A two-fisted, pistol packin' Ronald Reagan

LAW AND ORDER (1953)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When I think back to Ronald Reagan, the actor, I think of "Bedtime for Bonzo" and "Knute Rockne." I tend to forget he was in some westerns and that, overall, he was quite the lawman (and an adept horse rider) in "Law and Order," a two-fisted, colorful, highly romanticized and thoroughly exciting western. It is the top-of-the-line western for those who believe that heroes were once heroes, and the villains were easy to pick out from a lineup.

This remake of a 1932 film of the same name takes the same idea of Tombstone and the Wyatt Earp legend and, basically, changes the names and settings. Frame Johnson (Ronald Reagan) is the retired marshal who wants to own a ranch and live with his dynamic girlfriend and saloon owner, Jeannie (Dorothy Malone), in a new town called Cottonwood. Of course, easier said than done when there are some old scores to settle. Mr. Johnson had been rumored to have amassed a high body count in his day, and many want to see if it is true (though he rather bring a man to justice than shoot him). Mr. Kurt Durling (Preston Foster) lost his hand in a gun battle with Frame and wants no part of this man in his town, which he practically runs. The judge wants Frame to be sheriff and Frame is quite reluctant, so Lute Johnson (Alex Nicol), Frame's brother, becomes sheriff. And all hell breaks loose in typical Technicolor western fashion, replete with exciting shoot-outs and very well-choreographed fistfights.

Reagan has a tough sincerity that is refreshing for this Wyatt Earp revision, and he has the dynamite presence of those red-blushed cheeks of Dorothy Malone to smile at often. The Durlings (including a young Dennis Weaver) are properly villainous to the nth degree, and the settings and locales are authentic. In short, "Law and Order" is not a great movie nor is it among the twenty-five best films the western genre has to offer. But as a Saturday matinee on a rainy day, it will do just fine.

Preacher, gunslinger, classic Glenn Ford

HEAVEN WITH A GUN (1969)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Gunslinger: 'I am burying a man.'

Cowpoke:    'That's a sheepherder.'

Gunslinger: 'I know.'

This small dialogue exchange is the opening sequence of "Heaven With a Gun," a strange western that somehow manages to work even if it shouldn't. The parts of the film do not make a cohesive whole but they do make a watchable film, if nothing else.

"Heaven With a Gun" stars Glenn Ford as the gunslinger in that sequence, a man named Jim Killian who certainly doesn't like to see sheepherders, particularly Hopi Indian sheepherders, hanged. Nonetheless, after burying the man and forcing two cattle cowpokes to make wave, Jim arrives in the town Vinegaroon, populated by the usual kinds of characters such as drunk cowboys, genial storekeepers, loose prostitutes who demand prompt payment for their duties, and so on. And, as always, there is a poker game involving high stakes with the former cowpokes Jim had confronted earlier. One of them is Coke (David Carradine), "the wild mustang," who is ready to kill Jim. And we get the obligatory scene of an impending act of violence at a poker table interrupted by the owner of the saloon/bar (known as the "Road to Ruin"). In this case, it is a breath of fresh air named Madge (the fabulous Carolyn Jones), who knows Jim from the past.

Jim's intention is to start a church in town called "The Mission Church of the Good Shepherd." That's right, he is not only a gunslinger, he is a preacher! He is heaven with a gun, similar to the character Eastwood would later play in "Pale Rider." He hopes to bring faith and communion into the town, and also hopes that the sheepherders and the cattle herders will agree that both animals can graze on the same range. Naturally, Jim's plan is met with plenty of disapproval from the cattle herders, including the grizzly Asa Peck (John Anderson). And there are also other obstacles, such as a Hopi woman named Leloopa (an unrecognizable Barbara Hershey), who wants to cook and clean for Jim since he buried her father. And perhaps Madge is a little jealous of this woman, considering that she thinks Jim is the man for her.

"Heaven With a Gun" does have its flaws. The introduction of a man named Mace (J.D. Cannon) who served prison time with Jim simply marks time - the character is evil yet has charisma and yet you wish there was more of him. Also there is a rape scene in the film that also feels extraneous, not to mention a near scalping of another character. The violence is so heavy and the sheepherders are so clearly without redeeming value that you wish there was something more than the ending that is given. It all feels anticlimactic but I will say this - it is a rare kind of ending for a western and must have been placed there because of the pacifist times in which it was made.

On the plus side, Glenn Ford is in fine form, exuding toughness, sweetness and a tinge of humor - he also makes the character of Jim soulful and forgiving. Ford's scenes with the lovely Carolyn Jones are wonderful if short-lived. I also like Barbara Hershey, despite the fact she looks too pristine to be a Hopi Indian (check out those sparkling white teeth!) Scenes of a barn being turned into a church and a nude woman sitting outside a house are rarities in this genre, not to mention the ending. "Heaven With a Gun" is fine, two-fisted entertainment but it does ring a little hollow. Nonetheless, the cast makes it as close to heaven as a western could ever be.

Kubrickian Path to War

PATHS OF GLORY (1957)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Paths of Glory" is one of the greatest war films ever made, an indictment on war and the complex morality behind the decisions made in trench warfare. What helps make it so complex and involving in every scene is the direction by Stanley Kubrick and the exquisitely precise and multilayered screenplay by Kubrick, Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson.

Set in France in 1916, the film begins with the arrival of General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) at a French chateau where he meets with General Mireau (George Macready) to discuss the golden opportunity of taking the "Ant Hill," a no man's land held by the Germans. The notion is that if Mireau takes the command, he may be promoted and it is also an event for the media to focus on. Mireau, the determined optimist, immediately tells Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) of the news, much to Dax's dismay. Dax defends his position by quoting from Samuel Johnson ("patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel") and feeling his men are not up to the task so soon. Accompanying Broulard is Major Saint-Auban (Richard Anderson, best known for his role in "The Six Million Dollar Man" TV show) who refers to the soldiers as having a herd instinct, or stated as "an animal sort of thing." Dax corrects the major, reminding him they are human after all. Nevertheless, Dax is convinced of taking the "Ant Hill," perhaps in fear he will be rep laced by someone who will not take proper care of his men. Thus the colonel tells his men that they must be prepared to attack, though the fact that the weather will be clear and sunny as opposed to foggy and cloudy establishes this battle as a losing proposition.

"Paths of Glory" has two scenes of battle, one quiet and serene and the other noisy and confusing. The first scene is of a patrol organized to navigate no man's land. They include the alcoholic Lieutenant Roget (Wayne Morris), Corporal Paris (Ralph Meeker) and Private Lejeune (Ken Dibbs). The area is already littered with shell holes, corpses, lots of wire and rubble. Lejeune is inadvertently killed by Lieutenant Roget, the first accused of "cowardice in the face of the enemy" by Corporal Paris.

The other battle is of course the taking of Ant Hill, which becomes a haelstorm of explosions and bullets in and around the trenches. The men fear getting too close to the German wire because of the intensity of the explosions, and are almost killed by General Mireau who is infuriated that they would stay in the trenches to avoid enemy fire. Three soldiers under Dax's command are arbitrarily chosen to be court-martialed and face execution for "cowardice in the face of the enemy." One of them is Corporal Paris, who is ironically picked by Lieutenant Roget.

"Paths of Glory" follows the trial leading to the execution, seen as justice for men who refused to fight, and Kubrick and the writers Willingham and Thompson ask tough questions with little in the way of a clear-cut resolution. Should these men be executed for acting cowardly and not advancing in no man's land? Is General Mireau any less guilty for almost having his men killed by their own troops for not advancing? At one point, Colonel Dax even asks to be set as an example for his men by being executed, but is instead left as a defense lawyer for the three charged men in the court martial proceedings. What Kubrick shows, and what has become a staple of his later work, is that the powerful men at the top, namely General Broulard and General Mireau, see these soldiers as nothing more than animals and treat them as such, stating that if the enemy fire was so intense, the result would have been corpses littered around the trenches, not cowards. Ironically, during the penultimate final scene in the chateau, General Mireau reminds Broulard that the man he stabs in the back is a soldier. The inhumanity and lack of sympathy is powerfully shown in Kubrick's treatise on war, and lead the way to many more ambiguous moral lessons in human behavior in films such as "Dr. Strangelove" and especially "A Clockwork Orange."

Based on the 1935 World War I novel by Humphrey Cobb, "Paths of Glory" is emotionally wrenching and thrillingly realized. Every sequence is masterfully composed and framed, including the dolly shots through the trenches where Dax and General Broulard frequently travel while explosions are heard in the background. The court martial sequence in the chateau is as tense and nail-biting as the execution itself.

The dialogue is also crisp and direct. I loved the conversations between Broulard, Mireau and Dax in the chateau, a setting for a different kind of battleground where words and strategies are exchanged in reference to the lives of the soldiers. Backstabbing and political ambition are primary goals, though Dax is an idealist - he cares for his men and says or does nothing as a means of promotion from his rank. The higher-ups are of different mindsets, and it is extraordinary to watch Kirk Douglas's blunt, sympathetic Dax, Adolphe Menjou's arrogant, pitiless General Broulard, and the cold, remorseless General Mireau brilliantly portrayed by George Macready commingle and argue over the reality of war's traumas and heartaches.

"Paths of Glory" is a tough, demanding work that generated a lot of controversy over its cynical presentation of how men of power handle their own men in the face of war. But there is beauty too, as evidently shown in the final shot where a German farm girl (Suzanne Christian, who became Mrs. Kubrick at that time) sings a sentimental song from the "Musical Memories of Germany" and causes the audience of soldiers to weep when they were initially jeering her. I also like what could be a throwaway moment where Private Arnaud (Joseph Turkel, who later appeared in "The Shining") describes how being shot down and killed instantly is preferable to being wounded. There is humanity in these men, these soldiers who fight in the trenches for the benefit of pleasing some higher-ranking officials and, of course, to win the war. Here is an anti-war film that sticks to its guns and shows, in the words of Ernest Hemingway, that war is a crime no matter how justified.