How the West Was Won (1962)

I'd seen this title many times over the years, thanks primarily to its all-star cast. For a profitable epic, it's had a pretty middling reception on rating sites, but it did net some Academy Awards. I chose to watch it not long after my last John Wayne western because I knew no better way to kill 164 minutes last night.

No other western I know takes place over such a long period. It's divided into five chapters, spanning from 1839 to 1889. The focus is on the westward-moving Prescott family, including but not limited to patriarch Zebulon (Karl Malden), matriarch Rebecca (Agnes Moorehead), and daughters Eve (Carroll Baker) and Lilith (Debbie Reynolds). Eve takes a shine to wandering fur trader Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), while Lilith falls for gambler Cleve van Valen (Gregory Peck). Their lives are partly affected by the California Gold Rush, the War Between the States, and other armed conflicts.

Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

No, this has nothing to do with the Shel Silverstein poem collection of the same name. Nor does the end of the sidewalk actually come into play plotwise. Somebody just tacked the title on to convey the genre of film noir.

NYPD Det. Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) has a record of excessive roughness against suspects, but he brushes off warnings from Lt. Thomas (Karl Malden) -- until he accidentally kills a cantankerous hood, Ken Paine (Craig Stevens). Dixon tries to make it look like Paine fled town. When the body is discovered, he tries to frame master criminal Tommy Scalise (Gary Merrill), who had likely framed Paine in the first place and whom Dixon has long wanted to put away. But Thomas instead follows the trail to Paine's hostile father-in-law, Jiggs Taylor (Tom Tully). Not only would Dixon hate to have an innocent man take the fall, but he's growing fond of Taylor's daughter, Martha (Ruth Donnelly).

Pollyanna (1960)

In the interest of coping with a dark time, I picked the most famously optimistic movie I could think of. OK, all I really knew about it was the reputation of the title character.

The movie deviates a little from the book's setting and doesn't indicate the state or year, but it appears to be New England in the early 1900s. Preteen Pollyanna Whittier (Hayley Mills in her Disney debut) is moderately fortunate for an orphan in that she gets to live in the mansion of her Aunt Polly Harrington (Jane Wyman), but lest you think it a dream come true, the aunt is bigger on making sure the niece acts like a lady than on loving or spoiling her. Furthermore, Polly is effectively the town matriarch, which may explain the local prevalence of bitterness and hostility. But Pollyanna has embraced her late father's insistence on looking on the bright side, and she shows it to everyone she meets.

One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

Marlon Brando's in a western again, thankfully as an apparent Anglo-American this time. Of greater concern is the fact that he directed this movie -- and nothing else. Also, while it gets good ratings among IMDb and Google users, Rotten Tomatoes pronounces it rotten. I was not aware of these factors when I rented.

Bank robber "Rio"/"The Kid" (Brando) escapes from a Mexican prison and seeks out his former partner in crime, confusingly nicknamed "Dad" Longworth (repeat screen partner Karl Malden), who had taken the coward's route when Rio needed him most. Longworth has gone straight enough to become a California sheriff, which may just alienate Rio further. But instead of having the immediate showdown you might expect, they get off to what looks like a shakily amiable second start. That sense is put to the test, especially when Rio has eyes for Longworth's stepdaughter, Louisa (Pina Pellicer).

Baby Doll (1956)

I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to see a Tennessee Williams story about a young woman regarded as immature if not babyish. When I learned that it was controversial, I expected something along the lines of Lolita. Fortunately, I soon confirmed that the title character (Carroll Baker), who never uses her real first name, married as a virgin at 18 -- less than half the apparent age of her husband, Archie Lee Meighan (Karl Malden), but that wasn't the scandal.

The Meighans have had a deal not to do something unspecified until her upcoming 20th birthday; from his eagerness, it's not hard to guess what. Understandably, she doesn't share his eagerness, not least because he hasn't been the great businessman she was led to believe. In desperation for success, Archie secretly sabotages the industry of rival Silva Vacarro (Eli Wallach) and then tries to talk him into a merger, leaving Baby Doll to entertain him for a while. Things get mighty suggestive between her and Vacarro, tho it's not the conquest he chiefly has in mind....