Thanks for the memories!

Simply Perfect

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Set in the year 1900, many years later than most westerns, this film tells the story of Jim Fallon, an unscrupulous but likable timber baron. He has plans to make it big in California where a new law means large swathes of land are up for grabs to anybody who can pay the fees. He is planning to cut down the mighty redwood trees but the Quakers who already there are determined to save the largest and oldest of the trees… the ones Fallon wants the most. They do just about everything legal to stop Fallon but he is willing to play dirty and forms a business partnership with rival loggers. It isn't too long before they turn on him and he starts to side with the settlers.This isn't a classic western but it is a fun way to pass an hour and a half. The story has some decent enough action and an inevitable romance. This romance is a love/hate relationship between Fallon and Alicia Chadwick, the daughter of the Quaker preacher. Early on I was surprised to see Kirk Douglas playing an obviously dishonest character as he is obviously the protagonist… I was less surprised when events lead to him seeing the error of his ways. The setting, among the giant redwoods, is impressive and makes a nice change from the scenery we see in many westerns. While the film shows its age at times the environmental message seems ahead of its times. Kirk Douglas does a solid enough job as Fallon and is ably supported by Eve Miller as Alicia Chadwick and Edgar Buchanan as Walter 'Yukon' Burns amongst others. The action is okay; some bits such as a train crash are rather good while others are not so impressive. Overall this isn't a must see but is worth checking out if you are a fan of westerns.

One of 3 rather unconventional westerns that Kirk Douglas starred in the '51-52 period, the others being: "Along the Great Divide", and "The Big Sky". All 3 are among my favorite westerns, especially this one. Kirk has a great time playing a brazen egomaniacal tightwad Wisconsin lumber baron(Jim Fallon), preparing to move his operation to the newly opened giant redwoods of northern CA. This was a historical trend around 1890-1910, as the most desirable trees in the Great Lakes region had mostly been cut. There seems to be confusion by some reviewers whether giant sequoias or redwoods are involved. This is not helped by the claim by one of the actors that some of these trees are near 4000 years old. That is only true of sequoias, not the featured redwoods! This was a remake of the 1938 Warner's "Valley of the Giants": also shot in Technicolor: a rare luxury at that timeBig Jim Fallon is a charismatic heel, who always seems to be behind in paying his workers, while looking to maximize his near term profits. He offers them a percentage of profits, instead of wages, if they will accompany him to CA. Most sign on. Jim has each sign a claim for a parcel of prime redwood forest, partially occupied by a religious colony who are self-appointed guardians of the biggest oldest trees. Big Jim tries to get friendly with these folks, partially through his folksy charismatic side-kick: Yukon(Edgar Buchanan). He is soon smitten by Alicia, daughter of the colony leader, but is still determined to cut down the biggest trees, by utilizing a new federal law that allows newcomers to appropriate these lands if the present inhabitants don't pay a fee. His bullying tactics cause his buddy Yukon to switch sides, while two of his other partners decide to try to arrange his death.. After Alicia's father and Yukon are accidentally killed by his renegade partners, Fallon is transformed and aids the religious colony, while his former buddies try to stop them from getting their logs to market. In the end, Fallon joins the religious colony and marries Alicia: a conversion nearly as astonishing as that in "3 Godfathers".Edgar Buchanan, as Yukon, and Eve Miller, as Alicia, are really the heart and soul of this yarn. Yukon, as a reformed charismatic gold prospector, who is seduced by the sincerity of the religious cult in their mission to save the biggest trees, and Eve, as a possible love interest, in their separate ways, eventually manage to transform Fallon. Unfortunately, the formulistic script required that Yukon die a martyr to make room for Alicia as Fallon's new best friend.(A similar substitution is evident in "The Far Country", for example).As was the case in many westerns, the lead male gets involved with two marriageable women: one wholesome and the other shady, if flamboyant. Here, Patrice Wymore plays Fallon's long time glamorous shady lady. Eventually, she has to compete with Alicia's wholesome image, and decides to vacate. In the Randolph Scott western "The Man Behind the Gun", Patrice played the winning wholesome gal, while Lina Romay was the losing flamboyant shady lady. Patrice was a striking beauty as showcased in this film, and an excellent underrated actress, with singing and dancing talents, as exhibited in the one number she is given in this film. No wonder Errol Flynn chose her as his last wife. Unfortunately, she caught him during his declining years, with increasing reliance on drugs and alcohol. Also, unfortunately, he would give her a daughter with even greater susceptibility to drug and alcohol addiction, resulting in her early death.Eve Miller, as Alicia, also was perfectly cast, as a wholesome, level -headed, OK-looking woman, though hardly a striking beauty in Patrice's class. Unfortunately, Eve evidently had problems in her real romantic life, and never became a major actress. She never married, and nearly succeeded in a suicide attempt after her suitor wanted to delay marriage. She would succeed in a later suicide attempt. Although major lumber operations did often move from the Great Lakes region to the Pacific Northwest around the turn of the century, the giant redwoods were no longer a virgin resource, as implied in this film. Disappointed CA gold seekers often became lumberjacks in these forests, so that much had been logged by the turn of the century. However, the legal shenanigans over ownership of these forests had some historical reality.Buchanan has one of his more sympathetic and visible roles. Too often he played an ineffective drunkard, cowardly lawman or political blowhard. Perfect as an experienced common sense-dispensing sourdough. Before becoming an actor, he had a career as a dentist!Veteran character actor Roy Roberts had his work cut out for him as Judge Crenshaw, who tried to sort out the snarled land claims and keep the peace between the lumber interests and the religious colony.

The way Kirk Douglas tells it in his autobiography, desperate to be released from his contract with Warners, he offered to do a picture, any picture, entirely free of charge in return for his freedom. It may well be that Jack Warner, in accepting this offer, attempted to kill two birds with one stone - get a freebie from Douglas, who was just becoming a 'name' and stick him in a triple-distilled turkey that would make him if not unemployable then at least undesirable by any of the majors. As we know this ploy - if that is what it was - backfired disastrously and Douglas went on to super stardom but I can't help wondering what he found so bad about, for example, Young Man With A Horn, in which he was top-billed as a fictional trumpet player based on the legendary Bix Biederbecke. Here he walks through a role as a ruthless lumberman in conflict with the Quakers who seek to preserve the giant redwoods which they see as God's bounty as Douglas sees as so much lumber. Barely worth a glance.

Okay western tells the tale of Kirk Douglas as a would-be lumber baron with more charm than business savvy. Not as good as it could have been with a little sharper direction, but the dialog has some spark and Douglas shines like a new penny when he smiles.He gets adequate support from the usual suspects, with Patrice Wymore particularly good as his dance hall prostitute girlfriend. Eve Miller as the real love interest is a bit flat by comparison, even granted that she's stuck in the role of a holy roller trying to protect California's giant redwoods.The plot manages to get genuinely clever at times, with the local judge conspiring to help the Quakers foil Douglas's lumber scheme, Douglas scheming right back, and then the whole thing going topsy-turvy. Still, something is missing (and the faded print I saw didn't help) but the ending goes big to try to save it and nearly succeeds. Worth the time for fans of Douglas, but not a must-see title.