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.

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50s Westerns DVD News #122: Wild Stallion (1952).

Paula Vitaris, who runs that great Ben Johnson site (and has been a huge help with my One-Eyed Jacks book), is having a good day. Wild Stallion (1952) is a picture she’s been asking Warner Archive about since the beginning. And they’ve announced it for May release.

I’ve never seen it, but anything with Ben Johnson, Edgar Buchanan, Martha Hyer and Hugh Beaumont in it — from Monogram in Cinecolor — is well worth tracking down. Can’t wait.

Thanks to John Knight for another tip.

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50s Westerns DVD News #117: Canyon Ambush (1952).

Volume 5 of Warner Archive’s Monogram Cowboy Collection offers up a slew of Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton pictures. Canyon Ambush (1952), directed by Lewis Collins and co-starring Phyllis Coates, was the last of Johnny Mack Brown’s films for Monogram. (No Hatton this time).

The three-disc set also includes Brown and Hatton in The Texas Kid (1943), Partners Of The Trail (1944), Law Men (1944), Ghost Guns (1944), Gun Smoke (1945), Frontier Feud (1945), Border Bandits (1946) and Raiders Of The South (1947).

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50s Westerns DVD News #113: Cole Younger, Gunfighter (1958).

Warner Archive has announced another wagonload of Westerns, and there are a few good 50s ones in there.

Cole Younger, Gunfighter (1958) is an Allied Artists CinemaScope concoction with Frank Lovejoy as the famous outlaw. The always capable R.G. Springsteen directed.

Fort Vengeance (1953) is a Cinecolor Canadian Mountie picture from Lesley Selander, starring James Craig and Rita Moreno.

Hiawatha (1953) is an adaptation of the Longfellow poem from Kurt Neumann. John Knight pointed out that this was the last film to bear the Monogram logo.

The Boy From Oklahoma (1954) stars Will Rogers, Jr., Lon Chaney, Wallace Ford and Merv Griffin. Michael Curtiz directed. It was the basis of the Sugarfoot TV series.

The Gun Hawk (1963) isn’t a 50s Western but with Rory Calhoun and Rod Cameron in it, it might as well be. A quick glance at the still below will tell you where some of it was filmed.

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50s Westerns DVD News #111: William “Wild Bill” Elliott And Wayne Morris Double Features.

William “Wild Bill” Elliott is one of my favorite cowboy starts — Hellfire (1949) alone would see to that. The 11 Westerns he made for Monogram (later Allied Artists) in the early 50s have been on our collective Want List for some time. They’re smart, tough, adult takes on your typical B Western. The Longhorn (1951) is currently available from VCI. The just-released Warner Archive double feature, which I hope is the first of a series, includes Fargo (1952) and The Homesteaders (1953). Both were directed by Lewis D. Collins. And both come highly, highly recommended.

More 50s Westerns on today’s Warner Archive roster: a Wayne Morris double bill — The Marksman (1953) and The Fighting Lawman (1953). Also good stuff.

Sorry for a rather slapdash post — had to work this in around meetings (actually, put it together while in one). Thanks to John Knight for the tip.

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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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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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50s Westerns DVD News #68: The Monogram Cowboy Collection, Vol. 2.

Warner Archive has announced the second volume in their Monogram Western series, appropriately titled The Monogram Cowboy Collection, Volume 2. This time, they turn their attention to Whip Wilson (six titles) and Rod Cameron (two pictures).

Rod Cameron stars in Fort Osage (1951) and Wagons West (1952). Monogram Pictures seemed to spend a bit more money on these Cameron Westerns, and both of these are in Cinecolor. Fort Osage was directed by Lesley Selander, a real expert at this sort of thing.

Whip Wilson came along a bit too late to make a big splash in series Westerns, but his pictures are quite good. Directors Thomas Carr and Lewis D. Collins and writer Dan Ullman were also working on the excellent Wild Bil Elliott Monograms around the same time as the films in this set, which are: Canyon Raiders (1951), Stage To Blue River (1951), The Gunman (1952), Night Raiders (1952), Montana Incident (1952) and Wyoming Roundup (1952).

 

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DVD Review: The Longhorn (1951).

Yesterday was William Elliott’s birthday, so it seems about time to finish up a piece I started a while back on The Longhorn (1951), the first of six films “Wild Bill” made for Monogram Pictures (later known as Allied Artists). It’s available on DVD from VCI, packaged with Charles Starrett’s first Western, Stampede (1936), as Cowboy Heroes Volume 1.

Elliott’s a cattle rancher planning to cross-breed his Longhorn cattle with Herefords. Before its 70 minutes are up, The Longhorn treats us to a cattle drive, a double cross, rustlers and Phyllis Coates. Not to mention plenty of gunplay. The plot has a few twists, so I’m keeping this spoiler-free.

For a cheap cowboy picture aimed at the Saturday matinee crowd, The Longhorn has plenty going for it. For starters, it boasts a tight, surprisingly adult script by Dan Ullman. Ullman wrote a slew of 50s Westerns, from programmers like Kansas Pacific (1953) with Sterling Hayden to the excellent Face Of A Fugitive (1959), a favorite of many who frequent this blog. The Longhorn was directed by Lewis D. Collins, who started with silent shorts and passed away a few years after this one. (By the way, Monogram paired Ullman and Collins on the cool Hot Rod in 1950.) Then there’s the cinematography by Ernest Miller, another veteran of the silents, who shot hundreds of B pictures and TV shows before his death in 1957. One of his standout credits is Sam Fuller’s The Steel Helmet (1951).

With so much talent on either side of the camera, how could The Longhorn miss? These six Monogram/Allied Artists pictures were Elliott’s last Westerns, and he went out on a high note — even if it’s a low-budget one.

This series was released in sepia tone, which gave the pictures an extra bit of class. William Elliott always supplied quite a bit of class, too. The VCI DVD of The Longhorn, unfortunately, isn’t presented that way, opting for standard black and white. Can’t say I blame them — sepia tends to monkey with the contrast, but it’d be nice to see how these films looked in theaters. The transfer here is fine, probably from 16mm — clean and complete, if a bit soft. My only real complaint is that VCI didn’t follow this up with the other five Monogram Elliotts. (Are these things PD?) Bitter Creek (1954), which co-stars Beverly Garland, has been on my want list for ages.

In summary, The Longhorn is a good example from the last days of the series Western, showing real toughness and maturity. VCI has given us a nice DVD. And most important, you can never go wrong with Bill Elliott. Recommended.

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50s Westerns DVD News #53: The Longhorn

This is not a new release, just one I didn’t know about — so it might as well be a new release. Last week, I wrote about the terrific B Westerns Wild Bill Elliott made for Monogram and Allied Artists in the early 50s.

Well, I just found out that one of them, The Longhorn (1952), is available from VCI Entertainment. It’s paired with Stampede (1936), Charles Starrett’s first Western — in a set called Cowboy Heroes Volume 1.

Not sure if it’s presented in sepia tone or not, but after I get a copy, I’ll let you know.

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