Posted in 1959, Andre de Toth, Howard Hawks, John Wayne, Making Movies, Ward Bond, Warner Bros. on May 8, 2013 | 8 Comments »
Eric Hilliard “Ricky” Nelson
(May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985)
Ricky Nelson only made one Western, but what a Western he made — Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959). His birthday seems like a good excuse to post this rather odd behind-the-scenes photo from my favorite cowboy movie.
Incidentally, Ricky’s older brother Dave also made a great Western in ’59, Andre de Toth’s Day Of The Outlaw.
Posted in 1959, Audie Murphy, Dale Evans, Roy Rogers, Television on March 27, 2013 | 8 Comments »
All this debate about colorization and Shane in 1.66 is making me tired.
So here’s a picture of Eddie Arnold, Roy Rogers and Audie Murphy. We believe it’s from a 1959 episode of The Chevy Show. Eddy Arnold and Audie Murphy were Roy and Dale’s guests. A quick check shows that a copy sits in the Library Of Congress.
Thanks to Mike Richards for sorting this out.
Posted in 1952, 1954, 1956, 1959, Barbara Stanwyck, Howard Hawks, John Sturges, Kirk Douglas, Making Movies, Mara Corday, Republic, Rex Allen, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers on February 25, 2013 | 7 Comments »
Rex Allen and Roy Rogers, somewhere on the Republic lot.
Mara Corday studies the Raw Edge (1956) screenplay.
Donna Reed and Richard Widmark at work on Backlash (1956). That’s John Sturges obscured in the ball cap.
Howard Hawks shows Kirk Douglas how to do a fight scene for The Big Sky (1952).
Ronald Reagan and Barbara Stanwyck discuss the arms situation on the set of Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954).
Satchel Paige and Robert Mitchum shoot the breeze between takes on The Wonderful Country (1959).
Posted in 1959, Charlton Heston, Clint Walker, Warner Bros. on February 11, 2013 | 1 Comment »
Was looking through some old issues of Variety (while working on my One-Eyed Jacks book) and came across something interesting: there was a time when Yellowstone Kelly (1959) was to star Charlton Heston and Ricky Nelson! Of course, those parts went to Clint Walker and Ed Byrnes (seen here).
Posted in 1959, Festivals, screenings, Howard Hawks, John Wayne, Ward Bond, Warner Bros. on February 8, 2013 | 9 Comments »
My favorite Western, Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959), is coming to The Historic Texas Theater in Dallas — and Angie Dickinson’s coming along with it.
It’s part of TCM’s Road To Hollywood — a series of free screenings leading up to the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood.
Rio Bravo (1959)
Hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, with special guest Angie Dickinson
The Historic Texas Theater, Dallas, TX
Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 7:30 (CT), Tickets available Feb. 8.
If my wonderful grandparents from Strawn, TX, Zelma and Flint McCullough, were still with us, it’d be time to pay them a visit!
Posted in 1959, Andre de Toth, Robert Ryan on January 25, 2013 | 5 Comments »
Here in Raleigh, it’s looking like Day Of The Outlaw (1959). No movie that I know conveys cold as well as that one.
Posted in 1956, 1957, 1959, Burt Lancaster, Columbia, DVD reviews, releases, TV, etc., George Montgomery, Guy Madison, John Sturges, Kirk Douglas, Paramount on December 13, 2012 | 33 Comments »
We did a 50s Westerns Want List a couple years ago and it was a blast — and a surprising number of our wishes have since come true! So it seems about time to do another one. Last time around, I polled a few people offline, but I’ve since learned that a lot of the fun comes from watching y’all feed off each other as you load up the comments box.
So send in your lists. I’ll compile and sort the responses — then see if I can get them to someone who can actually do something about it.
I’ll start. Reprisal! (1956) and The Hard Man (1957), both from George Sherman and starring Guy Madison, and Fred MacMurray and James Coburn in Face Of A Fugitive (1959) — all from Columbia. Then there’s a Blu-ray John Sturges/Kirk Douglas/VistaVision twin-bill of Gunfight At The O.K. Corral (1957) and Last Train From Gun Hill (1959). I could go on and on.
UPDATE: I’m compiling and sorting all your requests and will post them Christmas day.
Posted in 1959, Audie Murphy, United Artists on October 31, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Another Audie Murphy Western coming to DVD is always good news. In January, Cast A Long Shadow (1959) will arrive from Galam (Shout Factory’s parent company). It was directed by Thomas Carr and co-stars Terry Moore, John Dehner, James Best and Denver Pyle.
ClassicFlix lists it as widescreen. More info here.
Posted in 1959, Delmer Daves, DVD reviews, releases, TV, etc., Gary Cooper, Warner Bros. on September 26, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Directed by Delmer Daves
Produced by Martin Jurow and Richard Shepherd
Screenplay by Wendell Mayes and Halsted Welles
From the novel by Dorothy M. Johnson
Director of photography: Ted McCord, ASC
Music by Max Steiner
Song: “The Hanging Tree” — Lyrics by Mack David, Music by Jerry Livingston,
Vocal by Marty Robbins
Film Editor: Owen Marks
CAST: Gary Cooper (Dr. Joseph Frail), Maria Schell (Elizabeth Mahler), Karl Malden (Frenchy), Ben Piazza (Rune), George C. Scott (Grubb), Karl Swenson (Mr. Flaunce), Virginia Gregg (Mrs. Flaunce), John Dierkes (Society Red).
__________
All through college (1982-87), I worked in video stores. One of the films we were constantly asked for was The Hanging Tree (1959). When it finally showed up on VHS, everyone agreed that it was ratty-looking — but we were so excited to see it we didn’t care. As time went on and VHS passed the torch to DVD, The Hanging Tree started showing up on Want Lists all over again. You’d hear there were rights problems, and the material was in bad shape — along with the promise that sorting it out was a priority.
It took a while, but Warner Archive has come through with a nice-looking widescreen transfer that does justice to this worthy film (even if it’s more a sprucing-up than a true restoration). The Technicolor camerawork is well represented in both the interior and exterior scenes, with occasional variances in contrast the only complaint. Grain and a blemish here and there are welcome reminders that this is a film.
From its setting in the Montana gold camp of Skull Creek to its troubled, injured or downright degenerate cast of characters, there’s no other Western like The Hanging Tree. And that makes it a real treat waiting to be discovered or revisited.
By the late 50s, Gary Cooper had matured, much like Randolph Scott, to become the perfect Western lead. His Doc Frail is one of his most complex roles, a physician as handy with a pistol as he is with a scalpel who rides into Skull Creek hoping to escape a troubled past.
Maria Cooper, Gary’s daughter (in a New York Post interview): “He was very interested in this particular character because he was able to portray many facets. He was horrible, controlling and brutish yet he had this tremendously kind, mothering sense of caring for people. It’s not your simple black-and-white hero and it’s not your typical Western.”
Frail becomes involved with a young sluice-robber Rune (Ben Piazza) and an injured immigrant Elizabeth (Maria Schell), and rumors start to spread around the camp about his dark past and relationships with his houseguests. Frail’s secret, a “glory hole” gold strike and mob hysteria all come together for a fiery, violent climax.
Delmer Daves made some outstanding Westerns in the Fifties, with 3:10 To Yuma (1957) and The Hanging Tree maybe the best (bet that’s gonna launch a thread). Both use terrific performances from their leads to create a real sense of unease. In Yuma, we’re somehow charmed by Glenn Ford’s slimy villain, while here we don’t know what to make of Cooper’s compassion for his patients and his conflicting violent side.
Karl Malden as the dirtbag prospector Frenchy and Ben Piazza as Rune are excellent. (Incidentally, Malden directed some scenes when Daves became ill.) George C. Scott makes his debut as Grubb, a drunken fire-and-brimestone preacher. Maria Schell is wonderful and completely believable as the beautiful, hard-working Elizabeth. Though this is Cooper’s film from its fade-in to fade-out, Schell deserves credit for much of its success — and it’s no wonder this is a Western women seem to really respond to. (Those video store requests I mentioned often came from women.)
Daves and Cooper on location.
Ted McCord was a master at outdoor cinematography (The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre), and he works wonders with the Washington locations (doubling as Montana). Daves is often criticized for his fondness for crane shots, but they work well here — sometimes going from sweeping mountains vistas to tighter shots of the scruffy tent city without a cut. The early scenes, with Cooper looking down on the makeshift town, are really effective. Max Steiner provides a score that complements the more melodramatic scenes without pushing them over the top. And Marty Robbins’ title song provides the perfect punctuation in the final scene (the song has been added to the CD of his classic album Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs).
The Hanging Tree is a key Western of the 50s, one that’s been out of circulation far too long. This DVD, which adds a trailer as a bonus feature, is further proof of the real value of the Warner Archive (and similar programs) to collectors like us.
Posted in 1959, 20th Century-Fox, Clayton Moore, DVD reviews, releases, TV, etc., Fred MacMurray, Lippert/Regal, Television, The Lone Ranger on September 18, 2012 | 13 Comments »
Here’s Gloria Talbott, Fred MacMurray and the great John Dierkes in The Oregon Trail (1959), which after much speculation and lots of blog-commenting time, is finally available from the Fox Cinema Archives MOD program. As one of the CinemaScope films Lippert Pictures produced for 20th Century-Fox in the late 50s (The Fly was one, too), it’s something I’m looking forward to.
Though I’m thrilled about this release, which has been officially listed as widescreen, I have a gripe. If what you see at left is indeed what the packaging looks like, I’m disappointed. A quick Google image search turns up better stuff than that — in color, too. Maybe they should reach out to the collector community — namely, us — for access to better material.
Thanks to John Knight for the tip.
On a completely unrelated note: my daughter and I watched a couple episodes of The Lone Ranger last night — one with James H. Griffith and the other with Hank Worden. What a treat.
