1985 film Firefly fans should check out.

POSTED BY: CapnRahn
UPDATED: Friday, April 30, 2004 16:43
VIEWED: 8136
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CAPNRAHN

Thursday, April 29, 2004 6:15 AM

And I am speaking of the - now classic, in my opinion, "Silverado".

Starring the likes of: Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, a very young looking Kevin Costner, and Danny Glover as Mal. {check his costume!}

Including these notables: Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Brian Dennehy, Jeff Goldblum and Linda Hunt.

This film is very Firefly in my opinion. I have not read if Joss has quoted this or its 'base' - Akira Kurosawa's "Shichinin no Samurai" aka "The Magnificent Seven" (1954) as inspiration - but I bet one or both are.

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

GUNHAND

Thursday, April 29, 2004 6:40 AM

I definately agree with you there. Silverado is one of my favorite Westerns of all time. On the short list with the likes of The Outlaw Josey Wales and Tombstone.

Very fine movie indeed.

"Pain is scary..."

QUICKSAND

Thursday, April 29, 2004 8:05 AM

GREAT movie.... but you should really list any Western as "Firefly" inspiration... particularly the fun ones. Not John Wayne-- he had a tendency to be hatin' on our Native American bruthas.

"Tombstone," on the other hand... rawk.

"Silverado" had great characters and character-interaction (it's Lawrence Kasdan, who helped with 'Empire Strikes Back,' among many other things) ... but Kevin Costner's character, the womanizing wild card, is absent from Firefly, just as Kaylee, the heart of 'Serenity' is missing from "Silverado."

I gotta check on Danny Glover's costume though, that's funny. Great flick, I should go watch that again, actually.

\ o /
------------ (Qs)

ZOID

Thursday, April 29, 2004 12:17 PM

Gunhand:

How could you possibly omit the greatest Western of all time: "The Unforgiven".

Hollowed out ex-badman (Clint Eastwood) goes to aid of prostitutes and winds up giving overdue comeuppance to bully gubmint type (Gene Hackman). Morgan Freeman gives a credible performance in a supporting role, as does the actor who plays 'The Schofield Kid' (blind as a bat, Billy Bonney wannabe).

But -- speaking as a former slave of demon rum -- when justice is required and Munny (Eastwood) starts and finishes a bottle of whiskey to get himself in the murderous mood he knows will result, that sequence was the truest I've ever seen in a movie. Some folks get happy when they have a few, others do dumb stuff and pass out; some -- like Munny and my former self -- get sharper until someone winds up getting cut. The transformation of Munny from kindly father, grieving widower and poor pig farmer into the snake-eyed killer he had been prior to his wife's redemption of him, was one of the most compelling performances ever given by a cinematic actor.

Hackman's no slouch as the affable (yet malicious) psychopathic sheriff with a penchant for beating the life out of defenseless men.

Best exchange:
"I don't deserve to die like this."

"We all deserve to die."

"I'll see you in hell, William Munny."

"Yeah." (beat, beat, beat) BOOM.

Authentic guns and costumes, too.

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

(Of River) "Little Sis? I could see big things for her all along. Her and her brother both. I always knew they'd be worth something, y'know?"

- Jayne Cobb, Game Warden and co-proprietor, "Cretaceous Park", Hera; from A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence Wilkins, Richard

GUNHAND

Thursday, April 29, 2004 12:36 PM

Well Zoid, to be honest "Unforgiven" is probably one of the most beautifully shot westerns ever made, great acting, good cast but...I have a completely irrational aversion to it. I know it's great, I want to like it, I should like it, but when I went to see it in the theater there was all sorts of bad stuff going on with me and it tainted it for me forever pretty much.

Which is completely irrational, I've seen it since on cable and whatnot, and seen the whole thing. Just in pieces. Never watched it all the way through at one sitting because of the bad vibes.

Eastwood and Hackman are probably two of the finest living American actors, and I don't begrudge their work at all in it. But the fact remains I can't sit through it for more than 15-20 minutes at a stretch.

Doesn't make any sort of logical sense, but just the way it is.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

BROWNCOAT1

Thursday, April 29, 2004 1:55 PM

I really like "Silverado". They play it on AMC about once a month now, and I catch it whenever I can.

Quicksand wrote:

Quote:
Not John Wayne-- he had a tendency to be hatin' on our Native American bruthas.

Don't hate on the Duke!

Seriously though, John Wayne never wrote the scripts, he just acted in the movies. Sure, all of his earlier movies depicted Native Americans as savage killers bent on scalping settlers, but then again, all westerns from that area stereotyped Native Americans that way.

In John Wayne's later films, once he was a big name star and had more control over such things, the NAs were cast as a people oppressed by an expanding American gov't, a people simply fighting for survival. John Wayne was always a big proponent of protecting the rights of the Native Americans.

Back on topic, there are many westerns that have that "Firefly" feel to them, or could have been used for inspiration for Firefly. Fistful of Dollars & For a Few Dollars More w/ Clint Eastwood. Shadow Riders w/ Tom Selleck & Sam Elliott is another good one about brothers who fought on opposite sides of the Civil War. The list goes on and on.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

GUNHAND

Thursday, April 29, 2004 2:14 PM

I'd forgotten about "Shadow Riders", that movie actually surprised me. I though it was going to be fairly decent but probably not anything to write home about...and here I am writing about it.

Of course I should have known better, I mean Sam Elliot, he's the man.

Another recent one I saw that I was pleasently surprised with was "Jericho". Not a classic but worth the time spent watching it. Especially for R. Lee Ermy's portrayal of a U.S. Marshall. Why no one ever cast him in a Western before (at least one I heard of) eludes me. Seems like a no brainer and he did a fine job in it.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

KUGELBLITZ

Thursday, April 29, 2004 2:20 PM

Well, if you want to see something with some terrific chinese cultural bits in it, and some pretty good action scenes-watch "The Sand Pebbles". It is set in the 1930s in China and is simply terrific. You could infer about the San Pueblo being a rough equivalent to the Serenity, but it doesn't quite work. Still, it is an an excellent character piece.

"We are exporting democracy because we have all of this unused democracy lying around at home. Why not make some money doing it?"

SHINY

Thursday, April 29, 2004 2:24 PM

I believe somewhere in the DVD commentaries, someone mentions the magnificent seven -- I think in reference to HoG...

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JUSTME

Thursday, April 29, 2004 3:24 PM

All this talk got me to thinking of one of my favorite movies and a RPG I usta' play.
The movie is "Quigley Down Under" with Tom Selleck. Quirky humor, thrillin' heroics, Alliance troops (the Redcoats), defending the oppressed, alien world (1850's Australia), prostitutes - all the important Firefly stuff. Mathew Quigley comes across as a kind of cross between Jayne and Mal - Jayne's size and skills, Mal's sense of humor and morals.

The RPG is Space:1889. I can easily see adding the Ethership Serenity to that (if I ever get a chance to play again)

Have to agree with all about Unforgiven and Silverado.

JustMe

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