting that this kind of racism was rife in the old west, and I suppose he has a point, but it's still a little unsettling.

On a more positive note, the remastered Blu Ray print looks pristine, and monument valley, used as a backdrop in 2011's series of Doctor Who looks as epic as it ever has.

So, to conclude, even with some striking cinematography, this was probably my least favourite movie in the AFI 100 so far.