The Plainsman

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Audience Member Really good one right here you need to watch it James Welch, Henderson, Arkansas June 24, 2023 Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/25/23 Full Review Steve D Fictional nonsense masquerading as history. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 05/13/23 Full Review Audience Member This Cecil B. DeMille epic of the old West contains what may be Jean Arthur's finest performance, as a hysterical, eccentric, incurably amoral, but devotedly doting Calamity Jane. She really pulled it off! Gary Cooper is at his most taciturn, but manages some occasional pithy sayings: 'The plains are big, but trails cross ... sometimes.' The story is a pastiche to end all pastiches. All the cowboy heroes of Western lore seem to be in there somehow except for Jesse James. Even Abraham Lincoln opens the story in person (or at least, DeMille would have us believe so). There is no room for anything so evanescent as subtlety, this is a 'stomp 'em in the face' tale for the masses. A remarkable thing about this film however is that it is a very early full frontal attack on what Eisenhower was eventually to name 'the military industrial complex'. It isn't just a story about gun-runners, but about arming anyone for money, and doing so from the heart of Washington. But let's not get into politics, let's leave that to DeMille, who can be guaranteed to be superficial. The chief interest of this film all these years later is that it uses the first film score composed by George Antheil, who has a lot to say about the job in his autobiography, 'Bad Boy of Music'. Antheil seems to have originated 'the big sound' adopted by all subsequent Westerns, whereby the plains sing out with the voices and sounds of countless cowboys in the sky, celebrating the open spaces and interweaving common melodies. That is why it does not sound at all unusual, because we have heard it a thousand times. But he seems to have been the first to summon up the combined rustlings of all the sage brush into this symphony of the open skies which has entered into American mythic lore, and given it a soundtrack which has never varied since then, corny as it may be, but doubtless appropriate. It is amusing to see Anthony Quinn in an early appearance as a Cheyenne Indian. Gabby Hayes is in there somewhere, but you miss him in the crowd. Gary Cooper overtops them all, looming large, - but when did he ever loom small? Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review william d How disappointing to see two of my favorite actors - Jean Arthur and Gary Cooper - in this dull and not-even-close-to-historically-accurate film. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The best Western movie ever made! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member The combination of Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur usually is Hollywood gold. Not when they are playing Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane! This painfully fictional account of is life is so romanticized made up that nothing holds true. Director Cecile B. DeMille falls flat on his face. At least the cinematography is top-notch. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Plainsman

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