Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Cinema!
What a magnificent art form it is!
And just how magnificent was it in August 1976?
It was this magnificent!
Come to think of it, I don't recall ever having seen even one of those films.
I shall, therefore, assume the best of them to be The Shootist, simply because it has a serious title and, as we all know, serious films must be better than other films or they wouldn't be allowed to make them.
An adaptation of Anna Sewell's classic novel?
By Marvel Comics?
I'd assumed Black Beauty was one of these things - like Follyfoot - that was only famous in Britain. How little I knew.
And it all happens when Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen reveal that a strange being, created by two scientists, so perturbs the local townsfolk that they break into the lab that spawned him and accidentally unleash an experimental nerve gas that wipes out the whole community!
But will Herman Melville's legendarily unreadable novel prove to be any more user-friendly in its comic book form?
I'm sure that Irwin Shapiro and Alex Niño will do their best to make it so.
Regardless, John Fago and E. R. Cruz perform the honours in this one, as Lemuel Gulliver has trouble knowing just what size he needs to be to fit in with the modern world.
Dauntless Don McGregor and fearless Frank Robbins lend us a tale that I'm struggling to recall in detail but I do, at least, recall reviewing it, right here.
From memory, I think my main complaint was that it doesn't contain enough words on every page to satisfy the true Don McGregor aficionado.
But just what are they going to do about the Celestial Arishem who, it's announced, will stand on a plinth for fifty years before deciding whether Earth lives or dies?
But, hold on. Right now, as I write this deathless prose, it's exactly fifty years later!
That means he's about to make his decision, Right now!
Good God, no. Not Keith!
Posts
30 comments:
Thumbs up from me for The Shootist. Number 18 at Ranker in list of best ever Westerns, which feels about right.
Some famous former gunslinger has a couple of months to live and finds somewhere to lodge and spend his final days. Single mother who owns the place knows who he is and doesn't want her son idolising him and going down the same route. Neither does the gunslinger, who advises the kid to study hard and get a proper career. Kid still ends up idolising the gunslinger. Mother acts frosty to gunslinger, gunslinger always acts the perfect gentleman.
Film ends with a gunfight. Can't remember if it's just troublemakers passing through or bounty hunters looking for the gunslinger but a big gunfight in a saloon in which gunslinger is killed and the kid (unintentionally?) kills one of the bad guys and has presumably set off on a life journey that the mother feared and that neither the mother nor the gunslinger wanted.
Gunslinger = John Wayne !
Mother = Lauren Bacall !!
Impressionable kid = Ron Howard from Happy Days !!!
From this list of movies, I’ve only seen two . I loved THE SHOOTIST when it came out and think it’s actually gotten better with age. One of my favorite Westerns. I liked OBSESSION when I saw it on a cable in the early 80s; watched the first fifteen minutes of it a few years ago and couldn’t get into it for some reason . I might give it another try someday…
b.t.
I've watched the Shootist. However, I mix it up with another John Wayne Western, with Wayne being hired by that girl ( you know the one! ) who fancied Kirk, on Star Trek!
I've read Moby Dick at least 4 times!
Woodgod gets a vote, but the Champions is the one I'd put my pennies down for! You could never guess what might happen, in that title!
Phillip
You're on True Grit, Phillip. From 1969, seven years earlier. John Wayne spent a good few years playing retired former gunslingers.
In fact, as I'm writing this, I remember him playing someone having a retirement party in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon. And that was (checks…) 1949! 27 years before The Shootist.
I've never been able to get into Obsession - I always last about 15 minutes or so before getting bored and annoyed. It seems dated way beyond its 50 years. Stodgy. Which is crazy given the talent involved.
Great soundtrack though.
Thanks, dangermash. Yes, 'True Grit' - that's the one! Clint was also a retired former gunslinger, in 'Unforgiven'. That was my local cinema's last ever film, before it folded. They were charging £1, I seem to remember, to get bums on seats. But, alas, the place still closed - only to become a snooker club!
Phillip
Charlie only saw GATOR. I don’t recall jack about it. However, doing a quick Google, I assume it benefited greatly from the corporate assets of Lauren Hutton?
Of these, I had MARVEL PREMIERE, POWER-MAN and THE ETERNALS. I know I’m in the minority on this, but I do dig Frank Robbins’ art on the Luke Cage series, especially with Frank Springer on the inks — and to be honest, I didn’t even mind the Colletta inks on the previous two issues all that much. I also liked McGregor’s writing on the series, though I do have to admit that it’s not in the same league as his work on Black Panther and Killraven.
ETERNALS #2 is one of my favorite issues of that title. I honestly don’t know if I can say Kirby ever quite figured out how to make a compelling continuing storyline out of his mash-up of kooky Von Daniken / Velikovsky / Shaver Mystery concepts, but in terms of sheer cosmic spectacle, this issue is a stunning visual treat. The double-page splash of an arriving Celestial Starship is quite literally awe-inspiring and there’s a full-page splash of Arishem just standing there, implacable and kinda terrifying. Good stuff!
I didn’t get any of these MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS at the time. Many years later I decided I needed to have all the ones illustrated by Alex Nino and Nestor Redondo, so I did get the MOBY DICK adaptation as a back issue. Think I got it from à Dollar Bin. I regret to say it’s not Nino’s best work. But hey, they can’t all be ‘Star Voyagers’.
b.t.
Matthew:
Yes, considering the talent involved (DePalma, Schrader, Herrmann, Zsigmond, Hitchcock’s Ghost, not to mention the lovely Genevieve Bujold in her prime) — the opening ten, fifteen minutes of OBSESSION were just astonishingly dull when I tried to re-watch it a few years ago. I think Cliff Robertson may have been part of the problem for me, I’ve honestly never been a fan, but still. I think even Huge DePalma Nerd Quentin Tarantino doesn’t like it much.
b.t.
So Power Man #33 was written by McGregor, pencilled by Ro**ins, inked by Coletta? Just need Beethoven on lettering for the perfect squad 😂
Nobody's mentioned the fact that The Shootist was John Wayne's final film!
Phillip, my local cinema was also converted into a snooker and pool hall. The building was originally a meeting hall for the temperance movement in the 19th Century and they probably wouldn't be happy about its' current use.
Also, the sad irony of Wayne’s character slowly dying of cancer when Wayne himself would die from stomach cancer a few years later.
b.t.
A Space X rocket has crashed on the moon. Unfortunately Musk wasn't onboard.
“They” used to say John Wayne liked to walk around Hollywood in drag. I heard it on mainstream talk radio at least 3 times. Yet google says no such rumors exist!
Just like the Rod Stewart rumors.
How does / did this stuff get traction over the decades? JP
Other notable “August 1976” purchases :
TOMB OF DRACULA 47
MASTER OF KUNG FU 43
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT 29 (early Moon Knight)
MARVEL CHILLERS 6 (Tigra — art by Byrne)
WARLOCK 14
A few DC’s including:
METAL MEN 47 with wild Walt Simonson art
RAGMAN — unusual new superhero strip written by Bob Kanigher, art by Joe Kubert and the Redondo Studio
Two Charltons:
SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN 2 (color comic) — with rare-for-Charlton Neal Adams cover art
SPACE:1999 6 (b/w mag) — art by Gray Morrow and his pals
Plus every Warren mag published that month — CREEPY, THE SPIRIT and especially EERIE 76, with the first installment of Jim Starlin’s moody science-fantasy series “Darklon The Mystic”
b.t.
I can sensationally reveal that, of this month's crop, I had:
The Champions #7
The Defenders #38
The Eternals #2
Fantastic Four #173
Marvel Premiere #31, Woodgod
Power Man #34
The X-Men #100
I would appear to have had zero DCs and zero Charltons.
b.t., Yeah, Darklon the Mystic was great. What's not to like about Judo Jim Starlin leaving the Comics Code, and going on a journey to discover his inner Alex Nino? Obviously that was never really going to work - I mean, there's only one Alex Nino, right? - but it was fun to see him try.
Not so sure about EVERY Warren this month... but in fairness at least you didn't actually mention Vampirella #53. I mean, I generally like Esteban Maroto's artwork, but even he couldn't save 'King of the Leprechauns'.
Like Steve in his post, you forgot to mention the best Marvel of August 1976 - Dr Strange #17, 'Utopia Rising', the start of Englehart's ill-fated New Atlantis storyline.
That said, I agree that Eternals #2 was a cracker too. A shame that the economics of mainstream comic book publishing in '76 didn't stretch to a double size first issue imo.
Btw you might want to check the cover date of those two DCs you mentioned (;
-sean
Steve, like yourself, as a little scrote I was enamoured with Dauntless Don McGregor's wordy approach to comics, and disappointed by his Luke Cage as a result (although in retrospect the first couple of issues - which I missed at the time - do actually have some fairly purple prose in them).
It's worth pointing out though - as I did when you covered Amazing Adventures #37 in this feature - that McGregor's last couple of Killravens and Panthers, which also came out around this time, are light on narrative text too. Whether this was a personal choice, or forced by editorial demands, is hard to know.
On the one hand iirc the plot in the next part of that Luke Cage story - in #35 - was credited to editor Marv Wolfman, with Dauntless Don just scripting. Which does rather suggest the kind of firm oversight that was already being attempted at Marvel in the immediate pre-Shooter era.
Mind you, McGregor's work a couple of years on at Eclipse, where he had the freedom of independence - eg Sabre, and Detectives Inc - was a bit less wordy than his Marvel heyday too.
The important thing though was that his dialogue remained preposterous.
-sean
There are a number of comic book adaptations of Moby-Dick (funny how comic publishers - generally quite fussy about hyphens in a title - forget to include Melville's, isn't it?)
Those early Marvel Classics were originally from a different publisher, and some of the various Filipino artists' earliest international work. Add to that the editorial requirements of kiddie educational comics, and it's perhaps not surprising that the mighty Alex Nino's Moby-Dick was fairly restrained. Even so, I reckon his adaptation compares favourably with Will Eisner's.
Eisner was one of the all-time greats - love The Spirit - but I have to admit to mixed feelings about his later work, from Contract With God onwards. Although in fairness he did do a better version than the Disney one from Dark Horse...
https://www.darkhorse.com/books/3004-174/disney-moby-dick-starring-donald-duck-tpb/
Obviously the Sienkiewicz adaptation is the One though. More so than the original novel of you ask me. Sure, Melville knew how to put words together well, but come on - it was Sienkiewicz at his peak, in full colour!
Special shout also for the Superboy/Legion story 'Super-Moby Dick of Space from Adventure Comics #332 (even though DC forgot to put a second hyphen in the title!)
https://www.stewartlee.co.uk/written_for_money/the-super-moby-dick-of-space/
-sean
Charlie, wasn't Gator one of those Southern films, with Burt Reynolds? They all tend to blur into one for me.
Its easy too forget how huge Reynolds was in the 70s. He seemed to disappear fairly quickly once the decade was over.
-sean
Sean- That is exactly my recollection. It was one Of those Burt Reynolds movies set in the south, basically targeted for males with a teenage mentality.
But I honestly cannot recall anymore since smoky and the bandit gator, even the longest yard, seem to have a vague sameness about them.
And I think you are exactly correct that in today’s world we don’t recall anymore how huge of a star Burt Reynolds was 50 years ago.
And not to mention, I think he married the “flying nun “Sally Fields?
My récollection is that WHITE LIGHTNING was a pretty good action-packed ‘Good Old Boy’ B-movie, and the sequel GATOR was kind of a dog. Also I believe Burt and Sally never tied the knot, but were together for several years.
b.t.
Weren't Reynold's films generally A-list..? I know they seem like B-movies, but he could command a big fee per picture through most of the 70s.
Even though I'm not sure any of them were any good. Apart from Deliverance of course.
The only flick he starred in that I can recall from after the 70s is Boogie Nights.... and that was set in the 70s!
-sean
Technically, yes, ‘B-Movie’ is incorrect, O Pedantic One! Maybe ‘Low-Budget Crowd-Pleasing Absolutely Not Oscar-bait Action Film’ would be more precise.
b.t.
I wasn't trying to be pedantic, b.t. Well, maybe on the DCs (; ... but with the films it was more an opinion on Reynolds' career, rather than your comment.
-sean
My first impression would be that Burt Reynolds was never nominated for an Oscar lol. And I’ve always had a hard time deciding how good “deliverance” was or wasn’t. We’re not for that “dueling banjo” scene, and the song being played on the radio incessantly for at least a few weeks, I’m not sure we would remember the film.
To be sure, all of us young teenagers at the time had fun referencing the “squeal like a pig “ remark.
So, a good song and a good quote isn’t bad for removing when you think about it, lol.
Did that hillbilly also say “boy, you got cute ears! “Or is that from something else? CH
Charlie Joe:
I believe the line you’re thinking of is, ‘You got a pretty mouth.’ And Burt actually was nominated for an Oscar once, in the Best Supporting Actor category’ for BOOGIE NIGHTS (he didn’t win, tho).
And sean:
Burt was already a mid-level TV and film star when DELIVERANCE (and his famous nude centerfold) gave his career a big boost in 1972. He made a lot of movies over the next few years, but relatively few of them were smash hits (and yes, I would qualify about half of them as somewhat low-brow potboiler/ entertainments, hence my usage of the ‘B-Movie’ tag). His status as a true ‘A-List’ Movie Star didn’t really kick in until SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT in ‘77, after which he became a HUGE box office draw, worldwide. For the rest of that decade he was considered the “Most Bankable Male Star in Hollywood”.
b.t.
I did not know that about Smokey & The Bandit, b.t. I always assumed Deliverance was Reynolds' big breakthrough...
Inevitably perhaps, Quentin Tarantino is a fan, and loves Smokey & the Bandit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddJv-MsZyRs
-sean
sean:
Between DELIVERANCE and SMOKEY AND THE BEAR, Reynolds played a sperm in Woody Allen’s EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX, a cameo as himself in Mel Brooks’ SILENT MOVIE, and starred in pulpy, modestly-budgeted action movies like SHAMUS, WHITE LIGHTNING, GATOR, W.W. AND THE DIXIE DANCEKINGS, THE LONGEST YARD (probably his best from this period), one decent “A” picture, HUSTLE, and a series of expensive flops : THE MAN WHO LOVED CAT DANCING, AT LONG LAST LOVE, LUCKY LADY, and NICKOLODEON. I think it’s certainly fair to say DELIVERANCE made him a star, but SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT made him a superstar.
b.t.
Post a Comment