Category Archives: Movies

Coming May 17: The Silver Whip

01 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Club News, Movies

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20th Century Fox logo used from 1953 to 1987 c...

The Silver Whip (20th Century Fox – 1953)
Director: Harmon Jones
Writers: Jack Schaefer (novel), Jesse Lasky Jr. (screenplay)
Stars: Dale Robertson, Rory Calhoun and Robert Wagner

Dale Robertson portrays Race Crim, a stagecoach guard. On Race’s recommendation, the stage boss hires Jess Harker (Wagner) as a driver for a stage loaded with gold. Bandits attack the stage, fight Race and wound Jess. Even though Race kills half the bandits, the surviving gang members steal some of the gold. Jess manages to drive the stage to Silver City with the remaining payload.

Will the stolen gold be recovered? Will Jess keep his job as a stagecoach driver? What will happen to the bandits that got away? Will Race and Jess remain friends? Will the citizens of Silver City take the law into their own hands?

Can’t wait to find out! See you on the 17th.

Also in the cast: Kathleen Crowley, James Millican, Lola Albright, J.M. Kerrigan

All About Money

24 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by in B-Western trivia, Movies

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In his 1996 preface to “The Genius of the System” by Thomas Schatz (University of Minnesota Press, 2010) Steven Bach, the late senior vice-president and head of worldwide productions for United Artists Studios, said:

It’s always All About Money, which is ignoble and all that, but movies simply can’t be made without it. Ask any filmmaker. [Filmmaking] is an art that is also an industry.

And so it was with the Hollywood B-Western.

Did you know the B-Western was a contributor in the making of some of the greatest films of all time? How? The profits generated from the public’s love affair with the B-Western often allowed the studios to finance the less-profitable, but more “artistic” projects from the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s.

This is just one aspect of the B-Western film genre that most of us don’t think about. You will learn much more in the upcoming class led by the Old Cowpoke, Nikki Ellerbe, and Dr. Victor Medina. The class is offered through the Encore Program for Lifelong Enrichment at NCSU’s McKimmon Center.

Here’s the syllabus:

  • The Primary B-Western Film Studios (PRC, Monogram and Republic)
  • The Most (Financially) Successful B-Western Stars
  • Classic Movie Posters
  • Film Locations and more

Don’t miss it! Sign up today!