Westerns to watch

I've come to a somewhat belated appreciation of the Western as the American genre, both in print and in film. I've read a few books here and there, and picked up a ton of Zane Gray books for my Kindle (for free, even.) And I've watched my share of Westerns over the years, although many of the titles escape me. The only westerns that I own have been Tombstone and Silverado. My folks, after a little discussion, sent me a few el cheapo DVDs that are among their favorite westerns that they either think I need, or that I haven't seen. This post is to make a quick list of what I want to watch in the relatively near term. 

I'm going to mostly de-emphasize spaghetti and revisionist westerns, although I do want to watch the Dollars trilogy again because I haven't seen it in a long time.  Anyway, here's the list.

• Angel and the Badman - an older John Wayne that my folks sent me.
• Tall in the Saddle - the same as above.
• Crossfire Trail - my mom's favorite western; Tom Selleck playing the lead character in a L'Amour adaptation.
• The Sheepman - I've seen this one before, but it's my dad's favorite western. An interesting counterpoint to those who say that the spaghetti western redefined the western protagonist. I wonder if the people who say that think that John Ford was the only maker of westerns before Leone or something.
• A Fistful of Dollars
• For a Few Dollars More
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Hang 'Em High - I've also never seen this one, and I'll add it in.
• Once Upon a Time in the West - I said I'm not trying to prioritize revisionist and spaghetti westerns, but I've also actually never seen this one and I'd like to.
• The Legend of the Lone Ranger - the 1981 version. I've always wanted to see this one, and it looks like it's actually an old fashioned rather than revisionist western, in spite of its date. It has a bit of a bad reputation as both a flop and a bad movie, but if you note, the Amazon reviews from people who bought it almost routinely say that the bad reputation is undeserved. It's never quite become the sleeper or cult classic, but what the heck; how hard is it to give it a try? Even if it's terrible, I'm only out a couple of bucks for a streaming rental and a couple of hours for watching it. UPDATE: Saw it. Not great. But not bad, really, either. But if that's all you know about the Lone Ranger, it's a sad way to discover the character. Then again, if all you know is the 2013 version, this isn't that bad. Don't get me wrong; it's an objectively badly made movie in some respects, but the plot and characters are notably less annoying than in the more recent one.
• El Dorado - part of a series of classic John Wayne (color ones, not early B&W ones) that are considered real classics of the genre but which I either haven't seen or haven't seen in a long time.
• The Searchers - same as above
• The Cowboys - haven't seen this since I was a kid
• Rio Bravo - one that I'm particularly miffed to have missed. Kind of an answer to High Noon, which I have seen several times.
• Rio Lobo
• The War Wagon
• Rooster Cogburn
• True Grit (sadly, I've only seen the remake. It's good, but I suspect the original is better.)
• Hondo
• McLintock
• The Comancheros
• Shane. This isn't John Wayne, but it's another one that I really should have watched years ago
• Magnificent Seven - I've seen both versions, and even own the second one, but I'd watch them both again

Anyway, that's a big enough list to keep me busy for quite some time. I'll come back to this post and mark movies seen as I watch them, so it'll be a tracking document for me, if you will.

Migration to YouTube

I haven't done much on the blog since Blogger changed its format. It's not that I've struggled with the new format, although it is true that I don't like it, but I've just spent more time doing other things on other platforms. That'll probably be true for the time being. 

I've discovered a new YouTube channel, and I've linked at least one video from it. I highly recommend that you watch a lot more of the channel than just this video, though.

Making Movies with Red Dead

I didn't literally just discover these two YouTube channels, but I'm giving them free advertisement for the three people who may see it here; Voowg and Voyager's Revenge have both utilized the Red Dead Redemption game to make cinematic short movies. Both have different strengths; Voowg seems to have a much better sense of storytelling, whereas Voyager's Revenge is able to use mods to create more unique characters. Both have a very good sense of cinematic direction; i.e., they are able to render very good action sequences, at least. Anyway, I quite like them both. It also really makes me jones for the ability to customize the characters more! Why can't we get some of the story mode clothing in Online? Why can't we get NPC clothing items; like double bandoliers (not crossed; both across the same shoulder) or open vests, or the big hairy coat of Flaco, etc. Why can't we break down the role outfits, when clearly with mods they can be broken down? I had thought that the bandoliers, for example, were just "painted" on the coats, but that's not true; they are regular bandoliers and with mods they can be removed, or used with other outfits, etc. There was a glitch on the PS4 that you could use to get the Carthage crossed bandolier, which seemed to be everyone's favorite, for instance, but it keeps getting patched so it doesn't work anymore. Why not just let us do it anyway period? I wouldn't mind paying the high price for the whole outfit, especially if I could use the components. I said earlier that the bounty hunter outfits, for example, are a mix of really cool and really weird visual cues; do you know who awesome it would be if I could use the Garwood (tier 3) outfit without that weird little poncho on it? It'd be my favorite outfit period, and I'd have all of the colors.

Anyway, here's a few of their better videos; not the ones that focus on outfits, but the ones that focus on being entertaining little short films in their own right.

Here's a sampling:

John as Van Helsing. I've said before that some kind of Supernatural style monster hunter role would be awesome in the game.

Arthur Noir. An expansion on the bounty hunter role that's some kind of detective or lawman would be a great new role too, by the way.

The Frontier Explorer; a more laid-back, interesting one. I don't think there's anywhere to take this into a role, but this is right up my personal alley, certainly, with regards to just exploring and enjoying the outdoors.

Hitman Arthur. The different kind of expansion on the bounty hunter that would be the flip-side of the lawman or detective.

Arthur (and John) as Indiana Jones. Sadly, the collector role just didn't ever manage to be as exciting as this, but some kind of treasure hunter that's actually exciting should be in the game somehow.

Arthur's Valentine bank robbery. Why don't we have heists and an outlaw role? The template already exists in GTA Online, fer cryin' out loud, and it's probably the most requested by the fans.

The Hateful Eight. It says in big letters TARANTINO STYLE, but maybe that just means that instead of plot and story there's a lot of posing and style. That certainly seems like Quentin Tarantino to me; style over substance.