Two Mules For Sister Sara (1970) is a good western thanks to Shirley MacLaine and a little help from Clint Eastwood

That post title might sound strange considering this film co-stars Clint Eastwood, who was coming off the famous A Man With No Name trilogy and Hang Em High. He is good here as the gunfighter Hogan, who crosses path with Sister Sara (MacLaine) a nun who is attacked by three desperadoes. Hogan saves her and the two become joined at the hip. Hogan is recruited by a Mexican colonel to help prevent the French Army from overtaking that country. Sister Sara lends a hand in her own special way. Two Mules is not your typical western and definitely not your typical western for Clint. He gets a lot more dialogue than usual and his character is actually fleshed out more than it was when he played The Man with no Name in those three Leone westerns. But he is still one mean hombre when things hit the fan. But it's MacLaine who makes the movie for me. As her Sister Sara speaks her mind and takes charge when she has to. She drinks and curses a little on occasion. She and Clint have good chemistry too. I enjoyed this film with it's easy going vibe and two solid performances that mixed humor with suspense and a little action. Plus it has one cool music score by Ennio Morriconne.
B

Frank, Dean, Anita and Ursula are 4 For Texas (1963)

This 1963 western paired up friends and Rat packers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in a breezy western about two sharpshooters who meet up on a stagecoach that is attacked by robbers. The duo managed to fight them off but Dean (as Joe Jarrett) makes off with the $100,000 Frank (as Zack Thomas) was guarding. The two will meet up again in Galveston as Dean arrives and decides to open up a casino with the help of lovely Max (played by Ursula Andress). Zack has to deal with his unscrupulous partner played by Victor Buono, who hires killer Matson (Charles Bronson) to take out Zack. And throw in the exotic beauty Elya Carlson (played by Anita Ekberg) who runs a barber shop, who is Zack's lady love. Lots of gunplay and humor are prevalent in this easy going western. It opens with an exciting 10 minute sequence involving the stagecoach robbery. And ends with a wild melee involving over a hudred guys and a surprisingly violent shoot-out between Sinatra and Bronson. A good western that will please both guys and girls. The men have the Ekberg and Andress to look at while the ladies can watch Dino and Ol Bue Eyes do their thing. Oh and there's a cameo by the Three Stooges.

B-

VIVA MARIA! is part musical, part western and it is wonderful...

I don't even know how to describe this movie. It's part musical, part western, part comedy, part adventure. And somehow mix all that together and it works. Set in Middle America in 1907, the fiery Maria 2 (played by Brigitte Bardot) meets up with a traveling circus after her terrorist father is killed. She ends up blowing up the bridge that the soldiers are on who have killed her father and is now on the run. The circus she hooks up with has veteran singer Maria 1 (played by Jeanne Moreau). As luck would have it, the circus has just recently lost a singer, Maria 1's sister and Maria 2 jumps at the chance. During her first appearance she accidentally invents the strip-tease and the circus becomes hugely successful. Things are going great until the pair meet up with a socialist revolutionary and finding themselves leading this revolution against the dictator, the capitalists and the church.

Like I said this mix of music, action, and comedy somehow all works. I think this may be Brigitte Bardot's best film performance. She is headstrong and doesn't back down from anyone. Moreau gives a good performance as well, more understanding and sympathetic. And plus they both look stunning. For the ladies they have George Hamilton to ogle over as a local hero who falls for Moreau. I liked this movie. Be warned it is subtitled but I didn't mind one bit at all.

Santa Fe Trail (1940).

Santa Fe Trail(1940). Western directed by Michael Curtiz. Cast: Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. The film was the seventh of eight films that Flynn-de Havilland made together. The outdoor scenes were filmed at the Lasky Movie Ranch, on the Lasky Mesa area of the Simi Hills in the western San Fernando Valley.

The story begins when Cadet Carl Rader, is dishonorably discharged from West Point Academy for conspiracy. His friends Jeb Stuart and George Custer, graduate and are assigned to duty at the most dangerous post in the army. While traveling, Custer and Stuart meet Cyrus Halliday, the man responsible for building the railroad and his daughter, Kit Carson. After arriving at the fort, they find Brown's army, has been terrorizing the countryside with their raids.

During a raid on a wagon, Stuart and Custer capture Brown's injured son Jason and before dying, Jason tells them where his father's hideout is. In disguise, Stuart rides into the hide out and is recognized by Rader, who takes him at gunpoint to Brown. Stuart, finds himself trapped in a burning barn but is saved by Custer and his troops. Brown does not go down without a fight.

Olivia De Havilland, plays a Calamity Jane type character, who gave Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan as George A. Custer, a run for their money.

Errol Flynn(20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959), was best known for his romantic swashbuckler roles and his flamboyant lifestyle.

Flynn co-starred with Olivia de Havilland in eight films, Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Four's a Crowd (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941.

High stakes for Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum in Five Card Stud (1968)

More of a mystery than a western but it does take place in the Old west times. When a card cheat is caught in a high stakes poker game, he is hanged by a lynch mob of the other card players. Dean Martin is the one player who tries to stop it but to no avail. Weeks past by when those same men are mysteriously killed one by one and Dean has to try and solve who's the killer before it's too late. Robert Mitchum comes in as a wandering preacher hoping to save the lost souls of this small town. Him and Dean have great chemistry together. Roddy McDowall is perfect as a weasel and card player who hates Dean for trying to date his sister. McDowall, even with that stiff British accent is quite good in a western. He plays a low down sniveling weasel pretty good. Inger Stevens is on hand as owner of a barber shop. Said barber shop also gives more than shaves and haircuts, if you know what I mean. I liked Five Card Stud, since it was more than just a western. Dean is super cool as usual as the gambler with a conscience. And also Yaphet Kotto in one of his first roles as a bartender and friend to Dean. Look out for a good performance by Katherine Justice as McDowall's love lorn sister.

Robert Mitchum as The Reverend Jonathan Rudd


Dean Martin as gambler Van Morgan and Inger Stevens as Lily Langford


Yaphet Kotto as Little George and Dean Martin


Katherine Justice as Nora Evers and Dean Martin


Robert Mitchum

Happy Birthday Claire Trevor (1910-2000)

Happy Birthday to the wonderful Claire Trevor, who made her mark in several entertaining westerns. Most notably Stagecoach (1939), Dark Command (1940), Texas (1941), Man Without A Star (1955) and The Stranger Wore A Gun (1953) to name a few. She also appeared in non-western films such as Murder My Sweet (1944), Key Largo (1948) and The Babe Ruth Story (1948). Happy Birthday Claire.

The Desperadoes (1943).

The Desperadoes (1943). Cast: Randolph Scott and Glenn Ford. It was the first Columbia Pictures production to be released in Technicolor.

When the bank is robbed in the small town of Red Valley, Utah, banker Stanley Clanton offers to repay fifty percent of his depositors' losses. Unknown to the town, Clanton has masterminded the bank robbery with Uncle Willie McLeod, the town postmaster and stable owner. Uncle Willie, is furious with Clanton for hiring Jack Lester, who killed three men during the robbery.

While looking for the bank robbers, sheriff Steve Upton, stops to water his horse. A man approaches from behind him and demands his horse at gunpoint. The man is Cheyenne Rogers, the gunslinger hired by Uncle Willie to rob the bank. Cheyenne, rides into town and at the stable meets Uncle Willie's daughter, Allison McLeod. Allison, is charmed by cowboy, who now calls himself, Bill Smith.

Cheyenne, heads for the saloon , where he meets "The Countess," his childhood friend. The Countess, does not believe that he will ever be able to "go straight".

Soon they hear explosion, then Nitro Rankin, Cheyenne's partner walks in with a injured his leg from the blast and Cheyenne refuses to leave town until his partners leg has healed. Later that night, when Cheyenne returns to the stables to see Allison, Steve is waiting to arrest him. When Steve recognizes the horse thief as his old friend Cheyenne, he invites him for a drink. As they walk toward the saloon, Uncle Willie recognizes Cheyenne as the man he hired to rob the bank advises him to leave town.

When the bank is robbed again, Cheyenne becomes, the prime suspect and his friend seems to be the only one who believes in his innocence.

One of my favorite scenes is, during the cow stampede started by a blast of nitro, used as a distraction while Cheyenne, rushes to help the wrongly imprisoned sheriff. Wonderful performances from a cast including: Edgar Buchanan, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Raymond Walburn and Irving Bacon as a bartender whose saloon keeps getting destroyed during fights.

Randolph Scott(January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) career spanned from 1928 to 1962. Scott performed in many types of genres, including: dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals, adventure tales, war films, horror and fantasy films. He is best known for his image as the Western hero. Out of his more than 100 film performances more than 60 were in Westerns.