Hellbent for Letterbox

This month Michael and Pax are joined by their good friend Shawn Robare to discuss the 1967 Spaghetti Western Death Rides a Horse starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law.

Evan Hanson returns to help Michael and Pax analyze The Sisters Brothers starring John C Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Riz Ahmed. (Deep apologies for the audio quality on Michael's microphone this episode. It was a technical issue that we were unable to correct, but we thought the movie and conversation were good enough that we wanted to release it anyway.)

On this episode Mike and Pax are joined by Evan Hanson to discuss 5 Card Stud starring Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, and Roddy Macdowell.

In this very special Halloween Hitchin Post, Michael and Pax discuss the 1959 Universal Studios horror western, Curse of the Undead, featuring a vampire gunfighter.

Michael and Pax definitely wanted to watch Penélope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Steve Zahn, Dwight Yoakam, and Sam Shepard in  Bandidas . Pax also reads the graphic novel  Calamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary  by Christian Perrissin and Matthieu Blanchin. And Michael gets in the Halloween spirit with  Curse of the Undead .

On this episode of Hellbent Michael and Pax discuss the 1970 dramatic comedy Little Big Man starring Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway.

Michael and Pax follow  Pale Rider  into town, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. Also starring Sydney Penny, Michael Moriarty, Chris Penn, and Richard Kiel. Pax also shares insights from the  Pale Rider  novelization by Alan Dean Foster. And Michael watches another mountain man movie (Richard Harris and John Huston in  Man in the Wilderness ) and some  Doctor Who .

Pax and Michael watch the first of the Terence Hill and Bud Spencer comedic Trinity  movies, directed by Enzo Barboni.

Michael and Pax visit their second Elvis Presley Western with  Flaming Star , a movie about racism that also stars Steve Forrest, Barbara Eden, Dolores del Rio, and John McIntire. Before that, Pax talks about vintage Western-themed advertising and Michael makes progress in his Western History film project and reviews the Batman Western comic,  Batman: The Blue, the Grey, and the Bat .

On this episode Mike and Pax discuss Cheyenne Social Club starring James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Shirley Jones.

Michael and Pax watch the Howard Hawks / John Wayne classic Red River  featuring Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, and Joanne Dru.    Also: Comics! Pax reads  Wild West, Book 1: Calamity Jane by Jacques Lamontagne and Thierry Gloris. And Michael reads IDW's collection of  Doug Wildey's Rio: The Complete Saga .

Mike and Pax update everyone on their fancy soap purchases.

Mike and Pax discuss 1959's Rio Bravo starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, and Ricky Nelson.

Michael and Pax watch Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, and Joel Edgerton in Gavin O'Connor's film about a woman defending her home from a gang of ruthless killers. Pax also talks about Yul Brynner and George Segal in Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964), while Michael watches more Zorro and reads the collected webcomic High Moon by David Gallaher and Steve Ellis.

On this episode Michael and Pax discuss The Kid from 2019 starring Ethan Hawke and Dane Dehaan as Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Michael and Pax revisit the '90s classic about a sharpshooting cowboy (Tom Selleck) who teams up with a troubled woman (Laura San Giacomo) to fight a ruthless land baron (Alan Rickman) over his treatment of Aboriginal Australians. There's also a quick review of the graphic novel The Grave Doug Freshley by Josh Hechinger and mpMann.

Michael and I discuss men's hand soaps and recommend two great companies, Boll Weevil Soap Co and Outlaw Soaps.

On this episode Michael and Pax talk about Gun Fury from 1953 starring Donna Reed, Rock Hudson, and Lee Marvin.

Michael and Pax check out the sequel to 1969's Sabata  (which they covered three years ago ; how time does fly). Lee Van Cleef's character is played by Yul Brynner this time, so the fellas talk about that and other changes between the films, and attempt to reconcile the two. Also, Michael watches Errol Flynn play General Custer in  They Died With Their Boots On .

Michael and Pax discuss the Elvis Presley 1969 western, Charro!

Michael and Pax break down this Bob Hope brew co-starring Jane Russell as super spy Calamity Jane. Pax also talks about the 1952 sequel,  Son of Paleface , while Michael's reconsidering Joan Crawford as a contemporary cowgirl in 1930's Montana Moon .

Michael and Pax talk a little about the podcast's third birthday, what we could see on the show in 2020, and we go through the AFI Top 10 Westerns list .

Mike and Pax are back from their winter break and in this episode are discussing River of No Return from 1954 starring Marilyn Monroe, Robert Mitchum and Rory Calhoun.  Directed by Otto Preminger.

Michael and Pax wrap up Deadwood December with the reunion movie from earlier this year and talk about whether or not it was a fitting conclusion to the legendary TV series.

Pax and Michael finish watching David Milch's Deadwood and talk about how the show ended as well as their hopes for Deadwood: The Movie .