Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Andy Griffith Worked Hard To Make Mayberry Feel Like A Real Southern Town
If you’re from the South, chances are that more often than not, the representations of it on screen feel less than accurate. When you’re actually from a place that is being depicted on screen, you have a respect and understanding for it that many television and film creators aren’t able to harness. Therefore, the places…
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Betty Lynn’s Bold Stand: Refusing a New Storyline After Don Knotts’ Departure from ‘The Andy Griffith Show’
Some people have tried to make the argument that The Andy Griffith Show just wasn’t the same after Don Knotts left his regular role in season five, but would it have perhaps softened the blow of Barney Fife’s absence if Thelma Lou had stuck around? We may never know, but for a brief moment, it…
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Unraveling the Parallels Between ‘High Plains Drifter’ and ‘Pale Rider’ – Clint Eastwood’s Twin Western Masterpieces
In two of his most outstanding western flicks, Clint Eastwood manages to not only traverse the supernatural, but also colorfully illustrates his growth as both a star and a filmmaker. In High Plains Drifter, he is a vengeful spirit looking to unleash the fires of hell itself. In Pale Rider, he is the embodiment of…
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Real-Life Space Explorer Chris Hadfield Mocks Clint Eastwood’s “Space Cowboys”
Clint Eastwood’s Space Cowboys gets criticized by astronaut Chris Hadfield who jokes, “We are definitely not cowboys.” Featuring the all-star cast of Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner, the film follows four former test pilots who are recruited by NASA and sent into space to repair a Soviet satellite. The adventure…
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Iconic Antagonist: The Black-Hat Maestro Lee Van Cleef Who Stole Scenes from Clint Eastwood
Move over Wayne and Eastwood — Lee Van Cleef is here to steal your scene! Sure, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood are practically synonymous with Westerns (and for good reason), but Van Cleef is the most under-appreciated and overlooked regular of the genre. His hawkish, piercing eyes and naturally intimidating demeanor make him an effortless…
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Unearthing John Wayne’s Grave-Robbing Controversy and Disturbing Seventies Racist Comments
If John Wayne were still alive, he’d be in real trouble. The Western movie star, who died in 1979, has been hauled over the coals on Twitter for his racist views. Screenwriter Matt Williams dug up an interview ‘Duke’ gave to Playboy in 1971, in which he held forth on Native Americans, black people and…
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New York’s Christmas Symphony: Captivated by the 1994 Remake of “Miracle on 34th Street” – A Tale of Holiday Splendor
While in her prime as the Queen of Technicolor, Irish actress Maureen O’Hara was in one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made. It was when watching the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street that I truly fell in love with the enormity that is the holiday season and Christmas in America and in…
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A Journey Back to 1976 – Rick Lenz Reflects on John Wayne’s Last Movie, “The Shootist,” and Dispels On-Set Rumors
For the past 15 years, Duke had been struggling with severe health problems after having had a cancerous lung and some ribs removed in 1964. The Western legend would tenaciously work through action sequences, often relying on an oxygen mask he kept secret so as not to taint his macho cinematic image. By the time…
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The Struggles of Hondo: John Wayne’s Stormy Temperament and the Harsh Realities of Filming
Through his starring roles in westerns and war movies during the golden age of cinema in America, John Wayne became a cultural icon. His performances in the epic western The Searchers, as well as Rio Bravo, True Grit, and Red River, are probably what the actor is best known for, but Wayne also had a…
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‘How the West Was Won’ – A Cinematic Marvel Starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, and an All-Star Cast
There is no doubt that John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda are three of Hollywood’s greatest stars. They individually made many classics but rarely worked together. But did you know that there is a Western that the trio appeared in together? Although they didn’t meet onscreen, the threesome appeared together for the first and…
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