LOWCW 2026 || Match the Director to the Film Game Answers

I obviously made this way too difficult 😂, but thank you to everyone who played -- really appreciate it! Answers and scores are below.

~

Dodge City – Michael Curtiz

My Name is Nobody – Tonino Valerii

The Big Country, The Westerner – William Wyler

The Outlaw Josey Wales, Unforgiven – Clint Eastwood

The Magnificent Seven – John Sturges

Silverado – Lawrence Kasdan

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly – Sergio Leone

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance – John Ford

3:10 to Yuma – Delmer Daves

The Tin Star – Anthony Mann

Support Your Local Sheriff – Burt Kennedy

The Sons of Katie Elder – Henry Hathaway

~

Chloe the MovieCritic / 1

Hamlette (Rachel) / 11

Thank you again so much for playing! :) ♥

Review // My Darling Clementine (1946)

“John Ford… takes on the legend of the O.K. Corral shoot-out in this multilayered, exceptionally well-constructed western, one of the director's very best films. Henry Fonda… cuts an iconic figure as Wyatt Earp, the sturdy lawman who sets about the task of shaping up the disorderly Arizona town of Tombstone, and Victor Mature… gives the performance of his career as the boozy, tubercular gambler and gunman Doc Holliday. Though initially at cross-purposes, the pair ultimately team up to confront the violent Clanton gang. Affecting and stunningly photographed, My Darling Clementine is a story of the triumph of civilization over the Wild West from American cinema's consummate mythmaker.” (from Amazon) And “While My Darling Clementine never loses its dynamism as a hard-hitting western, it is also a tender love story.” (from the dvd case)

The West is so unique in that -- figuring from, say, after the Civil War to 1900 (I know there’re elements both before and after that) -- the wild west we tend to think of was such a short period of time, and so unique in that it was being mythologized as it happened. This whole film just made me think of all that again as it was filmed just seventeen years after Wyatt Earp’s death and Earp himself was a technical advisor to John Ford in the silent film days (apparently also drawing a sketch for him of the layout and sequence of events for the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral). The overlap is so fascinating.

(Note: that said, great liberties were taken with this film. Its historical inaccuracies are well documented elsewhere, but if, like me, you’re a fan of other renditions of, as a major for instance, the friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, I just have to mention that this is a trifle jarring. Having experienced a rollercoaster of opinions the first time I saw it, I have to say I was able to analyze its merits much more clearly once I separated the two things in my brain. Just mentioning all that as a preparatory fyi as knowing all of it going in really helps.)

All that aside, this is a tremendous, archetypal classic.

I’ve never seen such dry, understated humor in an early western. Little flashes here and there that are so unexpected and spot on. I end up smiling all over repeatedly.

A lot of time and space is given to developing the complexities of Doc Holliday’s character. This Doc is mercurial, reckless, embittered -- a tortured soul with nothing to lose. 

He’s such a brilliant foil for Wyatt Earp. And the development of the relationship + the character contrast between the two men is fascinating.

Henry Fonda has become one of my favorite western leads and this may very well be my favorite of his that I’ve seen. He handles the part so well. Throughout the story we have vengeance, justice… and the everyday. So much of the drama revolves around the main character with the other characters swirling round him like a tempestuous rising flood around a rock. It made me think so much about how you can’t control everyone around you. You can’t manage all their big feelings and mess and prior attachments / back story. But you can be an anchor. From a storytelling perspective, I found it so ingenious. To have a character surrounded by that turmoil... actively involved, but outside the maelstrom, radiating steadfastness... I really liked it.

The gunfight is purposefully almost incidental to the story. It’s like the point of it all is the little everyday-ish moments. The mythic distilling right down into the everyday. And that’s right up my alley. I love it so much.

The way the film was shot is also stunning. Some moments are absolutely epic.

The plot is so measured throughout, but, specifically at the end with Pa Clanton, there’s definitely some food for thought re the relationship between careful justice and vengeance.

Speaking of the legendary gunfight itself... there’s no background music, which I found very impactful. The whole thing is so rooted, grounded.

After all that -- after the shoot-out and the death -- the ending is so sweet! Simple, charmingly awkward, and so sweet. 

I know I’ve said this before about specific westerns… But there’s this superb quality that great westerns do so well… that of later growing to colossal size in the mind and heart and soul. And this has that. It’s humble, sturdy, magnificent… And I absolutely love it.

Review // Rio Bravo (1959)

“John Wayne and Dean Martin star as a Western sheriff and his recovering alcoholic deputy who, along with a small ragtag group of men and women, refuse to release a suspected murderer from jail, even though they are surrounded and greatly outnumbered by gunmen.” (from imdb)

When I tell you that that was the best official summary I could find… Talk about underselling. Well, plot point wise, I guess it works. But take my word for it, that’s not the half of it.

A quintessential, down-to-earth western, Rio Bravo is just delightful.

John Wayne is his usual larger-than-life self -- very calm, levelheaded, and masterful.

It’s my favorite role of Walter Brennan’s to date.

Dean Martin does a fantastic job.

And I think it’s the first time I’d seen Ricky Nelson.

The crooning bit in the jail is one of my favorite parts.

The manly, good-humored camaraderie, the everyday banter among the sheriff and his deputies is so fun. I love how well they all know each other and absolutely have each other’s backs. I also like how they’re not fighting over the same woman, but genuinely happy for and/or concerned about each other.

I loved how Angie Dickinsen handled her part... sparkling and witty, with a soft, captivating archness.

On my last viewing, I realized how much I really love their love story -- how she backs him up and has that sweetness, but she’s not naïve. 

And she most certainly has a backbone -- there's no sidelining her -- but she’s also fully on board with the team. I love how she integrates with the group of friends as a whole, building her own rapport / not pulling him away to create their own little bubble. Such a healthy foundation for a relationship.

John Wayne and Howard Hawks did make Rio Bravo as a direct response to High Noon, but what they created was a classic in its own right. John T. Chance is the lawman who won’t back down – who doesn’t let the idea of failure even be a talking point. That is, he realistically knows that they could end up dead, but giving up just isn’t on the table. He and his deputies experience nerves, but not fear. And once the shooting actually starts, his easy confidence + the high spirits of all three of his deputies just tells us from the get-go that everything will be ok. 

And Chance makes do with what he’s got. He’s not against help, but he doesn’t ask for it, and (however willing they might be) he doesn’t want help from anyone with other ties and responsibilities that they would be endangering. He wears the badge. It's his job to protect the people.

Content wise: There's regular western shooting, etc. but all very bloodless. And in the ending scene, Feathers is wearing a saloon dancing costume (about equivalent to a 50’s bathing suit) from her earlier life (donned with the intent of clearing the air with him about her past) and he tells her why he doesn’t want her wearing it in public, so ultimately it’s clear where this relationship is heading, but nothing’s shown then (or throughout), so the viewer can decide for themselves how things develop. As always, I recommend a parental preview to decide age appropriateness. But you know me ;), I’m over cautious when making recommendations, and it's really not much, so don’t let that deter you from checking it out.

Comfortable... endearing... reassuring, this western is great fun. It warms my heart and has become such a favorite. I’d love to hear if you’ve seen it!