THE APPALOOSA (1965) Horseplay and gunplay in Old Mexico

I once had a delightful chat in a Los Angeles men's store with Bert Parks, who recently had been retired as host of the Miss America Beauty Pageant. When I told him how much I liked him in THE FRESHMAN (1990), he laughed and said, "Gave Brando a pretty good run for his money, didn't I ?" In THE APPALOOSA, it's John Saxon who gives Brando the run. Bandito Saxon steals rancher Brando's prize stallion. Brando steals the horse back and tries to vamoose, with Saxon's bitter toy wife along for the ride. Needless to say, Saxon isn't amused by either loss, and the struggle between the two powerful men continues to escalate. Watch for an early "Ouch!" scene when Brando and Saxon arm wrestle, with the loser getting his forearm ground down onto the stinger of a deadly scorpion. Not a great film, but great fun watching Brando masquerade as a Mexican with coffee ground stain on his face. Brando and Saxon are excellent and great fun to watch. Saxon won a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance - and deservedly. (Trivia note: In his younger days, Saxon often appeared in parts which emphasized his "beefcake" appeal. In 1959's THE BIG FISHERMAN, for example, he was stripped to the waist and flogged in a scene which ranked 39th in the book "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies." One of his most recent roles was in an episode of CSI: Las Vegas, directed by Quentin Tarantino.)