This is one of my favorite movies, even though I'm not a huge fan of westerns (I like them, just not a huge fan). But this is one of the very best. In fact I still can't believe that this movie didn't receive any Academy Award nominations. I think that was a terrible unjust snub. There was certainly stiff movie competition in 1972, but this film should have received multiple nominations; at least in directing and music.
Everything about this movie was absolutely superb; directing, casting, acting, music, cinematography, action scenes, screenplay, dialog, story, everything; that's all I can say. It's simply one of the greats. But I do think the directing, story, and music are exceptional, and the acting outstanding. The only thing one might be concerned with is that it does contain some moderately serious violence. But that's part of realism in great films, and there is much much worse violence in many other films. Some critics have criticized the revenge aspect of the story as violence gratification, and a bad crutch. But I'm not so sure of that; for me the jury's still out on that.
Everybody refers to John Wayne movies in a category of their own since he was such a huge star. So I'm going to do the same: my favorite John Wayne movies in order are: 1) The Shootist (1976), 2) The Cowboys (1972), 3) True Grit (1969), 4) Rooster Cogburn (1975), 5) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962), and 5) North to Alaska (1960). As for John Wayne himself, I didn't agree with most of his politics, and I didn't like many of his early movies or his early acting. But I became a big fan of both his movies and his acting in his later career. During that period he was one of our greatest movie stars.
If you haven't seen this movie, see it! Otherwise you will miss what I think is one of the great experiences in movie arts that this industry has to offer.
Everything about this movie was absolutely superb; directing, casting, acting, music, cinematography, action scenes, screenplay, dialog, story, everything; that's all I can say. It's simply one of the greats. But I do think the directing, story, and music are exceptional, and the acting outstanding. The only thing one might be concerned with is that it does contain some moderately serious violence. But that's part of realism in great films, and there is much much worse violence in many other films. Some critics have criticized the revenge aspect of the story as violence gratification, and a bad crutch. But I'm not so sure of that; for me the jury's still out on that.
Everybody refers to John Wayne movies in a category of their own since he was such a huge star. So I'm going to do the same: my favorite John Wayne movies in order are: 1) The Shootist (1976), 2) The Cowboys (1972), 3) True Grit (1969), 4) Rooster Cogburn (1975), 5) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962), and 5) North to Alaska (1960). As for John Wayne himself, I didn't agree with most of his politics, and I didn't like many of his early movies or his early acting. But I became a big fan of both his movies and his acting in his later career. During that period he was one of our greatest movie stars.
If you haven't seen this movie, see it! Otherwise you will miss what I think is one of the great experiences in movie arts that this industry has to offer.