Before Purple Rain There Was....

 

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THE PURPLE HILLS-1961-A drifter named Sheppard (Gene Nelson) shoots Beaumont, a wanted criminal for the bounty but he has to shoot his own horse and can't carry the body back. He buries the body and walks to town. Meanwhile Beaumont's partners in crime Johnny (Kent Taylor) and Chito (Danny Zapien) wait for him but become suspicious when they see vultures. They find his body and plan on collecting the bounty but they are in Apache territory and the tribe liked Beaumont for all the wrong reasons (he sold them guns, booze, etc.). To get the body back Johnny leaves Chito with the Indians and goes looking for Sheppard. Both claim the reward. To settle things the deputy marshal (co-writer Russ Bender) goes with them to the grave but they are accompanied by Amy Carter (Joanna Barnes) and her young charge Martin (Jerry Summers), revenge seeking younger brother of the deceased Beaumont. 

This modest little 60-minute western is actually a remake of a 1915 silent film. This was third film produced and directed by Maury Dexter (THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH (1962); also with Kent Taylor).

Against A Low Budget Sky

 

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AGAINST A CROOKED SKY-1975-A weird American Indian Temkai (Geoffrey Land from Al Adamson movies) kidnaps a young girl named Charlotte (Jewell Blanch). Her father (Clint Ritchie) goes to rescue her. Meanwhile his not too bright son Sam (Stuart Petersen) goes looking himself and after nearly drowning is rescued by a backwoods grump called Russian (Richard Boone). After a first aborted search, Sam and Russian search for the tribe that Temkai belongs to. Along the way they meet up with the rightful chief (Henry Wilcoxon who also provides narration) who was left to die in the desert years before. They find the strange tribe now run by an angry bald guy. Sam must go through a ritual to save his sister's life. 

This low budget politically incorrect “The Searchers” rip off is only worth seeing for Boone's performance. Director Earl Bellamy was a prolific TV director with few feature movie credits but he made WALKING TALL PART 2 the same year. Land was in JESSI'S GIRLS and BLAZING STEWARDESSES (both directed by Al Adamson) the same year. Co-star Blanch later became a country-western singer and song publisher.

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Low Budget Western

GREYEAGLE-1977-Rancher Ben Colter (Ben Johnson), and his Indian companion Standing Bear (Iron Eyes Cody who was actually Italian) go after the legendary Indian warrior Greyeagle (Alex Cord) when he kidnaps Beth (Lana Wood), the rancher's daughter. When Greyeagle has trouble with some other braves who want Beth (they were willing to trade 5 horses) he has to fight an adversary who threatens: “I will hang his scalp in the wigwam of the white woman”. Beth winds up saving Grey's life by killing his attacker. A white mad trapper (triple threat behind the camera Charles Pierce hamming it up) leads a group of marauding Indians and Jack Elam lightens things up as a semi-comic cannon toting trapper who helps the rancher find a chieftain named Running Wolf (Paul Fix) who claims to be Beth's real father. In an unrelated to the main story line sequence (typical for Pierce film) the Indian gang kill Elam's dog then subject him to weird combat where he has to fight several braves while tied to a tree by his neck! 

More low budget boredom from the man who gave us THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (also with Johnson) and THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK.

The Wild Weird West

BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA-1967-Vampirism in the old west. The legendary count (a very skinny John Carradine) set his sights and fangs on early settlers and American Indians. After killing off passengers on a stagecoach, Drac assumes the identity of James Underhill and takes over the Double B Bar ranch where he takes a liking to his “niece” Betty (Melinda Plowman). Fortunately her fiance is Billy The Kid (Chuck Courtenay). The Count flies around like a bat and whenever he's ready to bite someone a red light engulfs his face. He says things like: “You clumsy idiot” and “How dare you interfere!”. After he kills a squaw, Indians go on the warpath. Virginia Christine plays Eva, a superstitious Swedish woman who tries to convince Billy Uncle James is really King of the Vampires. Bing Russell is stupid jealous ranch hand who aids Drac and Richard Reeves is a bartender. Harry Carey Jr. is also in it as is his real life mother Olivia. The atmospheric finale takes place in an old mine where Dracula plans to make Betty his un-dead companion. This is the penultimate feature length film for veteran director William "One Shot" Beaudine. For more on him and his last film credit, see the next entry!

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Another Great Moving Picture!

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS-1920-This silent film is a little masterpiece of it's kind and holds up very well for being made nearly 100 years ago! It's also fairly faithful to Jame Fenimore Cooper's novel (part of a trilogy) but the character of Hawkeye (Harry Lorraine), usually the main emphasis in later versions takes a back seat to Uncas (Alan Roscoe), the title Mohican and his relationship with Cora (Barbara Bedford), the white English woman who's father is a Colonel leading an army against the French and their "bad Indian" companions. Wallace Beery is top billed as the evil Magua who wants Cora (or her sister) all to himself.

The violent and graphic (for the day) Indian massacre scene still packs a wallop and Boris Karloff is seen briefly as a brave who kills baby! It all ends tragically of course.

 

It had two directors: Clarence Brown and Maurice (father of Jacques  Tourneur). Co-stars Roscoe and Bedford were married at the time and were big stars in the Silent Era. Unfortunately both their careers went into decline on the advent of sound. Beery became a big star in the Sound Era winning a 1931 best actor Oscar for THE CHAMP. He actually "tied" with Fredric March who also won for DR. JEYKLL AND MR HYDE.

Weirdly, a German version was made the same year that featured Bela Lugosi!

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The Exiles

THE EXILES-1961-This documentary style drama depicts 12 hours in the lives of some American Indians living in a rundown area of Los Angeles. One character Yvonne sadly reflects on her life, pregnancy and marriage to Homer her unemployed husband who spends most of his time drinking with his friends,fighting and hitting on women while neglecting her. Most of the main characters expound on their lives past and present and their feelings and needs. It's well done and honest but bleak. At the end as the sun raises one character says "Let's do it again tonight!". Director Kent MacKenzie only made a few documentaries after this. He died in 1960.

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