50s Westerns DVD News #123: Short Grass (1950).

Warner Archive has announced another group of Westerns, with only one from the 50s: Short Grass (1950). Directed by Lesley Selander, it boasts quite a cast: Rod Cameron, Cathy Downs, Johnny Mack Brown, Alan Hale Jr. and Morris Ankrum.

Based on the novel by Thomas W. Blackburn, who also wrote the screenplay, Short Grass is quite ambitious for an Allied Artists picture from the period. The cowboys here are cowboys, not gunfighters — which really distinguishes what could’ve been just another series Western range war tale. This is a good one.

Blackburn wrote a number of excellent Westerns films throughout the 50s — Colt .45 (1950), Riding Shotgun (1954) and Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954, story only), to name just a few — before making the move to TV — often for Walt Disney. He not only wrote the Disney Davy Crockett shows (which of course became the 1955 film Davy Crockett: King Of The Wild Frontier).  His place in popular culture history is secured by the fact that he wrote the lyrics for “The Ballad Of Davy Crockett.”

Another tip from John Knight.

Read Full Post »

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.

Here’s John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in Rio Grande (1950). This excellent film, the third part of John Ford’s cavalry trilogy, is known as the movie that let John Ford make his Irish picture, The Quiet Man (1952) — which will no doubt be inserted into many DVD and Blu-ray players today.

Rio Grande, of course, is plenty great in and of itself.

 

 

Read Full Post »

50s Westerns DVD News #116: Universal Classic Westerns.

If you don’t have these, consider this essential. If you do, it’s a good way to free up some shelf space. Universal has packaged 10 previously-released Westerns — including a couple only available on DVD-R — in a snazzy package. You get:

When The Daltons Rode (1940) George Marshall directs. Randolph Scott leads an incredible cast — Kay Francis, Brian Donlevy, Broderick Crawford, Andy Devine, George Bancroft, Edgar Buchanan. I prefer Scott with more age on him, but this picture has do much action, you don’t have time to care.

Texas Rangers Ride Again (1940) A 67-minute Paramount Western — a sequel to their Texas Rangers (1936) — starring Ellen Drew, John Howard, Broderick Crawford and Anthony Quinn.

The Spoilers (1942) John Wayne and Randolph Scott in the same movie. (Yet some people still wonder if there’s a higher power.) Marlene Dietrich and Harry Carey are in it, too. The climactic saloon brawl is terrific.

The Virginian (1946) Joel McCrea is stunning Technicolor. Universal’s getting a lot of mileage out of this one — it’s also available on DVD-R from the Universal Vault Series and as part of the Joel McCrea Westerns Collection.

Albuquerque (1948) Ray Enright directs Randolph Scott again, this time in color and with Gabby Hayes, Scott Hayden  and Lon Chaney on hand.

Whispering Smith (1948) Any movie that has both William Demerest and Frank Faylen in its cast is worth seeking out.

Comanche Territory (1950) The great, and unsung, George Sherman directs Maureen O’Hara and Macdonald Carey.

Sierra (1950) Audie Murphy is joined by Wanda Hendryx, Burl Ives, Dean Jagger, Tony Curtis, Houseley Stevenson and James Arness. It was directed by Alfred E. Green, in Technicolor. Murphy and Hendryx were husband and wife at the time.

Kansas Raiders (1950) Audie Murphy again,backed by Brian Donlevy, Marguerite Chapman, Scott Brady, Tony Curtis and Richard Arlen. Ray Enright directed.

Tomahawk (1951) stars Van Helfin and Yvonne De Carlo and was directed by George Sherman. Also available as part of the Universal Vault Series, where this one film costs more than the set we’re looking at here. Do the math, order one today.

By the way, its release date is Tuesday, March 12. Thanks to Mike for the tip.

Read Full Post »

Hulu/Roku/Whatever Alert: Stream The Furies (1950) And Other Criterion Titles For Free This Weekend..

 

The word is that hundreds of Criterion titles will be available on Hulu for free over the weekend. There are some very, very great films in that list — from Wages Of Fear (1953) to Kubrick’s The Killing (1956) to Le Cercle Rouge (1970) and beyond.

One I’d particularly recommend is Anthony Mann’s The Furies (1950) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston (in his last role).

Read Full Post »

Screening: Winchester ’73 (1950).

Here’s something that’ll add another day or two to our current Anthony Mann/James Stewart/Dan Duryea fixation.

Anthony Mann’s Winchester ’73 (1950) is one of the first, and best, of the 50s Westerns. It’s one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen. And it’s playing in 35mm at Emory University in Atlanta.

Winchester ’73
White Hall, Emory University
Atlanta, GA

March 27, 1913
7:30 PM

Thanks for the tip, Paula.

Read Full Post »

Happy Birthday, Dan Duryea.

Dan Duryea
(January 23, 1907 – June 7, 1968)

Let’s all remember Dan Duryea on his birthday. Here he is (as Waco Johnnie Dean) with Shelley Winters in Winchester ’73 (1950), one of the best Westerns of the 50s. Today would be a good day to pay your respects at the wonderful web site Dan Duryea Central.

Duryea was only 61 when he passed away, but he managed to squeeze a lot of terrific movies into those years. (Of late, I’ve become weirdly enamored of his odd performance in 1957′s Night Passage.)

Duryea (from a Hedda Hopper interview): “I thought the meaner I presented myself, the tougher I was with women, slapping them around in well produced films where evil and death seem to lurk in every nightmare alley and behind every venetian blind in every seedy apartment, I could find a market for my screen characters.”

Below, he appears in a personal favorite, Silver Lode (1954), with Stuart Whitman and Alan Hale, Jr.

 

Read Full Post »

RIP, Harry Carey, Jr.

Harry Carey, Jr.
(May 16, 1921 – December 27, 2012)

My fingers don’t want to type this, as if that would make it not so. Harry Carey, Jr. has passed away at 91.

Above, he stands between Ben Johnson and Ward Bond in John Ford’s Wagon Master (1950). It’s one of the best Westerns of the 50s, and Carey’s easygoing performance is one of its considerable charms. So many pictures benefited from his presence: Red River (1948), Three Godfathers (1948), Rio Grande (1950), Silver Lode (1954) and The Searchers (1956), to name just a few.

He was the son of silent cowboy star Harry Carey and a member of John Ford’s stock company (his nickname was Dobe). His autobiography Company Of Heroes is one of the finest books on Western filmmaking you’ll ever read.

As far back as I can remember watching movies, I’ve been aware of Harry Carey, Jr. So forget about this stupid blog. Go watch Wagon Master.

Read Full Post »

50s Westerns DVD News #100: Comanche Territory (1950).

Universal’s Vault Series has made Comanche Territory (1950) available for pre-order. No release date has been given.

MacDonald Carey is Jim Bowie, trying to keep peace after silver is discovered on Comanche territory. Maureen O’Hara and Charles Drake are the sinister siblings trying to break the treaty.

George Sherman, as you’d expect, makes great use of the Arizona locations — beautiful in Technicolor. And it’s cool to see Maureen O’Hara getting in on the action scenes (she’s seen below in a Jergens Lotion ad that appeared in Life in March, 1950). In her book ‘Tis Herself, she described Comanche Territory as “a fairly decent Western and the film in which I mastered the American bullwhip. By the time the picture was over, I could snap a cigarette out of someone’s mouth.”

Comanche Territory isn’t a great Western, but it has plenty to recommend it.

Read Full Post »

The 50s Westerns “Second Unit” Contest Winner.

If you judge it by the fact that some folks not only bothered to enter, but came through with the right answer, our first “Second Unit” contest was a success.

The image (seen below) was from the terrific Joel McCrea Western The Outriders (1950). What a gorgeous shot from director of photography Charles Schoenbaum. A number of you got it right, so everyone’s name went into a cowboy hat and my daughter drew out the winner.

The DVD of Fury At Showdown and Along Came Jones goes to —

Verel McElravy

Congratulations. And thanks to all who sent in a response. By the way, everyone who replied got it right. You folks know your cowboy movies!

Stay tuned, we’ll do this again.

Read Full Post »

The Real West #4: I Shot Billy The Kid.

On this day in 1881, Pat Garrett shot and killed William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr.), known as “Billy The Kid,” in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

Of course, the way this actually happened isn’t known, and it’s been portrayed plenty of different ways in Westerns over the years, from King Vidor’s Billy The Kid (1930) to Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973, below).

Some even theorize that it’s not Billy reposing in the Fort Sumner dirt.

Read Full Post »