Back in the early days of this blog, I solicited Want Lists from whoever was out there reading this thing — and the picture y’all wanted above all others was William Wellman’s Westward The Women (1951). It’d been quite a while since I’d seen it, so I tracked it down and it was soon at the top of my list, too.
Laura, a real evangelist for this picture, just passed along the fact that Warner Archive is releasing it tomorrow. Yep, tomorrow.
Researching it for my book (it’s a shoe-in for a chapter), I found out that a promotional short subject, “Challenge The Wilderness,” was done on how the shoot was as hard on the cast and crew as the fictional trek in the film. Well, it turns out Warner Archive’s serving that up along with a commentary by film historian Scott Eyman. Thanks to all concerned for giving this film the kind of treatment it deserves.
This is a great Western.
Thanks for the heads up. I remember our friend Colin wrote it on his old site back in 2010, which made me curious. Plus, I missed the TCM broadcast. Luckily, I can add it to my growing Warner Archive collection. Thanks, Toby.
Westward ho!
It’s easily one of the greatest Westerns. And I’d say now at the very top for me among Wellmans. From what Toby says, a lot of people here wanted this one out. To those who don’t know it, I’d just say that if you are an avid follower of a blog called “50 Westerns from the 50s” it’s absolutely unmissable for you.
Who’s next? Well, now, said Joe [a cowboy],I’d put that Robert Taylor next. Yes, sir, he’s a good cowboy. You mean, I asked in astonishment, that handsome actor? You damn right, said Joe. He’s got good horses and he knows how to ride ‘em. Of course, he’s got that Val Valdez breaking ‘em and training ‘em for him.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PsZIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LAENAAAAIBAJ&pg=7298,3679707&dq=ben+johnson%27s+tops+on+any+nag&hl=en
I love this photo, Toby!
Just placed my order!
Best wishes,
Laura
A movie that gets better with each viewing.
Wow — this is great news! Thanks to Laura and you, Toby, for giving me the heads-up! I love Westward the Women and have thought it a crime that it wasnt available on dvd prior to now. I shall snag the Warner Archive dvd ASAP. Great news that it will include a commentary and a short promo as well…quite an unusual practice for the archive releases.
And Toby mentioned the CHALLENGE THE WILDERNESS short that is going to be on the dvd. That short was on TCM recently just before or just after a western film I recorded. The film, at the time anyway, was not WTW but was a western. I think the short was around 10-15 minutes long and very interesting I thought.