The Good, the Bad and the Best of Westerns!

 

I grew up on westerns (and monster movies!), as did a lot of my generation. So when the first of Sergio Leone's westerns opened in NY, of course I went to see it. A Fistful of Dollars brought Clint Eastwood to everyone's attention and who started to see him in a whole new way. It was everything a western should be and that score! Ennio Morricone's brilliant soundtracks brought these films to a whole new level, underscoring the action and making them even more memorable!

I have a deep love for these films and for Lee Van Cleef, who really lit up the screen in every scene he was in beginning with For a Few Dollars More and the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, maybe one of the best westerns ever made, and Eli Wallach was great in that one, too!

Lee Van Cleef was well known as a character actor in numerous gangster films and westerns but he became a leading man through these Italian westerns.

I just rewatched The Big Gundown (directed by Sergio Sollima) , which I haven't seen since it came out, and is on Youtube. It has a great Ennio Morricone score and if you haven't seen it, check it out! Here's a link to the opening theme song!

The Fall and Rise of the Weeping Willow

 As long as I've lived in our house, a magnificent willow tree stood at the end of the garden. As the garden expanded, the willow tree stood guard!


Last summer I said to John, the Willow is having its best summer ever!

Then we had several winter snowstorms in a row. During one of them we were shocked to find... the willow had fallen over! Right onto the garden, no less!

When the snow went away, John and Bill cut the willow back to a stump and cut up all the wood.

Alas. was that the end of the road for the willow?

Surprise! This summer the willow started growing from the stump and became a magnificent willow bush! Will it become a tree again? Who knows?

In the meantime, we are happy to have our willow back  as it is!