I have seen a lot of similaries between these two movies, not the least of
which is Richard boone as the villian and the towns that they travel to are
the same. You have a stage ride, ransom money in the balance and one lone
man to fight the battle. Has anybody else seen any other simularities?
Dear friend:
I need some help and choosed you at random. I saw The Tall-T last night (very late), and I do not understand why did Richard Boone returned if he already had the money? I did not recognize Maureen O'Sullivan.
By the way, I may not agree with your expression: "...for a 1929 western". "Tumbleweeds" was made in 1928 or 1929 and is one of the best westerns ever made (probably number one in my list). The Iron Horse and The Covered Wagon (both silents) are also masterpieces.
Those Randolph Scott/Audie Murphy B-westersn are fantastic; better than most Gary Cooper/John Wayne A-westerns ("most"). Wonderful screenplays, great characterizations. The best are (Murphy): No Name on the Bullet, Seven Ways from Sundown; (Scott): Seven Men from Now and The Tall-T.
And now, the 10 best westerns:
Tumbleweed,
Shane
High Noon
The Wild Bunch
Stagecoach
For a Few Dollars More
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance (better than The Searchers)
Rio Bravo
Dances with Wolves
Fugitive Josey Wels
(Like most 10 best lists, 7 choices are unavoidable, 3 are arguable: How about The Magnificent Seven or Littel Big Man?).
My favorite underrated western is Garden of Evil --it looks like an Antonioni film. The Mexican man who yells while dying: "¡Bandidos... cobardes... asesiiiiiiiinos...!" is Victor Manuel Mendoza, very famous in his home country. I saw it for the first time when I was about 5 or 6 years old.
Thank you for your time,
Franklin
It is true Richard Boone could have rode off with the money but then he didn't know Scott had killed off his men and if he had for all he knew they would be looking for him. But I also don't think it was really fear of them but rather he was loyal to them. That is just my opinion.
sharebut then he didn't know Scott had killed off his men and if he had for all he knew they would be looking for him.
You bring up a very important part of the film. A bad guy with some good traits. You see this in all the Burt Kennedy scripts.
Boone was the leader of a gang that engaged in robbery and first degree murder but he had personally never killed anybody. He shows some human characteristics. There is always a "bad guy" in each of these films that does it is not all black and white.
So in this case Boone's character is honest enough to split the loot with his 2 young cohorts instead of just making a break for it. An honest criminal?
Boone's character was just as much of a psychopath as Silva's or Homier's. He ordered all the killings they carried out. Not pulling the trigger himself didn't make him any less guilty than they were. The difference was that he was smarter, and expressed some more complex thoughts than they were capable of, being nothing but low-IQ animals.
shareYour top 10 list is very respectable. Just the first one Tumbleweed did not jump out at me as a classic or as well known as the 9. Have to look it up. Know the 9 well, saw most a few viewings but can't place Tumbleweed.
In a way The Wild Bunch is almost a post-Western out of the category of the mainstream.
It's more like the urban slaughter fest films popular then, just placed out yonder and back in time. Bunch is terrific film but the emphasis is on creative death shootings & killings in a Vietnam era format - influenced by likes of Bonnie and Clyde.
Couple other choices more conventional to the selections might be Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Silverado.
Liberty Valance also bit iffy from when saw it as a kid. Either Butch or Silverado better choices.
And for a truly modern Western drama sleeper there's McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Very adult story and players handled in quite original form. Worth a look if need a change from the black/white ordinary format of this genre.
Richard Boone was a great villain and in this movie he was great. I believe that had he or Lee Marvin starred as Frank Miller in High Noon that they would have been outstanding.
shareMany similarities between The Tall T and Hombre. Both films involved passengers on a stagecoach accosted by outlaws, and in both films their leader was Richard Boone. Also, in each film a woman is betrayed by her cowardly husband.
shareI know the OP is about similarities in plot and character, but it appears that the stagecoach used in both movies was the same one. They both had Hatch and Hodges written on the side. That was the name of the stagecoach line shown in the first few minutes of The Tall T. I'm assuming it was still around as a prop ten years later for Hombre.
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