<< June 1 - 3, 2007 >>>

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Even in a genre known for its spare qualities, the series of westerns directed by Budd Boetticher in the late 1950’s, including THE TALL T, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW and RIDE LONESOME, are a model of utter simplicity: none more than 80 minutes long; operating and closing on the archetypal image of vengeance-seeking Randolph Scott. Within this framework, Boetticher created a brillantly authentic west of bitter violence, quiet poetry, gallows humor and dynamic, even attractive, villains. Born in Chicago, Boetticher travelled to Mexico in the late 1930’s, where he studied with the country’s finest matadors. He entered the film industry as consultant for the bullfighting sequences on BLOOD AND SAND (1941). Boetticher soon began directing a series of terse, low-budget action pictures for Columbia and Monogram. It wasn’t until the release of THE BULLFIGHTER AND THE LADY in 1951 that Boetticher first began his obsessive, personal exploration into the traditional codes of masculinity and ritualized combat. This exploration reached its height in the "Ranown" cycle of westerns, where Boetticher worked with Scott and a team that included (variously) cinematographer Lucien Ballard, writers Burt Kennedy and Charles Lang, Jr. and producer Harry Joe Brown.

Friday, June 1 - 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

Restored 35mm Print! THE BULLFIGHTER AND THE LADY, 1951, Republic (Paramount), 124 min. The first of director Budd Boetticher’s great bullfighting films is also the most personal, with much autobiographical detail woven into the beautiful, doom-laden fictional story of a brash American (Robert Stack) entering the traditional world of Mexican toreros; Gilbert Roland is stunning as Stack’s older mentor. With Joy Page, Katy Jurado. This is the restored version of the film (for decades it was only available in the 87 minute version). "Producer John Wayne and associate producer-director Budd Boetticher evidence a fondness for the Mexican scene through care in which they bring it accurately to the screen… Boetticher keeps it punching at all times."-- Variety; "One of the best treatments of bullfighting on film, tackling the controversial sport/art with maturity and skill, while not shying away from its dangers." -- Channel 4 Film (UK) NOT ON DVD

BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE, 1958, Sony Repertory, 78 min. Dir. Budd Boetticher. Randolph Scott stars as a former mercenary, carrying $2,000 in blood money, trapped in a border town by a corrupt family. Everyone is willing to trade a dead man’s honor for hard cash in this almost comically remorseless Western. Photographed by the great Lucien Ballard (THE WILD BUNCH). With Craig Stevens, L.Q. Jones. NOT ON DVD

Saturday, June 2- 7:30 PM

Restored 35mm Print! 7 MEN FROM NOW, 1956, Batjac Prod., 78 min. Dir. Budd Boetticher. The first of the Randolph Scott westerns (and Budd’s personal favorite of all his movies), the legendary 7 MEN FROM NOW was long thought to be a lost film – until it was recently restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, with the cooperation of producer John Wayne’s son, Michael. And what a rediscovery it is: Randolph Scott stars as a tight-lipped sheriff relentlessly hunting the men who killed his wife, while fending off distractions from lovely Gail Russell and loquacious bandido Lee Marvin. Preservation of the print Funded by The Film Foundation and Hollywood Foreign Press Association. "Ultra-realistic, weathered, fatalistic, and never less than adult, SEVEN MEN and the six films that followed reforged the dynamics of the genre and cleaned out the mythic baloney, paving the way for Peckinpah, Hellman, and the very idea of an "anti-western." They remain some of the most incisive, unpretentious, and knowledgeable movies of the '50s." -- Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice

THE TALL T, 1957, Sony Repertory, 78 min. Dir. Budd Boetticher. Tense, sexually ambiguous story of rancher Randolph Scott kidnapped by killer Richard Boone (Paladin from "Have Gun, Will Travel," in a career-making performance) and his gun-happy henchmen. Brilliantly scripted by Burt Kennedy (based on an Elmore Leonard story), THE TALL T switches effortlessly from folksy humor to tragic violence, leaving the viewer literally breathless. With Henry Silva, Maureen O’Sullivan. "In every one of the Scott pictures, I felt I could have traded Randy’s part with the villain’s." -- Budd Boetticher. Kevin Thomas will introduce the screening. NOT ON DVD

Sunday, June 3 - 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

RIDE LONESOME, 1959, Sony Repertory, 73 min. Dir. Budd Boetticher. A complex, poetic revenge tragedy starring Randolph Scott as a sheriff-turned bounty hunter, using a young desperado (James Best) to flush out his murderous older brother (Lee Van Cleef). Scott’s final act of absolution at the hanging tree ranks with John Wayne’s last moments in THE SEARCHERS. Andrew Sarris’ description of Budd’s westerns "constructed partly as allegorical odysseys and partly as floating poker games" was never more apt. With Pernell Roberts ("Bonanza"), James Coburn. "RIDE LONESOME has several good plots and sub-plots going for it, creating a chase melodrama that is often a chase-within-a-chase…Boetticher and his cast handle it well…Scott does a good job as the taciturn and misunderstood hero, but the two standouts are Best as the giggling killer and Roberts as the sardonic outlaw who wants to get away to a new start." -- Variety NOT ON DVD

COMANCHE STATION, 1960, Sony Repertory, 74 min. Dir. Budd Boetticher. In the last of the Ranown westerns cycle, Randolph Scott buys a white woman (Nancy Gates) back from the Indians, hoping to find his wife. Instead, he finds himself locked in a lethal struggle with a bounty hunter to return the woman to her husband for a large reward. Claude Akins is wonderfully serpentine as Scott’s perpetually smiling, unapologetically mercenary nemesis. With Richard Rust. NOT ON DVD.