Thursday Movie Picks-Stranger who bully many of the farmers. . We soon learn that Shane is very good with a gun which frightens his friends but the young also know that they need him. A quiet film with some major violence interspersed in this film. The cinematography is excellent and the story touching especially the unrequited love that develops between Shane and the farmer’s wife. . A classic with a kill( sorry) performance by Jack Palance.

Halloween brought out the strange people from a mother and daughter who decided to argue in my office to a woman who came on her scooter wearing her helmet, a coat and her pajama bottoms with pussy cats...she also had her knapsack...my little princess...she’s in her 40’s. Oops, today is not about strange people but people who are strangers. I almost picked Clint Eastwood in any of his Spaghetti Westerns but I chose one he directed instead. Head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to find out what other strangers in films fellow bloggers have chosen. Here are my 3...

1. THE STRANGER-1946

This is an excellent film directed by Orson Welles which doesn’t get much viewing but it should because it is a gem. It is a quaint town in Connecticut where a teacher is married  to Loretta Young( talk about nuts!), the daughter of the Supreme Court Justice. The teacher (Welles) loves clocks is fixing a large clock in the tower that has not worked in a long time. All seems great until Edward G Robinson comes to town, who knows a lot more about this teacher than anyone else does including the teacher’s wife. You see, Robinson is an FBI agent who knows that the teacher is actually a Nazi who masterminded the holocaust. An intense film with the Welles' filming style he is famous for and it is the first movie to show actual footage from the concentration camps.

2. SHANE-1953

“Shane! Come back! Come back...Shane!” Yes we know the stranger’s name soon into the movie who comes to a homesteader’s place and requests to have some water. They are a welcoming and humble family who let him stay. Shane is weary and enjoying this peaceful life, enjoying the family style as well as the life of a farmer. All is not well, since the farmers are up against the cattle ranchers and the ranchers are bullies who seem to be winning especially when they bring in the meanest gun fighter played to the hilt by Jack Palance. Shane would rather forget his past but he is compelled to help the settlers. An excellent film with beautiful cinematography and excellent acting by all with Jean Arthur in her last big screen performance.

3. HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER-1973

This is a Clint Eastwood film which he directed and stars in a film that is a western but could also qualify for a Halloween film as well. I won't tell you more about that aspect but it left me speechless at the end. He plays a stranger who comes to this town which looks decrepit and ugly. He is goaded by a man whom he shoots dead and then takes a girl into the barn for a good time...which she loves despite her feeble protests. The people in this town are fearful, greedy untrustworthy jerks except for a couple of people, one being a little person who becomes the stranger's right hand man. The townspeople all have a secret but so does the stranger. There are 3 outlaws coming to the town so the people hire the stranger to deal with them but they must abide by the stranger's requests. I love this movie which does not sugar coat the west at all.

What would be your 3?