Pale Rider (1985): Clint Eastwood

     Both directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, Pale Rider (1985) was the most acclaimed Western of the 1980's. The film alluded to Eastwood's previous "Man with No Name" Westerns from the 1960's and 70's, but also added a new dimension to his Iconic Old West, no-nonsense vigilante hero character. Adding a spiritual sense, the film contains many Biblical references, and the title itself refers to The Book of Revelations 6:8, "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." The locales in Pale Rider are breathtakingly beautiful, shot mostly in Idaho's Boulder Mountains. The supporting cast is excellent as well, including Chris Penn, Richard Kiel, Michael Moriarty and Sydney Penny.

     Independent gold prospectors near the town of Lahood, California in the 1880's are being forced off their land and terrorized by the neighboring big-shot Coy Lahood (Richard Dysart) and his son, Josh (Christopher Penn)... 

Pale Rider. 1985: Clint Eastwood

     Desperate, after they kill her pet dog, young Megan Wheeler (Sydney Penny) prays to God to send a savior...

Pale Rider. 1985: Clint Eastwood

     and soon thereafter, a rough stranger, a preacher (Clint Eastwood), arrives on a pale horse, beating the snot out of some of Lahood's goons... 

Pale Rider. 1985: Clint Eastwood

     The preacher becomes a hero and inspiration to the poor mining families... 

Pale Rider. 1985: Clint Eastwood

     and a protector as well... 

Pale Rider. 1985: Clint Eastwood

Pale Rider. 1985: Clint Eastwood

     but the Lahoods won't give up their dominance easily, and pay for hired killers to rid the area of the pesky miners and the preacher... 

Pale Rider. 1985: Clint Eastwood

     who will prevail...

Pale Rider. 1985: Clint Eastwood

Dances With Wolves (1990): Kevin Costner

     With beautiful cinematography, Dances With Wolves (1990) ranks among the greatest photographic attempts to capture the luminous Western landscape in all of Art. I know one of the camera men that worked on the "buffalo hunt" scenes and he cited his work in this film as the pinnacle of his career. Everyone who worked on Dances With Wolves deserves to be proud, it is a magnificent achievement. It snagged a bunch of Oscars that year including Best Picture and Best Director for Kevin Costner, for whom this film was a labor of love. It revitalized interest in Westerns and Native American themes and consistently places high on the AFI's list of the greatest films of all time. It is a true Gem, a modern Classic.

     1863: Lt. John Dunbar (Kevin Costner), after being wounded in the Civil War, travels west to see the frontier "before it is gone." He is stationed at Ft. Sedgwick, a remote post in Indian land, but arrives to find it deserted and in disrepair... 

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

     Dunbar decides to stay on, despite being alone in a dangerous land. He fixes the place up and does his best to restock it. All the while, he is enjoying the majestic scenery... 

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

     Several attempts by Indians to scare him and steal his horse, prompt Dunbar to initiate contact, thinking a dialogue will be the best route to understanding. The initial greeting with the Sioux is awkward and stand-offish... 

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

     But subsequent meetings prove somewhat more cordial, despite the language barrier... 

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

     Dunbar very gradually comes to be accepted by the Sioux...

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

     helped by his aiding an injured woman in their tribe, and finding a herd of buffalo that had been eluding them... 

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

     With no white contact, Dunbar immerses himself in Native American life...

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

     He receives the name Dances With Wolves (due to his cavorting with a wolf at the Fort) and he falls in love... 

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

     The life of the Sioux is beautiful, but not without danger. The Pawnee are hostile enemies... 

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

     And another enemy looms on the horizon, as the white men are steadily expanding West. This is a vanishing way of life...

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

Dances With Wolves. 1990: Kevin Costner

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968): Peter Bogdanovich and Mamie Van Doren

     Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) is a good example of how to take something that is pretty good and make it better. In the hands of Peter Bogdanovich, stock footage of Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965) is co-mingled with new footage to essentially fill the gaps in the first film.

     The story begins with a half-hour recap of the first film, summarizing the arrival of two crews of men and a robot on the planet Venus. The first crew had been lost, and the second crew was sent in to rescue them. Throughout their time on the planet, they keep hearing a strange female voice singing. This leaves them wondering whether there is indeed human life existent...

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. 1968: Mamie Van Doren

     Here's where the Prehistoric women come in. They are all beautiful women, who don't speak, but communicate with each other telepathically. Whether they are invisible or not, I don't know, but the human astronauts never see them...

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. 1968: Mamie Van Doren

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. 1968: Mamie Van Doren

     They pray to a pterodactyl as a God, whom they call Tera. When the Earthling astronauts kill the pterodactyl after it attacks them, the women become enraged. They pray to the Volcanic God of the planet to exact their revenge on the men and robot...

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. 1968: Mamie Van Doren

     The God concedes and lets loose lava flows and storms when they ask for them. When the men are not killed, and leave the planet safely, the women are heartbroken and curse the statue of Tera as a false God...

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. 1968: Mamie Van Doren

    The lava flow had destroyed the robot, but the ladies find the scrap remains a suitable replacement for Tera...

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. 1968: Mamie Van Doren

     They erect the robot and worship it as a God...

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. 1968: Mamie Van Doren

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. 1968: Mamie Van Doren