The Old Dog Already Knows All The Tricks

Maybe it's me, but Westerns seem to be a genre that really lends itself to stories about an old dog's last day. I suppose it plays into that mythology of the West, that it was a vast, untamed land Americans needed to alter and make use of. Because it was the right thing to do, Manifest Destiny, all the imperialistic, "White Man's Burden" crap. Thus, a lot of movies about how lawless the West is, but here rides a hero who will protect the weak, uphold the law, enable civilization to flourish, and so on. But what happens once everybody's civilized, or at least is convinced they are? What's left for the hero then, as he gets older?

It's not always about a lawman, but there are a few I can think of about a characters who did a lot of work with their guns in the West, now at the end of their lives. The Shootist (John Wayne), Ride the High Country (Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea), Unforgiven (Eastwood), maybe Sunset (James Garner). The last one is pushing it, but it was about Wyatt Earp later in life, after he'd become a consultant for Hollywood.

I bring this up because I watched The Good Guys and The Bad Guys, with Robert Mitchum and George Kennedy. Mitchum plays Marshall Flagg, who has protected the town of Prosperity for over 20 years. The town's bustling now, cars all over the place, trying to make itself look good by shutting down the local house of ill repute*, and just about to receive a big shipment of money for its newly opened bank. But Flagg's received word that once notorious train robber McKay (Kennedy) has been spotted with a gang of men. Flagg is convinced they plan to rob the train, but Mayor Wilker demonstrates he must be an ancestor of the mayor from Jaws, as he ultimately retires Flagg and replaces him with his deputy who is slow in all senses of the word.

So Flagg sets out to take care of things himself, only to find McKay isn't accorded the respect he used to be either. Much grousing from the two older gentlemen follows, as both feel the new breed has no style and no honor, to eager to shoot people in the back. Naturally, the two team up to prevent the robbery by hijacking the train first, so it won't stop at the station. Which leads to a sequence of the gang chasing the train, and Wilker leading the townspeople in chasing them in cars, wagons**, railcarts, motorcycles, whatever they had.

The movie isn't as serious as the first three I mentioned. Actually it might not even be as serious as Sunset. Flagg and McKay have a fistfight which ends with both of them collapsing in a creek of exhaustion. Their hijacking gets off to a lousy start, though not as bad as Flagg's first attempt to thwart the gang alone. The film has fun with the idea that their best years might be past them, but they aren't done yet. What they lack in physical gifts, they make up for in guile and experience. There's perhaps a bit too much "things were better in the old days" to it, but Mitchum and Kennedy play off each other well, and Martin Balsam as the mayor adds something to the proceedings as well.

* During the sequence where all the ladies are being run out, I complained that it was the Ladies for Law and Order at it again, since we'd watched Stagecoach a week earlier. We were watching this movie right after Mogambo, so my dad questioned why I was so offended on the ladies' behalf considering how angry I'd been at all the fooling around between Clark Gable and Grace Kelly. My response was I wouldn't have anything but scorn for any husbands visiting these ladies, but the women were clearly open about their profession. It's their livelihood, they aren't deluding anyone about how things work, and the husbands make their own decision to visit. It wasn't going to hurt Clark Gable's character any financially to not fool around with Grace Kelly behind her husband's back.

** I'm not sure what the point was of all the wagons falling apart, overturning, or generally being driven ineptly. One man let his horses run on either side of a telegraph pole, forgetting the wagon can do likewise. I guess nobody uses them anymore, so they're in disrepair, and no one knows how to drive one, either.