Breakfast with Budd

After an absolutely crappy day yesterday -- including a foam-insulation-spray mishap that ruined clothing and a nauseous night -- I desperately wanted a fresh start today.
That's why I turned to Budd Boetticher's "7 Men From Now."
It is one of the greatest of Westerns by the bullfighter-turned-filmmaker Boetticher and I watched it on DVD while munching on a bagel this morning.
With its film-noirish plot twists and flamboyantly likeable outlaw (played by Lee Marvin), I would even characterize "7 Men From Now" as the Western for people who don't like Westerns.
The stately Randolph Scott stars as a sheriff hunting the bandits who killed his wife during a robbery.
He stops to help a couple haul their wagon out of the muck, and the trio's subsequent journey is among the most memorable in film history.
The "making of" documentary on the DVD is good, too, with Clint Eastwood, Quentin Tarantino, Peter Bogdanovich and Taylor Hackford lending their voices in support of one of Hollywood's most underrated directors.