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Blood on the Moon - 1948 Western by Robert Wise

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:38 pm    Post subject: Blood on the Moon - 1948 Western by Robert Wise Reply with quote



Everybody knows that Robert Wise directed The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, along with West Side Story and The Sound of Music.

He also directed this gritty, action-packed Western with big Bob Mitchum and the Music Man, Robert Preston. They play two old friends, and Preston sent for Mitchum to come help him with a big cattle deal.

The fine cast includes Barbara Bel Geddes and Walter Brennan.

Mitchum is an honest, hardworking cowhand, but Preston is charming and gleefully crocked. He wants his old friend Mitchum to join his hired gunmen to help him swindle a group honest cattlemen out of the steers they're supposed to provide for the nearby Indian reservation.

If you're wondering if Mitchum continues to work for Preston after he finds out what a skunk Mr. Preston is, I should mention that it takes Robert a while find out just what these low-down varmints are planning to do. When he does, things start to get really interesting.

I don't know if Wise shot the movie in high contrast or TCM's print was just flawed in that respect, but it was hard to enjoy the movie when everything was either too bright or too dark, with little in between.

This was especially true during a rip-roaring fist fight in a small, dimly-lit saloon. Half the time you can barely see what the two men are doing, but Mitchum and Preston go at it until Preston is unconscious and Mitchum staggers out, still wheezing and bleeding.



_______ Blood on the Moon (1948) - Fight Scene


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IMDB has this trivia item about the fight.
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Because director Robert Wise thought that it was unnatural that the winner of a Western brawl usually finished the fight vigorously, he made it a point that both fighters would be exhausted and worn out at the end of this one.
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There's a crooked U.S. Indian Agent who is part of the scheme, played by Frank Faylen. He's a fine character actor, and he's played both Good Guys and Bad Guys . . . but every time I see him in a movie I remember how funny he was as the hapless father of Dobie Gillis in the late 1950s TV series!

His famous, recurring lines was, "Someday . . . I'm gonna kill that boy." Very Happy

I thought it was odd that the plot involved the mistreatment of the Indians on a reservation, even though we only see a few long shots of a valley filled with teepees (a matte shot), and only one actually Indian fairly close to end of the movie.

The brief scenes were provided by Iron Eyes Cody, one of Hollywood's most respected Native American actors.

If you catch this fine Western on TCM, be prepared for a complex plot that requires careful attention, plenty of unexpected plot twists, and a climax wasn't quite what I expected.



___________ Blood On The Moon (1948) Trailer


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scotpens
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:17 pm    Post subject: Re: Blood on the Moon - 1948 Western by Robert Wise Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:

The brief scenes were provided by Iron Eyes Cody, one of Hollywood's most respected Native American actors.


In fact, Iron Eyes Cody wasn't a Native American by blood. He was born in Louisiana, the son of Italian immigrants.

However, he married an American Indian woman, adopted two Indian sons, and labored for decades to promote Native American causes. He was honored by Hollywood's Native American community in 1995 as a "non-Native" for his contribution to film.

So I suppose he qualifies as an "honorary Indian."
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