Well, I believe that was Gene's pitch to the networks, not necessarily what it was promoted as. Wouldn't surprise me, though. Westerns were pretty damned big back then.
Saw this today, was pleased with it. There were of course some issues and logic fails, but nothing big enough to ruin the fun. Craig and Ford really played off each other fantastically, and for once the alien's motivations made an ounce of sense
they were a scouting team surveying earth for gold. Which makes a hell of lot more sense than water or human slaves/meals that most invasion films are about. There are some things I could complain about if I wanted to, but I just don't have the motivation for it right now.
The movie was a good balance of humor, action, and drama, and well paced. The alien's defeat was handled well enough to be acceptable under the circumstances.
It missed one thing from the comic. When one of the cowboys is told that the aliens plan on taking over the planet eventually, a cowboy responds "If those monsters try to take our land, we'll make sure they never get an inch of it" (or words to that effect).
The Native American in the group just looks at him, and the cowboy has to look away.
I believe the comic line was "They have no right to take our land just because they have better guns". Then again, the comic was an anvilicious take that towards the idea of manifest destiny, which I'm glad they dropped from the movie.
Because having a moral delivered by a sledgehammer is generally annoying at best, and insulting at worst. The way the movie handles things, they merely present enough to let you pick up on the similarities between the alien's and settler's behavior towards the natives. It's the same general message, just without it being shoved down our throats.
Lighthawk wrote:Because having a moral delivered by a sledgehammer is generally annoying at best, and insulting at worst. The way the movie handles things, they merely present enough to let you pick up on the similarities between the alien's and settler's behavior towards the natives. It's the same general message, just without it being shoved down our throats.
Ah. Your previous comment read like the entire theme was dropped completely from the film, not that it was done more subtly.
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
Occasionally anvils need to be dropped, but most of the time they're better off delivered subtly. Yes, we were assholes and muscled the Indians out of their lands for no other reason than we could. Everyone knows this. Bashing us over the head with it is... about forty years late to the party.
#1 - Yeah, we get the difference between subtle and mind-bogglingly obvious. If you'd read, you'd see that LH's comment read as if the film dropped the theme completely rather than treated it better than the literature.
#2 - There's no statute of limitations on telling people that wrong is wrong. I hate to tell you, things like what we did to the NAN bear repeating - even though nice white folks weren't the victims.
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
And if you'd read you'd be able to tell the first part of my reply was to LH's statement about morals delivered via sledgehammer.
In other news, slavery was a horrible thing! Condescend much? The crux of my argument is the "Bashing us over the head with it," aka Dropping an Anvil. People are very well aware that what was done was awful. We came in and took their land really just because we could they suffered for it and were all but wiped out in most cases. Beating people's faces in about it isn't going to result in a stunning revelation. In all likelihood it will just turn them off because you're not only pointing out the obvious but doing it in such a ham handed way that you're treating the audience like kids. There's nothing wrong with delivering the message in a subtle way like LH is describing it and letting the audience pick up on the similarities. Viewers aren't stupid, treating them like they are is the best way to guarantee that your message is completely ignored.
