what a stinker...
there really isn't much redeeming about this movie.
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MovieChat Forums > Navajo Joe (1966) Discussion > what a stinker...
Burt Reynolds in his prime (doing all his own stunts), another great Ennio Morricone score and the raven-haired babe Estella, to name three redeeming factors.
My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/
A better title would've been violento ridicolmente. Burt Reynolds should've ran that by Signore Corbucci because that is exactly what the movie is. It got to the point where I was shaking my head. It was almost comical. I didn't like this movie at all. It had bad acting and bad writing. It left me unimpressed, uninspired, and sorry I wasted my time. I haven't seen any of Corbucci's other movies. I have heard of Django. I'm sure anything else he did was far better than this nonsense. I wasn't expecting the movie to be as good as a Sergio Leone picture, but come on.
shareIt got to the point where I was shaking my head. It was almost comical... I wasn't expecting the movie to be as good as a Sergio Leone picture, but come on.
Like Leone's Spaghetti Westerns (e.g. the "man with no name" trilogy) aren't comical. They have style, yes, but they have goofy elements, paper-thin "characters," and can't be taken seriously. Without Morricone's score, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" would've been a colossal bore; and parts of it are with it.
Not that "Navajo Joe" is great, by any means, but I gave it a solid 6/10 for the positive items noted above.
My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
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It was comical because it was, as I said in Italian, ridiculously violent. It got to be a joke after a while. I was shaking my head. Leone's film you are referring to, is a masterpiece, in my opinion. His Man With No Name trilogy was very good too. My personal favorite of Leone's films is Once Upon a Time in the West. Leone's movies had great directing, great writing and very good acting. Leone had guys like; Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonte, Henry Fonda, and Charles Bronson. All of that is more than I can say for Sergio Corbucci's Navajo Joe. Even Burt Reynolds hated it. He should've read the script before doing it. The only reason he agreed to make this was because he thought Sergio Leone was directing. I doubt Leone would've touched this. All of Leone's films are very highly rated. If you ask me, as low as it is, Navajo Joe's rating is too high.
shareThere's no doubt that Leone was a revolutionary filmmaker with style to spare, but his 'Man with No Name' trilogy was cartoony with, like I said, paper-thin "characters."
Leone's film you are referring to, is a masterpiece,
"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is iconic and I list it with my favorite Westerns, but it has too many weaknesses in my opinion to be deemed a masterpiece. For one, it's way overlong; it simply doesn't have the thematic substance or interesting characters to merit such a length (roughly 3 hours). At, say, 90 minutes it would've been great. Yes, it pulsates with creativity (which is why it's on my favorites list), but it's just a movie about three greedy dirtbags trying to apprehend treasure (sssnnnnoooorrreee). It's hard (for me) to fathom that it's listed as the 6th greatest movie of all time, according to the IMDb poll.
If you ask me, as low as it is, Navajo Joe's rating is too high.
It currently has a rating of 6.4 on IMDb, which isn't low; it's a very respectable rating. I agree though that it's (a little) too high. Like I said, I gave it a 6/10 for the positive aspects I mentioned, but maybe it's closer to a 5/10.
My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/ share
I disagree with you on The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly completely. But that's okay. When you talk about Leone and style, it seems like you're saying all style and no substance. But I might be misunderstanding you. You talk about paper thin characters in Leone's Man With No Name trilogy. Again, I have to disagree with you. Every actor I listed in my previous post had charisma and the characters were interesting. Even Gian Maria Volonte, who always played the villain, was charismatic and interesting. I didn't give a damn about any of the characters in Navajo Joe. Not even the title character. Someone on IMDB posted a thread asking if the character died. By the end of the movie, I really didn't care.
You also said that the characters in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly were all just greedy scumbags. I disagree with that. They acted exactly the way they were written. Eli Wallach's character was actually the most greedy. I think Lee Van Cleef's character only wanted his share, but was a bad man, and Eastwood's character was the good man. Actually, Eastwood's character never voluntarily got into the whole thing in the first place. He kind of got forced into it. Also remember that they showed in scenes, one in particular, how Eastwood's character showed mercy and compassion. Remember when he found an enemy soldier dying and he put a coat over him and gave him a smoke? You believe it was too long and I disagree. It is very long, but for me it always goes by fast. But like I said, that's just my opinion.
By the way, what do you think of Once Upon a Time in the West? I'm interested.
You make some good defenses of "The Good..." in response to my criticisms; in fact, you inspire me to see it again. Keep in mind, though, that it is indeed one of my favorite Westerns and my cavils are generalities. I should've said that (I feel) it would've worked better as a 2-hour film, not 90 minutes. (You can check out my "Best Westerns" list here, if interested: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls058973699/ ).
I saw (rented) "Once Upon..." about fifteen years ago; I also own a cd with the memorable score. I remember liking it and you can't go wrong with Bronson, Fonda and Claudia Cardinale, but fifteen years is a long time and I need to give it a fresh viewing to properly evaluate it.
My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/
I saw your list. We both like a lot of the same Westerns.
shareCool. Don't hesitate to share some of your favorites; I'm always looking for inspiration in movie viewing.
My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/
Do you like High Noon? Just watched it. I see you like Nevada Smith. I love that movie.
shareYes, I've seen it, but like "Once Upon..." it's been years and I'd have to re-see it in order to properly review it and possibly place it on my favorites' list. I do own the 2000 remake, however, with Tom Skerritt.
My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/
I'm a huge John Wayne fan. One of my favorite John Wayne movies is The Sons of Katie Elder. Did you ever see that one?
shareYes, on TV about 20 years ago (I can't believe it's been that long!). Obviously I remember very little about it, but I recall reading that it was a hit at the box office when it originally came out.
My 150 (or so) favorite movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/
I saw a movie that was a low budget Spaghetti Western called Fast Hand is Still My Name. It starred Alan Steel, whose real name was Sergio Ciani. He was one of those muscle men from those Hercules movies. By no means is the movie a great movie. But it's entertaining and it's comical. I found it online on DVD real cheap. It's available to see on youtube if you are interested. When you see it, you'll notice it has one of the most inappropriate scores. The dubbing is one of the funniest things about the movie. It's one of those typical revenge stories, which was most of the Spaghetti Westerns and even Westerns. The storyline actually wasn't bad. I almost wish they'd remake it.
shareWhat? I thought this movie was awesome.
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