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Reviews
Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958)
A letdown
If you grew up watching Johnny Weismuller in those action packed programmers, this is just painful to watch. There are a few scenes of waterfalls, etc. that are nice but in the older films they used stock footage of wilderness along with wild African animals stampeding and attacking which in itself evoked a sense of danger utterly missing here. The pacing in the earlier films was quick and exciting while here, everyone sleepwalks through the entire movie with wooden acting by all involved. Action scenes are bland and suspense is nil. Gordon Scott is great eye candy but stinks up every scene he is in. Granted, it is not as noticeable as it could have been since all the other actors are doing the same thing. I hated seeing a dynamic character actor like Woody Strode stuck in this awful flick. He looked like he hated it too. I guess we all have to make a living.
Bad Bascomb (1946)
A movie about redemption
Bad Bascomb is a bad man. A very bad man. So is his sidekick, Bart Yancy. They are remorseless in all of their criminal activities, including the heartless murder of an elderly scout for a Mormon wagon train headed west. Hunted men, they take cover in the wagon train to avoid capture.
While undercover, "Bad" Bascomb's heart is stolen by pure love and trust from an 8 year old girl who l-o-v-e-s him without reservation and in spite of his coarseness and even cruelty.
The transformation is amazing to watch. Beery and O'Brien steal every scene and leave you anxious for their next one. Their banter is at times hilarious yet still remains poignant.
I understand the criticism of some of the action sequences. They seem hurried if not careless. The scene of the wagon train crossing the river, however, is excellent. This is a low budget programmer so I refuse to criticize a lot of the technical short comings. As is true of most of these low budget films, this one is elevated by the performances of unmatched character actors like Marjorie Maine, J. Carroll Naish, and Sarah Haden. In the end though, Wallace Beery and Margaret O'Brien will steal your heart forever.