American Sniper Ennio Morricone’s “The Funeral” was used as the closing theme in Clint Eastwood’s 2014 film American Sniper. The song was originally composed for the 1965 spaghetti western, The Return of Ringo. It’s a melancholic piece of music that perfectly captured the final scenes […]

Killers of the Flower Moon Directed by Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon is set in the heart of 1920s Oklahoma, where the Osage Nation, having discovered vast oil reserves beneath their tribal lands, finds themselves thrust into immense wealth. Their newfound prosperity comes […]

Dances With Wolves The author of Dances with Wolves is man by the name of Michael Blake (1945-2015). As a 20 year-old in 1965, Blake was a product of the counterculture revolution of 1960’s America: against the establishment, and the Vietnam War. He was a […]

Saving Private Ryan Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) was the first war film that put the viewer into the battle. You felt the measure of their sacrifice. I was in my early 20’s when I saw it, and I went back to theater to […]

Deadwood Deadwood was an American Western HBO series (2004-2006) set in Deadwood South Dakota. The series starred Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane — whose acting reached a zenith with Deadwood. His performance is amazing. I dig the main title theme and I wanted to flesh […]

The Ecstasy of Gold The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the best of Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood. The film is considered the definitive Spaghetti Western — with it’s use of long shots and close-up cinematography. Even though it’s the last […]

1923 1923 is a Yellowstone origin story, where the Duttons face challenges to the ranch, in the early 20th century. I particularly like the character of Spencer — a WW1 soldier suffering from PTSD who’s biding time as ‘man-eater’ hunter in Africa. Kind of like […]

1883 I’ve been obsessing over Taylor Sheridan’s work since he wrote the screenplay for Sicario (2015). However, I’m only getting a chance to watch his 1883 series now — and IT IS fantastic. 1883 is a prequel to Sheridan’s Yellowstone series, and it tells the […]

Yellowstone Yellowstone is a Paramount TV series created by Taylor Sheridan — the writer behind Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River. Kevin Costner plays John Dutton, a father fighting to protect his ranch — the largest in the United States — from land […]

I Get to Love You As I write this post, I’m sitting in a hotel room in Harrisburg PA on New Years Eve. I’ll be performing ‘I Get to Love You’ as a bride processional this evening for my wife’s cousin’s wedding. I guess that […]

The Princess Bride Mark Knopfler wrote the score for The Princess Bride (1987) — not a typical Hollywood hire, which tells you exactly what kind of off-beat film Rob Reiner was making. The main theme, Once Upon a Time…Storybook Love, is built around Knopfler’s signature […]

Cowboys & Aliens Cowboys & Aliens is a 2011 American space Western film directed by Jon Favreau. It stars Daniel Craig, Oliva Wilde, and Harrison Ford. The film is based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name. The plot revolves around an amnesiac […]