Shootout At High Noon Marathon: The Wild Wild West Need Not Apply Awards

The Shooutout At High Noon Marathon comes to a close with an award show, I originally wanted to call it The Will Smith In Wild Wild West Memorial Awards, but that’s just mean!

I don’t have much to say here, Edgar and I felt an awards show was the way to cap off this marathon, so we’re doing one. Unless you want a bullet in your britches I suggest you read on.

Reviews:

These are all the reviews and rebuttals Edgar and I wrote for the Shootout At High Noon Marathon.

The Wild Bunch (Director’s Cut, 1969)
My Review
Edgar’s Review
My Rebuttal
Edgar’s Rebuttal

The Proposition (2005)
My Review
Edgar’s Review
My Rebuttal
Edgar’s Rebuttal

The Quick And The Dead (1995)
My Review
Edgar’s Review
My Rebuttal
Edgar’s Rebuttal

Joheunnom Nabbeunnom Isanghannom (The Good, The Bad, The Weird, 2008)
My Review
Edgar’s Review
My Rebuttal
Edgar’s Rebuttal

Pale Rider (1985)
My Review
Edgar’s Review
My Rebuttal
Edgar’s Rebuttal

The Shootist (1976)
My Review
Edgar’s Review
My Rebuttal
Edgar’s Rebuttal

Open Range (2003)
My Review
Edgar’s Review
My Rebuttal
Edgar’s Rebuttal

Ravenous (1999)
My Review
Edgar’s Review
My Rebuttal
Edgar’s Rebuttal

Awards:

Same thing as usual folks, award categories with funny names, get used to it man, that’s just how I do things.

I Did Not See What You Were Doing There (AKA The Most Unexpected Moment):

The obvious choice for this category would be something from Ravenous or The Proposition. Or, if we’re not talking unexpected savagery maybe the surprise ending of The Shootist. I tend to think differently and this category is no different. The moment I’m choosing comes from the penultimate film in our marathon, Open Range. Tensions are high and a shootout is coming, that much was certain. I expected dueling rivalries to play out throughout the shootout, one of those rivalries taking place between the two gun hands- Charley Waite and Butler. Imagine my surprise when before the shootout can even begin Charley walks up to Butler, asks him a question, and then drills a bullet right through his brain. I did not see that coming, that death, that moment came out of left field buy by golly gee was it effective.

He Gone And Got Himself Killed (AKA Best Death):

This marathon featured a shit ton of deaths, but which one stood out from the rest? I decided to go with a stylish death more than a gritty or emotionally impacting death. When the Kid is felled by his dad in The Quick And The Dead it is hella cool. Yeah, that’s right, I said hella cool. It’s not so much the death itself as it is the way the death is framed, the way the story lines have converged and the artistic touch that Sam Raimi gives to Leonardo DiCaprio’s only bullet taken in the whole film. Other deaths may have been more graphic or mattered more to the movie, but hot damn was the Kid’s death ever cool.

These Boots Were Made For Walking (AKA Best Female Performance):

The pickings were very slim in this category, I’m not sure if that says something about films set in the old West other than they happen to be male dominated. There were only three women I considered for this category and of those three none had a considerable amount of screen time. With that being the case it came down to which performance hit me in the gut the hardest, Emily Watson as Martha Stanley in The Proposition. She never went big with her performance, Miss Watson never needed to. Her Martha Stanley is quiet and reserved, but her eyes show a woman who is devoted, angry, and scared of her surroundings and what she may become because of said surroundings. I want to say this isn’t the best performance of Miss Watson’s career, but off the top of my head I can’t think of a better one.

That Man Don’t Need No Boots For Walking, A Six Shooter Will Suffice (AKA Best Male Performance):

Kang-ho Song seems like an unlikely choice for this award. He’s up against some heavyweights, from John Wayne to Russell Crowe. Not only does Kang-ho-ssi hold his own against those heavyweights, he outdoes them. I only found the immortal Mr. Wayne came close to touching Kang-ho-ssi’s performance as Yoon-tae Goo (or the Weird) in Joheunnom Nabbeunnom Isanghannom. Kang-ho-ssi is grimy when he needs to be, always resourceful throughout, and he has a ton of fun with his character. He uses his facial expressions something fierce, and his sense of comedic timing is something to behold. You may not know the name Kang-ho Song yet, but I’ve seen enough of his career to tell you that you should learn his name.

The Guns Are A Blazing (AKA Best Shootout):

There certainly were a lot of shootouts to choose from, and a lot of great shootouts to boot. For a while I was convinced I was going to go with the gritty brutality of the final shootout in Open Range, but the more I thought about it the more my mind kept coming back to one particular film. Jee-woon Kim has a very cinematic eye, that made picking just one of his shootouts difficult. There were four large shootouts in Joheunnom Nabbeunnom Isanghannom and all of them had their own style, flare, and visceral impact. I decided on the opening train shootout for its sweeping visuals and it’s brilliant way of introducing all the key characters with inventive gun play. Sequences such as the opening train shootout in Joheunnom Nabbeunnom Isanghannom are prime examples of why I’ve become such a huge fan of Jee-woon-ssi.

Those Canyons Have Never Looked Better (AKA Best Looking Film):

I thought that just about every movie we watched for the Shootout At High Noon Marathon looked great. For this category I wasn’t just looking for the movie with the prettiest visuals, the best framing, or the most audacious camera movements. I wanted the movie that had some of those things but looked authentic at the same time. There were a few pictures that had gorgeous visuals, excellent framing, and some audacious camera choices while also looking very authentic. There was only one film that was haunting as well, that film was The Proposition. The world of The Proposition is right there on screen, so beautiful in its grime and ugliness. I could stare at The Proposition and be transported to its world within seconds, and be haunted by the vileness of its beauty the entire time.

Last One Standing (AKA Best Film):

There were four films in contention for this most prestigious award, funnily enough this time last year the actual winner would have been near the bottom of all the marathon films I had previously seen. I really liked The Proposition when I first watched it, but it didn’t blow me away, it was a movie I liked and quickly moved on from. Or so I thought, The Proposition slowly began calling back to me, I started questioning my initial assessment of the film, so much so that when Edgar and I began discussing films for this marathon I pushed for The Proposition’s inclusion moreso than any other film. When I was done watching The Proposition for the second time I knew I had watched a disgusting masterpiece. The vicious brutality and the vile nature of the created world filled me with a sense of awe. A sense of awe that has still not dissipated, that’s why The Proposition is the best film in the Shootout At High Noon Marathon.

It’s Over, It’s All Over:

That’s all she wrote folks, hopefully you stayed with me throughout all my inane blathering. The Shootout At High Noon Marathon has been a blast and I hope you’ve had a blast reading what Edgar and I have had to write. The rebuttals were more interesting this time around, and the general quality of the films we watched helped give us both a lot to say. Out of all the marathons I have done so far the Shootout At High Noon Marathon is the one that has left me the happiest, I really did have a great time with it. The sun is setting, I’m heading to the saloon for a root beer, I’ll see you around, pards!

Read what Edgar had to say in his awards, the Silver Six’s.

Cheers,
Bill