Dedicated to the proposition that America was better off when its TV shows were about Cowboys instead of Lawyers
The Top 10 Lists
At the end of each month, Emil and Friends sit around the radio campfire and talk about western movies, the actors, the scripts, and, the musical scores. Emil is usually joined by Todd Roberts, Michael F. Blake, Robert Nott, John Komrada, Cotton Smith, and Johnny Boggs. Lively discusstions come up when the group tries to choose a "best of" or "Top 10" list of movies, movie scores, actors, directors, plots, or who was the best "bad guy."
- Ride the High Country (1962)
- The Shootist (1976)
- The Wild Bunch (1969)
- Will Penny (1968)
- Monte Walsh (1970)
- Open Range (2003)
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
- The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
- Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
- The Last Picture Show (1971)
EMIL'S NOTES: Three of the ten - 1, 3, and 8 were directed by Sam Peckinpah. Two are with John Wayne - 2 and 7. Two have Lee Marvin - MONTE WALSH and LIBERTY VALANCE. Kirk Douglas considered LONELY ARE THE BRAVE one of his finest roles and Charlton Heston felt the same about WILL PENNY. In the movie, the one showing in LAST PICTURE SHOW is RED RIVER.
Both RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY and THE SHOOTIST were clearly goodbyes to the actors starring in them, the former to Joel McCrae and Randolph Scott, the latter to the Duke. (Note that this sub genre begins in the 1960's and is still with us. Many feel the west doesn't ever end. It just goes through a series of transformations and these are stories about how those effected cope, or don't, with that change.)
