Okay, The Killer Is Loose (1955) isn’t a Western. But it’s Budd Boetticher entering a period when he made nothing but excellent movies. His next was Seven Men From Now (1956) — see what I mean?
The Killer Is Loose is now available as part of MGM’s on-demand DVD-R program, the MGM Classics Collection. It’s tight, tense and terrific — with Wendell Corey giving a very creepy, career-best performance. Joseph Cotton and Rhonda Fleming are good, too. Highly, highly recommended. The info lists it being full frame, which I hope is a mistake. Lucien Ballard’s cinematography is top-notch and deserves proper treatment.
Below, in a photo I could stare at for hours, are Ballard (beside the camera) and Boetticher (in front of Ballard) shooting a scene on a bus.
Budd Boetticher (from his book When In Disgrace): “The Killer Is Loose was a good film with Joseph Cotton, Rhonda Fleming and Wendell Corey, who were wonderful to work with. But I don’t think they appreciated what Lucien and I did. We made that picture in 15 days on a 20-day schedule.”
Watched this on Netflix Streaming a month or so ago. Really good flick.
You mean could not NOT make an excellent movie, I think. Wendell Corey is one of the unsung greats. Rear Window to Loving You. He plays a great psycho here–way ahead of his time.
Rewrote that sentence about 50 times — I think it’s in better shape now. Basically, I was trying to avoid the phrase “on a roll.” Is it better now?
I love this film — saw it as a little kid and Corey really made an impression on me. You’re right, WAY ahead of his time. He certainly is under-appreciated.
You got there first
The latest MGM/UA MOD things do not seem to be on
Amazon USA yet;I do not know what is going on.
I did pick up the recent release of Byron Haskins “The Boss” and
I regret to say that its the worst Ive seen in this series so far.
There are lots of imperfections and “sparkle” on the DVD and the
mid-section of the film is terrible;think Alpha Video!
I would have thought this great Noir was worthy of remastering/restoring.
Only purchase if you are desperate to see the film (I was!)
The only plus factor is that the two great set-pieces in the film
crop up in the “good” stages of the DVD.
(a) The Union Station massacre segment
(b) A shoot out in a cavern-like cement factory.
Whats all this doing on a Fifties Western site?
Well the film has good roles (apart from John Payne) for Western
regulars William Bishop and Roy Roberts.
Cast also includes the lovely Doe Avedon (Mrs Don Siegel)
A Question:
Whatever became of leading lady Gloria McGhee;she is pretty darn
good in the film and seemed to have faded into obscurity and
according to IMDB died very young.
DVD NEWS FOR WESTERN FANS IN FRANCE!
Universal France have just released “Taggart” (1964) in
Widescreen.Anything with Dan Duryea and Im there!
Coming up soon from Sidonis France is the excellent
“Apache Drums” but the downside is that the French
subtitles are not removable on Sidonis DVDs.
I do wish they would get their act together and resolve this!
“Apache Drums” should have been released in the US
years ago;a minor classic from the underrated Hugo Fregonese
(Saddle Tramp;Untamed Frontier)
Looking at some of the French Western Film websites it would
seem a lot of our friends there are dismayed that none of
Jock Mahoneys excellent Universal Westerns have made it
to DVD.
Taggart is one that’s on my ” get it soon” list.
Those Sidonis releases are a major pain – great titles, generally well presented, but the subs issue is a big problem.
My favorite Wendell Corey story is why he got fired from ELEVENTH HOUR, a medical drama in which he starred in 1962. “The women in the audience loved his limpid eyes,” the producer explained, “but it turned out they were swimming in booze.”
(That was a paraphrase; I’m too lazy to look up the actual quote.)
I think the Corey story was one of of the actor essentially doing what his character in Loving You promised to do when he said he’d be in the bar, “rehearsin’ his drinkin'”
But he’s a joy to watch, and I think Toby is with me on this, that Loving You is in the top two or three Elvis movies, and Corey is a major reason for that.
Loving You might be THE best since it’s Elvis playing a redneck with a guitar. And that hotrod!
Corey reminds me of Ernest Tubb in it.
If Jailhouse Rock is RCA, Loving You is Sun.
Too bad you can’t make all Robert Aldrich Westerns 50’s Westerns. Just thinking about The Last Sunset.
Am I nuts thinking that Emperor of the North would make a great theatrical musical?
Attention Colin:
Did you know that soon Sidonis will release “The Fiend That
Walked The West” the famous extremely violent Western remake
of the Noir classic “Kiss of Death. It has a great OTT hammy
performance from future Hollywood hot-shot Robert Evans.
Fox tried to market the film as a horror film which its not (unless
you take into account Evans overipe performance)
In any case the Sidonis DVD should be a lovely anamorphic scope
transfer;I do not find the subtitles too much of a problem on scope
pictures but in standard ratio they are a nightmare!
Sidonis release a steady flow of Westerns every month;many that
have already appeared elsewhere but they always come up with a rare
gem from time to time.Unfortunately “Apache Drums” should be
horrific with the non removable subs;a pity because its a great little
movie.A great shame because their transfers are fine and their DVDs
really nicely packaged.
Cheers John. That’s news to me.
I know you can just burn a copy and disable the subs, but it’s still annoying.
I LITERALLY watched this on Netflix the other night. When I first started it, I thought that it was mediocre. But by the end…well…let’s just say I was BLOWN away!
By the way, I just posted an entry over at my blog that I think might interest you. It’s not from the Fifties…but I think that you will be interested in it anyway!
Colin,
Its rumoured that “Run Of The Arrow” will be re-issued in France
next year.Lets hope its better than the reputedly very bad Spanish
version currently available.
Also later this year,in France they are going to release “Montana
Belle” I would be very interested to know if its the colour version
not black & white like the Spanish version now available.
Sidonis lease their titles from a UK company called Hollywood
Classics.Many of the classic Universal Westerns have now
made it to DVD which leaves lots of obscure but interesting
Westerns in Hollywood Classics portfolio which hopefully will find
some takers:
ROSE OF CIMMARRON (1953) Mala Powers,Jack Buetel,Bill Williams
B movie queen Powers is strident as she goes gunning for the bad
guys who murdered her Native American foster parents. Filmed in
“Natural Color”
THE RESTLESS BREED (1956) Scott Brady Anne Bancroft
Have not seen this one but Director Allan Dwan means it cannot
be without some interest.
DAKOTA LIL (1950)
BELLE STARRS DAUGHTER (1948)
Two George Montgomery/Rod Cameron starrers both directed by
Lesley Selander.
Then again there is the high definition remastered version of
Andre De Toths “RAMROD” which Hollywood Classics have worldwide
rights to;excluding the US. The US rights are owned by Paramount
so no hope there then!
John, I’d very much like to see a decent version of Run of the Arrow – there’s an Italian disc out there but I’ve no idea what it’s like. That Spanish release isn’t just reputedly bad, it definitely is. I have it and I can honestly say it’s one of the very worst transfers I own.
Colin,
I have researched this a little further and it would seem the
French company Wild Side have a new imprint:Classics Confidential.
It would seem that they are going to release “Run Of The Arrow”
and “Ramrod” next year.Have you had any previous Wild Side DVDS;
are they any good?
This tracking down films Worldwide is a full time chore!
It would also seem that El Cortes Ingles Spain have the somewhat rare
and highly regarded Noir “The Suspect” as an exclusive at the moment.
Wild Side are variable John. They’ve put out some average PD titles before and some very good transfers. Their release of Lang’s House by the River is superior to Kino’s R1, but the subs are burnt-in. I imagine the new imprint will follow that pattern, unfortunately.
I saw that ECI exclusive of The Suspect too BTW – pity their shipping charges are so prohibitive.
BTW, and sorry for hijacking the post Toby, Odeon are releasing Best of the Badmen in the UK on August 15. And Gun Glory is out in Spain next month.
Hijack all you want, John. This is what it’s here for.
Thats good news about the Odeon release of “Best Of The Badmen”;
so far all their RKO releases have been Forties black & white stuff.
I think I will e-mail them to see if they might put out “Great Day In
The Morning”
Oddly enough talking about Spain;they are about to release “Stranger
On Horseback” I wonder if they have found a different source than the
VCI release of a few years back? Toby at least Colin was gracious enough
to apologise for hijacking your blog;dont encourage me!