Goodbye to one of the last cowboys, Jack Palance.
Are they all gone now?
John Wayne is gone, Henry Fonda is gone, Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright on Bonanza is gone, hell all the Cartwrights are gone. Are there any cowboys left?
Jack Palance made a great bad guy. Not only was he a bad guy, he was quiet about it. It was quiet menace where he excelled. As I am sure you will agree, quiet menace is much more intimidating and . . .uh . . . . . menacing. His hat was always the blackest. When he was the bad guy in the movie Shane, he never shouted. He just kind of growled. "Pick up the gun."
Jack was a real alpha male and you just knew that there was a tender side to him. You just knew that you could never ask that one to pick up some tampons for you at the store but by God he could build a cabin, shoot a horse thief, and do all sorts of assorted manly things (!).
I wish there were more men like him and I'm sorry that he's gone.
So long Jack. You were a prince among men.
6 comments:
I was very saddened to read about his death in the morning paper. He was one of the cowboys I grew up with. There are some pretty good ones now though. I love to see Robert Duvall in a western, well actually in any movie, but I do like him as a cowboy. I also love Sam Elliot in a western. I could go on...I am a fan of the westerns. Happy trails to Jack.
I agree with you, he has got much publicity here in Australia over the many years he was alive, and it was fitting he make the NEWS and the papers and editorials done on his wonderful life of acting. It seems he never changed from being such a gentle-man.
Great tribute to Jack Peggy. As the "bad guy" he was one of the best.
Glad he won an Oscar for his supporting role in City Slickers and even though nominated, always thought he should have won for his role in Shane.
gawilli - You are so right. Robert Duvall is a fantastic cowboy. Tender Mercies is a favourite of mine.
cazzie - thanks for visiting!
Alan G - He should have had an Oscar for Shane. He was luminous! Glad he got one for City Slickers though. I love the line, "I crap bigger-n you".
FYI - Not all the "Cartwrights" are dead.
Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts) is still kicking. I think he is 78 years old now.
Jack's dead? Man, I need to start watching the news. All the cowboys are gone *sigh*. I don't think the actors of today could pull it off, not like they did. So dies a legacy.
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