Did I just skip all the H's the last time I went through my collection? Because I haven't written about any of the good ones. If you can't tell, I'm more of a Clint Eastwood fan than a John Wayne one. I have nothing against The Duke, I just tend to resonate more with Eastwood's brand of revenge-soaked Westerns.
Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) is minding his own business, herding some cows he just bought, when he is accosted by a posse of men claiming he is a rustler and murderer. They ignore his protestations of innocence and decide to hang him then and there. A marshal (Ben Johnson) was hot on the posse's trail and cuts Jed down before he can suffocate. He hauls Jed off to the county seat, the only jail in the Oklahoma Territory, and leaves him to the mercy of Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle). Fenton tells Jed that his story checks out and they caught the real murderer, but Jed wants justice served to the lynching party. Fenton agrees to make Jed a Marshal so he can hunt the men down, but insists that he brings them back alive to be tried. He's not handing Jed a license to murder. Jed soon discovers that "justice" is a concept that is easier to pursue on paper than it is in reality.
It's funny how movies you watched as a kid have a deeper significance when you're an adult. I don't think I understood before the moral and political conflicts in this film, or if I did, they never stuck out to me. As a kid, I sympathized with Jed but as an adult, I found myself more on Judge Fenton's side. He has a great speech about being the only judge in the territory and the terrible responsibility that comes with being the final authority over life and death for the captured criminals.
On a completely unrelated note, I find myself bogged down once more with TV shows in my rotation instead of movies. On the server, I have started watching the anime Naruto which is, if not a classic, extremely popular. So popular, it has over two hundred episodes. They are not broken into seasons, so I have no idea where a good stopping point is. Right now, I'm just taking them ten episodes at a time but it still takes me like a day to get through them.
Over in Netflix Land, I started watching a telenovela called La Usurpadora about a woman named Paola, henceforth to be known as Evil Twin, who finds a woman who looks just like her named Paulina (aka Good Twin) working as a bathroom attendant in a club. Evil Twin blackmails Good Twin to take her place so Evil Twin can jet off with her billionaire boyfriend while Good Twin tries to repair the damage Evil Twin has caused to her husband's family. I've never been a soap opera person but Netflix swears I will like this. It's only one season but, fun fact, that season is 108 episodes. Apparently, Mexican TV shows just go until the story is done and then they're over. None of this cliffhanger, come-back-after-Winter-break-to-see-if-your-favorite-character-is-still-alive bullshit. I was also unprepared for this. I'm taking it ten episodes at a time as well but again, it takes time.
So if you're wondering why I seem to be posting less this weekend, there you go. I am deep into a well of subtitles that I am trying to claw my way out of, but it is slow going.
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