The Stratton Story (1944) Review

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(More customer reviews)For Baseball Lovers and/or for those whom just enjoy Jimmy Stewart movies, you will love this movie. Stewart plays Monty Stratton, an upcoming WhiteSox pitcher who gets into an hunting accident and loses his leg. Stewart brillianty portrays the one legged man, who musters the strength and courage to go beyond his handicap and triumph against amazing odds. June Allyson excellently portrays his loving, supportive wife. Many top baseball stars of the time also participate in the movie. One of the few baseball movies that races through the entire range of human emotions with tremendous success.

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Chicago White Sox pitcher Monty Stratton is an affable long drink of water with an easy, whiplike delivery and a pitch so unhittable the young phenom racks up consecutive 15-win seasons. But Stratton's greatest victory doesn't come on the manicured green diamonds of our national pastime. James Stewart portrays Stratton, who loses a leg in an accident just as his career is on the rise...and whose triumph over despair and disability leads him to pitch again. Stewart signed on for the role when he realized the film would be an inspiration to injured World War II GIs. The film still inspires. Awarded an Oscar?* for Best Motion Picture Story, directed by Sam Wood (The Pride of the Yankees) and supported by a top cast that includes real-life ballplayers, The Stratton Story is sports biography at its best.

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Sam Elliott Western Collection (Rough Riders / You Know My Name / The Desperate Trail) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)WARNER's SAM ELLIOTT WESTERN COLLECTION features Elliott in three of his best films.
SYNOPSES--
DESPERATE TRAIL-- After years of physical abuse, the daughter-in-law (Fiorentino) of Marshal Bill Speakes (Elliott) kills her husband. She's sentenced to hang but manages to escape with the aid of Jack Cooper (Sheffer). Marshal Speakes will do almost anything to bring her to justice and avenge his son's death.
ROUGH RIDERS-- Made-for-TV biopic about Teddy Roosevelt (Berenger) and the volunteer cavalrymen who in the Spanish-American War of 1898 charged up the heavily-defended San Juan Hill alongside him. Top-notch cast includes co-star Elliott as Capt. Bucky O'Neil.
YOU KNOW MY NAME-- TV movie about real life cowboy and pioneering film director Bill Tilghman (Elliott). An ex-buffalo hunter and deputy of Wyatt Earp, Tilghman is intent on producing realistic westerns, but faces opposition when he favors unknowns for his pictures rather than established stars like Tom Mix. Tilghman also has to deal with a former lawman rival named Wiley (Howard), who makes constant trouble for him.Also recommended:
In the 4-hour epic GETTYSBURG (1993), Elliott portrays Gen. John Buford. On July 1st, 1863, the heroic efforts of Buford's two brigades of dismounted cavalrymen slowed Gen. Rob't E. Lee's advance on the town of Gettysburg, and made possible the victory that came two days later.Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.
(6.0) The Desperate Trail (1995) - Sam Elliott/Craig Sheffer/Linda Fiorentino/Frank Whaley/John Furlong/Robin Westphal
(7.2) Rough Riders (TV-1997) - Tom Berenger/Sam Elliott/Gary Busey/Brad Johnson/Illeana Douglas/Chris Noth/Brian Keith/George Hamilton/R. Lee Ermey/William Katt
(6.1) You Know My Name (TV-1999) - Sam Elliott/Arliss Howard/Carolyn McCormack/James Gammon/R. Lee Ermey/James Parks

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Rough Riders In 1898 the US government, led by Theodore Roosevelt (Tom Berenger) back when he was still a young, ambitious Naval Secretary, intervenes on the side of the Cuban rebels in their struggle against Spanish rule. Always ready for action, Roosevelt leaves the confines of the sidelines and forms a volunteer cavalry regiment which later became infamously known as the "Rough Riders." Roosevelt's regiment brings together volunteers from all corners of the nation to fight against a far superior adversary in one of the most rousing victories in American history. You Know My Name In six months, the population of Cromwell, Oklahoma, has climbed from 500 to 10,000. Boom times have come to the oil-rich town. So has a new breed of criminal. You Know My Name is the fact-based story of Bill Tilghman, a lawman and former partner of Wyatt Earp confronted by an emerging era when outlaws run whiskey instead of cattle and are likely to tote a tommy gun as carry a six-gun. An ideally cast Sam Elliott plays Tilghman, whose life takes on a newfangled wrinkle of its own. Tilghman makes a moving picture of his Old West exploits; and the success of that silent film, The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws, spreads his reputation like a brushfire. But that reputation may mean nothing to a thug (Arliss Howard) who hides behind a badge. Desperate Trail Amiable con man Jack Cooper is on a westbound stagecoach, headed for the next batch of suckers who will mistake him for an easy mark. Fiery Sarah O'Rourke rides the same coach, handcuffed to lawman Bill Speakes and headed for the hangman. In a few hours, all should reach their destinations. But the trail they travel takes an unexpected turn: Cooper and O'Rourke are soon off the stage and running for their lives. The law ends and the chase begins in a very alive tale of wanted-dead-or-alive fugitives (Linda Fiorentino and Craig Sheffer) pursued by a marshal (Sam Elliott) who's a law unto himself.

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Yankee Doodle Dandy (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1942) Review

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(More customer reviews)Oh what an out-and-out joy is this film!
As you know by now, the amazing James Cagney sings, dances and acts his way through this rousing biopic of George M. Cohan. He's directed by Michael Curtiz, a director who apparently could work in any genre of movie, and produce masterpieces. Pull up his name on imdb and you'll see what I mean.
Anyways, the film traces his life from his infant vaudevillian beginnings to his conquering of Broadway. After seeing this, you'll know why there's a statue of Cohan in Times Square.
The acting, as expected, is top-notch, with the sweet Joan Leslie as his love interest Mary, Walter Huston as his dad; Cagney's sister plays Cagney's sister...but what will bring you to see this movie again and again are the musical interludes.
Cagney is simply spectacular. He is a comet, bouncing around the Broadway stage. His dancing often flirts with straight-out levitation. I swear there are times when his feet fly across the screen...
Then consider the songs..."Yankee Doodle Dandy", "Mary", "Give My Regards to Broadway" and the most patriotic song I've ever heard, "Over There."
That song was written for the troops of WW I, and this film was being made when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The way this one song is used in this film, I guarantee, will stay with you forever. And knowing that this movie was made during that time only enhances your experience...but I didn't know it until afterwards, and it made no difference.
And that leads to the one thing I feel is overlooked in most reviews of this film: the script. It's has a strong story, great lines, terrific set-pieces and delightful twists. It's funny as all-get-out, and heart-wrenching when you least expect it.
The movie is as American as can be...the rags-to-riches rise of the central figure in Broadway history (the Broadway musical being essentially an American creation), the way his family travels to all the new states as they are incorporated...the evolution of New York City...WW I...WW II...it's all here!
And from beginning to end, Cohan (and the filmmakers) wear their "Grand Old Flag" on their proverbial sleeves, proudly and unabashedly. Patriotism is a definite theme througout the film, rising to dizzying heights right before the credits. Patriotism portrayed simply and honestly, without any hard political bent or satirical edge.
The DVD, one of those sweet Warner 2-disc sets, is exemplary...great transfer, nice extras...bravo Warner, again, for treating your classics with respect.
It's inarguable: this is one of the great films of all time. I envy those of you about to see it for the first time, and I assure you it won't be your last!

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YANKEE DOODLE DANDY - DVD Movie

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To Hell & Back (1955) Review

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(More customer reviews)The single biggest reason to watch this movie is that the star himself was in fact the single most decorated war hero of World War Two, and he is convincing here playing himself with dignity, sincerity, and humility, which, of course, Audie Murphy always had in spades. The movie was adopted from his best-selling autobiography, which my Mom let me read after blackening out all of the four letter slang (as she called it). Perhaps it shows that he was my childhood hero, and I still have a personalized autographed photo somewhere reading "Thanks, Barry, for being my fan" that a friend's mom got for three or four of us ten year olds at the time this movie was released in the mid 1950s. It was the first movie I saw ten times. And I wasn't alone; Murphy was a national icon.
The movie truly is a classic; tightly directed, poignant, honest, accurate, and showing gripping combat without being gory or maudlin. It sometimes decends into travelogue movie-theater type newsreel moments, but these are thankfully rare and forgiveable. On the other hand, this is an interesting and absolutely true story of a common and uneducated boy from rural Texas who wanted more than anything to be a soldier and serve his country, and his subsequent deeds and patriotism above and beyond the call of duty inspired a whole generation of us who wanted to imitate his call to country. Unfortunately we walked into another time and the miasma of Vietnam. But that's another story for another time. Escape back to a time when the moral choices were clearer, and a real live hero was available to act his way memorably through an accurate recounting of his extraordinary if abbreviated military career. He may be gone too soon, the victim of a plane crash in the early 1970s, but his lifetime admirers remain. Enjoy!

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