Monte Walsh

This is one of my favorite Westerns.

Yet, it cannot boast of a gunfight or excessive action that is a trademark of westerns.

There are several reasons why I love this film. It is a reflective sensitive film, with the main character trying to come to terms with change.

It deals with people and nature--fodder for good poetry. That gets a fillip when the director William Fraker, is an accomplished cinematographer.

Lee Marvin is great when he is brooding and therefore a superb choice. Jeanne Moreau is a delight to watch in any film but her performance in this film is one I will never forget. Yet when I asked Ms Moreau some 15 years after the film was made about this film, she didn't even appear to recall the name of William Fraker--but merely referred to him as another cinematographer-turned-director. I have always wondered at that reaction....Jack Palance is another wonderful actor who makes this movie great.. In retrospect the casting was superb.

A good western needs good music. This one has one of the finest songs I have heard "the good times are a'coming" by Mama Cass Elliot.

I recommend this film and "Will Penny" as great unusual westerns that touch you if you appreciate good filmmaking--and do not evaluate a western by the action sequences.

Here's a case of Palance putting in a great supporting role like he has done so often, a truly selfless actor with a great humility.

Seldom does an actor allow himself to look as pathetic as Palance does in his performances. This is a great film, primarily due to the metaphor near the end where Marvin tries to tame a horse, frustratingly attempting to control the nature of all things around him. The austere writing and stilted acting lend to the overall tone, creating an elegiac western greatly under-appreciated in its time. One of those small, offbeat movies awash in a decade of so many sparkling little films, each challenging the strictures of Hollywood. I loved it.

This is a nice film to watch on a rainy evening. Lee Marvin and Jack

Palance did as good a job of acting that I have ever seen them do.

The supporting cast is full of wonderful career action character

actors who you would recognize if you watched a lot of films and

TV in the '70's.

I borrowed the tape from a relative after seeing the remake by TNT

and though I think the remake was better, this was for it's time

pretty good. The way movie progresses noticed a lot of scenes

seemed choppy and there must have been a lot left on the cutting

room floor.

Lee Marvin looked like he was playing his typical Marvin character,

but Jack Palance was likeable and I believe did a better job and

even portrayed his character better than Carradine did in the

remake and Carradine did a great job.

Though it's a "tear-jerker" it's one that tells a story that's not unique

to just the "Cowboys" of the 19th and early 20th century. There are

periods in history when due to evolution of civilization, lifestyles are

phased out or altered due to change of professions needed to

exist.

My appreciation of Mama Cass' singing increased when I heard

her sing the title song. She really had a fine voice, it was a plus

that she sung the lead-in rather someone like Joplin. In fact

before I saw her credits in the lead-in I thought the singer was one

of the great singers who had sung a James Bond movie title song.

A Modern classic spearheaded by an intelligent script, excellent performances, beautiful photography and an outstanding score. Lee Marvin is at his rugged best in the title role with typical solid support from Jack Palance, who is excellent here cast against type. That this great western was finally released on DVD LONG after the REMAKE is just wrong. And I do not mean that as a slam against the Tom Selleck/TNT version which was a well done rehash that I also enjoyed. MONTE WALSH stands beside WILL PENNY as 2 pillars of the "vanishing cowboy" genre. It seamlessly morphs from action to pathos, poignant to laugh-out-loud funny. One of Lee Marvin's best roles.

So says Monte's friend as they sit on a front porch, wondering what they'll do now that their way of life is coming to a close. One of the most touching and poignant westerns ever made, "Monte Walsh" is a love poem written to a way of life that only lasted about 20 years, but defined much of American culture. The cowboy period only lasted from about 1865 to 1885, and this film shows several friends who have been cowboys for most of that time, deeply in love with their work, who see it all ending, and are powerless to stop it. Barbed wire fence and one really hard winter (which really did happen, and single handedly changed the western cattle industry, and eradicated the cowhand) do away with their blissful existence, forcing them to confront themselves. What do they do now? It isn't always pretty, and the decisions they make when the chips are down tell you most everything you need to know about human nature. The wonderful theme song by Mama Cass Elliot "The Good Times Are Coming" is just marvelous, and perfect for the film. All in all, one of the 5 best westerns ever made, and the absolute best one dealing with the working cowhand culture. Don't watch this movie if you are embarrassed about crying, because it will break your heart. Truly a work of art. The words "I rode down the gray" will haunt you for the rest of your life.