What's in a Title? Horse Operas Part III Quiz

Answer: Hell's Hinges

"Hell's Hinges" is the name of the pioneer town the pair are sent to. It's a town of two halves: those who enjoy the den of iniquity of the local saloon, and those who wish to build a church. Although the newly arrived Reverend is welcomed by the devout locals, it's the depraved locals who he falls in with. Despite being no saint, Blaze Tracy falls for the genuinely religious Faith and sees the light. Luckily, Blaze doesn't completely give up his old ways so when things reach a head, he's ready.

Blaze Tracy was played by William S. Hart. Hart was a huge star of the time, arguably the biggest star of the silent Western. When he had got into films in 1914, he was already forty-eight years old. His style was incredibly gritty for the time; his clothes were a bit scruffy, and he looked like a real bloke. He did play highly moralistic characters, but there was no running away from the realism of violence. Indeed, in "Hell's Hinges" we get a scene in which Blaze threatens to burn the debauched alive, a threat he begins to carry out.

Answer: Four Faces West

I'm not sure what the title refers to, but the promo poster shows the four main characters' faces: Ross McEwen played by Joel McCrea, his love interest Fay Hollister played by McCrea's real-life wife Frances Dee, Pat Garrett played by Charles Bickford, and my favourite character Monte Marquez played by the wonderful Joseph Calleia.

"Four Faces West" was based on the novel "Pasó Por Aquí" by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. It's a remarkable film due to the fact that each and every character is magnanimous and behaves decently. The worst-behaved is the bank manager who sets a $3,000 reward for the capture of McEwan, dead or alive. Famously, not a single shot is fired nor a punch thrown. Taking all that into account, what is even more remarkable is how entertaining it still is, albeit at times cringingly nice.

Answer: Ride Lonesome

I think the title refers to the fact that Brigade wants to work alone, despite picking up an entourage along the way. He has a bone to settle with Frank and puts up with those who join him on his trek to Santa Cruz, probably in order to obscure his real motives.

Brigade is played by veteran actor Randolph Scott whose career had begun back in 1928. He epitomises the older actor (he was sixty-one in 1959) who had a new lease of life in Westerns, in Scott's case thanks to director Budd Boetticher. Interestingly, "Ride Lonesome" was the screen debut of the wonderful James Coburn who went on to carve out a career in Westerns, amongst other genres. Here he plays an unusual role as the slightly backward sidekick, Whit, to Sam Boone played by Pernell Roberts who also made a career in Westerns. Another Western stalwart Lee Van Cleef played Frank.

"Ride Lonesome" boasts all sorts of twists and turns and even though it becomes apparent quite early on what Brigade is up to, how the climax pans out is still anything but predictable. The outcome is also interesting in its dual pessimism and optimism, a rare feat.

Answer: 3:10 to Yuma

The title refers to the train Dan Evans has to get Ben Wade on at Contention City station. The trouble is that Wade's cronies are also around, trying to hinder Evans who isn't getting much help from the locals.

"3:10 to Yuma" is a perfectly constructed Western with all the key moments and key players set up like a game of chess. Furthermore, the cinematography is superb, as are the sets. My only complaint is the casting of Glenn Ford as Wade. It's not that I don't love him as an actor, but he just doesn't quite convince me as a ruthless criminal.

My favourite character is actually a secondary one: Henry Jones as the town drunk, Alex Potter. It's quite remarkable, although by no means unique, in a mainstream American film from the 1950s to have an apparently morally weak character displaying valour deserving of respect while upstanding family men chicken out. Van Heflin as Dan Evans is also worthy of note, in particular his shift from mercenary, albeit justified, to existential hero.

Answer: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

The film begins with Stoddard and his wife, who had been Doniphon's sweetheart prior to Stoddard's arrival, arriving back in Shinbone twenty-five years after the main plot's events. They are there because Doniphon has died although his status as local bigshot is long-forgotten since he took to drink. The meaning of the title of the film isn't really revealed until the end of the flashback which takes up most of the film.

"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" works so well for many reasons, but I think the main one is the triangle created by the three main characters: Stoddard, Valance and Doniphon. The fact that they are played by James Stewart, Lee Marvin and John Wayne respectively guaranteed the tension being achieved between the three. What is amazing that nobody actually dominates despite all three putting in performances of a life-time.

Another key to the film's success is the interesting historical context of western expansion and the changes it inevitably brought in terms of politics and administration. What is slightly unusual for a John Ford film is how cynical and pessimistic it ends up being.

Answer: The Shooting

There are several shootings in "The Shooting". According to Coley, while Gashade was away Coigne had "run down a man and a little person in Winslow", and whence fled the camp in a panic. Leland had been with Coigne in Winslow and was shot dead by a hidden gunman while sitting at the camp fire. Coley, who had been left at the camp while the two went gallivanting around Winslow, had since been holed up and shooting at anything that moved. While in the desert, the mysterious woman keeps shooting at stuff. Gashade eventually works out that she is actually signaling to the hired gun who is trailing them. Furthermore, the grand finale also involves shooting, and I daresay this is the shooting of the title. Director Monte Hellman has said that the film referenced the shooting of JFK, although you'd never guess.

Gashade is played by Warren Oates and Jack Nicholson plays the gunman Billy Spear. There is clearly nothing but animosity between the two characters, which was allegedly also the case off camera. The mysterious woman is played by Millie Perkins and she really makes the whole thing work.

The atmosphere of the film is unpleasant, unsettling and riddled with unpropitous omens. The ending is enjoyably frustrating as it opens up more questions rather than providing answers. Whether the film's weirdness was a factor in its being totally overlooked (apart from in France, naturellement) or whether it was just bad judgement and bad luck, is debatable. Many of the contemporary reviews were positive, and over the years the film's reputation has just grown and grown. Quite right too.

Answer: Requiescant

The title refers to the name given to the boy. Requiescant doesn't really like killing people and always sends them off with a solemn "requiescant in pace", hence his name.

"Requiescant" is a strange film. It was directed by a bigshot of serious film, features fellow Italian intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini in a role as a Mexican priest, as well as two of Pasolini's most prolific actors Franco Citti and Ninetto Davoli, yet it bears none of the hallmarks of serious Italian cinema and is in fact an unashamedly silly Spaghetti Western. There is clearly a political subtext, and Lizzani spoke extensively about how the Western genre was a vital platform for Italian directors to deal with topics otherwise off-limits.

The most important thing is how enjoyable the film is. There are some wonderful sequences and Colombian actor Lou Castel, Requiescant, has a real knack of playing the idiot savant.

Answer: Barquero

Remy is played by cult icon Warren Oates and Travis is played by Lee Van Cleef in a rare appearance as a good guy. It's Lee Van Cleef's character who gives the film its name "Barquero", which means boatman in Spanish.

The film takes a lot from Sam Peckinpah and maybe even more from Sergio Leone. The former had given Lee Van Cleef his cinema debut in "High Noon", and the latter had given him a new lease of life in "For a Few Dollars More" when the actor was apparently washed-up, aged just forty.

Director Gordon Douglas might have been able to mimic the two great directors but he didn't manage any more than that. Nevertheless, some fine performances and a classic Western scenario make "Barquero" an enjoyable film despite the lack of aesthetics or directorial signature of any type. The only pity is it could have been a great film as opposed to just a good one.

Answer: The Outlaw Josey Wales

The outlaw Josey Wales is played by Clint Eastwood himself. I daresay Eastwood was consciously creating something of an American icon. The character takes a lot from Eastwood's "man with no name" persona from the Leone-directed spaghetti westerns, and alsmost as much from Inspector Harold "Dirty Harry" Callahan from "Dirty Harry" and "Enforcer".

Actually, Josey Wales isn't completely on his own against the world: a young Bushwacker who was reluctant to surrender manages to escape the Union soldiers, despite getting wounded, and join up with Josey Wales for a while. As Josey's odyssey continues, a motley crew attaches itself to the would-be loner. Among them is an enigmatic Cherokee chief, a Navajo woman he liberates from a sort of slavery, and an elderly lady who had earlier been heard boasting about being a proud Jayhawker. It takes a long time for the latter to trust a Missourian.

Although "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is a very messy film in many ways, with important steps being somewhat rushed, and too many slightly unconvincing subplots, it does hold together. There is some superb cinematography, praiseworthy performances, and great drama. Eastwood's propensity for giving characters trademark behavior, in this case Josey Wales's spitting, gets a bit silly, as do the witty lines predestined to become easily-quotable. If those quibbles don't bother you, it's a good Western.

Answer: Django Unchained

The slave, who becomes a free man, is called Django, hence the title. As you would expect from Tarantino, the film is loaded with references to other films, the most obvious being Sergio Corbucci's "Django" (1966) and its subsequent offshoots. The original Django, Franco Nero, even gets a cameo in a particularly unpleasant scene focused on Mandingo fighting, a further cinematic reference to Richard Fleischer's 1975 film "Mandingo" as well as other literature and folklore.

Again, as one would expect from Tarantino, there are lots of laughs, lots of violence, but at the end of the day a brilliantly told tale with twists and turns. It also boasts phenomenal performances from top actors such as Jamie Foxx as Django, Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Schultz, plus Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington as Broomhilda "Hildi" von Shaft, and Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen. The latter's role is particularly interesting since it opens up a discourse on the complex race relationships which existed at the time.