Saturday, August 08, 2009

3:10 Yuma; King of Ants

Movie bad guys
I am famously an all-or-nothing guy, and lately that's manifested itself as a movie binge.  Watching Appaloosa made me hungry for more Westerns, so I finally watched 3:10 to Yuma.  Having seen the 1957 Glenn Ford, Van Heflin version, this remake was way down my list of movies I wasn't watching anyway.  Absolutely terrific acting, and of course quite different from the original - as scored by body count.  I love villainous villains, and Charlie Prince is so nasty I wanted to kill him myself.  And the Messican sharpshooter.   I also learned from watching the credits that  3:10 to  Yuma began life as an Elmore Leonard short story. Mmmmm. Elmore Leonard. 

Somehow, HFS, I then latched onto "King of the Ants."  I'll leave it at this.  If you liked Reservoir Dogs, this is for you. And yes, that is Normy from Cheers, still sucking down brewskis.   I couldn't stop watching.  There is so much evil in this film that the central character, sociopath Sean Crawley,  somehow rides away on a moral high horse.  I wanted to shoot everyone in this movie, except the woman. Good acting jobs all around.

6 comments:

B....... said...

Hee! Heee! More movie goodies. I just watched the 1957 3:10 to Yuma last night on DirecTV - thumbs up, I'm a sucker for a happy ending. I've had the new 3:10 on my NetFlix Queue, but I keep sliding it down for the reasons you stated. Now I'll let it bubble up , on your description. I'm adding King of the Ants, but if it makes my wife cry.....

Did I mention that I lived in Yuma in the late 60's - uh, never mind......

Anonymous said...

Try the old Appaloosa, the one with Brando as a Gringo, adopted and raised by a Mexican family. Pretty good revenge flick.

A genre I like, a lot.

jd

Rodger the Real King of France said...

I of course don't know your wife, but King of the Ants made my dog cry. Evidently the director is known as the king of horror, a genre I normally skip.

Anonymous said...

Elmore Leonard also wrote Tell Them Valdez Is Coming, which became a film staring Burt Lancaster. 10 popcorn containers on my rating scale.

H

Anonymous said...

"Tell Them Valdez Is Coming"
I wish they would remake it with a Mexican actor in the title roll. The book was great! As was the book and Movie "Hombre" yet another great EL story.

pdwalker said...

*adds them to the watch list*

Thanks!

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