John Wayne Movie Review: ****The War Wagon (1967)

 This is one of the movies that fascinated me as a young man.  It came ut when I was ten.  They way they attack the war wagon is one of thos things that trigger the imagination.  Taw Jackson (John Wayne) leads the effort and he recruits Lomax (Kirk Douglas) guns and safe cracker, Levi Walking Bear (Howard Keel) Native American liaison, Billy Hyatt (Robert Walker Jr.) explosives expert and Wes Fletcher (Keenan Wynn) inside man and wagon transport.  They are going to rob gold from the mine now owned by Frank Pierce (Bruce Cabot) who swindled the property from Jackson, and sent him to jail, while paying to have him shot; by Lomax no less.  Everyone knows Pierce is a crook, but he is a crook who owns the law enforcement.  The other interesting character is Kate (Valora Noland) who is the wife of Fletcher.  He purchased her and treats her poorly and is jealous of everyone.

The part that is not good about the movie is a non-Native American playing the part of the Native American, Walking Bear.  It also plays on stereotypes of Native Americans.  This is a product of the times in Hollywood.

John Wayne Movie: ***^In Harms Way (1965)

 This is a John Wayne movie with lots of supporting stars.  Wayne portrays Admiral Rock.  He is on a destroyer and gets to sea after Pearl Harbor.  His son is Jere (Brandon de Wilde).  Eddington (Kirk Douglas) is Rock's best friend.  Patricia Neal portrays Maggie, who is Rock's new girlfriend.  Jill Haworth portrays Jere's girlfriend.  Jere is an interesting character as he startys the movie being a jerk and then repents.  As a result he is engaged to Jere.  However she goes out with Eddington who rapes her and as a result she suicides.  Eddington is remorseful so takes a dangerous mission, and is able to locate a Japanese fleet, before he is shot down.  

A big battleship is coming down a narrow water pass before the take over the island.  Admiral Rock throws everything at them, mines, PT boats which are decimated.  Rock's son Jere is on a PT boat.   Then they try to stop them with their own boats.  Rock's boat is sunk, but the overall battle turns out to be a victory.

Movie Review: Gun Fight at the OK Corral

This is a movie I recorded with DVR.  It stars Kirk Douglas as Doc Holladay and Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp.  This 1957 movie is loosely based on a gunfight which occurred in 1881.  However, other than that some of the same people were involved, this movie is not a historical representation of what really happened. 
OK Corral is in Tombstone, Arizona.  The movie presents this as Earp and Holladay traveling from Dodge City to give assistance to the brothers of Wyatt Earp in dealing with a cattle family that had a history of rustling and had it out for the Earps.  That Wyatt would travel with Doc Holladay is frowned upon by his brothers who are lawmen, as he has a bad reputation for being a gun slinger.
Added onto this is the intrigue of the women involved.  Doc has a girlfriend who turns to the bad.  Earp has a girlfriend who was a gambler until he fell in love with her.  However in the end, they are both without girlfriends. 
One of the brothers is killed in an ambush, which lead to the confrontation at the corral.  In this movie, the gun battle is a long drawn out affair.  It has the use of shotguns and long rifles and pistols.  It has flanking moves, and fire and obstacles to help in providing cover.  It also has a chase with danger of ambush.