Live HistoricSee what matters.

Film · Paramount · 1923

Pass it on

The Covered Wagon

35Leave it.

The river looks grand, and the film still treats Native people as the obstacle.

Take controlThis scores 35. The Covered Wagon cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

Paramount treated this as the western epic of 1923, with a claimed rental near 5 million. Two wagon trains head for Oregon. A romance rides along. The dust and the river are the spectacle. A house can watch that much without a fuss.

Say the rest before you leave it on. Native people are the obstacle the film puts in the trail. It is not a portrait of the nations whose land the wagons cross. I can like a long crossing and still refuse the way the people already there are used. The epic feeling is the trouble. It makes the trail look earned and the nations look like something to get past.

Journal

Keep The Covered Wagon in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 35. Yours can differ.

The glance

Household and Piety and Republic and Temperance and Truth and Stewardship are the thin ones.

Is a marriage, a parent, or a child a real life here, or just a prop?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

Django Unchained

43 instead of 35

Django Unchained is still a western film, and it scores 43 instead of 35. What you gain is truth: The plantation is not decorated into gentility.

The eight

6
Industry
Two wagon trains do the labor of a long crossing toward Oregon.
4
Household
A romance rides along with the trains and is not the life of the trail.
2
Piety
No conscience in the film asks what is owed to the nations on the land.
6
Courage
Dust and a river are the hazards the wagon trains are shown crossing.
2
Republic
Native people are the obstacle, not neighbors the wagons owe a debt.
4
Temperance
The epic western sells the next mile of dust more than any restraint.
2
Truth
It is not a portrait of the nations whose land the wagons cross.
2
Stewardship
The land is taken as a trail, and the nations already there are left out.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · The Covered Wagon · 35IMDb

Live HistoricSee what matters.

Film · MGM · 2015

Pass it on

Spectre

35Leave it.

Brand maintenance with a funeral in it. The craft is professional. The reason is thin.

Take controlThis scores 35. Spectre cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

There is a real public question under the tux: who watches the watchers when every camera is one system. The film picks the question up and sets it down for a childhood grievance that makes a franchise feel like a family saga. It is not a family saga. It is a product arranging its villains into one line.

Adults who like the craft can see the craft. Do not call it serious because it is gloomy. Gloom is cheap. The question about the cameras was the part worth keeping, and they spent it.