Hellbent for Letterbox

Michael and Pax revisit one of Michael's childhood favorites to see if it holds up. The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams was a cultural phenomenon in its day, but is it as good as all its sequels, TV show, and lunchboxes suggest? We also rank our favorite Western movie posters, which you can see if you follow us on Bluesky.

Pax and Mike seek out the 1966 revenge adventure Nevada Smith starring Steve McQueen, Brian Keith, and Susanne Pleshette.  We also talk a bit about the movie The Carpetbaggers from 1964 where the Nevada Smith character originated.

Michael and Pax finally visit the podcast's namesake (more or less): George Sherman's Hell Bent for Leather starring Audie Murphy, Felicia Farr, and Stephen McNally.

Mike and Pax discuss the Walter Hill directed Wild Bill starring a cast of thousands including Jeff Bridges, Ellen Barkin, and John Hurt.

For the second time in Hellbent history, Michael accidentally picks a non-historical Western. This time he has Pax join him on a 1940s dude ranch for Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Gabby Hayes in Don't Fence Me In.

In this episode Pax takes Mike to Lincoln County New Mexico and they talk about the misadventures of John Wayne as Chisum!

Michael and Pax finish a double-feature of 2017 Westerns with Scott Cooper's Hostiles, starring Christian Bale, Wes Studi, and Rosamund Pike.

Mike and Pax discuss the 2017 western Ballad of Lefty Brown starring Bill Pullman, Peter Fonda, Jim Caveziel, and Tommy Flannagan.

Michael and Pax welcome back Shawn Robare to finish this year's spooky season double-feature. We're watching the little-known The Devil's Mistress about a gang of ruthless outlaws who stumble across the wrong cabin on their run from justice.

Mike and Pax are joined by their Crestwood House co-host to talk about the horror western Ravenous from 1999 starring Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle.

It's been on our list a long time, but Michael and Pax finally get around to talking about Appaloosa, directed by and starring Ed Harris. It also stars Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger, and Jeremy Irons, and is based on the novel by Robert B Parker.

In this episode Mike and Pax finish up a Willie Nelson double header with Red Headed Stranger from 1986.

Michael and Pax watch one of Michael's favorite '80s Westerns, Barbarosa starring Willie Nelson, Gary Busey, and Gilbert Roland.

Mike and Pax cover another Peckinpah.  Will they love it or hate it?  Listen to find out!

Thanks to a listener's suggestion, Michael and Pax watch Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G Robinson, and Brian Keith in Rudolph Maté's The Violent Men. The movie also features Dianne Foster and Richard Jaeckel. It begins with a couple of classic Western tropes, but takes them in surprising and dark directions.

In this episode Mike and Pax talk about a twisty western comedy called There Was a Crooked Man starring Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Warren Oates, Hume Cronyn, Burgess Meredith, and John Randolph.

Michael and Pax check out Young John Wayne and Ella Raines in the Western mystery Tall in the Saddle. The movie also features Gabby Hayes and Ward Bond.

In this episode Mike and Pax continue watching OK Corral movies with this acclaimed adaptation by John Ford starring Henry Fonda and Victor Mature.

For Valentine's Day, Michael and Pax watch the Western romance, The Dead Don't Hurt, written and directed by Viggo Mortensen. Mortensen also wrote the score and acted alongside the movie's real star, Vicky Krieps. The film also features Danny Huston and Deadwood favorites W Earl Brown and Ray McKinnon.

Mike and Pax discuss another OK Corral movie, this one starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas as Wyatt and Doc.  And with appearances by DeForest Kelley, Jack Elam, and Dennis Hopper.

Michael and Pax finally revisit Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, a movie that Michael liked on first viewing, but Pax didn't, and neither has seen in a very long time. 

Mike and Pax discuss The Old Way from 2023 starring Nic Cage.

Always on the lookout for Westerns starring women, Michael and Pax watch Lamont Johnson's Cattle Annie and Little Britches. Amanda Plummer and Diane Lane insert themselves into a demotivated outlaw gang (run by Burt Lancaster and Scott Glenn) as it tries to avoid capture by Marshal Rod Steiger.  Pax also watches The Thicket (2024) while Michael takes a look at Heart of Arizona (1938) and The Bold Caballero (1936).

In this episode Mike and Pax discuss another Clint Eastwood western, Joe Kidd, also starring Robert Duvall, John Saxon, and directed by John Sturges.

Michael stretches the definitions of both "Western" and "Horror" when he makes Pax and guest Shawn Robare watch House II: The Second Story. Though it does have undead cowboys. The movie is the sequel to 1985's House and stars Arye Gross, Jonathan Stark, Royal Dano, John Ratzenberger, Bill Maher, and Lar Park-Lincoln.

It's October!  Check out the first of Hellbent's Halloween episodes where Mike and Pax are joined by Shawn Robare to discuss Knife for the Ladies from 1974 starring Jack Elam!

Michael and Pax finish watching the Budd Boetticher / Randolph Scott Westerns with Comanche Station, also starring Nancy Gates and Claude Akins. And Michael also watched a couple of 1930s Westerns: Buck Jones and Louise Brooks in Empty Saddles (1936) and William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy in Partners of the Plains (1938).

Mike and Pax discuss a listener request; The Last Train from Gun Hill from 1959 starring Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn.

Michael and Pax welcome back Evan Hanson (the Classic Film Jerks podcast) as we get back to Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott's Ranown Westerns. This time Scott plays a Union officer tasked with transporting gold from California to Washington DC through Confederate-sympathizing territory. Westbound also features Karen Steele, Michael Dante, Andrew Duggan, Michael Pate, and Virginia Mayo.

Mike and Pax welcome hosts of the New Classic Film Jerks, Evan and Jeff, to discuss a Lee Van Cleef spaghetti western, The Grand Duel from 1972.

Michael and Pax celebrate a listener's birthday with a Sam Elliott Western, specifically The Shadow Riders, a TV movie co-starring Tom Selleck. It was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and also features Katharine Ross, Ben Johnson, and Geoffrey Lewis. Pax also watches James Arness and Angie Dickinson in Gun the Man Down (1956).

In this episode Mike and Pax are discussing the western comedy Cat Ballou starring Jane Fonda as Cat Ballou and Lee Marvin as the drunken, washed up gunfighter Kid Shelleen.

Michael and Pax continue celebrating their birth month with movies from their birth years. This time, Michael picks John Wayne and Kirk Douglas in Burt Kennedy's The War Wagon. The movie also features Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr, Keenan Wynn, Valora Noland, Bruce Cabot, and (briefly) Bruce Dern. Pax also talks about the comic Ladies with Guns by Olivier Bocquet and Anlor.

For the month of May, Michael and Pax are doing movies released within their birth year.  First, up, Pax picks the Blacksploitation western Boss from 1974 starring Fred Williamson.

Michael and Pax continue April Fools Month, talking about movies that are Western-connected if not actual Western movies themselves. For this episode, we talk about Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure featuring time-traveling historical figures like Billy the Kid.

Happy April Fool's Month!  In this episode Mike and Pax cover Bloodrayne 2: Deliverance which features Pat Garrett and a vampire Billy the Kid!

Michael and Pax continue exploring the Ranown Westerns with Budd Boetticher's Buchanan Rides Alone, starring Randolph Scott and also featuring one of our favorites, LQ Jones. And Pax reads a Western detective novel, Holmes on the Range.

Mike and Pax are joined by their good buddy Jeeg to discuss the 1973 Eastern meets Western, Shanghai Joe starring Chen Lee and Klaus Kinski.

Michael and Pax celebrate the 150th episode of Hellbent with last year's Bass Reeves mini-series starring David Oyelowo, Lauren E Banks, and Forrest Goodluck. And guest-starring Barry Pepper, Shea Whigham, Dennis Quaid, and Donald Sutherland.  Pax also talks about his recent guest-appearance on the Authorized Novelizations Podcast discussing Theodore Sturgeon's novelization of The Rare Breed.

Michael and Pax foray once more into western comedy with the Mae West classic, My Little Chickadee, from 1940 costarring WC Fields.

Michael and Pax resume their tour of the Ranown Westerns directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. In Decision at Sundown, Scott comes to town gunning for vengeance against the community's most powerful citizen, but Scott's not saying exactly why. The movie also features John Carroll, Karen Steele, Valerie French, John Archer, and Noah Beery Jr. And in a special Christmas-themed edition of Whatchoo Been Westernin'? the fellas talk about Jack Palance as the title character in Ebenezer, a Western retelling of A Christmas Carol that also stars Ricky Schroeder.

Mike and Pax talk about the other 1969 western starring Robert Redford and Katharine Ross.  This one also kind of based on true events.

Michael, Pax, and their Crestwood House podcast co-host Shawn Robare talk about another weird Western just in time for Halloween. The prairie is full of eerie isolation in Emma Tammi's independent film, The Wind, starring Caitlin Gerard, Ashley Zukerman, Julia Goldani Telles, and Dylan McTee.

It's Friday the 13th! Mike and Pax are joined by their Crestwood House co-host Shawn Robare to begin the Halloween season with Grim Prairie Tales from 1990 starring James Earl Jones, Brad Dourif, William Atherton, and Marc McClure.

Michael and Pax are in the mood for some Ranown Westerns, starting with The Tall T. Directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, of course. Co-starring Maureen O'Sullivan and Richard Boone. And based on a story by Elmore Leonard. Also: Michael checks out a stage production of the classic Shane.

Mike and Pax take a look at the Humphrey Bogart classic Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Michael accidentally pulls a fast one and makes Pax watch a non-historical Western, John Sturges' The Walking Hills. It stars Randolph Scott and Ella Raines as two members of a party that enters the desert dunes looking for a lost wagon train and (according to legend) the gold that it was carrying. But even though the movie takes place in the 1940s, the comic Pax read does not. It's the Sixth Gun mini-series Shadow Roads.

Pax and Michael tackle another western-comedy.  This one stars George Segal and Goldie Hawn and is directed by White Christmas' Melvin Frank!

Michael and Pax watch the Coen Brothers' anthology movie, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Plus, Pax listens to the 1001 Stories from the Old West podcast and Michael watches The Secret of Convict Lake (1951) and Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949).

Mike and Pax try not to break out into a blood feud when they delve into the History Channel mini-series Hatfields & McCoys starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton.