Westerns | Wildside Cinema

Film Review: Marchent’s ‘Cut Throats Nine’ (1972) Brutalizes The Spaghetti Western Genre

Action, Exploitation, Extreme, J. Andersson, Rape/Revenge, Revenge, Spaghetti Westerns, Spain, Westerns No Responses »

Nov 152011

I can imagine the filmmakers having a meeting before the shoot, before a script is presented. They want to make a western, that has been decided, but the writer is seething with anger. He has probably just gotten through a nasty divorce and is angry. They want a movie without heroes. They want everyone that dies to die in the most brutal way possible and the mood should be uncomfortable and filthy.

Boy did they succeed.

A group of soldiers are on their way to a fort with a number of chained Continue reading »

Film Review: Kinski & Trintignant Face Off in Corbucci’s Masterpiece,’The Great Silence’ (1968)

B. Harris, Drama, France, Italy, Spaghetti Westerns, Westerns No Responses »

Nov 302010

Poster Artwork

A small, snow-covered mountain town becomes a bloody battleground when a gang of cunning bounty killers are hired to apprehend religious outlaws hiding in the outlying wooded hills. Preferring to bring them in dead rather than alive, Loco the leader of the bounty killers quickly butts heads with the new sheriff concerning the ruthless methods he employs to collect bounties and his disrespectful transportation of bodies.

When a new gunslinger comes into town, Loco and his boys discover that this is no ordinary hired gun but the legendary Silence; a mute gunman with almost supernatural speed and aim. Turns out Continue reading »

High Plains Invaders (2009)

Action, B. Harris, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Westerns No Responses »

May 292010

DVD Release

The execution of a convicted train robber is interrupted when the town is attacked by a half-dozen spider-like creatures. The convict is forced to team up with a money-hungry bounty hunter, a scientist, a shopkeeper and the woman he once loved in order to figure out a way to stop the never-ending on slaughter of bugs. Unfortunately with the arrival of a massive “rocket ship,” and the deployment of hundreds of more “bugs,” this just may be the end of all mankind unless the survivors can figure out why they’re there and what they want.

I’ve said it dozens of time before and I’ll say it again, I LOVE SCI-FI ORIGINAL FILMS. Excuse me…SYFY ORIGINAL FILMS. Trust me, I know the stories aren’t always good Continue reading »

Heaven’s Gate (1980)

Drama, Westerns No Responses »

Feb 072009

DVD Artwork

Heaven’s Gate (1980)
R1 / NTSC DVD
MGM / 2000
Directed by Michael Cimino
Written by Michael Cimino
Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, Sam Waterston
Review by James Garfield

In late nineteenth-century Wyoming, cattle barons resentful of immigrant homesteaders have, using the excuse of some stolen cattle, hired mercenaries to murder a long list of “thieves and anarchists”. James Averill, a man from a wealthy background, sympathizes with the destitute farmers and tries to prevent the slaughter. Meanwhile, Nathan Champion, one of the mercenaries, rivals him for the affections of Ella Watson, a brothel madam, and begins to wake up to the immoral nature of his task. The rich men have higher governmental powers backing them up, so the farmers realize that their only option is to fight back. Continue reading »

Appaloosa (2008)

Drama, Westerns No Responses »

Feb 072009

DVD Artwork

Appaloosa (2008)
Warner Home Video / 2009
Directed by Ed Harris
Written by Robert Knott, Ed Harris
Cast: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortenson, Jeremy Irons, Renee Zellweger
Review by Adam Tracey

Virgil Cole is a peacemaker and Everett Hitch is his backup. The travel from town to town in the Old West cleaning up towns from criminals and other assorted bad elements for a small price. They come to Appaloosa, who is being bled dry by Richard Bragg and his men. They immediately go to work and kill three of Braggs’ men. This sets the stakes for the showdown, but things are about to get more complicated. Miss Allison French waltzes into town and catches the eye of Cole and Hitch as well as a few others. After being found guilty of murder the peacemakers have to get Braggs to the gallows, without getting knocked off. Continue reading »

A Man Called Horse (1970)

Adventure, Drama, Westerns No Responses »

Aug 152008

Theatrical Poster

British aristocrat John Morgan is abducted by a tribe of Sioux Indians while out hunting in South Dakota. At first they treat him like a slave, a pack animal, but he wins their respect by aiding them against their enemies, the Shoshone tribe. We follow his progress as he undergoes a grueling initiation ritual, marries the chief’s sister, and rises to a position of leadership.

A Man Called Horse was part of the 1970s run of “revisionist Westerns”, films that demythologized the romantic vision of the West hitherto presented in Hollywood films. An important part of this project was to portray American Indians as something other than villains, and in 1970 Man Called Horse was released along with two other important films, Little Big Man and Soldier Blue. The other two films emphasized the victimization of the Indians at the hands of white establishment figures Continue reading »

Pistoleros (2007)

Action, Adventure, B. Harris, Comedy, Crime, Westerns No Responses »

Apr 302008

DVD Release

The mean streets of Copenhagen are ablaze with gunfire when it’s discovered that hardcore criminal Frank Lowies hid a multi-million dollar fortune after a train robbery goes bad. Now every small-time crook and big-time gangster in town is out looking for the money and they’ll shoot, stab and beat anybody that gets in their way, even Frank’s family and crew! Is there really a few mill hidden away or is it all just an urban legend told by two-bit crooks in bars across Denmark?

Pistoleros is the real deal when it comes to low budget crime done right! The film offers up inventive flashbacks, interesting characters and serious action Continue reading »

There Will Be Blood (2007)

B. Harris, Crime, Drama, Westerns No Responses »

Apr 302008

2-Disc SE DVD

Daniel Plainview, an oil tycoon driven by the accumulation of wealth, purchases most of the land in a small California town in order to drill for wells but not without obstacles. One such obstacle is the local preacher, a charismatic, cult-like minister with a hankering for some of Plainview’s oil wealth. As both men achieve their goals, one begins to lose heaven while the other loses his family and sanity.

There Will Be Blood is a brilliant film that will someday be hailed as a true classic of American cinema. Personally, I’ve not seen a film this engrossing since Coppola’s The Godfather; it’s gritty, tense and provocative. Daniel Day-Lewis’ Oscar-winning performance Continue reading »

No Country For Old Men (2007)

B. Harris, Crime, Drama, Thriller, Westerns No Responses »

Mar 172008

DVD Artwork

While out doing some desert hunting, Llewelyn Moss happens upon a bloody scene that looks to of been a drug deal gone bad. Amongst the dead and dying is a truckload of heroin and a briefcase with $2 million in cash, which Llewelyn promptly helps himself to. He’s not the only one interested in the case and its contents though, psychopathic hitman Anton Chigurh will stop at nothing to retrieve the money and eliminate all loose ends.

I know all of you have heard the buzz, the praise and the gushing but, believe me, the film lives up to its reputation. This is, quite possibly, one of the best films The Coen Brothers have made and that’s a bold Continue reading »

Left For Dead (2007)

Horror, Westerns 1 Response »

Mar 172008

Pyun is GOD!

Left For Dead (2007)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Lionsgate / 2008
Director: Albert Pyun
Writer: Chad Leslie
Cast: Victoria Maurette, Soledad Arocena, Maria Alche & Andres Bagg
Review by Adam F. Tracey

To do not much more than paraphrase what the opening text said a long time ago a bunch of whores went crazy and killed every man, woman and child in the small town of Amnesty. Among those killed were a priest, his wife/girlfriend and as you see later in the movie a graphic scene, a baby. While tied to a gate and close to death, the man denounced God and made a deal with the devil to keep himself alive, so that he may one day get his revenge on the whores. Years later, a loner cowgirl, her runaway boyfriend and the group of whores make their way back to Amnesty all in search of something. Can they find what it is they are looking for before our ghost man returns and gets his bloody revenge? Continue reading »

Django (1966)

Action, B. Harris, Crime, Spaghetti Westerns, Thriller, Westerns No Responses »

Mar 062008

S.E. DVD Release

When it comes to the Spaghetti Western sub-genre most casual fans would probably name Sergio Leone as its main innovator and to be certain the man really made it mainstream and “cool” for American viewing audiences but cult cinema geeks around the world will tell you, Leone is fantastic but there are some greats out there just waiting to be discovered. Do a little digging and you’ll come across some wonderful films. Sure, many were made in the wake of Leone’s classics but that’s Italian cinema for you…love it or leave it. That’s just how exploitation works. Continue reading »

Ghosts of Mars (2001)

Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Westerns No Responses »

Feb 202008

S.E. DVD

Ghosts of Mars (2001)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Sony / 2001
Director: John Carpenter
Writer: Larry Sulkis & John Carpenter
Cast: Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham & Clea DuVall
Review by Ted Phipps

Almost two hundred years into the future, Mars is colonized and well on the way to being terraformed. A police squad is dispatched to an outlying mining town to Continue reading »