Dennis Cozzalio at Sergio Leone And The Infield Fly Rule has posted a fabulous piece on the appeal of 50s Westerns — in particular those of Universal-International. Please read it.
Researching my book, throwing stuff up on this blog and communicating with the nice folks I’ve met along the way, I’m constantly reminded how much I love these things — the great ones, the good ones, even the crummy ones. Dennis brings up a few specific pictures, like the terrific No Name On The Bullet (1959), but his points really cover the genre, and the decade, as a whole.
More importantly, he nails what it’s like to be a fan of these films.
Great article! How refreshing to see the very underrated
Jock Mahoney getting some kudos at last.Joe Dakota is
excellent and “A Day Of Fury” even better.Universal should
have produced DVD compilations of their great Western
stars Joel McCrea Audie Murphy Rory Calhoun Jeff Chandler
and of course Mahoney;his Universal Westerns are all
excellent. I seem to be watching loads of Universal stuff at
the moment and although their programmer Westerns had
modest budgets they were made with care and always looked great and had craftsmen at the helm like
Budd Boetticher,George Sherman and Jesse Hibbs.
A company in Australia called Bounty Entertainment has
just issued a whole raft of Universal Westerns with more
to follow in the future. Their prices are very keen too
and if interested check out http://www.bountyet.com.au
I must say I am somewhat disappointed that I have to
go to Australia and Spain to obtain DVDs of this great
American art form.
You’re right about several things here:
1. The U-I Westerns are beautiful. The care and craftsmanship are incredible. I want those Universal McCreas so bad I can taste ’em.
2. Mahoney is certainly worthy of rediscovery.
3. It is disappointing that you have to go off-shore to get these American Westerns. But that being said, thank God for Bounty and all those cats in Spain.
Whoops! I think that Bounty have changed their website
details http://www.bountyentertainment.com.au
Those McCrea Universals were great I have managed
to track down good copies of them all except “The Lone
Hand” which is a pity because its one one the very best.
Bounty have a rare late 40s Universal Western coming in
June “Pirates Of Monterey” not too good by all reports
but I want it anyway;and hey! its got Rod Cameron in an
early starring role;yet another forgotten underrated
Cowboy.
Interesting article you linked to – and nice to see all those frequently derided movies get a bit of respect.
Regarding the Bounty releases, I’ve picked up two: Walk the Proud Land and Posse from Hell. The former is a passable transfer, but nothing more while Posse from Hell fares better.
I still think the best source I’ve seen for hard to find UI westerns remains Koch Media in Germany – the transfers are generally very good and the selection is fairly wide, but the price can be a little steep.
THE RAWHIDE YEARS is beginning some showings on Encore Western Channel today, Jan 13, 2013. So, watch your Encore listings for it. I think it plays first here in Iowa at 7 PM Central time.