A few days ago I was "tagged" by Classic Movie Lounge with the challenge of coming up with movies that deal with a particular subject, in this case, overcoming adversity. Then I get to link to about 4 or 5 other bloggers for the same thing. OK, I think I can do that.
Because I tend to be a "slow thinker" (this means that, like an old car in winter, I have to let my brain warm-up before using it), it took me a few days to come up with a few that I liked. Plus, because I'm a procrastinator, it will take me a few more days to actually post this.
The first movie that came to mind is one of Classic Cinema Online's more popular movies (which isn't really a cinema flick at all because it was made for television) is The Gun And The Pulpit, starring Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Sue Martin, and Slim Pickens.
I really like this movie, it reminds me of the people of back home. Come to think of it, it reminds me of the entire US as a whole.
The Gun and The Pulpit focuses on a town full of chicken-lickin's being bullied by Mr. Ross, the most influential man in the area. He's got money and power, and he's not afraid to use it. He and his hired guns are like a bunch of bored delinquents with nothing better to do than act stupid, and they have the townspeople right where they want them - scared poopless. All they have to do is think about saying "jump" and the townspeople ask how high on the way up.
This is when the townspeople are receive the miracle they've been praying for. Hailed as one of the best gunfighters there is, he's on the run for a crime he didn't commit. As he evades the posse who that tried to hang him, he comes across the body of a recently killed preacher, then proceedes to "hide" by taking on the dead preacher's identity and riding into the town where the preacher was headed.
The gunfighter is not only good with his gun, he's also cool, calculating, disciplined, and streetwise, not to mention good looking and single, but since he's a player with the ladies, he's in for a lesson of his own!
As he begins to take on adversity on behalf of the townspeople he realizes that although they enjoy what he's doing for them, the people seem to expect him to do everything, not even showing a willingness to support him when he needs it.
One of my favorite lines in this movie are in the gunfighter's first sermon, where he's talking to the townspeople about fighting their own battles. When a couple of Mr. Ross' men come into the church and draw their weapons on the "preacher", the "preacher" turns out to be faster on the draw than they are. "I don't know who God is mad at the most!" he says to the parishoners just after shooting one of the men. "That man for wasting his life at the order of some tin horned dictator, me for having to do this thing in his own house, or you people for having quit before the fight even got started."
The movie explores the need for people to do what they need to do in order to maintain their freedom and preserve their quality of life -- to overcome the adversity of those who would take it from them.
Additionally, the movie explores the barriers to overcoming adversity. Whether it be circumstance, fear, laziness, or lack of money -- what barriers stand in our way of success?
I won't bother with any other movies, I think I've written enough already!
And now I'm tagging only the following blogger because the other ones I know have already been tagged:
The Gazette Film blog
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2 comments:
Wow - that's a great film for overcoming adversity. Thanks for indulging the tag! :)
It was truly my pleasure, Nathania! lol! Thought it would be best to focus on a popular one that everyone's been enjoying, but I wish I'd have worded it differently so that it more emphasized that townspeople's idea of overcoming adversity was to have someone else do it for them.
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