The complete catalog of Fifties Westerns available on Blu-Ray.
You’re looking at it. Two movies.
John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) and Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959).
Two movies. Of course, they’re two of the absolute best. And from what I’ve heard, both are stunning, particularly The Searchers with its VistaVision photography — though I’ve heard of audio sync problems with it. (As far as I’m concerned, Blu-Ray was developed primarily for sticking VistaVision onto your television.)
Other incredible Westerns, from other decades, are available on the format — from Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) to How The West Was Won (1962) to the three Eastwood/Leone pictures to Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969). Good stuff. And good-looking.
Let’s all try to forget just how many times we’ve already bought these films. The videotapes. The laserdiscs. The letterboxed laserdiscs. The DVDs. The special edition DVDs. And on and on. Sure, we’ll buy ‘em again — and probably again when Blu-Ray winds up on the technological slag heap.
I’m sure every fan of these old cowboy pictures has a favorite or two (or 57) they’d love to see benefit from all that extra resolution. Randolph Scott in Budd Boetticher’s Ride Lonesome (1959) would be number one for me. Or maybe The Man From Laramie (1955). Or The Big Country (1958), with all those William Wyler long shots. (I really hate that Son Of Paleface showed up on HD just in time for the entire format to be sent to Boot Hill.)
We can wish all we want. And in the meantime, we can marvel at John Wayne and company in their full 1080 splendor. But does that justify the new TV and all the necessary accessories (cables, mounts, furniture, Raisinets) that go with it?
For two movies?
You can get “The Professionals” on Blu too!
When you look at those two BLUs it makes me wonder when, or if, we’ll ever see John Sturges westerns in hi-def.
Or what about any of Joel McCrea’s? (That’s just wishful thinking I guess).
Anyway, we are very fortunate to have the Jacques Tourneur westerns available on SD DVD (even though “Wichita” is on DVD-R).
Let’s hope for a Warner Archive release of “Stars in My Crown”.
The DVD market seems to be coming unraveled, as various streaming/on-demand things come in, so it’s hard to say what we’ll be able to stick into our players in the future. And if we’re all gonna be forced to switch to Blu-Ray, us classic film fans need more titles to really make it worthwhile.
Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven is on Blu-Ray, which is, well, magnificent. His Gunfight At The OK Corral and Last Train From Gun Hill, both in VistaVision, would make a great double Blu-Ray set. I don’t think Paramount has done much with their older titles on Blu-Ray.
You’re right about Wichita — I’m so stoked to have that, no matter what kinda disc they stick in on. Stars In My Crown is a great film — and very underrated. I’d love to have that one, too.
I just noticed last night that The Professionals is on Blu-Ray. The standard DVD is nice, so I bet the Blu-Ray’s a knockout.
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I’m glad we both share the enjoyment of the Tourneur westerns.
Yes, classic titles on Blu-Ray are kinda scarce.
They tend to focus on titles they know will sell, like:
“Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz”.
I love Anthony Mann’s westerns. Surely, we’ll see those on Blu?
I’d like to see more of the obscure westerns of the 1950′s on DVD / DVD-R or, dare I say, Blu.
I guess we’re very lucky to have the Warner Archive in spite of some disadvantages.
It’s late to comment on this post, but I went on a little bender recently, buying a handful of low-cost Blu-rays, under fifteen dollars, at Amazon. The Searchers, The Proposition, Unforgiven, and The Wild Bunch. I made a point of researching these editions on several of the very entertaining websites that offer tech-crit analysis of these specific transfers, and, in the case of one, screen captures of different editions (http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews38/the-searchers_blu-ray.htm). I don’t pretend to understand a lot of it but it’s fun all the same, and gives me some measure of confidence in the purchases.
Having said that, I haven’t watched them yet, but I have compared the 2-disc Stagecoach to Criterion’s new Blu-ray version, and, since the Criterion was struck from a completely different print, it’s better by a considerable margin, as is the sound. Interesting though that each edition offers a wealth of extras. Were you to add the Warners material to the Criterion, you’ve have enough for any respectable college course. Here’s an analysis at another site: (http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/3055/stagecoach.html).
I’ve also compared the Leone-Eastwood Blu-ray box with the Leone collection from a couple of years ago, and the one that seems to benefit the most from HD technology is The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, but I can’t say that the earlier box ought to be shelved, especially since it also has Duck You Sucker, and since the GB&U Blu-ray is available individually, and for ten bucks.
As for other Western Blu-rays, yeah, it’s a small list. Some Eastwoods, Fords, Ride With The Devil (Criterion, and spectacular with added material from Ang Lee), Rio Bravo, as you said. I don’t know if producing a catalog is as important as having houses, like Warners in particular, making the extra effort to give the buyer something they haven’t seen or heard. (GB&U, by the way, has all the extras of the 2-disc edition, and an additional commentary and short feature). The Tombstone Blu-ray was a case where the picture was improved, but it was an earlier and shorter version, and it skimped on the additional materials that had been part of the deluxe edition from a couple of years back.
It is encouraging that the prices are going down and in most cases the quality is noticeably improved. Added to that, the extras on some discs, like The Searchers, have been carried over from the best, most recent, deluxe versions, and contained on a single disc.
Also the price of the players is going down, but to take full advantage, of course you have to have a TV capable of 1080, and hooked up to a decent stereo system.
I wonder how long it will be before the local libraries are carrying Blu-ray movies.
It’s starting to sound like the Stagecoach Blu-Ray will become the yardstick for measuring how well older films are treated on video.
I’m really looking forward to it. And thanks a million for such a thorough post.
The finest B/W western of all time just has to be Winchester 73 with James Stewart , Dan Duryea , and Stephen Mcnally (as Dutch Henry Brown).
Another fine oater was Powder River with Rory Calhoun and Cameron Mitchell.
These movies are rarely referred to but were in fact two of the very best of the genre.
What a great blu ray product they would make coupled together !
You won’t get much of an argument from me on Winchester 73. It’s one of the best, easy.
I haven’t seen Powder River, but the supporting cast alone (John Dehner, Cameron Mitchell, Penny Edwards, etc.) is enough for me.
“The Searchers” is listed by the imdb as being 1.75 : 1 ratio. My DVD is 1.33:1, apparently in deference to John Fords preferences. Just wondered what format the blu ray release is.