Directed by Phil Karlson
Starring George Montgomery, Gale Storm, Jerome Courtland, Noah Beery, Jr., William Bishop, John Dehner, John Doucette, Jock O’Mahoney, George Chesebro
Raleigh’s Western Film Preservation Society has been at it since 1981, and their meeting this month features two of my favorites Western stars.
First up is Tim Holt in The Fargo Kid (1940). The second feature is Phil Karlson’s The Texas Rangers (1951), starring George Montgomery, Gale Storm and Noah Beery. It’s the 21st (that’s tomorrow, sorry for the short notice) at 6:45 at North Carolina State University’s McKimmon Center.
Sure wish I could be there.
Film has one of my all time fave lines:
William Bishop’s Sam Bass,,,”hot tub sure is a fine thing…..I take one
ever month, if I need it or not”
Love the way some of you Americans say “ever” instead of every!
THE TEXAS RANGERS has a cast to die for and it’s shot by the great
Ellis Carter…what incredible credits that gentleman had. It seem “ever”
other film I watch these days was shot by Mr.Carter.
;
Boyd Magers describes “THE TEXAS RANGERS” as George’s finest western – and I am inclined to agree with him. He’s at his best.
I totally agree. George was very fluid and commanding in this movie. It’s his best acting and one of the most underrated westerns.
I just caught up with THE TEXAS RANGERS about a year or so ago. I agree it’s the best George Montgomery Western of those I’ve seen–the script follows a familiar if workable line so I believe that the inventiveness, insight and style of director Phil Karlson account for its excellence to a great extent.
Karlson’s earlier THUNDERHOOF, which I also finally saw more recently, is a more individual and truly striking Western–a remarkable B feature. Of course, in the 50s, Karlson also directed the wonderful GUNMAN’S WALK, one of the decade’s outstanding Westerns and one I’m sure most here will know.
I wish Karlson had made more Westerns — he sure had a great feel for them. Blake, you’re right, Gunman’s Walk is one of the genre’s, and the decade’s, best.
O.T. but good news. It looks like the restored ONE-EYED JACKS will be screened this year at the Cannes Film Festival. I didn’t know the rights were now with Universal. One of the comments says Universal will be releasing a Blu-Ray of the restored classic later this year. If ever a major western was in need of restoration, it was ONE-EYED JACKS.
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=18897
I have this George Montgomery on DVDr but it badly needs a proper DVD release ,as do a couple of his other movies ,but if ever that happens is anybody’s guess .
John K I would just like to thank you for tipping me off about Hollywood Scrapheap. I have just received four dvds from them and for free to air products the pq and artistic work on the discs and shell case are very well done. Three of the dvds are of Paramount movies -namely THE SAVAGE, RED MOUNTAIN and HOSTILE GUNS so there is little chance these will get a bone fide release. The other is the Universal film RAILS INTO LARAMIE. All four are in lovely color so I am very pleased with the outcome. Furthermore , I had to wait little over a week for the products to arrive. Thanks again John.
Hi Ron,
Glad that you liked the Hollywood Scrapheap titles.
Their versions of THE BLAZING FOREST and
PASSAGE WEST are major up-grades on the off-air
copies that I had.
I do hope that these guys can release more Republic
titles-they do have a few.
Sadly their versions of the A.C.Lyles Westerns seem to be
4×3-I guess that they are streamed that way.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if some enterprising outfit leased the
Lyles Westerns from Paramount and released them as double bills
in the correct ratio.
I know these Lyles films are no classics and we have discussed this
before many times but they do deserve to get released.
A thread called Crystal Ball Time in the TV Show discussion section at Home Theater Forum seems to suggest five vintage Western or Western-like TV series are coming to home video.
The dance is on with RIDE THE MAN DOWN from Amazon.de. I waited until the final week before it’s scheduled release date to see if the site still says it includes an English soundtrack. It does, I ordered, and the very next day I received an email saying the release had been delayed for another month or so. I suppose by then they’ll change the product description to say it features only a dubbed German soundtrack, as they did recently with BRIMSTONE.
Mike ,I too have RIDE THE MAN DOWN on order .I used to be able to do a search on Filmjuwelen but I am not sure how to now.I received an email from Amazon De but it was in German ,but from what I could make out the delivery date is between the 14th and 31st May 2016.Let’s hope that English is still included ,although not one of their Rod Cameron DVDs has English.
Will CHISUM ever come out on Blu-Ray? My wife wanted me to ask all of you. It’s her favorite western. She started watching Downton Abbey on Blu-Ray and now she’s hooked on Hi-Def.
I believe CHISUM is scheduled for Blu-Ray from Amazon.de in June—if they haven’t cancelled it. But you’ll need an all-region player.
gcwe1, I don’t speak German either, but I use “google translate.” Just copy and paste the message into google translate and translate to English. Same for any of the other languages.
I also ordered THE PLUNDERERS (1948) with Rod Cameron. The Amazon.de website says it has an English track and it’s selling now. If that’s wrong, I’ll raise heck and demand a refund.
Mike ,I didn’t realise there was a 1948 THE PLUNDERERS .I have the Jeff Chandler 1960 version ,but I will wait until you receive your 1948 version from Amazon De before I order one.. I have got refunds in the past from Amazon De when they have stated there is English and it turns out there is not .I normally use Google translate or IMDB when I want to know the title of a movie in a foreign language, but copy and paste is probably better ,but in my case I’d need a few lessons as I am not very good in this computer tech.
Hi Graham,
“THE PLUNDERERS” is a 1948 Republic western starring Rod Cameron and Forrest Tucker and directed by Joe Kane. So, great credentials!
I am REALLY eager to hear whether these German Camerons have an English track. He is badly represented on commercial releases.
Jerry
Jerry and Mike ,I managed to do a complete search on Filmjuwelen.s site and they do have English listed for THE PLUNDERERS .However ,as I mentioned in a previous post some time ago ,I bought THE TALL STRANGER from them and it included mostly English audio except in one scene it was German audio with English subs .
Has anybody seen WHEN THE WEST WAS FUN -A WESTERN REUNION ?I
saw bits of it on U TUBE but it’s pretty dear to buy now .
Jerry, yes I totally agree .Rod Cameron is badly represented and he was so good in westerns .Hopefully another label that includes English on their releases will release some of his movies.
Just to add that the 1948 and 1960 versions of THE PLUNDERERS do not share the same storyline, just the title.
Tom,
According to Blu-Ray.com CHISUM and McQ will be released in the USA
on June 7th. which also happens to be my 70th birthday…yikes!!
Thank you very much Warner Brothers I never knew that you cared.
For my Christmas prezzie I would like RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY and
TOM HORN on Blu Ray…thanks in advance! 🙂
I think I saw Plunderers on Encore Western last year. The color cinematography was pretty good but the switching back and forth from outdoor shots to indoor set shots was a little too much, but I remember it being pretty good overall for a Republic B movie. And Forrest Tucker is great in his early years. I would buy this one if its been remastered well.
Kino Lorber now honing in on the Fox library have just announced
THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING on Blu Ray.
Kino have enough smarts to know there is not one Sci Fi Horror
flick that just won’t fly off the shelves…especially in high def.
As much as I love Terence Fisher….Sci Fi was just not his thing but the
film does have it’s admirers over 50 “likes” on Kino’s Facebook page
and the thing’s only just been announced.
I do wish Kino would hone in on THE DEERSLAYER,THE FIERCEST
HEART and THE CANADIANS before Fox give us horrid 4×3 versions.
Fox continue to trash my childhood they have just announced ON
THE THRESHOLD OF SPACE as a 4×3…a firm fave of mine as a lad.
Don’t these cretins realize that they INVENTED CinemaScope!
Furthermore I no longer know what RegalScope Westerns Fox still own
If there are any RegalScope Horror flicks Fox still own it’s a sure bet Kino
will release them.
,
I was of the impression that Paramount had all the Regalscope movies now. I could be wrong, and maybe Fox retained a few, but I think they went into NTA/Republic somehow and that is now under Paramount.
Olive Films licensed titles from Paramount, including some Regalscope ones. I think all the ones they licensed have been released already.
Hi Texican,
Thanks for the info regarding NTA-Republic.
According to imdb most of the Regal Films were sold to them.
Among the Regal titles that they hold they also own THE DEERSLAYER
which was,sort of,Regalscope “plus” especially as it was filmed in color.
It also was released under the Twentieth Century Fox banner.
Yet another lost gem trapped in Paramount’s vaults,I guess.
imdb also note that the final two RegalScope Westerns FRONTIER GUN
and THE LONE TEXAN are still owned by Fox.
I really want to see those two,which I have never seen,I might add.
Furthermore they were directed by the generally interesting Paul Landres.
THE LONE TEXAN stars Willard Parker who makes his Blu Ray debut
with THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING,at least as a leading man.
Wouldn’t it be ultra-cool if kino Lorber released these two as a double
feature.
I didn’t know that Fox might still have rights to Frontier Gun.
Ride A Violent Mile is another title I’d like to see on DVD, though it is an NTA/Paramount holding and would therefore seem to have dimmer prospects.
On Kino-Lorber’s Facebook page they have the very attractive
artwork for their forthcoming releases of CANADIAN PACIFIC and
THE CARIBOO TRAIL. They also list the extras on what looks to be a
very exciting package.
We are all holding out for Kino to hopefully release FIGHTING MAN
OF THE PLAINS in restored Cinecolor.
For those interested the artwork for Warner’s forthcoming
Blu-Ray’s of CHISUM and McQ are up on Amazon USA.
I’m sure many of the Duke’s legion of fans will be thrilled to see
him in high definition widescreen….nice price too.