Professor Elam

The SA Express News dropped its Sunday week long tv section just as I subscribed for weekends. SO it was only today that I saw these but an interesting line up tonight. 

AMC

Robert Redford plays mountain man Jeremiah Johnson with a better head of hair than any Mountain Man ever had. His career peaked about this time in my opinion  after Btuch Cassidy and The Sting both co starring with Paul Newman. Oddly they never co starred in a third film together. Can you name me a great ,movie Redford did after this, he did direct Ordinary People but seemed to fade as an actor. 1972

Turner Classic Movies 

Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino were clearly the best new actors since Marlon Brando who frittered away his career. LIttle Big Man's main point is to showcase Hoffman's acting skill after his debut in The Graduate. A lot of license with history but good performances by Chief Dan George later co starring in Josey Wales with Eastwood, Richard Mulligan as Custer, Faye Dunmaway as well Faye Dunaway, and Martin Balsam. 1970

John Sturges directs an all star cast including Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine, and Lee Marvin. Tracy plays a one armed man who shows up in a small town asking embarassing questions. 1955 but it is in color

Who is this stranger, why is he interested in what happened here, and what will be the outcome?  Eastwood seemed to love this scenario as he portrayed a similar character in Pale Rider and High Plains Drifter. 

I show a clip from this movie in class on motivation and how a truly great mentor can inspire students to greater accomplishment, (tongue firmly in cheek here…) it has resonated well with my classes. Here Lee Marvin  plays a Major who as Ernest Borgnine observes 'has seen a lot of fireworks.' He is assigned turn twelve convicts into commandos. Another all star cast of up and coming actors including Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, George Kennedy, Telly Savalas who wold later star as TV Kojack, and Donald Sutherland who was usually cast as the weirdo in his early films. INteresting sidelight, during the movie making Trini Lopez had dinner with Frank Sinatra asking his advice about his singing career. Sinatra advised Trini that he needed to stick with the sining or his fans would forget him while the moviewas being made. Lopez heeded the advice and dropped out of the movie, note he dies in the parachute landing which is how he was written out of the script. 1967

Enjoy!

PS Not on tonight but if you enjoyed the gung ho of Dozen try Where Eagles Dare with Richard Burton before he took to self destruction in real life and Clint Eastwood whose own career was seriously getting under way.  1969

Ladies, one of my favorite early Eastwood films and still one of his best, Play Misty for Me. With four different wives in real life I never could figure out why he didn't marry Jessica Walter who plays the seriously deranged gal who wants Clint in this one. 1971