Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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What does Kevin Costner’s perspective reveal about the significance of ‘Open Range’ in his journey as a Western actor?
He broke out in the baseball movies, but if there’s anything Kevin Costner is best known for these days, it’s the American Western. The 68-year-old actor, who scored one of his first major roles in the all-star 1985 Western Silverado, has had two major hits in the genre in recent years, first co-starring in the…
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The Last Word on Westerns: Clint Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven’ Closes the Chapter
Unforgiven is both a love letter to and total demystification of the genre. It portrays the Old West as a violent, savage place while Eastwood’s Munny is no hero. In almost any other Western, the final shootout is framed as a cathartic release where the bad guys finally get their comeuppance; in Unforgiven, it’s a…
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A Cinematic Influence: How ‘Unforgiven’ Shaped ‘Red Dead Redemption’
Video games are no longer just ‘video games‘. Whilst they take on many different forms, more often than not, the games that make the most impact on the player and popular culture are those that are immersive, cinematic and tell a story that pierces the emotions in such a profound way that it’s comparable to…
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A Star’s Perspective: Shirley MacLaine’s Troubling Time on Eastwood’s Set
Back in 1970, Clint Eastwood starred in the Western Two Mules for Sister Sara opposite Shirley MacLaine, who turns 89 today. Elizabeth Taylor had been the first choice, but she’d decided to shoot in Spain with Burton on his latest movie instead. Originally both Eastwood and Two Mules for Sister Sara director Don Siegel were…
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Remembering an Icon: The Enigmatic Passing of Clint Eastwood’s Longtime Associate
Actress and director Sondra Locke, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her first film role in 1968’s “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” and went on to co-star in six films with Clint Eastwood, has died. She was 74. Locked died November 3, 2018 at her Los Angeles home of cardiac arrest stemming…
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The Mighty Have Regrets: Clint Eastwood’s Candid Reflections on Past Work
Paint Your Wagon – The Universally Disliked Western Musical Out of all the critically panned films and box office bombs that he’s ever witnessed, the unflatteringly wacky ’60s musical is perhaps one of Clint Eastwood‘s greatest regrets in the entirety of his otherwise glorious career. Helmed by late theatre and film director Joshua Logan, Pain…
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‘Dances With Wolves’ actor : Nathan Chasing Horse’s Two-Decade Allegations
Las Vegas police has arrested and raided the home of a former Dances With Wolves actor turned alleged cult leader accused of s**ually assaulting young Indigenous girls during a period spanning two decades. Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, who goes by Nathan Chasing Horse, was taken into custody Tuesday (31 January) afternoon near the North…
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Kevin Costner’s Unconventional Journey: Bringing ‘Dances with Wolves’ to Life
Long before Kevin Costner had even considered stepping into the director’s shoes, he and the film’s writer, Michael Blake, were just friends. “You know, I had a friend… a real pain in the ass friend,” Costner recalled, explaining how his attempts to help Blake in the film industry tended to backfire. “I would get him…
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Uncovering the Truth: Could 200-Year-Old Blood Stain Redefine Billy the Kid?
Henry McCarty, the man better known as ‘Billy the Kid’, was an outlaw of the Old West who reportedly killed eight men before he was gunned down during a stand-off with officers. Orphaned at the age of 15, he committed a number of thefts before he joined a posse who sought to expel Sheriff William…
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John Ford’s Timeless Aesthetic: The Intersection of Fact and Legend
Great Movie John Ford and John Wayne together created much of the mythology of the Old West we carry in our minds. Beginning with “Stagecoach” (1939), continuing from 1948 through 1950 with the Cavalry Trilogy (“Fort Apache,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and “Rio Grande”), and finally to 1962 and “The Man Who Shot Liberty…
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