One thing I have to say before I get into the film stuff is I no longer have the patience to sit through a film I have no interest in or that I don't like. I think it's mainly my sense of time and the fact that I'm aware that a film will take a good 90 minutes of my life and I really don't want to waste 90 minutes on something that I end up feeling was crap. I think I've really got a lot worse in this way as I've aged. I just turn stuff off or walk out if I don't dig it now. There are just so many things I want to do I just won't give up the hour and a half that easy anymore. The last film that really bothered me was Man of the Year. I sat through the whole film, the entire time on the verge of turning it off, and when it was over I was pissed that I sat through such a piece of shit. I rented it when I was sick thinking it had to be at least ok because of the talent involved (Walken, WIlliams, Goldblum, Levinson...I mean come on these are good people) but what a train wreck. Levinson wrote this steaming pile of poo and really all I could think when I was done watching it was he was on some kinda heavy medication when he did and as the medication would wear off he'd drift into writing a different film...or like he was channel surfing and each time he changed the channel he began to write something related to what he was watching. Basically if this was the only film he ever made I'd say the guy was not even qualified to spend the rest of his days making commercials for Drano. Of course I'm probably being a bit harder on this film due to who was involved with making it and it's always more disappointing when good people do something you think is bad. Also, it's not that I'm a movie snob either, I like dumb comedy too and sometimes it's just what you need. Take Leatherheads, the Clooney football comedy, I enjoyed it when we went to see it but I could totally understand somebody else saying it's garbage.

My second point is I still really love going to the movies. Summertime though is sort of a dead time for movies for me. I'm just not interested in most of what is out there so unless I'm invited to go with a group of people I pretty much avoid going this time of year. Hey, there is a really nice hammock in my yard and in the summer I'd rather be in that sucker with a book than watching things explode in a movie theatre. We did see the latest Indiana Jones film and for the most part I thought it was ok but the whole midsection is a long car chase that is boring as all hell and highlights the fact that the film is designed to be more of an amusement park ride than anything else.

This leads to my last point which is that pretty much I watch old films at home most of the time because I know I'm going to get something I enjoy. So, my kick the last few weeks has been westerns, cus I love westerns, and so here are some old westerns I'd recommend:

The Bravados- Gregory Peck saddles up and rides off in a killing mood to track down a gang that killed and raped his wife. This one is pretty timely as we've got an administration and a good deal of the American public that have been in the same mood as Peck since 9/11/2001. All Peck wants to do is kill, kill, kill in this film and it' pretty interesting to watch him in this mode.

Warlock - Henry Fonda is a badass gun for hire and Anthony Quinn is his partner (and wants to be his partner in more ways than one it seems) that are hired to clean up the town of Warlock. Richard Widmark is along for the ride as the gang member who decides to switch sides and become the town sheriff which ends up putting him at odds with Fonda and Quinn. Although the director Ed Dmytryk denies it you may find yourself thinking that long before Brokeback Mountain was even a twinkle in Ang Lee's eye, Quinn played a rather nasty gay cowboy. This ain't your typical western!!

Last Train From Gun Hill - Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn star in this John Sturges directed western about a US marshall getting the guys that killed and raped his wife. Yup, there was a lot of killing, raping, and revenge in the old west.

Man of the West - Anthony Mann directs Gary Cooper, in what many feel was his last great performance, in this fantastic very dark western. I know there are some old movie buffs here (PK) that probably know this film but if you've never seen it and you like westerns go get this right now! First of all, anything directed by Mann is worth your time and to see Coop play a guy who was at one time so nasty "he'd push a man's guts out his back with his bare hands" is kinda fun. Basically Cooper plays a guy who was once a serious badass and fate throws him back in with his old gang. This film may have been the main influence for Eastwood's Unforgiven as we see Cooper's character go through the same transition being forced back to his old ways. Lee J. Cobb is fun and Jack Lord not only takes a beating from Cooper but to humiliate him (in what must have been a pretty shocking moment in 1958) after he's done beating him he strips his clothes off of him. I have to think guys like Scorsese and Peckinpah must have watched this film and thought "Wow!" as this one seems to have really jacked up the nastiness factor going into the 60s.

These films were all labeled "adult westerns" (no, not because they were triple x rated) because they have good guys that are very flawed and deal with some pretty heavy ideas. They all came after The Searchers and I have to figure that they all were sort of trying to take that sort of film to the next level. Peckinpah and the spaghetti westerns certainly show the influence of these films. Of course Sam went even further but I think these are the films that opened that door.