February 12

Forrest Tucker

For Forrest Tucker I watched Chisum. The film is based on real events of NM territory “reworking of the events in Lincoln county 1878” as listed on the DVD packaging. Forrest Tucker plays a banker and the villain of the film. He wants land, a lot of land. He is powerful, intelligent and feared. He tells you his evil plans and exactly what he thinks of you with a smile on his face. He knows his enemy as well as he knows himself. His character is a polar opposite of the John Wayne (Chisum) character. Alas, when you go against John Wayne, you do not win. This is a very serious role. I expected him to be a little more upbeat like in his Ftroop role and was pleasantly surprised at his great acting. Not to take anything away from Larry Hagman, but I wonder if he saw this film before he portrayed JR Ewing.

His character has some good lines.
“That is not just a map, it is a chess board. If another man makes the right moves there might just be a new king”. “(Chisum is) a man who respects the law, around here I am the man who owns the law.”

John Wayne has a great line when dealing with Forrest “I don't favor talking to vermin but I'll talk to you just once.” He basically tells Forrest he better not mess with his land and possessions. Forrest states “that sounds like a threat.” John punches him. “Wrong word, fact.” That is great interaction.

The film was made in 1970. There were many actors who I recognized but I couldn't really place them. The actors names were listed with their character names but no pictures. There were some songs sung by Merle Haggard.

The movie was probably filmed in California, but the scenic views were beautiful and letterbox widescreen to get the most out of the picture. During the climatic scene the cattle drive goes right through town. Hundreds if not thousands of cattle running through the middle of the street, going up on to the sidewalks, knocking over beams and causing part of buildings to fall, and trampling over anything that is in the road. Some of the shots show the dust that they are kicking up causing a haze.

Normally when there is a lot of shooting in films I close my eyes and cringe, but I happen to see this interesting moment. After the sheriff was shot by Billy the Kid, the camera looks down at the body and you see the shadow of John and his hat, it looks like a cross on his chest.