Westerns, 3:10 to Yuma and Jack Wilson

After all that Pirate talk, I changed my plans for tonight. Instead of seeing the legendary showdown that will be Tony Armas vs. Carlos Villanueva, I'll be seeing Christian Bale and Russell Crowe square off in James Mangold's remake of 3:10 to Yuma. Mangold previously directed 2005's Walk the Line, the biopic of the life of Johnny Cash, and I was mostly underwhelmed by that film. While Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon put in great, great performances as Cash and his long-time love June Carter, I just didn't find Johnny Cash's life story nearly as interesting as his music--which I love. I don't know if I can blame that on the director, and even if I can that might have no bearing at all on the movie I'm seeing tonight, which is getting some critical praise--though coincidentally both Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma have 83%s on Rotten Tomatoes. We'll see if my reaction is similar, as well.

Anyway, Westerns. I'll admit I haven't seen many (Unforgiven is my favorite of what I have seen), but I'm trying to watch more. I bought Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy (starring Clint Eastwood) earlier this summer but haven't had time to watch them for whatever reason... yet. Last night though, I watched John Ford's classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. It was one of Ford's last films (Stagecoach is the only other of his I've seen) and arguably, from what I've read, one of his best. The film had a different scope and feel than many Westerns, almost all of the action taking place in the town of Shinbone, and with one of the main themes being the transition of the West from the rule of the gun to the rule of the law. The film stars Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne and I can't think of two more legendary actors sharing the big screen (sorry Bale and Crowe). Stewart is Ransom Stoddard, an East Coast attorney just come to Shinbone hoping to practice law. The Duke is Tom Doniphon, a rough-and-tumble cowboy who insists Stoddard settle his score with uber-bad guy Liberty Valance (superbly played by Lee Marvin) with a gun rather than words. In addition to exploring the "end of the West" the film deals with ideas of truth, fiction, legend and what makes a man.

Like anime (another genre I love), Westerns have their quirks (over-the-top character acting, for example, or just not very good acting) and often show blatant racism, and Liberty Valance has both, but it redeems itself. Characters like the Marshall and the Newspaperman/Town Drunk look less like caricatures and become real characters by the end of the film and Stoddard's treatment of the only black person in Shinbone, Pompey, show that the Western is certainly capable of overcoming these tendencies (see, Unforgiven) and Ford successfully does so. Like I said, I'm no expert on the Western, just a fan, so feel free to correct me or agree with me, either way.

One diversion back to the Buccos, Jack Wilson was named the NL Player of the Week for his hot hitting. He has been on fire since the trade deadline passed with him still wearing black and gold, and not trading him may end up being one of Dave Littlefield's best moves. Wilson has raised his OPS all the way to .765, which for a slick-fielding shortstop like Jack Flash is phenomenal (for comparison in his 201-hit career year of 2004, it was .794--his second-best OPS season was last year's .686). This means one of two things: We can keep him, because Jack has a ton of value (way more than this guy, for example) or a good GM can trade him this off-season (selling high for once) and net what could be a great return--much better, at least, than Craig Monroe or whomever it was DL was insisting on.

Even though I won't be at PNC Park tonight, go Bucs. And I'll let you know my thoughts on 3:10.