JERICHO, NY, September 3, 2002 – On Saturday, September 7, and Sunday, September 8, AMC presents the “Wild, Wild Best” festival, a weekend-long marathon of 12 western movies. The movie line-up encompasses comedies, dramas and documentaries.
The festival begins on Saturday, September 7 at 12:45 PM (ET) with THE RARE BREED (1966). James Stewart, as cattleman Sam “Bulldog” Burnett, agrees to help Martha Evans (Maureen O’Hara) and her daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills) bring the first Hereford cattle to the American West. But even this old pro doubts that the sole bull can survive the dangers of the trail. (Also on Sunday, September 8 at 7:45 AM.) Next, at 2:30 PM, James Stewart is Charlie Anderson, a Virginia farmer who refuses to get involved in the Civil War until one of his sons is taken prisoner in SHENANDOAH (1965). Katharine Ross co-stars. (Also at 1:45 AM.)
In Otto Preminger’s allegorical Western RIVER OF NO RETURN (1954), airing at 4:30 PM (ET), Robert Mitchum portrays a farmer, just out of prison, who reunites with his young son. When their horse is stolen, they’re forced to fight their way downriver, along with a troubled saloon singer (Marilyn Monroe). All three must face their own internal problems as well as the raging river. (Also at 10:15 PM and on Sunday, September 8 at 11:25 AM.)
TRUE GRIT (1969), airing at 8:00 PM (ET) on Saturday, stars John Wayne as a stubborn, retired U.S. Marshall recruited by a young tomboy (Kim Darby) to track down her father’s killers. Glen Campbell co-stars as a greedy Texas bounty hunter. Wayne garnered the Oscar