Wyatts Earp

Today is the birthday of Wyatt Earp, legendary lawman of the American West. To commemorate the occasion, here's a look at some of the actors who have portrayed him on film.

Randolph Scott in Frontier Marshal (1939)

Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine (1946)

Will Geer in Winchester '73 (1950)

Joel McCrea in Wichita (1955)

Burt Lancaster in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

James Stewart in Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

James Garner in Hour of the Gun (1967)

Randy Lowell in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

Kurt Russell in Tombstone (1993)

Kevin Costner in Wyatt Earp (1994)

Ship Shape

Hollywood's depiction of space travel has changed in no more obvious way than the shape of its movies' star-bound spacecraft. Here's a brief look at what the different designs of interstellar vehicles indicate about the movies that feature them.

Classic Rocket

Destination Moon (1950)

When Worlds Collide (1951)

The gleaming "silver bullet" rocket exemplifies a positive vision of human space travel in 1950's science fiction. Producer George Pal used it in both Destination Moon (1950) and When Worlds Collide (1951), the former to depict the first lunar landing and the latter to show humans escaping a doomed Earth to a nearby planet.

Streamlined Saucer

Forbidden Planet (1956)

In the 1950's, the seamless metal flying saucer was the preferred method of intergalactic travel for alien visitors both peaceful (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and otherwise (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers). It was also used by Earth astronauts in Forbidden Planet.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

This Island Earth (1955)

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

Complex Saucer

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

The flying saucer was still in use by alien visitors at the time of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, though its smooth singular exterior had given way to a compound hull with multiple arrays of towers and antennae. While the aliens of Close Encounters were benign, in following decades their type of craft (rough-hewn when not spired or spiked) often brought only trouble.

The Thing (1982)	Independence Day (1996)
The X Files (1998)	District 9 (2009)

Industrial Workhorse

Alien (1979)

The late 70's also transformed Hollywood's vision of human-piloted space travel. Movies like Alien presented spaceships with a heavy industrial design which transported blue-collar workers or soldiers of the future to and from deep space on long, arduous tours of duty. Often this type of ship telegraphed something else about these films — they would be scary. Space was no longer the exclusive realm of science fiction: horror was claiming its piece of the void.

Aliens (1986)

Alien Resurrection (1997)

Event Horizon (1997)

Modular Long-Range Transport

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Presaged three decades earlier by 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running (1973), this design has been featured in several films of the early 21st century. Slender, delicate, often separating into shorter segments or carrying smaller ships in tow, these vessels present a contemporary view of "realistic" deep space travel.

Mission to Mars (2000)

Solaris (2002)

Avatar (2009)

Ten years, two towers

3 Days of the Condor (1975)

The Hot Rock (1972)

3 Days of the Condor (1975)

King Kong (1976)

Crocodile Dundee (1986)

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

Moonstruck (1987)

Working Girl (1988)

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Man on Wire (2008)

The Droning

Here's a look (more of a listen, actually) at excerpts from the scores of two movies set in New York. Both passages accompany relatively low-speed street chases and are also similar in their use of what could be described as a drone — an almost constant low note which serves as foundation for subsequent layers of musical sound. In each case, the inexorable quality of these tones complements the motion of the films' characters and builds suspense on the way to each scene's conclusion.

The first example is from Escape from New York (1981, music by John Carpenter with Alan Howarth), when The Duke first arrives and is pursued by Snake, Brain, and Maggie to the derelict train cars where the kidnapped president is being held. On top of the low synth sound is the persistent rhythm of drums and bass, creating a relentless pulse as the protagonists drive through a gauntlet of street people and smash through a barrier of stacked cars, all the while intent on their goal of reaching the train.



Second is an example from Crocodile Dundee (1986, music by Peter Best), from the end scene where Sue runs to catch Mick before he departs for good on the subway. Once again, the drone (ostensibly played on the native Australian didgeridoo) reflects Sue's determination to reach Mick, and then Mick's will to make his way though (and over) the crowd to reunite with Sue.

Green lady down

Today's release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes brings remembrance of the 1968 original and its . . . monumental ending. Here's a look at several films in which the Statue of Liberty is destroyed, damaged, or otherwise dirtied.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Rotted by age and chest-deep in sand, Lady Liberty triggers one of the most memorable revelations (and surprise endings) in all of science fiction when discovered on a beach by shipwrecked space explorer George Taylor.

Cloverfield (2008)

Terrified twentysomethings run for cover when the statue's head is bowled down a city street by a rampaging monster.

Independence Day (1996)

The statue is shown toppled the morning after extraterrestrial invaders destroy many of the world's cities.

X-Men (2000)

The superhero team takes on bad guy Magneto and punches holes in the famous landmark during a battle atop the statue's head and torch.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Global warming brings about a new Ice Age which leaves the Statue of Liberty knee-deep in snow and ice.

Deep Impact (1998)

When a comet slams into Earth, the resultant tidal wave engulfs New York and washes the statue away; its head is later seen floating between newly submerged buildings.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

During a battle with Superman, the evil Nuclear Man tears the statue from its platform and drops it onto a crowded city street; luckily, Superman is close by to save the day — and the statue.

Superman III (1983)

No real damage is done to the statue in this movie, although her crown is undoubtably sullied after a surly and cynical (not to mention dirty) Superman — under the influence of some bad Kryptonite — uses it as a platform (literally) to test pickup lines on the bad guy's girlfriend.

Spaceballs (1987)

The nefarious Dark Helmet's ship, transformed into the vacuum cleaner-wielding "Megamaid", crash-lands onto the beach of a nearby planet, setting up a Planet of the Apes joke complete with apes on horseback.

Cowboys and . . .

Cowboys and Aliens

To coincide with this weekend's release of Cowboys and Aliens, in which extraterrestrial beings invade the Old West, here's a look at a few movies that pit cowboys against other fantastic creatures and strange environments.

Mighty Joe Young

Mighty Joe Young - Cowboys vs. Gorilla
Showman Max O'Hara wants a special attraction for his new safari-themed nightclub, so he hires a band of cowpokes to accompany him to Africa in order to capture lions — by lassoing them(!). By chance, they encounter a giant gorilla and attempt to lasso it instead, much to the annoyance of the gorilla and the young woman who raised it. O'Hara convinces the woman to headline at his club, but it soon becomes apparent that neither she nor her gorilla are cut out for the rigors of show biz.

The Valley of Gwangi

The Valley of Gwangi - Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs
In turn-of-the-century Mexico, the owners of a Wild West Show discover a unique attraction — a living Eohippus, the pint-sized prehistoric predecessor to the modern horse. When the animal is stolen and returned to the hidden valley from which it was taken, the show's wranglers give chase — and end up face-to-face with a living dinosaur bent on destruction.

Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles - Cowboys vs. Hollywood
The now-famous ending to Mel Brooks' send-up of the Western has a mob of brawling "rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, half-wits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves" and various other black hats breaking through their backlot set onto the Warner Brothers lot and wreaking havoc in the studio commissary before spilling onto Hollywood Boulevard, where Sheriff Bart finally confronts the snidely Hedy — sorry, that's Hedley — Lamarr.