When Ladies with Guns and Lots of Attitude Scorched the Screen... and Blessed Your Heart!
We've featured glamorous vintage shots of beautiful ladies in many thrilling situations, like Ladies in Space and Ladies and Robots. We even spent some time looking at great girls with fabulous cars - see our Cars and Girls series. But there is a time and a place where feminine beauty gets to shine, perhaps, the most - the fantasy movie-land of Wild West!
Remember some cool and intense "spaghetti" westerns coming out of Europe in the 1960s? The plot might have seemed rehashed and overly familiar in many of them, the camerawork is shaky, the dialogue is rudimentary... but there were two factors that totally redeemed poor production qualities and acting - and even lifted some Italian western movies to cult status: stunning soundtracks, and stunning starlets:
Vintage Westerns Had Great Music, not just by Ennio Morricone!
First, European western soundtracks - Italians can come up with great melodies, and the 1960s saw incredible proliferation of top-quality movie soundtracks (it almost seemed like Europeans dreamed and imagined American Wild West with greater clarity and intensity than Americans themselves). Everybody knows about Ennio Morricone, but many other composers delivered no less epic scores and heavenly melodies: Francesco De Masi, Bruno Nicolai, Alessandro Alessandroni, Carlo Savina, Louis Bacalov, Stelvio Cipriani - to name just a few.
To get a taste of the fantastic music they wrote, just listen to this sombre song by Francesco De Masi, taken from his superb "Arizona Colt" soundtrack - this track would make any James Bond movie proud - or sample the haunting melody of "Ringo, the Lone Rider", again by De Masi (click here).
Among other spectacular western themes by Italian composers (other than well-known Morricone scores): - "Sartana is Coming", by Bruno Nicolai - click here - "Have a Good Funeral", by Bruno Nicolai - click here - "Seven Winchesters for a Massacre" by Francesco De Masi - click here - "El Puro" by Alessandro Alessandroni, "And His Name Was Holy Ghost" by Carlo Savina, themes by Pierro Umiliani (some heard in "Kill Bill" movies), Gianfranco Reverberi, etc.
In Germany, Martin Boettcher was writing a widescreen epic music for "Winnetou" and "Old Shatterhand" movies - click here
But all this sound lushness often paled in comparison with alluring female stars:
A Beauty with a Gun
Ladies with guns and lotsa attitude warmed (scorched!) the screen - and it was good... Sample some promotion shots, posters and other photos here:
Sophia Loren linkpic? I'm not convinced about the "Western" connection. West End London, perhaps. It's an outfit from her / Peter Sellars film "The Millionairess". Try YT for a most enoyable clip from the film.
Those pictures of NY in the 70/80's almost deserve to be accompanied by danish photographer Jacob Holdt's pictures of "Brutal New York 1965/95", here as seen on skyscrapercity.com:
The animal in the fourth picture is a Solenodon (I believe that's how they call them in english) and is an endemic animal from the country I come from, Dominican Republic, but also found in our neighbor country, Haiti. Is endangered, btw.
The quintessential 'trip' movie "Koyaanisqatsi" features very similar images, images that truly mainstream shocked '70s America. The film as a whole is an entirely unique experience and I recommend it highly (plus the music is by Phillip Glass, which cannot fail to be magnificent).
Great bit of gecko footage there! And I never quite understood why (other than for sheer amusement) the Gecko in the insurance ad has an east London accent??? That second pic, is pretty mad! Considering something I was reading in The Daily Dust about how health and safety in the UK posting guidelines on how to safely eat a biscuit, I can't imagine that country allowing this sort of thing any time soon! Awesome pics once again!
I am so thankful that this gallery does differentiate between concept & finished product, Just because someone cam make a picture of something doesnt mean it can actually be made.I am so sick of tech blogs telling us the flying car or whatever is just round the corner. You will never purchase any of these "products" at any price because the manufacturing processes in order to produce these phones DOES NOT EXIST! I am now two cents poorer.
This is the web-site for a pub quite near to where I live. http://www.catandcustardpot.co.uk/ No satisfactory explanation for the name has ever been found
Another one that has "reputed" origins is "The Case Is Altered". The most common origin given is "La casa alta" brough back from the peninsula campaign during the Napoleonic wars.
In the '80s, traditional pubs were bought up by the fistful by large breweries who wanted places to sell their beer exclusively. Many, many original and quite exquisite turned-wood fittings, stained-glass windows and other irreplaceable pieces of history were tossed out to make way for cocktail bars and large-screen TVs.
Ironically, in the past decade well-heeled young revellers have been craving the feel of yore. Now these breweries are spending a fortune making ersatz versions of what they ripped out to begin with.
My parents used to have a cottage in Earl Sterndale where the Quiet Woman is! It's a tiny village in a steep gorge in probably the most bleak part of the Peak District National Park - and the pub is about as bleak and quiet as its name! In fact every time I've been there it's been closed... although apparently it does open daily - bizarre place!
Great names! The Kings Head is always a popular one too, and the "Wicked Woman" looks pretty attractive from where I'm standing!
I don't know about the first vehicle but the O'keefe truck belonged to The O'keefe Brewery which was purchased by the Carling Brewery becoming the Carling O'keefe brewery which was then purchased by the Molsons Group. At no time did it ever belong to Labatts.
The swastika is a Hindu symbol, facing either way. The Nazi's stole only the right-pointing one. (This is why it's amusing once in a while to see a stupid neo-nazi with the hindu symbol for evolution of the universe, the left-facing one.)
Michael Moschen gave a ted talk years ago and discussed his philosophy and approach towards juggling. Worth watching for anyone who enjoyed the triangle piece. He's amazing!
Re Art Deco, I heartily recommend The Netherlands Plaza, at 3rd and Race St in downtown Cincinatti, OH. Furnishings purchased at the original Art Deco exposition in Paris, 192x. The 1st floor bar is probably the most surreal place to get drunk east of the mississippi.
There's a reason why all of Vegas is photographed at night. The build "quality" of these structures is mediocre. Walk around during the day and look. Vegas is a visual dump by day.
The chocolate fountain smells fantastic in person. I have tried many times to photograph the ceiling in the Venetian and the pictures always come out too dark. Loved the vintage nighttime shots though, well done!
There's a reason why all of Vegas is photographed at night. The build "quality" of these structures is mediocre. Walk around during the day and look. Vegas is a visual dump by day.
Fantastic photos! Too bad a great invention like the watch more often than not spells the demise of these old clocks - that today will carry a hefty price tag! I was reading about an ancient water clock the other day, that apparently kept time more accurately than anything else until the 17th century, or something like that anyway...
One very famous clock is missing from this collection and that's the Eise Eisinga planetarium in the modest Frisian city of Franeker. He build his clock inside his home and at present is the oldest working still acurate clock of it's kind. W
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8 Comments:
What? No Divine?
обезьяна с гранатой -это очень опасно!!!!!!!!!
The link "Continue to thrilling movie posters" actually goes to Air Stewardesses.
Guy, link fixed, thank you.
Sophia Loren linkpic? I'm not convinced about the "Western" connection. West End London, perhaps. It's an outfit from her / Peter Sellars film "The Millionairess". Try YT for a most enoyable clip from the film.
Forgot Sharon Stone in the "Quick and the Dead"
Can we call them 'Cow Belles'? If so, ring, ring.
I <3 girls with guns.
all nice choices. Cat my fav.
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