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Budd Boetticher
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Budd Boetticher was born Oscar Boetticher Jr. in 1916 in Chicago. An avid boxer and football player, he went to Mexico in the 1930s to become a matador, which led to his being hired as a technical advisor on Rouben Mamoulian's 1941 bullfighting romance Blood and Sand. He fell in love with filmmaking and stayed in Hollywood, eventually working his way up to director. In 1956 he teamed up with actor Randolph Scott for the first time on the Western Seven Men From Now. They collaborated on six more films together, combining Boetticher's spare landscapes and moral ambiguity with Scott's visible stoicism and grace. Their seven films have since become classics of the genre, six of which are being shown in this series.
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Budd Boetticher is not a well-known director; indeed, even such a knowledgeable critic as Andrew Sarris ranks him among ‘esoterica’. Most critics would be inclined to dismiss him as responsible for no more than a few run-of-the-mill westerns, hardly distinguishable from his equally anonymous fellows—a typical Hollywood technician, a name which flashes past on the credits and is soon forgotten. This would be to misjudge Boetticher. His works are, in fact, distinctive, homogeneous in theme and treatment, and of more than usual interest. He is an author and well aware of it himself; he is lucid about his own films. It is high time critics were equally lucid.
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Budd Boetticher's roman-à-clef. A visiting American filmmaker (Robert Stack) vacationing in Mexico convinces the area's foremost bullfighter (Gilbert Roland) to give him lessons so that he may impress a beautiful local señorita (Joy Page). Unfortunately, the romantic interlude turns into sadness when the cocky and cavalier attitude of the amorous American toward the dangerous sport accidentally causes the death of the famous matador. Cast ... includes Virginia Grey, John Hubbard and Katy Jurado. Tragically, Boetticher later spent time in Mexico, as in the story, and ironically his trip ended with the accidental death of the star bullfighter Carlos Arruza. Nearly 50 years after Republic Pictures edited the 124-minute original cut of The Bullfighter and The Lady to 87 minutes (under the direction of John Ford and producer John Wayne), UCLA restored the entire film, using elements provided by the Library of Congress and star Stack.
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The legend of Budd Boetticher, which seemed to surprise Budd more than anyone, rests largely on six westerns he made with Randolph Scott in the late 1950s. Seven Men From Now, The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanon Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome and Comanche Station. Except for Decision at Sundown, all were written in whole, or in part, by Burt Kennedy. The unmentioned Westbound, which fits right in the middle of the chronology, was ... not written by Kennedy and largely considered not up to par with the rest. Not one is longer than 78 minutes. That’s right, one hour and 18 minutes.
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Budd Boetticher will be remembered as a director of Westerns, although his bullfight films have their fervent admirers, as does his Scarface-variant, The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond. Since Boetticher's Westerns are so variable in quality, it is tempting to overcredit Burt Kennedy, the scriptwriter for all of the finest. But Kennedy's own efforts as director (Return of the Seven, Hannie Caulder, The War Wagon, etc.) are tediously paced dramas or failed comedies. Clearly the Boetticher/Kennedy team clicked to make Westerns significantly superior to what either could create on their own. Indeed, The Tall T, Seven Men from Now, and (on a slightly lower level) Ride Lonesome look now like the finest work in the genre during the 1950s, less pretentious and more tightly controlled than even those of Anthony Mann or John Ford.
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Considered by many to be one of the best collaborations between Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher, The Tall T is based on an Elmore Leonard story and was adapted for the screen by Burt Kennedy. Richard Boone's band of outlaws holds up a stagecoach, taking a copper baron's daughter (Maureen O'Sullivan) as a hostage and Scott as a prisoner. A tentative romance blossoms while Scott plans their escape, which eventually leads to a suspenseful final showdown with the villains.
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Budd Boetticher