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NOTE to NON-MEMBERS: Confused about what's going on in here? See the following thread:
http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/could-a-sherdog-movie-watching-club-work.3237221/
It's Western week! @mb23100 took us in a new direction this time, not only nominating five Westerns but nominating five Westerns THAT HE HAD NEVER SEEN! So this should be an interesting discussion all around.
Saddle up!
Director Bio
Shane is director by GEORGE STEVENS. He came from an entertainment family--his parents were stage actors and his uncle was a drama critic--and he broke into the film industry as a cameraman. In 1934 he got his first directing job on a comedy called Kentucky Kernels, but it was in 1935 that he got his big break directing Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams. He also went on to make several films with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and was responsible for the 1965 epic The Greatest Story Ever Told.
During World War II Stevens was a member of the US Army Signal Corps and headed a film unit under Dwight Eisenhower. He documented many important events during the war, including D-Day. In 2008, his footage was entered into the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as an "essential visual record" of World War II.
His final film was 1970's The Only Game in Town with Warren Beatty and Elizabeth Taylor. He died in 1975.
Our Star
ALAN LADD heads our cast. He was born in 1913 in Arkansas. At only 19 years old he was signed to a long-term contract with Universal Pictures but was dropped six months later because he was deemed to be "too blond and too short." He then went into the advertising business, but eventually made another attempt to break into Hollywood, working as a grip for Warner Bros. But after two years he was injured when he fell off a scaffold and decided to quit.
For a time he worked as a radio actor, and then began getting small roles on films, including a role as a newspaper reporter in Citizen Kane. But his real breakout role came as a hitman in 1942's film noir This Gun for Hire. He slowly carved out a niche playing brooding, mysterious characters and eventually became a star, often being paired with Veronica Lake. A few of his most notable movies include the aforementioned This Gun for Hire, Two Years Before the Mast, The Great Gatsby, and of course Shane.
Apparently he was as haunted as the characters he was famous for playing, however, and died from a combination of alcohol and pills in 1965. Some sources say the death was accidental, but most seem to think he committed suicide. Here's one source testifying to the latter:
Source: http://www.focusfeatures.com/article/alan_ladd_commits_suicide
Budget: $3.1 Million
Box Office: $20 Million
Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)
* The scene where Alan Ladd practices shooting in front of Brandon De Wilde took 119 takes to complete.
*Jean Arthur, then over 50, came out of semi-retirement to play Marian Starrett, largely as a favor to her friend, director George Stevens. She would retire completely from the film business after this picture.
* In the funeral scene, the dog consistently refused to look into the grave. Finally, director George Stevens had the dog's trainer lie down in the bottom of the grave, and the dog played his part ably. The coffin (loaded with rocks for appropriate effect) was then lowered into the grave, but when the harmonica player began to play "Taps" spontaneously, the crew was so moved by the scene that they began shoveling dirt into the grave before remembering the dog's trainer was still there.
* According to the commentary on the DVD, during the scene where Shane and Joe are fighting in the corral, the tied horses were supposed to panic. To instill hysteria in the horses, director George Stevens had two men dress in bear costumes to scare them.
* During the filming Jack Palance had problems with his horse. In the scene at the Starrett ranch where Alan Ladd (Shane) and Palance (Jack Wilson) first look each other over. Palance was to dismount for a minute then remount his horse. He could not remount, so the director had Jack dismount his horse slowly, then ran the film in reverse for the remount.
* The film cost so much to make that at one point Paramount considered selling it to another distributor, feeling that it would never earn back what it cost to make. It ended up making a significant profit.
* Meticulous care was taken at all levels of production. All the physical props were true to the period, the buildings were built to the specifications of the time and the clothing was completely authentic. Director George Stevens even had somewhat scrawny-looking cattle imported from other areas, as the local herds looked too well-fed and healthy.
* Shane was originally scheduled for 28 days of shooting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and 20 at the studio with a budget of $1,980,000. It finished after 75 days of shooting at a cost of over $3,000,000.
* The first flat widescreen color Western. Although shot in 1.37:1 Academy ratio, the studio dictated that it be cropped in the movie projector to compete with the new CinemaScope format. The music was also recorded in stereo.
* During the bar fight between Shane and Calloway, the off-screen voice that says "knock him back to the pig-pen" is that of director George Stevens.
* One of the Ryker men in the fist fight with Shane, listed in the cast as Rex Moore, would be better known to viewers as Clayton Moore--The Lone Ranger. "Shane" was filmed while Moore was in a salary dispute with Jack Wrather, producer of The Lone Ranger (1949), and John Hart had replaced him on the show Moore eventually got his raise and resumed his legendary role.
* In the face-off between Wilson (Jack Palance) and Torrey (Elisha Cook Jr.), Torrey tells Wilson that he is "a low-down, lyin' Yankee". Although director George Stevens kept directing Palance at this point to smile--an expression of amused contempt at Cook--Palance continued take after take to show too much menace and not enough of a smile mixed in. Finally Stevens took Cook aside and whispered something to him. During the next take, Cook read his line, and added "and a son of a bitch, too!" This time, Stevens got his take.
* The movie's line "Shane. Shane. Come back!" was voted as the #47 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
* The scenes of Joey chasing after Shane when he rides off to the final battle, and the classic subsequent "come back Shane!" scene happen in the dead of night in the film (in a day for night style), but in the accompanying trailer on current home video releases, the scenes are shown happening during broad daylight.
* The film was completed in 1951 but George Stevens' editing process was so rigorous that it wasn't released until 1953. This drove up the costs of what should have been a simple, straightforward Western; in fact, they spiraled so much that Paramount approached Howard Hughes about taking on the property, but he declined. He changed his mind when he saw a rough cut and offered to buy the film on the spot. This made Paramount rethink its strategy--originally it was going to release it as a "B" picture but then decided it should be one of the studio's flagship films of the year. This proved to be a good decision, as the film was a major success and easily recouped its inflated budget.
* Having witnessed during his WW2 service the profound effects a bullet could have on a man, realism was important to George Stevens during the making of the film. This therefore is one of the first movies to use stunt wires to pull the actors or stuntmen backwards to simulate when they've been shot.
* Alan Ladd, who was under contract to Paramount, earned $145,000. Jack Palance earned $12,500 for 10 weeks work.
Members: @shadow_priest_x @europe1 @Mondo Freaks @Cint @Luke Rockhard @TheRuthlessOne @EL CORINTHIAN @mb23100 @HUNTERMANIA @iThrillhouse @Zer @Lethal_Striker @DaDamn @chickenluver @gorgonon @jeicex @INTERL0PER @FierceRedBelt @Cptn1NSAN0 @D Train @RayA @MusterX @Scott Parker 27 @BeardotheWeirdo @RoryFan @Caveat @The Clamburglar @TCE @Murlik
http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/could-a-sherdog-movie-watching-club-work.3237221/
It's Western week! @mb23100 took us in a new direction this time, not only nominating five Westerns but nominating five Westerns THAT HE HAD NEVER SEEN! So this should be an interesting discussion all around.
Saddle up!
Director Bio
During World War II Stevens was a member of the US Army Signal Corps and headed a film unit under Dwight Eisenhower. He documented many important events during the war, including D-Day. In 2008, his footage was entered into the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as an "essential visual record" of World War II.
His final film was 1970's The Only Game in Town with Warren Beatty and Elizabeth Taylor. He died in 1975.
Our Star
For a time he worked as a radio actor, and then began getting small roles on films, including a role as a newspaper reporter in Citizen Kane. But his real breakout role came as a hitman in 1942's film noir This Gun for Hire. He slowly carved out a niche playing brooding, mysterious characters and eventually became a star, often being paired with Veronica Lake. A few of his most notable movies include the aforementioned This Gun for Hire, Two Years Before the Mast, The Great Gatsby, and of course Shane.
Apparently he was as haunted as the characters he was famous for playing, however, and died from a combination of alcohol and pills in 1965. Some sources say the death was accidental, but most seem to think he committed suicide. Here's one source testifying to the latter:
Source: http://www.focusfeatures.com/article/alan_ladd_commits_suicide
Film Overview and YouTube Videos
Premise: A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smoldering settler/rancher conflict forces him to act.
Budget: $3.1 Million
Box Office: $20 Million
Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)
* The scene where Alan Ladd practices shooting in front of Brandon De Wilde took 119 takes to complete.
*Jean Arthur, then over 50, came out of semi-retirement to play Marian Starrett, largely as a favor to her friend, director George Stevens. She would retire completely from the film business after this picture.
* In the funeral scene, the dog consistently refused to look into the grave. Finally, director George Stevens had the dog's trainer lie down in the bottom of the grave, and the dog played his part ably. The coffin (loaded with rocks for appropriate effect) was then lowered into the grave, but when the harmonica player began to play "Taps" spontaneously, the crew was so moved by the scene that they began shoveling dirt into the grave before remembering the dog's trainer was still there.
* According to the commentary on the DVD, during the scene where Shane and Joe are fighting in the corral, the tied horses were supposed to panic. To instill hysteria in the horses, director George Stevens had two men dress in bear costumes to scare them.
* During the filming Jack Palance had problems with his horse. In the scene at the Starrett ranch where Alan Ladd (Shane) and Palance (Jack Wilson) first look each other over. Palance was to dismount for a minute then remount his horse. He could not remount, so the director had Jack dismount his horse slowly, then ran the film in reverse for the remount.
* The film cost so much to make that at one point Paramount considered selling it to another distributor, feeling that it would never earn back what it cost to make. It ended up making a significant profit.
* Meticulous care was taken at all levels of production. All the physical props were true to the period, the buildings were built to the specifications of the time and the clothing was completely authentic. Director George Stevens even had somewhat scrawny-looking cattle imported from other areas, as the local herds looked too well-fed and healthy.
* Shane was originally scheduled for 28 days of shooting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and 20 at the studio with a budget of $1,980,000. It finished after 75 days of shooting at a cost of over $3,000,000.
* The first flat widescreen color Western. Although shot in 1.37:1 Academy ratio, the studio dictated that it be cropped in the movie projector to compete with the new CinemaScope format. The music was also recorded in stereo.
* During the bar fight between Shane and Calloway, the off-screen voice that says "knock him back to the pig-pen" is that of director George Stevens.
* One of the Ryker men in the fist fight with Shane, listed in the cast as Rex Moore, would be better known to viewers as Clayton Moore--The Lone Ranger. "Shane" was filmed while Moore was in a salary dispute with Jack Wrather, producer of The Lone Ranger (1949), and John Hart had replaced him on the show Moore eventually got his raise and resumed his legendary role.
* In the face-off between Wilson (Jack Palance) and Torrey (Elisha Cook Jr.), Torrey tells Wilson that he is "a low-down, lyin' Yankee". Although director George Stevens kept directing Palance at this point to smile--an expression of amused contempt at Cook--Palance continued take after take to show too much menace and not enough of a smile mixed in. Finally Stevens took Cook aside and whispered something to him. During the next take, Cook read his line, and added "and a son of a bitch, too!" This time, Stevens got his take.
* The movie's line "Shane. Shane. Come back!" was voted as the #47 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
* The scenes of Joey chasing after Shane when he rides off to the final battle, and the classic subsequent "come back Shane!" scene happen in the dead of night in the film (in a day for night style), but in the accompanying trailer on current home video releases, the scenes are shown happening during broad daylight.
* The film was completed in 1951 but George Stevens' editing process was so rigorous that it wasn't released until 1953. This drove up the costs of what should have been a simple, straightforward Western; in fact, they spiraled so much that Paramount approached Howard Hughes about taking on the property, but he declined. He changed his mind when he saw a rough cut and offered to buy the film on the spot. This made Paramount rethink its strategy--originally it was going to release it as a "B" picture but then decided it should be one of the studio's flagship films of the year. This proved to be a good decision, as the film was a major success and easily recouped its inflated budget.
* Having witnessed during his WW2 service the profound effects a bullet could have on a man, realism was important to George Stevens during the making of the film. This therefore is one of the first movies to use stunt wires to pull the actors or stuntmen backwards to simulate when they've been shot.
* Alan Ladd, who was under contract to Paramount, earned $145,000. Jack Palance earned $12,500 for 10 weeks work.
