Your 50s Westerns Want List.

Don’t know if you’ve been naughty or nice, but one thing is certain: you people sure know your cowboy movies. Going through your responses for this year’s Want List, I was reminded of several films I’d forgotten. Thanks to everyone who played along.

The titles have been grouped by studio, according to their original release — independent productions such as The Hired Gun (1957) are with their distributor (MGM in this case). I’ve indicated the widescreen films (off the top of my head, not researched — sorry, it was really late).

20th Century-Fox
Canadian Pacific (1949)
Caribou Trail (1950)
The Gambler From Natchez (1954)
Pony Soldier (1952)
Sierra Baron (1958, Scope)
The Silver Whip (1953)

Allied Artists/Monogram
Arrow In The Dust (1954)
At Gunpoint (1955, Scope)
Bitter Creek (1954)
Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957, Scope)
Fargo (1952)
Jack Slade (1953)
Kansas Territory (1952)
Oregon Passage (1957, Scope)
The Rawhide Trail (1958)
The Tall Stranger (1957, Scope)
Wild Stallion (1952)

American International
Gunslinger (1956)

Columbia
Ambush At Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Cripple Creek (1952)
Domino Kid (1957)
The Doolins Of Oklahoma (1949)
Face Of A Fugitive (1959)
Fury At Gunsight Pass (1956)
The Gunfighters (1947)
Gunman’s Walk (1958, Scope)
The Hard Man (1958)
Jack McCall, Desperado (1953)
Jesse James Vs. The Daltons (1954)
The Pathfinder (1953)
Reprisal! (1956)
Stage To Tucson (1950)
The Texas Rangers (1951)
The Walking Hills (1949)

MGM
Heaven With A Gun (1969)
The Hired Gun (1957, Scope)

Paramount
The Eagle And The Hawk (1950)
Flaming Feather (1952)
Red Mountain (1951)

Regal (all RegalScope)
Ambush At Cimarron Pass (1958)
Apache Warrior (1957)
Badlands Of Montana (1957)
Copper Sky (1957)
Frontier Gun (1958)
The Quiet Gun (1956)
Ride A Violent Mile (1957)
Showdown At Boot Hill (1958)

Republic
Brimstone (1949)
California Passage (1950)
Dakota Incident (1956)
Hellfire (1949)
Last Stagecoach West (1957, Naturama)
A Man Alone (1955)
Man Or Gun (1958, Naturama)
Ride The Man Down (1953)
The Road To Denver (1955)
Rock Island Trail (1950)
The Savage Horde (1950)
The Showdown (1950)
Stranger At My Door (1956)
Timberjack (1955)
Trail Of Robin Hood (uncut, 1950)
Woman They Almost Lynched (1953)

RKO
The Big Sky (1952)
Blood On The Moon (1948)
Great Day In The Morning (1956, SuperScope)
The Lusty Men (1952)
Run Of The Arrow (1957)
Treasure Of Poncho Villa (1955, SuperScope)

United Artists
Abilene Town (1946)
Beast Of Hollow Mountain (1956, Scope)
Gun Belt (1953)
Ride Out For Revenge (1957)

Universal (-International)
Apache Drums (1951)
Black Horse Canyon (1954)
Bronco Buster (1952)
A Day Of Fury (1956)
Day Of The Bad Man (1958, Scope)
Destry (1954)
Four Guns To The Border (1954)
Incident At Phantom Hill (1966, Scope)
Last Of The Fast Guns (1958, Scope)
The Lone Hand (1953)
The Man From Bitter Ridge (1955)
Man Without A Star (1955)
Money, Women And Guns (1958, Scope)
Rails Into Laramie (1954)
Raw Edge (1956)
Saddle Tramp (1950)
The Saga Of Hemp Brown (1959, Scope)
Showdown At Abilene (1956)
Slim Carter (1957)
The Spoilers (1956)
Stagecoach To Dancer’s Rock (1962)
Star In The Dust (1956)
Walk The Proud Land (1956, Scope)
The Yellow Mountain (1954)

Warner Bros.
The Big Land (1957, Scope)
The Bounty Hunter (1954)
Charge At Feather River (1953)
Drum Beat (1954, Scope)
Shoot-Out At Medicine Bend (1958)
South Of St. Louis (1949)
Sugarfoot (1951)

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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.

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50s Westerns DVD News #90: Johnny Mack Brown.

This is a good week to be a Johnny Mack Brown fan.

Warner Archive is serving up John Mack Brown in King Vidor’s “all-talking” Billy The Kid (1930). This A Western co-stars Wallace Beery and Kay Johnson.

Then there’s Monogram Cowboy Collection Volume 3: Johnny Mack Brown. The set boasts nine Johnny Mack pictures: The Ghost Rider (1943), The Stranger From Pecos (1943), Six Gun Gospel (1943), Outlaws Of Stampede Pass (1943), Range Law (1944), Navajo Trail (1945), Flame Of The West (1945), Shadows On The Range (1946) and Law Of The Panhandle (1950).

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TCM Alert: McCrea In May.

Turner Classic Movies is handing Wednesdays to Joel McCrea all through May. And they’re offering up some really good stuff.

There’s great pictures like Sullivan’s Travels (1941) and Foreign Correspondent (1940), lots of ‘em. And there’s a heavy helping of Westerns, too.

The 50s Westerns scheduled are: Stars In My Crown (1950), which is not really a Western, but that’s OK; The Outriders (1950), which has a great part for James Whitmore; The Tall Stranger (1957), a hard-to-find ‘Scope Louis L’Amour adaptation co-starring Virginia Mayo and Michael Pate; Fort Massacre (1958), with McCrea knocking an Ethan Edwards-type role out of the park; Trooper Hook (1957) which co-stars Barbara Stanwyck; and two of McCrea’s Universal Westerns, Frenchie (1950) and Cattle Drive (1951).

You’ll find the full details here. I can’t think of an actor more deserving of this kind of attention.

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Westward The Women (1951) Location.

Being on the East Coast, I’m thankful that there are people covering where many of these 50s Westerns were shot. Who knows when I’ll get out that way.

Today I came across Joe Maddrey’s post on film locations around Kanab, Utah, including a Western street from Westward The Women (1951). See below.

It’s part of a series — be sure to check out his photos of Ford locations.

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50s Westerns DVD News #85: Westward The Women (1951).

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.

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Let’s film actual buffalo hunting, then make a comic book out of it.

I find it hard to believe that The Last Hunt (1956) was adapted for Dell’s Four-Color series. One of the harshest Westerns of the 1950s — you could make a strong case that it’s one of the best, it’s an odd choice for a comic book.

Watch for a post on this picture soon. (Some of you came through with some great comments when it was first announced.) In the meantime, you’d be wise to pick up a copy for yourself.

By the way, it seems a lot of people were visiting this blog last night. At over 1,500 hits, it’s the busiest day 50 Westerns From The 50s has ever seen. Thanks for stopping by.

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50s Westerns DVD News #72: At Last…

Out today from Warner Archive — Richard Brooks’ The Last Hunt (1956). Coming toward the end of MGM’s Dore Schary period, the picture was reworked to soften things things up a bit. But it’s still chilling at times, especially the buffalo hunting scenes — filmed during the thinning of the herd in South Dakota.

Find out more about it, or buy one, here.

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50s Westerns DVD(R) News #52: Clark Gable

Warner Archive has announced a handful of Clark Gable pictures as their newest DVD-R releases. Two of them are Westerns.

Across The Wide Missouri (1951) is an excellent film from William Wellman. The story goes that after a preview, MGM got a little scissor-happy with it, leaving us with a fast, tough, beautiful 78 minutes. Joining Gable in the top-notch cast are Ricardo Montalban, J. Carrol Naish, Jack Holt and Timothy Carey (uncredited in one of his first films).

Timothy Carey (from a Psychotronic interview): “I was just an extra in Across The Wide Missouri. Gable had a home up there they rented for him. I went up there and said I was working on the picture. They invited me in and gave me tea and crumpets and were very hospitable to me. I started working on the show three days later and he was a little embarrassed that he wined and dined an atmosphere player at his home. I worked on the show, I played a dead man in it; it was a great part! You could only see my back, I was lying in the water. I’ll never forget the director (William Wellman,) he was a great director, a tough director. I had two arrows in my back lying in the water. I couldn’t hold still, it was so cold and my teeth were chattering. The director said, ‘Keep that jerk still, he’s supposed to be dead.’ I had just come from dramatic school in New York. I thought I was a great actor; I’m the only one who did.”

Also on its way is Lone Star (1952) which puts Gable up against Broderick Crawford, with Ava Gardner in the female lead. Directed by Vincent Sherman, it’s not one of Borden Chase’s better scripts.

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50s DVD News #36

Lots of activity on the DVD horizon these days. Man From Del Rio (1956) is coming from the MGM Limited Edition Collection, released through 20th Century Fox’s on-demand program. I’d already covered the announcement of Joel McCrea in the excellent Fort Massacre (1958), part of the same collection. Both titles are available this month.

Columbia’s similar program has a few 50s Westerns on the way, too. Laramie Mountains and The Kid From Broken Gun are both Durango Kid pictures from 1952 starring Charles Starrett. (Broken Gun marked the end of the series.) Also coming is Dana Andrews and Donna Reed in Three Hours To Kill (1954), written by Roy Huggins, who’d written and directed Hangman’s Knot back in 1952.

Add these to the Warner Archive titles from this week, and things are certainly looking up.

 

 

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