Monte Walsh (1970)

One of my favorite westerns; also tops is another based on a Jack Schaefer novel: "Shane".The acting in MW and Shane is top-notch, and I can't think of better casting. Palance and Marvin are perfect. Everyone else, too. I'm not crazy about "The Good Days are Over," but it doesn't really get in the way.I'm finally reading the book. Wowee! What a gem. As I always do, I picture the actors in the movie as I read. Jack as Chet, Lee as Monte, Jim Davis as Cal -- perfect again. Really makes a book come alive to picture those guys as you read, much like Gregory Peck as Atticus.No, the book and movie are different. But there are two scenes in the movie, two of my favorites, that are in the book: cookie's EX-LAX revenge and the bunkhouse brawl.It says something about a book and a movie that you really care about the characters. Slash Y forever.Plus Chet was from Illinois, he was proud of that. He was more specific in the book: 40 miles west of Chicago. Me, too. I like the connection. P.S. Did you know that Hickok and Earp were Illinoisans?

I started watching westerns back in the 1940's, when I was a boy, so I grew up during the golden age of Western films, and I saw most of them, including the great ones, like "Red River", "My Darlin' Clementine", and "Shane". Monte Walsh has no bad performances, they are all outstanding. The casting is superb, and the story line is compelling, to say nothing of the excellent photography, score, and set design. The film is a valedictory to the closing of the old west. I love this film, and having it seen it a number of times over the years, I've yet to find a flaw. Some of the scenes look as if they came to life directly from a Remington painting, and the cameo performances highlight the essential theme of the film, which is the passing of an era, and the love these men have for their way of life, and each other. Lee Marvin and Jack Palance are marvelous. Together with the aforementioned films, Shane and the others, The Searchers, The Ox Bow Incident, and Tom Horn, this film "Monte Walsh" is on my list of top ten. Highly recommended.

Monte Walsh (1970)A large amount of Cowboy films or Westerns suffer from a cheesy song that either begins the show or ends it. In few cases the song works as is the case with High Noon (1952) but usually they do not.Monte Walsh (1970) begins with a particularly awful song composed by the usually reliable John Barry of Zulu and James Bond fame. This song not only starts the picture, it repeats in the middle and ends it too.Apart from this terrible composition, Monte Walsh is an excellent, if gentle Cowboy film that shows the end of the Cowboy days in the face of corporate control of the "common" land. The movie is really a character study of simple men facing an uncertain future and this is helped enormously by a wonderful cast and great performances by Lee Marvin and Jack Palance.Lee Marvin as usual commands the screen. His performance is perfectly paced and very moving. This is a far better movie than the shallow and more widely available 2003 remake starring the one-note Tom Selleck, even if it has a higher rating on IMDb.Monte Walsh (1970) is an unfairly neglected western.

Gray-haired cowboy Lee Marvin (as Monte Walsh) and sidekick Jack Palance (as Chet Rollins) arrive in the western town of "Harmony", looking for honest work. After "a long winter," Mr. Marvin spends some quality time under the sheets with mistress Jeanne Moreau (as Martine Bernard). Marvin has a hard time getting his cigarette rolled, but manages to fire up Ms. Moreau. He and Mr. Palance meet ill-tempered Mitchell Ryan (as Shorty Austin), a younger rancher pal; "introduced" to feature films herein, Mr. Ryan was familiar to daytime TV viewers as the missing "Burke Devlin" from "Dark Shadows"."Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever," Palance observes. First-time director, and capable cinematographer, William A. Fraker takes "Monte Walsh" on a sometimes too leisurely pace; the film takes its sweet time, but pleases if you've got the patience. The theme is the disappearance of the old west (and, of course, the Western genre). That it's a post peak period western is ironically obvious as "Mama" Cass Elliott sings John Barry's theme "The Good Times Are Coming" (a minor "Easy Listening" hit). Mr. Fraker, Marvin, Ryan, and Palance are at career peaks. If this is any indication, westerns didn't need to fade away as much as they needed to grow old gracefully.********* Monte Walsh (10/2/70) William A. Fraker ~ Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, Jeanne Moreau, Mitchell Ryan