Sam Elliott

Sam Elliott

Obsession Level: He Made Me Love Westerns

I don't remember the first time I laid eyes on Sam Elliott, but it wasn't long before I was in love.  He was the perfect man's man.  He was rugged, tough, and his voice was amazing.  It's like "velvet over gravel" according to one of my friends.  I have seen him in a lot of movies, always playing a tough guy and something of a charmer. (Obviously, I mean who wouldn't he charm?)  For me, though, his real masterpiece was when he played Wild Bill Hickok in Buffalo Girls.  I got the movie originally because Reba was in it and I needed it to finish up my collection of Reba movies, but then I discovered I had a billion other reasons to fall in love with the movie.  First of all, it was based on the book by my favorite author, Larry McMurtry.  Actually, it was the movie that led me to Larry McMurtry, but I'll get to my obsession with him as well as the other obsessions spawned by this movie in later blogs.  In fact, I think that Buffalo Girls deserves its own post.

The point here is that I fell in love with a man named Wild Bill Hickok, both the character and the man with a mustache behind the character.  I had absolutely no problem understanding why Calamity Jane (Anjelica Huston, another plus!) had fallen in love with him and had a child with him.  He was gorgeous, charming, and his voice would basically paralyze any woman around!  I knew after seeing Sam Elliott in that role, we were going to enjoy a long and happy relationship together through my newly formed obsession!  It's an admittedly small role in the movie, but it was enough for me!  

After Buffalo Girls I picked up a lot of movies with Sam Elliott, many of which you'll probably end up reading about here, if you're reading this, that is.  Mask was another one of my favorites.  Now I got to see Sam not as Wild Bill Hickok, but as a bad A biker!  He was just as amazing as he was in Buffalo Girls, but I got a different taste to what he was capable of.  It was also an added bonus to see him with Cher, another obsession.  (If you haven't noticed, a lot of my obsessions overlap, leading me always to question which obsession begot the other.)  He's both sensitive and tough in the movie, and that signature voice and mustache are there for all the world to enjoy.  Besides that, who doesn't love a man who can sport leather (whether it be "animal hides" or a biker jacket) and look totally amazing in it?!