Sit back, relax and enjoy an old Western

For many of us old timers who still play ball, there comes a time when we need to sit back, relax and mend the aching torso. For me, all it takes to get my mind off my aches and pains is a cool beverage, some popcorn and an old Western movie.

I pretty much like them all, so what ever I select from my library is good enough. But if I had to pin down my three favorite cowboy flicks, I'd probably pick a classic from 1953, which is probably a common favorite among most of my old-time friends, and then there are two modern-day Western films I love to watch over and over again.

Two of the flicks involve cattle, horses and an automobile or two. So I guess you can't classify them as Westerns, but I do it anyway. When you get my age, you can classify them how ever you want.

The first on my list is all "Western" and at times provides us with beautiful shots of the Grand Tetons around Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The movie, Shane, tells the tale of a former gunfighter, played by Alan Ladd, who drifts into town in hopes of changing his ways, but finds himself in a heap of trouble.

In the end, he faces my favorite villain of all time, Jack Wilson, played by Jack Palance. Palance received an academy award nomination for his supporting role as the meanest cowpoke ever. The movie also stars the great Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, Brandon DeWilde (who plays Joey) and of course Ben Johnson, who has been in every Western I can think of.

The showdown at the end between the two gunfighters is classic. If you can't remember Joey's final words in the flick, "Shane! Come back!" chances are you're not old enough to understand this blog.

And then there is Kirk Douglas. Douglas portrays John W. Burns, a cowboy who just can't get down from the saddle and join the new world, a world full of rules, cars and airplanes. In this 1962 film, Lonely are the Brave, John W. Burns discovers his friend is in the local jailhouse. So, he arranges a fight at a tavern and gets what he wants, a night in the slammer to see his buddy. One thing led to another and Burns finds himself with some added jail time. Of course, he'll have none of that. He tells his buddy goodbye and escapes the hoosegow, gets on his horse and heads for the mountains. Of course, the local sheriff, played by Walter Matthau, gives chase.The rest of the movie is classic Douglas...and his horse, of course.

My third choice, is a film which was released one year later in 1963 and takes place in a dusty Texas town. The movie was called Hud. Paul Newman played the part of Hud Bannon, a cattle rancher and womanizer, probably in reverse order. He played it so well it garnered him an academy award nomination for Best Actor. He lost out to Sidney Poitier, who won for his brilliant performance in Lillies of the Field, but in my book it was classic Newman. You loved and hated the guy for an hour and a half. He battled with his own demons throughout the flick, especially with his father, who told him, "You don't give a damn about anyone, but yourself."

Hud had one friend, his young nephew Lon, played by an older Brandon DeWilde, who had portrayed Joey in Shane, just ten years earlier. Lon stayed by his Uncle for most of the movie, but in the end, he even wised up. It is a sad ending for Hud. The movie is a must-see.

In real life, DeWilde would die a few years later in an auto accident in Denver at the young age of 30. As far as I know, the movie, Hud, the war movie, In Harms Way (1965), and the comedy Wild in the Sky (1972) were his final performances.