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Originally Posted by demonrail666

I think in part its reputation is purely historical: talking very broadly, it helped modernise the western away from the 'singing cowboy' stuff with Roy Rogers, etc and its B movie origins, as well making a star out of Wayne and a cult figure out of Ford - arguably the first Hollywood director to gain a following at a time when the overwhelming focus was still on the studios/producers and the stars. As such, it also helped establish the idea that great directors could express themselves in the kinds of genre films that'd traditionally had a quite low status, while helping to inspire a group of young European critics to start talking about the possibility of a Hollywood 'auteur', able to rival the established European directors - many of whom (like Lang, Hitch, Renoir) were far more open to taking on genre films when they moved to Hollywood because of the artistic credibility Ford gave them in Stagecoach.

So in a sense its reputation is pretty academic. It's the set text that underpins much of what's taught in Film Studies programmes today. Beyond that it's more subjective. I just think it's a great western. It may have dated slightly politically but there's a kind of epic timelessness to it, bordering on pure mythology. As well as that, something that I think often gets overlooked by people who focus perhaps a bit too much on Ford's purely 'western' content, is what a great romance it is. The love affair between Ringo and Dallas is one of my favourites in any film, regardless of genre.

Tombs of the Blind Dead is great. Actually that's not true. It's pretty boring for the most part. It does have the coolest zombies you'll ever see, though. No mean feat given the amount we've seen over the years.

 

 

thanks for that post mang. that was pretty great. in a hurry right now but thanks.