As part of an all-day tribute to James Garner on Monday, July 28 (at 8AM ET), TCM is running a hard-to-find Randolph Scott Western, Shoot-Out At Medicine Bend (1957). Directed by Richard Bare, it stands as Garner’s only 50s Western — and a rather oddball entry in Scott’s final decade as a Western star. It’s also noteworthy as one of Angie Dickinson’s first films. (They’re not listing this as being letterboxed, but we’ll manage.)
Warner Archive, what’s holding this one up?
Not the best movie on the planet, but is there a better way to start the day than with two of my favourite guys?
Well put. It’s been ages since I’ve seen this thing, and I don’t remember liking it much. But I’m so stoked for the opportunity to see it again and see how much better it is than I remember.
I was glad to finally catch up with this just a few years ago–on the Western channel. For a Randolph Scott completist like me, these things are important!
And that said, it’s relatively weak though enjoyable enough. But I think we all know what it most has against it–by this point, the Ranown cycle was underway. “Seventh Cavalry” (Joseph H. Lewis and made for Scott/Brown) was already made by the time “Seven Men from Now” came out–anyway, it’s pretty good (saw it again recently) if not on a level of earlier “A Lawless Street” that Lewis made with Scott. But by the time of “Medicine Bend” not only had “Seven Men” come out, but “The Tall T” had at least been made, and Scott plainly knew he was on a trail with Budd Boetticher he hadn’t ridden before. Richard L. Bare was competent but not inspired and doesn’t inspire Scott, who is capable but no more, nor is the script in any way remarkable. I must say that Garner was very good in the film, and interestingly, I just caught up with a “Cheyenne” episode directed by Bare in which Garner is also a second lead (there to Clint Walker). It was “The Last Stagecoach West.” I recorded this just after Garner died and was interested to see it because he’s billed as “Bret” (a year before MAVERICK)
but it turns out it’s not that character–he plays a sympathetic minister who winds up in a romance with Barbara Lawrence, an actress I’m always happy to see.
And I don’t mean to jump on Richard L. Bare for not being Budd Boetticher. As I’m recalling (I watched all of MAVERICK within the space of about a year a few years back), I generally liked Bare’s many MAVERICK episodes, so he seems fine in his niche–a good director for a TV series like that one.
Well, just to finish up, the last of three Randolph Scott Westerns made in the course of the Ranown cycle that are not Ranown (and so more like Scott’s more pedestrian earlier Westerns) is “Westbound”–even though it’s directed by Budd Boetticher too. But like “Medicine Bend” Scott owed this to Warner Bros. and after “Decision at Sundown” and “Buchanan Rides Alone” Budd felt better to direct Scott even if he didn’t have any personal feeling for the project. Meantime, of course, “Ride Lonesome” and “Comanche Station” were coming along right after that and it’s just a world of difference because it’s clear that at this point everyone was now conscious of this as a cycle and it’s treated that way very deliberately from Burt Kennedy’s original scripts on. It’s perhaps poetically appropriate that these last two are the only ones that actually say “Ranown” in the opening credits.
All kind of a rambling way of saying don’t miss “Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend” even if you regret that TCM did NOT include “Hour of the Gun” in this Garner tribute.
I meant to say something else about Randolph Scott. We talk a lot here, and generally agree, that he mostly gets better and better and then hits his peak in the Ranowns. But John Knight has also pointed out more than once that in the much earlier “Western Union” (1941, Fritz Lang), Scott is great.
John is right about that. I just saw it again recently–it’s one of the best prewar Westerns, beautifully realized in every way, and Scott is conspicuously outstanding, a very affecting hero (and a tragic one as it turns out). Lang seems to have taken a real interest him as well as in the character he plays, and so Scott taps some of the reserves of soulfulness and vulnerability that make him so sublime in the Ranowns.
So he had it to give even as a much younger man.
You’re so right here, Blake. I love all of Lang’s Westerns, and Western Union in particular. Everything seems just right, from Young to the Technicolor and especially Scott. And you can see a bit of the Ranown Scott here. The end packs quite a wallop and always stays with me for a day or two.
Totally unrelated: I watched it the night before Jennifer and I flew to Las Vegas to get married.
In your earlier comment, I like the way you knocked Shoot-Out At Medicine Bend for a bit, then admitted that you pretty much love it anyway. That pretty much sums up my take on Scott’s Westerns. Some are great, some are good, some are OK and some ain’t so hot — and I love each and every one of them.
What I liked about SHOOT-OUT AT MEDICINE BEND, as I think I described it to Toby in an email, is that it feels like a WB TV Western episode. That’s always a good thing, in my opinion (grin). I suppose that “feel” shouldn’t be too surprising given that Richard L. Bare made so many Warner Bros. TV episodes, including, as Blake mentions, MAVERICK.
Bare is going to be 101 soon, BTW! He attended a program at the Egyptian Theatre when he was 99, very spry. (I wasn’t there but have seen video from it.)
Next time I watch it I’ll be paying more attention to Gordon Jones, who I’m become more familiar with in the last couple years thanks to “B” movies by directors such as Lew Landers.
I’m glad Blake mentioned that CHEYENNE episode. My husband just discovered MAVERICK’s Samantha Crawford character in a CHEYENNE episode! I have the first two seasons on DVD and need to start digging into the show more. I really like Clint Walker but to this point have only seen a few episodes.
Best wishes,
Laura
Wasn’t the CHEYENNE episode actually entitled ‘The Last Train West’? If so, it was one of a number of episodes from the first season of CHEYENNE that were released to cinemas in the UK as supporting features. I think that Garner was in another of them. ‘The Mountain Fortress’ as a cavalry officer.
You are right, David–“The Last Train West.” Don’t know how I could have written that title wrong. Practically all of the show takes place on a train. Thanks for that correction.
Meant to add a note anyway that Laura has it because it was the closing episode of Season 1.
There was indeed a 1957 Republic Western entitled “The Last Stagecoach West”, Blake, starring Jim Davis, but it had nothing to do with Clint Walker. Possibly, that was the one you confused it with.
I don’t know if this is correct but I think I read somewhere that
“Medicine Bend” was actually made in 1955 but held back from release
because Scott had fallen off in the popularity ratings.
(Scott was one of Hollywood’s top 10 moneymakers for 4 years from
1950-53)
Also interestingly imdb has the ratio of the film being 2.35 widescreen.
If when the Warner archive DVD appears it’s in that format,that makes
it an altogether more attractive proposition.
Film was shot by Carl Guthrie which is also a plus factor.
When Warners saw the Boetticher Scotts cleaning up for arch rival
Columbia they “conveniently” found an old contract showing Scott
owed them another picture.
Blake,thanks for the mention of my championing Scott’s great performance
in WESTERN UNION-I Do hope you saw my (as an 18 year old) impression
of MAN OF THE WEST on the previous thread.
Vintage Randy………
Saw a couple of very rare Scotts the other day which I thought that
I’d report on here.
COAST GUARD (1939) directed by Edward Ludwig is a total cracker!
A very fast moving Columbia programmer with excellent special effects
and production values.
Randy and Ralph Bellamy both vie for the attention of lovely Frances Dee
(sensational!) Randy is an unreliable serial womanizer and Bellamy is
solid and reliable.Guess who Frances finally chooses……that’s women
for you! 🙂
Scott is not to likable in this film and it hints at the darker characters
that he would play later in his career.
The flying sequences and sea rescue stuff is sensational.
AND SUDDEN DEATH (1935) Charles Barton.
An early example of a major studio showing some degree of civic
responsibility in this very interesting film which campaigns for safer
roads.At times it’s like a government information film, but that does not
stop it being a highly entertaining picture.
Scott is his solid self as chief of the traffic cops who falls for a socialite
speed freak (Frances Drake…equally sensational!)
Tragedy follows in this very interesting and compelling film.
My “dealer” (supplier) has also dug out a couple of equally rare
Scott pictures also directed by Charles Barton ROCKY MOUNTAIN
MYSTERY and WAGON WHEELS (with the sensational Gail Patrick)
The two Charles’s Barton and Lamont generally get ignored because
they directed the lion’s share of the hugely successful Abbott &
Costello pictures. Apart from the A & C stuff these two guys made some
very interesting films.
The very alluring Frances Dee…………..
I don’t know but I’ve always thought of Frances Dee as having a sort
of “wholesome” image and I must admit that I have not seen too
many of her films. (I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and FOUR FACES
WEST being highlights.)
Watching COAST GUARD I was amazed just how sexy this woman is
and her character had a real contemporary vibe about her.
My erstwhile supplier a huge pre-code addict directed me towards
BLOOD MONEY (1933)
Pre-code is genre that I have generally avoided but not on purpose,
I’m painfully aware that I should know lots more about it.
Anyway BLOOD MONEY has Frances play this “airhead” socialite
with,let us say,a very “subversive” taste in men.
I found her performance in this film to be a revelation to say the least.
Leading man George Bancroft to me is very much an acquired taste,
although he was a huge star at the time.
A very unusual item well worth tracking down,it almost comes across as
what it would have been like to have Hitchcock direct a gangster film!
Whoops!
I forgot to mention that the impressive BLOOD MONEY was directed
by Rowland Brown. Mr.Brown had few credits as a director,lots more
as a writer. He is best known for HELL’S HIGHWAY a very harrowing
chain gang picture which features Richard Dix at his very best,
in his prime.
As I’m off-line for a few days I’m really going to town today!
As Robert Young has already been mentioned I thought that I’d bring
everyone’s attention to Laura’s wonderful review of George Sherman’s
excellent RELENTLESS.
This is a film that gets scant attention so I was thrilled to read Laura’s
review.Not to put Robert Young down,who I feel is excellent in the film,
but I have always felt that here was a role tailor made for Joel McCrea.
Also Laura has reviewed the very fine crime thriller PERSONS IN
HIDING I do hope that y’all get to read it.
The DVD was supplied from the “John Knight Archives” 🙂
Now back to Ludditesville………..
I see that Blake’s name now appears in green here which usually
means a link to a web site. When I click on Blake’s name it reads
“not available”
The thought of Blake having his own blog is inspiring to say the least.
is this just wishful thinking or is there in fact a “work in progress”
Thanks for saying that, John. No, I don’t have a website. It’s something that I do think about sometimes. If I ever do, will let folks here know.
Now, I want to get over and read Laura’s review of “Relentless”–a Sherman Western I’m very keen to see again.
It’s always such a pleasure to find an entry about Randolph Scott with discussion to follow.
“Medicine Bend” is my least favourite Scott western but, as Toby says, ANY Scott western is worth seeing and so many others are so much more than that. As John K says, he was in the US Box Office Top Ten 1950-53 which is quite an achievement when it is based entirely on the popularity of his westerns. The sort of great films that put him there obviously pre-date the wonderful Ranown cycle by a good number of years but I sometimes think the beauty of those later entries have somewhat overshadowed what went before.
I absolutely love “ABILENE TOWN”, “TRAIL STREET”, “CORONER CREEK”, “HANGMAN’S KNOT”, “MAN IN THE SADDLE” and “A LAWLESS STREET” plus most of the others 1946-1960. And I am so glad that mention has been made of his wonderful earlier performance in “WESTERN UNION”.Possibly the one weak spot for me in that classic was Robert Young’s character but this was more than made up for by Scott.
Elsewhere, I really like Robert Young though. Over at Laura’s blog she has written a great review of “RELENTLESS” starring Young. I saw this only once many years ago but have always remembered it as a fine western. I now have a terrific print of the film (not yet watched) to catch up with. The review just reminds me to “get on with it, Jerry!”.
John and Jerry, glad to know you are both familiar with RELENTLESS. A lot of really good stuff in the movie although as I noted in my review, I had trouble with the animal themes — but that’s more “me” than something inherently wrong with the movie. I thought Young a surprisingly effective Western hero.
I’ve got WESTERN UNION on a VHS tape recorded from Fox Movie Ch., sounds like I should pull it out. Like Robert Young and am trying to catch up with more Lang films. MAN HUNT is in my “watch” stack and I got M in the Criterion sale.
John, I pulled out my COAST GUARD DVD-R last night! Also wanted to mention I recorded BLOOD MONEY from Fox quite a while back but have never seen it, though I’m very interested in pre-Codes, so I appreciated your review!
Thanks to all for the various comments and recommendations!
Best wishes,
Laura
P.S. John, I can totally see Joel McCrea starring in RELENTLESS.
Laura
You can’t talk about Scott being good in WESTERN UNION without mentioning DESPERADOES from 1943. I used to think Scott was really only good when he got old and “grew into the Western” but after seeing him in these and others I feel he was just really good in these early ’40’s westerns too. In DESPERADOES Scott not only pairs up with a young Glenn Ford but the cast includes my always favorite grumpy guy, Edgar Buchanan.. Throw in Claire Trevor & Evelyn Keyes and add the fact the movie’s in COLOR, what more could you ask. All this spells Western Classic to me.
By the way, when Encore ran SHOOT OUT AT MED. BEND it was in full screen format, for Encore that was no surprise. But when TCM ran it even more recently than the Encore showing TCM also showed it in full screen format. When I read the opening credits it doesn’t mention anything about “Warnerscope” or widescreen type descriptions. So maybe this movie actually was a full screen movie. And with Laura’s comments in mind, this is just one more factor that keeps this movie in TV program mode.
Shoot Out at Medicine Bend came out in 1957 and by then all films were in widescreen — IMDB has it at 2:35:1 though no doubt that’s incorrect (hey, it’s the IMDB so no surprise there) as the TCM webpage lists it as 1:85, which makes a lot more sense. That would explain the lack of “Warnerscope.” No doubt it was shot flat and matted at 1:85 in theaters back in 1957, but as with many films shot flat then, the TV masters were open matte for those good old square TV screens. I’m guessing that Shout Out at Medicine Bend is one of many 1950s westerns desperately in need of remastering from original elements so they can be seen in their original widescreen aspect ratio. Here’s an interesting piece about the movie at the TCM page: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/89985/Shoot-Out-at-Medicine-Bend/articles.html. P.S. I posted to the WAC facebook page asking if they plan to remaster and release. 🙂
I ran ‘Shootout at Medicine Bend’ around 53 years ago on a Sunday show during my early projectionist days. The frame area on the film was 1.37:1 and we projected it at 1.66:1. It was not in any type of ‘Scope format.
Thanks for nailing that down for us, David. I should’ve known to ask you!
I love SHOOTOUT AT MEDICINE BEND and consider it one of Scott’s best films. I’ve had a good copy for a few years and have watched it 4-5 times. It’s funny, engaging, plenty of action, and the comparisons between Garner and Scott are fantastic. Garner is supposed to be the ex-football player but the scene of them walking into the puritan camp with only loincloths shows Randy to be built like a linebacker and a somewhat pasty James Garner! Randy’s son said that he did pushups, situps and pullups 2-3 days a week and it really shows. Throw in Angie Dickinson before she goes blonde, the ultra beautiful Dani Crayne and the actor who likes like SNL’s Phil Hartman (Myron Healey) and you have a helluva good movie. If we can get a studio release of this one, FIGHTING MAN OF THE PLAINS in COLOR, (and some footage of Palin waterboarding Barack) – I will smile and shut up for awhile!
“(and some footage of Palin water boarding Barack…”
Do you really think something like that is appropriate here, Tom?
I look for blogs to escape that sort of thing and thought this was one.
Even in jest…….
I agree with Blake. Let’s stick to Scott!
I do agree though about wishing for a colour print of FIGHTING MAN OF THE PLAINS. I thought I had read a while ago that TCM had a colour print but have heard no further.
Blake – The same values that make me love our Westerns and our country drive me to be very concerned about what’s happening to our country around us. You’re probably right that I should leave that out of this blog, but I am very, very scared about the future of our country and even the best Scott or Wayne movie doesn’t blot out the horrific things happening around us and the future for our children.
Tom, I understand 100%. My daughter’s 13 and I wonder what we’ll be handing over to her generation someday.
With things seeming so grim, and it being in your face everywhere you turn, I’ve tried to keep this blog a bit of an oasis. Just cowboy movies. That’s it.
Everywhere you go these days, things are so divided. This blog ain’t gonna be like that.
So, as the Sheriff of Blog City, here’s a reminder: a discussion of Ronald Reagan’s performance — in the movie house, not the White House — is as political as we get around here.
I’m with ya 100% on wanting Fighting Man Of The Plains in color.
I am about to make your day(s). I did ask WAC if they were planning on remastering and releasing Shootout at Medicine Bend and here’s their reply: “Yes, our new widescreen master is nearing completion as of this writing.”
That’s terrific news. Thanks for passing it along — and for bugging WA about it in the first place.
Yep! I’ve just been to the Warner Archive Facebook page and seen
their reply to the irrepressible Paula! 🙂
Glenn Ford fans are about to have their bank balances hit hard
‘cos The Archive have just released six much sought after/requested
titles.TORPEDO RUN in the “correct” ratio….WOW!
I have avoided watching the ghastly version that appears on UK TV
and now I’m really glad I did.
At any rate Ford and Ernest Borgnine going head-to-head is a combo
that’s hard to best.
You have to hand it to the cats at Warner Archive;they really are the
“original and best” when it comes to the MOD thing; they leave all the
others trailing behind in the dust!
Speaking of Paula…it was she who labelled me with the term
“hardcore Luddite”…..I resemble that remark.
People,friends are always asking me why I don’t have things like
computers and mobile phones….my standard reply these days…….
“blame it on the Archive;man!”
Should get my copies of OREGON PASSAGE and GUNSMOKE IN
TUCSON this weekend so I will report here on p.q. ratios and other
stuff.
John, if you don’t have a computer (or a mobile phone) how do you get on the Internet in order to find out what DVDs are available and how do you order them online and post comments on this blog? Maybe you access the Internet in your local library. I don’t have a mobile phone myself because I have no use for one and I think that people who walk along the street with one pressed to the side of their head while telling everyone within earshot their private business look pretty silly, although they probably think they look pretty clever. I do have a landline phone so that I can be on the Internet, but I only use it about once a year, as I don’t call anyone and no one calls me.
I have just had a look at a website TIMEOUT LONDON. They have compiled a list of what they consider are the 50 best westerns of all time. To say that the list is controversial is an understatement, and it has been panned by most bloggers to their site. I suggest if anyone on this blog hasn’t seen it, have a look – it will certainly raise eyebrows.
Ron,I think we covered this worthless list way back.
To me it just shows the decline in British Journalism generally or as
I like to call it the “Ant and Dec-line of England” (esoteric) generally.
When I grew up there were brilliant young journalists writing about
film like Christopher Wicking and Raymond Durgnat.
I remember not too far back reading a greatest Westerns of all time
list in one of those Godawful “trendy” film magazines that seemed to
appear every week. Anyway this cretin seemed to think that PAT GARRETT
AND BILLY THE KID was the greatest Western ever made because Sam
was stoned out of his mind on cocaine when he made it.
When it comes to creative writing about film in England,at least,
the “inmates” have really taken over!
I’m with you all the way John. The people who compiled the Timeout list had McCabe and Mrs Miller as the best western of all time. Ludicrous! As for the other westerns they included spaghetti, comedy and tv westerns plus movies like Dead Man.By the way John, you’re a lucky fella living in the Isle of Wight. I spent a holiday there in Old Shanklin near the Chime .A lovely island.
Excellent news on Shoot Out coming, and in widescreen yet. Guess that settles that. I checked movie posters of this the other day and none except for one foreign language poster mentioned Warnerscope.
No cell phone for me either. Never have had one. Never owned a computer till 2012. If you’ve seen the phones from the 1960’s TV shows like Dick Van Dyke Show, that’s the kind of phones I still use today. I use both a dialing version and a touch tone version for use when you have to punch buttons with some businesses on the phone. The dialing phone is known as a Western Electric 500 and the touch tone is a 2500, like this one:
I think the handle on these phones is the perfect fit for the human hand and for the mouth and ear. I never have to wonder where to talk as I do whenever I use someone’s cell phone. I hate just talking into the air without a receiver in front of my pie hole. And those folks that walk around with those ear buds who seem to be talking to themselves (loudly too) look even crazier.
I haven’t been to that Timeout website, but I can just imagine from your warnings that most of the list are probably films from the late ’60’s and up to the present. These are the very films I always avoid.
David,I of course use Internet cafes and the library.
Oddly enough the internet cafe I use here on the Isle Of Wight tops
anything that I have ever found in London!
My favorite is the community library in the picture postcard village
of Bembridge. They have lovely widescreen monitors and are super-
fast. Only problem is when I post to this site from there most of the
time my comments do not get through.it’s OK everywhere else!
I used to dream of seeing b/w movies in color even before colorization was invented. But I’m not interested in another fruitless argument either, neither side ever convinces the other. Personally speaking, I love my color versions of Fighting Kentuckian, Dark Command & the newly colorized version of Angel & The Badman. But b/w lovers feel free to continue to watch your b/w, I’m not here to change anyone’s mind, just speak my own.
By the way, there is a color version of Fighting Man of The Plains out there. It’s not excellent looking, in fact it’s kind of dark, but it is in color. If the color master of this movie is no longer available colorization might be the answer for a good version to be available. Same story with the 6 Roy Rogers missing color movies. I’ve talked about this before and listed them. To each his own that’s my motto when it comes to this subject.
More Randy and Ratios………….
Being as Warner Archive seem to like to release DVDs in batches
featuring certain stars (please refer to the aforementioned Glenn Ford
releases) perhaps when SHOOTOUT AT MEDICINE BEND hits the
streets there will be other “goodies” too.
SUGARFOOT has been held up due to “clearance” issues so hopefully
Warners have sorted that out by now.
A re-issue of TALL MAN RIDING but this time in 1.66 widescreen would
be real nice too! The “remastered” version of THE BOUNTY HUNTER
has been a long time coming,and I for one can certainly live without it
being in 3D. (plus the fact I don’t have a 3D TV!)
Furthermore there is RAGE AT DAWN an old RKO flick that hopefully
Warners own. This film has fallen into “P.D.Hell” but a remastered
version in 1.85 widescreen-what reader of this blog would not go for
that.
RAGE AT DAWN is not the best of Randy’s Fifties Westerns but
WOW! what a cast and lovely Mala Powers to boot!
In fact I think I am going to do a “Paula” and find out if Warners
own this film on their Facebook page!
RAGE AT DAWN is a real oddity as it’s the only Fifties Scott Western
not released by either Warners or Columbia. Scott’s old pal Nat Holt
called in a favor during the last gasp days of RKO.
Holt knew that the days of the traditional Western that he loved
to make were numbered so he moved to TV and hit gold with the hit
series TALES OF WELLS FARGO.That show also starred Dale
Robertson and Holt had helped launch his career with the Scott
Westerns FIGHTING MAN OF THE PLAINS and CARIBOO TRAIL.
A color version of the former is highly unlikely;when I mentioned
a long time ago on this blog that the only way we would see a color
version was for someone to colorize it;that nearly started WW3!
I’m not gonna go there again in fact the thread got so intense,I believe
Toby had to close the darn thing down!
After RAGE AT DAWN and TEXAS LADY for RKO Holt stuck mainly
to TV and was very successful. He did surface in the early Sixties
with the appealing CATTLE KING but by that time the film seemed very
old fashioned,but that’s why I like it so much.
The Ladd Western GUNS OF THE TIMBERLAND is another attempt to
give us an old time traditional Western and again for that reason I
find the film a really good watch.
Actually there are quiet a few interesting old RKO Westerns now owned
by Warner Archive which should see the light of day at some point.
I Do hope that RAGE AT DAWN is among the following RKO goodies:
MONTANA BELLE,DEVIL’S CANYON,TENSION AT TABLE ROCK,
GREAT DAY IN THE MORNING and TREASURE OF PANCHO VILLA.
Rage At Dawn is evidently in the public domain. There’s a pretty nice DVD of it out there, widescreen from a 16mm Technicolor print.
I like that film a lot.
Toby,
There are so many versions of RAGE AT DAWN out there,but I
never knew that a widescreen version existed. Could you possibly
provide a link?
Another reason for wanting Warners to hurry up with THE BOUNTY
HUNTER is that I note from imdb that it was made in 1.75 widescreen.
The Spanish DVD of a few years back and the version that occasionally
shows up on UK TV are pretty poor.
We are all going to have an entirely different “take” on this film when we
see a remastered widescreen version.
Hmm, I don’t know how my color comment got posted above even before the comment which inspired my comment, but it was meant to be posted below.
At any rate, let’s hope we soon see the official releases of the Scott missing movies.
Speaking of no longer available (Roy Rogers and Scott color movies), I was thinking about this just the other day. I keep looking over the TCM program schedule and they seem to be showing a WHOLE LOT of 1920’s and very early 1930’s movies starring people no longer heard of. First I wonder why they aren’t showing more film noir and western movies from the 1950’s that you never see on TV nowadays instead of these ancient non-interesting (to me anyway) movies from the early 20th century, I mean I’m talking silent and early talkies is what they seem to fill their schedule with. I’d much rather see some of these interesting ’50’s crime dramas/film noirs instead and of course the unseen many westerns that are never shown. How about Rory Calhoun’s “Will James’ Sand” for a never shown movie for example?
The other point is, how is it all these many many 1920’s, 19teens and 1930’s movies still exist for TCM to fill their schedules with but movies from the early ’50’s we’re told are gone forever. How can the color Roy Rogers movies from 1952 be gone but obscure never heard of 1923 movies still exist aplenty? Everytime I look at the TCM schedule filled with these extreme old movies I wonder why aren’t they showing more interesting and relevant movies from the ’50 and even bigger why ’50’s movies are supposed to be gone but 1920 movies that are completely unheard of still exist? It’s frustrating not to be able to see movies you want to see instead of all this ancient obscure stuff.
Good morning, Johnny Guitar – good to hear from you. I just wanted to add that the final 5 Roy Rogers films were all shot in monochrome. The last colour film was “TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD” (1950). After that Republic was forced to cut back on costs and that meant colour. At least the Rogers films maintained their 67min. running times. From 1952 the Rex Allen and Rocky Lane films for Republic were filmed at a shorter length for cost-cutting.
The final Rogers films kept up quality generally EXCEPT for the addition of the totally ghastly Pinky Lee!!
Right, I knew they didn’t keep making color Roy’s till the end. I listed these before but the 6 missing color Roys are: FAR FRONTIER, GRAND CANYON TRAIL, NIGHT TIME IN NEVADA, EYES OF TX, ON OLD SPANISH TRAIL & APACHE ROSE. Yes, you can find b/w versions but color versions have yet to surface and according to some they have been destroyed. I just still believe that somewhere someone has these in a basement or attic somewhere. (See TCM and you’ll find plenty of 1918 movies to spare, apparently movies from the teens and ’20’s can’t even be stomped out but movies from the 1950’s, we’re supposed to believe, have all deteriorated.) It’s really too bad Roy didn’t take control of his movies the way Hopalong & Autry did.
Good to see Johnny mention SAND (a.k.a. “Will James’ Sand” as Johnny
correctly notes) as it’s one of my “most wanted” titles too!
With the appealing star trio of Mark Stevens,Coleen Gray and Rory
Calhoun this hopefully will appear in the Fox Archives MOD series.
The scenery is supposed to be fantastic in this film-.Durango,Lone
Pine;Big Bear Lake.
It’s directed by the ever reliable Louis King who seemed to like making
these “horsie” pictures.
Another King “Horse Opera” I would very much like to see is THE
LION AND THE HORSE which Warner Archive say they will release
at some point. I am very interested to see this one just to see Steve
Cochran in a “family” type film.
Now a hint to our gracious host or putting Toby “on the spot” time
on August 10 one of my all time favorite Western gals turns 91 the
fabulous Rhonda Fleming.
There are a LOT of people (including me) who love the silents and early talkies and are fans of the people “no longer heard of” so you can expect to keep seeing them on TCM. Weren’t Roy Rogers’ movies cut up for television and the edited original footage then discarded? I saw three of the four restored RR movies at the TCM festival a few years back and the only way they could restore them was scour *European* archives for complete, unedited prints. Anyway, what TCM shows depends on whether they have the rights to show it — they have to license anything that isn’t in the Warner Bros. library and TCM still has to have some kind of deal with the division that maintains their film library, which is why you may see an old print on TCM even when WAC has released a sparkling newly remastered one of that title on DVD.
Rhonda Fleming coming up to 91gulp! I was so in love with her on the silver screen when growing up. Does she still have her own website?
Seems though these ancient unknown, unheard of relics from the teens and ’20’s TCM fills up 90% of it’s schedule with are all mostly creaky melodramas. It’s like watching a soap opera from 1925. OK, you’ll find a handful of ancient movie fans who want to see these, but I can’t believe a majority of TCM’s audience is panting to see the latest melodrama from 1923 or if you really want to go mod then a soap from 1929.
Film noirs, westerns, classic comedies from the 1950’s would seem to me to be much preferred by today’s audience. I’m sure my grandmother if she were alive and anyone over 120 years old would just love these TCM relics, but anyone born in the past 60 years or even 50 years could care less. I’m esp. talking about movies populated by total strangers to 50 and 60 year olds of today, not 20 year olds, but us old people haven’t even heard of these ‘stars’.
TCM runs silents on Sunday night and VERY occasionally at other times. If you actually look at their schedule you will see a wide variety of films — a great mix for everyone. There are times they schedule a whole day of films that are not my cup of tea. Oh no, another Elvis film. I suggest you go to TCM’s page and do a search for the kind of films you’re looking for so you can note when they play. Just remember that some studios’ films are not as well represented because TCM plays mostly films in the Warner Bros. library (WB, MGM before 1948, some RKO, some Monogram, some others) and has to license those from other studios. Anyway, I’m not sure you know who TCM’s fans really are. If you went to the TCM festival, you’d see that silents and early talkies are VERY popular. Well, actually, so is just about everything they show — the festival also screens a wide variety every year.
Oh well, maybe I just picked a bad time to look at TCM schedule, but what I’ve seen for at least the past year was mornings and weekdays are filled with ’20’s and early ’30’s movies and even prime time programming also features more of these same era movies. Yes, of course they do show some movies I really like but it just seems in recent times TCM seems to be concentrating now on ancient relics with unknown actors from the teens, ’20’s and early ’30’s. I wouldn’t mind Bing Crosby movies from the ’30’s, but since they’re either Paramount or Universal I suppose we’ll never see those on TCM, so they just keep playing these totally obscure movies populated with complete unknown “stars”.
Meantime, I’m sure I’m not the only audience member who has tuned out. Apparently TCM doesn’t believe in even trying to gather big audiences. When you look at the numbers CNN gets (both run by same owners) and they also don’t care how few people tune in there either I can understand why TCM continues to play movies the majority of people could care less about. When they get around to good movies from the ’40’s thru the ’50’s that are actually relevant to today’s audience I’ll tune back in. Maybe they ought to put up a little cash and get the rights to movies other than Warner & MGM. Things right now (90% of the time) are unwatchable. Of course, this is just my opinion, you and a few others are thrilled but most people have turned to their DVDs instead. (Lord knows other channels are even worse than TCM.) I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, thank goodness for DVDs and tapes, no longer forced to watch what networks deem you to see.
For the true numbers on how many films TCM shows from each decade, Cliff regularly crunches the numbers at Immortal Ephemera.
http://immortalephemera.com/46313/tcm-tally-2014/
Laura (who loves pre-Codes, which are sellouts at the TCM Festival!)
I did say that I would report on the Warner Archive releases
GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON and OREGON PASSAGE which I received
this morning.
I have only had a cursory look but they both seem like decent transfers
certainly up the the standard of other Allied Artists widescreen Westerns
released by The Archive.
They are both presented in 2.40 widescreen.
I have only seen GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON as a pan & scan and like
Blake I generally refuse to watch films in this format now,unless it’s
something that looks highly unlikely to ever get released.
Some years ago someone sent me an edition (p&s) off USA TV and
it has since surfaced on TV over here in the UK.
I now wish that I had waited but this film has been on my “wants list” for
years. I remember when it was originally released in the UK it was the
support picture to FLOODS OF FEAR.
I remember all my mates thought GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON was the
better film. I sadly never got to see it at the time and it quickly vanished
from the revival circuit. In those days,unlike now, there was just so much
great stuff to see,you just couldn’t fit them all in.
OREGON PASSAGE is the only fifties Allied Artists Widescreen
Fifties Western that I have never seen so I am really looking forward
to seeing it. From a quick flick-through there does seem to be some
stunning scenery in the film.
The only way I would fault GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON is having weasely
Vaughn Taylor as the heavy. The presence of John Dehner would have
raised this film several notches.
Another film from my youth that I missed at the time was FBI CODE 98.
It was released to cinemas in the UK but played as a TV Movie in
The States. I was delighted when the Warner Archive edition was released
a couple of years back.
Who,I wondered are the FBI going to be up against in this one:
fifth columnists,terrorists,enemy agents,the mob?
When seeing the film the person holding America to ransom is none
other than that pesky Vaughn Taylor…….he certainly gets around!
Thanks for the review of OREGON PASSAGE, John. I will go ahead and order it now. I haven’t seen it in wide screen since I was 12 in 1959.
I hope you enjoy the film David,can you remember what this film played
with at UK cinemas.
Also while you are at it can you remember what SHOWDOWN IN
ABILENE played with? You seem to have extensive records of what
went round with what.
I have been able through research been able to discover what I saw
with what but the Jock Mahoney film still evades me.
Those wonderful far off days when you would often get two great films
in the same program. Then there were all those great pairings on the
revival circuits.
I’ve just had a look through my programme records, John and SHOWDOWN AT ABILENE was released on the Rank circuit in June, 1957, as the support to Universal International’s THE TATTERED DRESS. Allied Artists Westerns were usually released as supports on the ABC circuit, but OREGON PASSAGE appears to have been a lone exception and was run as a feature at the independent cinemas, usually supported by a Bowery Boys comedy. When I went to see it in 1959, it was supported by The Bowery Boys SPOOK CHASERS, a scene in of which had doubled up in stitches. In fact, I thought I would die laughing as my sides were aching so much. It would be interesting to see that now to see if I still regarded it as funny. Although I fear my sense of humour has changed considerably since I was 12.
Wow, I admire the fact you guys took notes on what you saw as kids in the theater. I’m about 10 years younger and hence my childhood movie experience is mainly from TV. I used to watch Bowery Boys movies too (still do, yes they are still funny, esp. those with Louie). I came along too late to have the in theater experience of these westerns and comedies, but at least I did see them on TV in the ’60’s. I remember loving Laurel & Hardy, Blondie & W.C. Fields movies, they were all on normal everyday TV back then. Those really were the good old days of television.
By the way, Vaughn Taylor does seem to pop up in just about everything, my favorite TV sitcom is Hazel and Vaughn pops up there too, at least 2 or 3 different times he also pops up in Perry Mason, Petticoat Junction and westerns. This guy must have had a great agent. Hazel called him “egg head” (he was a professor in this episode) but that seems an apt moniker for him.
ABC circuit (UK) releases of Allied Artists Westerns as supporting features, 1957 to 1959. Main feature listed first.
JULY 1957. The Tommy Steele Story / Last of the Badmen.
NOVEMBER 1957. No Time For Tears / The Badge of Marshal Brennan.
FEBRUARY 1958. The Birthday Present / Dragoon Wells Massacre.
JUNE 1958. The Golden Disc / The Tall Stranger.
JUNE 1958. The Moonraker / Naked in the Sun.
SEPTEMBER 1958. Wonderful Things / Quantrill’s Raiders.
DECEMBER 1958. She Didn’t Say No / Bullwhip.
FEBRUARY 1959. Girls at Sea / Gunsmoke in Tucson.
MARCH 1959. I Was Monty’s Double / Cole Younger – Gunfighter.
MAY 1959. Life in Emergency Ward 10 / The Man From God’s Country.
AUGUST 1959. The Big Circus / King of the Wild Stallions.
We’ve mined an interesting little seam here. David, John and I are all about the same age while Johnny G. is apparently about 10 years younger. For some reason trips to the high street cinemas were a bit of a treat and not that regular so although I did see films like “Law And Order”, “Day Of The Badman”, “Face Of A Fugitive” and “The Tall Stranger” for the first time on the big screen, I saw a lot more on the small screen from 1953 on.
This was the golden era for TV westerns, even in the UK, and when I was 12 there was a plethora of such programs on the TV so I started keeping records. My lists record every episode of a TV western shown in the London area from December 1959 to the end of 1962. I recorded some additional information including a rating (Very Good to Lousy) for 3 whole years. As 1963 began the flow of TV westerns had started to fall considerably plus I had new obsessions (music, beer, girls).
Happily, I still have those lists and though teased by my wife for being “a—-y retentive”, it is not me that arrives at the library and is faced with a book that looks interesting (but have I already read it??). Not a problem I have!
David’s fascinating list above brings a question. When I went to see “The Tall Stranger” did I also see “The Golden Disc”? I don’t remember it but nearly 60 years on the memory can play tricks…… I did not start lists of feature films seen until a few years later so there are gaps (my wife will never believe that!!).
If you saw “The Tall Stranger” at an ABC cinema when it was a new release, Jerry, it would have been on with “The Golden Disc”. However, independent cinemas tended to show the Allied Artists Westerns as features, usually supported by another Allied Artists film. For instance, after it’s initial ABC release as the support to “The Birthday Present”, “Dragoon Wells Massacre” was shown everywhere else as a main feature supported by John Payne and Mona Freeman in the Korean war drama “Hold Back The Night”.
It raises questions in the memory certainly, David!! We were living in West London in 1958 so I assume it would have been at an ABC in Ealing that I saw it.
I never saw “Dragoon Wells….” at the cinema but either of those films it was coupled with would be attractive to me now, especially “Hold Back The Night” as I have still not seen it. From that “golden” period of John Payne’s mid-50s films.
Thanks for the information.
David is certainly a mine of information on what is now movie memorabilia. John and Jerry too have kept a lot of information. I wish that I had been such a meticulous collector in my youth. I do possess some of the the western film and tv annuals that have been mentioned but whether I have the full set, I don’t know. I also still possess a lot of the western comics that were popular at the time. We didn’t have an ABC picture house in my town. It was mostly independants, though we did have a Gaumont theatre. Alas all the cinemas nowadays are out of town and in any event the films today have to be exceptional for me to consider going.
I was born in 1957, there were really only a handful of movies I saw in a theater as a kid. I remember OLIVER, JUNGLE BOOK, HARD DAY’S NIGHT saw it in ’64 when I was 6, & DR. DOOLITTLE, oh & my absolute favorite movie when I was a kid, SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS. I saw that every Christmas for 2 or 3 years in a row when it was shown in theaters. That’s it, every other movie I saw was on TV. As a kid I mainly just watched TV shows, meaning a whole lot of shows of the ’60’s. I was addicted to TV programs of the time.
I had many of those western comics from the 50s too, Ron. Unfortunately, when I was a teenager my dear Mum had a clearout for me (!!) and they went on the bonfire. Obviously thought I would not (should not) need them again. Thankfully, my lists referred to above and my Western Film Annuals survived.
David,many thanks for clearing up what played with SHOWDOWN
AT ABILENE.
Also your wonderful list of Allied Artists support features.
Interesting that QUANTRILL’S RAIDERS supported WONDERFUL
THINGS I know that I saw them both but did not realize that I saw them
together, WONDERFUL THINGS co-starred the highly fanciable
Jackie Lane (aka Jocelyn) one of the most gorgeous Brit actresses ever!
Jerry,your Mum’s “clearout” reminds me of a similar thing that happened
to me. When I left home I did not take with me all my huge collection
of comics,Dell Movie Classics and countless Dell Comics of Warners
Western TV shows-Maverick,Cheyenne and so on. Plus my prized collection
of Famous Monsters magazine.
My dear. Mother thought that I had no further use for them and donated
them to the Women’s Institute jumble sale!
That’s why I used to love to go to David’s late lamented Flickr site and
drool over all those covers of comics that I used to own myself!
Yes, John, Jackie Lane was a very hot property in 1958. I don’t know what became of her, but if she’s still around, she must be in her late 70s by now and unrecognisable from her 1950s self. I have an almost complete set of DELL Movie Classic comics and a complete run of the WDL versions issued in Great Britain between 1954 and 1960 (eighty-eight issues) as well as many DELL Western comics, usually from Warner Bros television series of the time. I hope no one throws my collection away when the time comes for me to kick the bucket.
Hello Jerry and John K, did we all have the same mother?
Most of my comics and imported USA magazines vanished as soon as I left home. Thankfully I had put 2 boxes in the attic, and I found them many years later, so Dell Comics and Famous Monsters magazines are back with me.
To think this all started off with my hero Randolph Scott !
Hello Mike – nice to hear from you. Mothers!!
Mine did manage to miss a few comics (mainly TV westerns etc) but all my Johnny Mack Brown, Wild Bill Elliott etc and a lot of TV comics made a lovely bonfire, I am sure.
We have landed a bit distant from our hero (Scott), haven’t we?
I think all mothers must be working from the same rule book, worldwide. I don’t live in Britain but my Mom when I was about 11 or 12 threw out all my Superman, Batman, Sad Sack and many many others comic books. She was sneaky about it too, she threw them all out while I was at school and it was “trash day” (the day the trash man came & took away the trash). I still remember when I got home I opened up my bedroom closet and the huge piles of comics were all gone! I was horrified and in total shock. When I was in my 20’s and on my own I spent hours going to comic book conventions trying to re-collect all the old ’60’s comics I had. I also had many Dell TV themed comics like Have Gun Will Travel and Dell John Wayne movie theme comics. Comics, it’s a whole topic by itself, so I won’t go on.
Yes, and unfortunately trying to get back all those lost comics that cost peanuts at the time now costs an arm and a leg!!
Famous Monsters, my Aunt who was just a few years older than me, used to collect the Monster magazines and I would get a few too. But we used to have fun looking at all the horror monsters and the great articles on the actors like Boris Karloff. I still have a couple monster mags but most are all gone. 😦
Loose ends…….Jackie Lane.
Jackie (Jocelyn) was born in 1937 which would make her 77 now but
by all accounts she still looks terrific!
She was married at one time to a Spanish prince.
Her last film was A BULLET FOR PRETTY BOY with Fabian.
After her stint in Britflicks she did a few sword and sandal epics in Italy.
In one she co-starred with Howard Duff……certainly never knew he did
one of those things!
The most famous of her Hollywood output was TICKLE ME where she
co-starred with Elvis.
My personal fave of her Hollywood stuff is the engaging INCIDENT AT
PHANTOM HILL. If this film is anything to go by she couldn’t act a lick,but
boy,could she pout! She even out-pouts Bardot!
Baddie Dan Duryea seems to be having the time of his life trying to have
his wicked way with the lovely Jocelyn.
One of the last of the Universal programmer Westerns and well worth
tracking down-brilliant supporting cast too.
Leading man Robert Fuller makes a very engaging Western leading
man in this one.
Loose ends….Hold Back the Night.
Nice to see Alan Dwan’s fine Korean War drama HOLD BACK THE NIGHT
name dropped. This was Payne’s last film with the great director.
Film is hampered by a bit too much rear projection but that can’t detract
from a strong script and solid performances from Payne,Peter Graves
and Chuck Conners. Mona Freeman pops up in a few flashback scenes.
Sadly this film is one of those Allied Artists pictures not owned by
Warner Archive (bane of my life!) so a release on DVD looks highly
unlikely. Oddly enough Warners do own the excellent ARROW IN THE
DUST from the same production team….go figure!
I do have a copy off some German TV channel and I guess that’s as
good as it’s going to get!
HOLD BACK THE NIGHT supported by DRAGOON WELLS MASSACRE
that’s my kinda double bill and what a treat for Mona Freeman fans!
Loose ends……Allied Artists Westerns…..
Interesting looking at David.s list of UK releases how cinema circuits
used an attractive Allied Artists CinemaScope Western to bolster a
weak main feature;THE GOLDEN DISC paired with THE TALL STRANGER
a prime example. Oddly enough the latter was cut heavily in the UK,
in order to get a U certificate. An entire nude bathing scene was cut
which seems ridiculous today! Scene was a long-shot of what looks
like Virginia Mayo’s body double in a body stocking.
As David notes not all Allied Artists Westerns were granted a major
circuit release CANYON RIVER was another film that played only to
the independents. Films like this were a life-line to the small circuits and
independent cinemas. During the Fifties the majors got rather “snooty”
about what they would and would not show. Unbelievably INVASION OF
THE BODY SNATCHERS was another (now classic) Allied Artists picture
denied a major release. Paired with THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN
the independents cleaned up!
Finally watched OREGON PASSAGE last night and I think David will be
very pleased with the result.Crammed with action against some truly
stunning scenery film looks far more expensive than what presumably
it cost to make.Paul Landres obviously had a bigger budget than
normal here and it’s a shame he never progressed to more prestige
projects.Lovers of taut programmer Westerns will certainly not feel
cheated!
Not exactly, John, as it was Dragoon Wells Massacre supported by Hold Back The Night. Incidentally, I haven’t seen Hold Back The Night since 1958, an incredible fifty-six years ago and it’s never been shown on television, while a pan and scan transfer of Dragoon Wells Massacre crops up quite often on Film4. I already have Guns of the Timberland on its way to me from Movies Unlimited and will be ordering Oregon Passage tonight off Oldies.com and as soon as Guns of the Timberland arrives, I shall order The Big Land (or Stampeded as it was when I went to see it). If I ordered two at once, it would be over the limit and I’d have to pay customs import duty on them as well as a Royal Mail handling charge, totalling around £14 ($25) as well as having to go all the way to the sorting office to pick them up and pay the duty. So it’s easier for me to buy them separately. Canyon River was originally released on the Essoldo circuit, supported by The Bowery Boys in Hold That Hypnotist, then the independents ran the programme after Essoldo had finished with it.
Well, I’ve just opened an account with Oldies.com and ordered Oregon Passage. The rest is up to them, the USPS and the Royal Mail.
Interesting regarding CANYON RIVER David,I never considered
Essoldo a major circuit as they had many “flea-pits” among their
cinemas,at least in London. They were a Godsend to movie fans as
many of their cinemas changed programmes three times a week.
The majors were of course Rank/Gaumont and ABC.
In the early to mid Fifties many Columbia action adventure films and
Westerns were no longer wanted by Rank/ABC and were a lifeline to
the independents and of course Essoldo.
Many of these films were the Sam Katzman type programmers so many
of us love.
Rank in particular also turned their noses up at the “Series B Westerns”
and virtually none of these were picked up by their cinemas after 1951.
I do remember seeing THE FORTY NINERS supporting THE SEA CHASE
at the ABC circuit.
Another interesting circuit was Granada a sort of “major independent”
often they had the best cinemas and were among the first to equip
for CinemaScope and magnetic stereo sound.
Interesting that I too have just opened an account with Oldies, David.
I really don’t know what is going on with Amazon USA and Warner Archive,
I thought their recent dispute was settled but none of the recent spate
of Archive releases are on Amazon.
I have just ordered the two Glenn Ford pictures THE WHITE TOWER
and TORPEDO RUN.from Oldies.
Amazon are so hard to communicate with all you get is some computerised
standard reply….if Oldies come up trumps they will get all my business
in future…let’s wait and see.
I think you will be very pleased with the picture quality on GUNS OF
THE TIMBERLAND.
I’d be very interested to know what you saw STAMPEDED (The Big Land)
with,darned if I can remember myself.
Hello David and John K.
Oldies is a good company that has been in operation for many years, but you might find them a touch slow with orders to UK. That’s my past experience, hopefully things have improved.
Well, Mike, I only bought Oregon Passage off them because it was unavailable elsewhere. Perhaps John K can tell us how long it took for his copy to arrive.
John, in 1954, when Rank fell out with Fox over the installation of magnetic stereophonic sound with CinemaScope at all the Rank cinemas (Odeon’s and Gaumont’s) because of the expense, Rank refused to book any more Fox films for the next four years, while Fox allowed Essoldo to first run all their new CinemaScope pictures. Rank even refused to make any of their films in CinemaScope until 1958, opting for Paramount’s rival VistaVision process instead.
The support with Stampeded on its original release in 1957 was Goodbye My Lady, starring Brandon de Wilde.
With regard to movies twinned with westerns in the 1950s , there is one that stands out in particular to me, even now. It was a Universal horror film called Cult of the Cobra. My mum and Dad had taken me to see a western at the Boro, an indie cinema in our town. I cannot recall the western but I certainly recall Cult of the Cobra. There is one scene in the movie when Faith Domergue who can turn into a cobra slithers up a drainpipe and through an open window into a hospital ward to kill one of a number of GIs who have offended their cult. I had nightmares about this particular scene when I had gone to bed. This B movie certainly made an impression on me. It also starred David Janssen, Richard Long and Jack Kelly all later to star in tv series.
I saw Cult of the Cobra for the first time just last year. I remember that scene, David and the rest are all supposed to be army buddies. I like horror movies from the ’50’s, ’40’s and early ’60’s. And Goodbye My Lady is one of my favorite movies because it stars 2 of my favorite people, Phil Harris & Walter Brennan, they make a good combination. The Phil Harris Alice Faye radio Show was one of the truly funny radio programs, laugh out loud funny.
Cult of the Cobra originally went on general release on the Rank circuit in May, 1955, as the support to Passage Home.
WOW! I cannot believe this epic thread is still current even if the Limeys
have kinda made it their own!
David my copies of OREGON PASSAGE and GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON
were ordered by a friend who has an account with Oldies;they seemed
to arrive pretty quickly.
I never knew the beef Rank had with Fox went back to 1954 and I certainly
missed out on Fox films like THE LAST WAGON and THE PROUD ONES
because of this.Sadly there were no Essoldo or Granada cinemas
near where I lived and I was far too young to go trailing all over London
to track them down. I did manage to catch THE PROUD ONES later
in the mid-Sixties.Sadly THE LAST WAGON is the only major Fifties
Western that I have never seen on the big screen.That film was dropped
from the revival circuits in London very quickly. Luckily the wonderful
Granada cinemas still had the magnetic stereo systems intact in
the Sixties and there were still some of those prints in circulation at
that time. It was a great thrill to see films like PRINCE VALIANT,
GARDEN OF EVIL,WHITE FEATHER and HELL AND HIGH WATER
in that format,on huge Granada screens.
.
More Oregon Passage……..(No Spoilers!)
I’ve watched OREGON PASSAGE twice now and enjoyed it even more
the second time! To me it’s a sort of combination of the more thoughtful
Universal “Indian Wars” A Westerns and the fast and furious,more
violent programmers that Bel-Air were making.(FORT YUMA,WAR DRUMS)
Actually I prefer OREGON PASSAGE to many of the more “prestige” titles
like WHITE FEATHER and PILLARS OF THE SKY.
I certainly prefer it to the turgid and unpleasant ARROWHEAD.
What I really like about OREGON PASSAGE is there is no padding,
the whole thing really……moves!
Even more Oregon Passage…..still No Spoilers!!
There’s a typo on the DVD cover description of this film;Toni Gerry
not Lola Albright plays Little Deer in the film…well someone HAD to notice
didn’t they!
This film marked the screen debut of Walter Barnes.
Walter came along a little late (he was a pro football player) to be an
all-time great Fifties Westerns baddie but he had an interesting career
nonetheless.He also had a good bit in WESTBOUND….the guy who Randy
makes eat the pie crammed with salt!
Walter starred in loads of Spaghetti Westerns,Sword and Sandal stuff
and loads of Euro pirate films,including ROBIN HOOD AND THE PIRATES
with Lex Barker and our lovely Jocelyn Lane!
He also pops up in some of those popular German Winnetou films with
Lex Barker and Stewart Granger.
Clint Eastwood used Walter to really good effect in HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER
EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE and BRONCO BILLY
Walter has a place in screen history as the guy who bested Eastwood in
two pictures. In “Loose” he plays Tank Murdoch who Eastwood’s Philo
concedes the final fight to.Walter is even better in the charming and
underrated BRONCO BILLY as the redneck sheriff who makes Eastwood’s
character “eat crow” It’s a beautifully realized scene,one of the most
ironic in any Eastwood movie,and Walter plays it to the hilt.
Had Walter started his film career a little earlier I feel that he would have
been up there with the best of the Fifties Western “Bad Guys”
Laura,if you are out there,I loved your recent review of CAVALRY
SCOUT….now I’m dying to know what you thought of those Jimmy Wakely
Johnny Mack Brown Westerns!.
Thanks, John, so glad you enjoyed the CAVALRY SCOUT review. The movie was good stuff. 🙂 Haven’t had a chance yet to look at any of the Brown or Wakely films as the set just arrived this week!
Very interested to read about OREGON PASSAGE, etc. I will be interested to take a look once those Oldies-exclusive titles are also available from Warner Archive.
Can this epic thread make it to 100? I bet it can!
Best wishes,
Laura
Can you take this, Toby?? Two of your threads reaching 100 in the space of a month!! (Well, this one will, I am certain).
Been away for a few days and unable to add anything but I have been following this thread on my phone with great interest. The more I hear about “OREGON PASSAGE” the more I need to get a copy – and soon!
Spending the day tomorrow with John Brooker, Colin Momber and a bunch watching a batch of good B-westerns together. I know they will be good because John B is choosing them!
The 100-comment post is something I never thought I’d see. So yes, I’m excited. Hope it makes it.
I’m also really eager to see Oregon Passage. Sounds terrific.
Your day tomorrow sounds great. Tell everyone hello for me, and thank John again for letting me feature his Tim Holt interview!
O.T (60s, not 50s): Monte Hellman’s westerns, THE SHOOTING and RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND, are coming as a Blu-Ray boxed set from Criterion in November 2014.
I’m pleased to report that Oregon Passage was posted to me on Thursday, August 7th, 2014, so it’s on its way.
Yet even more Oregon Passage…and still no spoilers!
It’s good to read that there is quiet a bit of interest in this film,and hopefully
sales will be so sensational that it might entice Warner Archive to perhaps
try to obtain the rights to some of the other fine Allied Artists Westerns
that they don’t own: JACK SLADE,RETURN OF JACK SLADE,AT GUNPOINT
and of course Landres’ LAST OF THE BADMEN.
Landres’ TV credits are huge but his features are few and hard to track
down.The CinemaScope compositions Landres and DOP Ellis Carter
achieve on OREGON PASSAGE are breathtaking. As I mentioned before
they make the film look far more expensive than it actually was.
His two vampire movies THE VAMPIRE and RETURN OF DRACULA
(UK Title The Fantastic Disappearing Man) have a certain cult reputation
and the latter title in particular is creepy and effective.
JOHNNY ROCCO a crime thriller with Stephen McNally and Coleen Gray
is high on my wants list. Yet again it’s yet another of those Allied
Artists pictures not owned by Warners.
I really want to see Landres’ two RegalScope Westerns FRONTIER GUN
and THE LONE TEXAN. It would be sensational to see them in the
widescreen process. The latter film stars Grant Williams. On one of the
recent Koch DVDs there is an interview with Jack Arnold where he states
that Williams was one of the finest actors that he ever worked with.
According to Arnold,Williams got a pretty raw deal from Hollywood and
should have had a far better career.
One of the titles Warner Archive do own is Landres’ SON OF A
GUNFIGHTER a Spaghetti Western picked up by MGM. I remember
really liking it at the time and cannot wait to see it again.
Regarding SON OF A GUNFIGHTER I recently posted on Warner Archive’s
Facebook page and I am delighted to report that the film has just been
newly remastered and should appear later this year.
While I was at it I thought that I would ask about the little seen; little
known George Sherman Western MURIETA (aka Joaquin Murrieta-
UK Title Vendetta) This was Sherman’s only venture into Euro
Westerns and it’s a good ‘un. Shot in Spain the film is greatly enhanced
by strong performances by Jeffrey Hunter and Arthur Kennedy.
Warners are still pretty sure they still hold the rights to this one.
I am sure David will correct me if I am wrong but VENDETTA was paired
in the UK with THE BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR.
With all the coverage given to OREGON PASSAGE I thought that I
would take time out to talk about GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON the other
Allied Artists CinemaScope Western just released by Warner Archive.
While I prefer OREGON PASSAGE I still think GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON
is worth a look. David,you were right;this film supported GIRLS AT SEA
not FLOODS OF FEAR as I had stated earlier. It was however released the same week as FLOODS OF FEAR so that’s where the confusion arose.
We are,after all talking about 56 years ago!
GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON is an interesting,somewhat convoluted adult
programmer Western,the sort of thing Universal did so well in the Fifties.
It has a stark opening scene and an astonishing climax where virtually
the entire cast confront each other in a classic stand-off.
Needless to say there are winners and losers when it comes to issues
relating to land disputes and love.
BTW Toby that Tucson “bridge” we have talked about before makes a
“guest appearance” in the film.
Quite right, John. The Brigand of Kandahar and Vendetta were released together on the ABC circuit in July, 1965.
Well, with all the talk of OREGON PASSAGE, I just had to see it. Without giving away the plot, I will say just this. First it was an enjoyable ’50’s western and it was in color. But I wouldn’t break a date to see it again. It had a couple good actors, Ed Platt and the one who played the Indian, I recognized his face. But my main reason for first getting this movie a few years back was that it had Lola Albright, who as a Peter Gunn fan, I just had to see her. I can tell you one thing, the biggest disappointment was that the great scene depicted in the movie posters of this movie did NOT ever happen in the movie itself. Let’s see if I’ll be able to show it to you:
Lola was never in this position, darn it.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I enjoyed also seeing Jon Shepodd in color for once. I just recently completed watching all of the first full Timmy Martin season of Lassie, and in this season Jon Shepodd played his father and Cloris Leachman played the mother. June Lockhart replaced her the following year. Anyway Shepodd was always good in Lassie but always in b/w, it was nice seeing him in color. And I do wish I had his giant head of hair.