Mill Creek has announced a 10-movie set of Durango Kid movies. Some, if not all, of these have been available before, but who cares?
Charles Starrett starred in The Durango Kid, in 1940. Columbia didn’t get around to The Return Of The Durango Kid till 1945. Making up for lost time, Columbia cranked out 62 more Durango Kid pictures before shutting down the series in 1952 — at which point Starrett retired from movies.
The Fighting Frontiersman (1946)
Directed by Derwin Abrahams
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Helen Mowery
Blazing Across The Pecos (1948)
Directed by Ray Nazarro
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Charles Wilson
Laramie (1949)
Directed by Ray Nazarro
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Fred F. Sears
Trail Of The Rustlers (1950)
Directed by Ray Nazarro
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Gail Davis, Tommy Ivo
Streets Of Ghost Town (1950)
Directed by Ray Nazarro
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Mary Ellen Kay, George Chesebro
Lightning Guns (1950)
Directed by Ray Nazarro
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Gloria Henry, Jock Mahoney
Snake River Desperadoes (1951)
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Don Reynolds, Tommy Ivo
Bonanza Town (1951)
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Fred F. Sears, Myron Healey, Robert J. Wilke
The Hawk Of Wild River (1952)
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Jock Mahoney, Clayton Moore
The Kid From Broken Gun (1952)
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Starring Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Jock Mahoney
Charles Starrett’s final appearance as The Durango Kid. Actually, his last movie, period.
This is a great collection at an incredible price, just $14.98. Remember, Sony’s Columbia Classics Collection, or whatever it’s called, was pricing these things at $20 apiece! Highly recommended.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
How much did you say? Must be the bargain of the year.
You might even be able to find it for less if you look.
From a cinematic, economic or shelf-space point of view, this thing’s a winner!
It’s also got a better DVD cover than the original Sony Choice versions.
Living in U.K., unfortunately it with cost more.
While this is a digression, I also noticed Mill Creek is doing a DVD release of three Jerry Lewis movies in one package.
And, I don’t think THREE ON A COUCH has been out on video at all before now. (I could be wrong).
So, you never know…
Texican ,thanks for the info on Jerry lewis .I have been after a collection of his for a while ,but the ones that are available have been deleted and are over priced .Hopefully ,we will see a good collection of his soon,but this Mill Creek one looks good .
Just in case anyone is interested ,WB Archive have RENEGADES OF THE WEST 1932 and THE KID FROM TEXAS 1939 on pre order.THE KID FROM TEXAS looks like a modern western as I noticed a car at the end of the trailer .I don’t normally go for modern or comedy westerns,but this one looks ok.
I checked against what GET TV and Antenna TV have shown of Durango kids during the past 2 years and I see ALL of the ones offered have already been on either GET or Antenna TV. I would really like to get the ones that have NOT already been widely available on TV recently.
I’m sure these original Sony releases are of much better quality than those ripped from Get-TV, and besides, purchases of this set can only induce Mill Creek to follow up with Sony’s THE WHISTLER series and their BUCK JONES movies as well. I’ve been putting off pulling the trigger on these because of the high price tag ($18) for individual movies. I’m glad to see Mill Creek is stepping it up in this direction and hope that they continue to do so.
YEP! Richard,the more fans that buy these Mill Creek releases the
more likely we are to see similar fare from Mill Creek.
Sadly most UK Western fans that I know are totally obsessed with their
huge collections of “off air” copies…they rarely actually buy anything.
We don’t have GET.TV over here;if we did UK fans would have a field day.
Sign me up for The Whistler films in one handy set and of course Buck
as well.
It goes without saying the Columbia Elliott’s would be fine as would the
Russell Hayden/Bob Wills flicks.
There’s no accounting for taste of course; but I’d love Mill Creek to give
us a JUNGLE JIM set.
I would be very happy also to see Mill Creek sets of remasters of The Whistler, Russ Hayden, Bill Elliott and Buck Jones. The Columbia Tim McCoys too. Cannot be ruled out completely, given the new Durango Kid set.
A Jungle Jim set would be terrific, but a Whistler set would be a real dream come true. Those are such a great little series.
If it’s high selling numbers you’re concerned with it would help if they released the many Durango Kid movies NOT already shown on TV. I’d gladly buy the ones I don’t already have. If it’s a surefire buyer they wanted then they should have released the many not already available.
And by the way, the quality of the ones Antenna/Get showed was excellent, perfect in fact, the disadvantage being of course that they are commercially interrupted. So if you want commercial free versions than that is the reason to buy not because the quality was bad on the broadcast versions.
Give the public what they want, and that’s what they don’t already have. Brain surgery, huh?
Although I live in the UK I have had the misfortune to watch DVD-Rs of movies ripped from Get TV and I would have to say that it is an abomination. I’ve never seen a channel that treats movies with more disrespect or presents them so badly. The ugly and oversized station logo is present virtually throughout. The advertisement breaks are crudely inserted, are intrusive and occur much too frequently and unwanted messages for forthcoming shows are crassly superimposed on the action. This is bottom of the barrel presentation which is a shame because they do show one or two fairly rare movies. Personally I would
replace anything recorded from Get TV with an official release in a heartbeat.
The days of a TV channel presenting a movie or a TV episode with no station IDs in the corner and no “crude” commercials (were they ever not?) are long over. I do agree the advertisements go on too long BUT and here’s the important but, they give the TV shows/movies EXTRA time that normal TV channels don’t. For instance 1/2 hour TV shows are given 40 minutes and hour long TV shows (like Dan August for a current GET example) are given 75 minutes.
I’m sure there’s always something to complain about if you look hard enough, but expecting uncut, no id, no commercials from a commercial station is a bit much. And if it’s purity and quality you want, you might think twice about Mill Creek, I’ve seen some of the worst presentations of movies from them in the past, take a look at some of their Roy Rogers’ then tell me about Mill’s wonderful quality. Commercial free, the only good reason to buy, otherwise GET’s movie quality is excellent and are just fine with me.
Now back to my point, if they want customers then give them what we want, stuff we don’t already have.
Hi Johnny – I think your phrase “…. GET’S movie quality is excellent and are just fine with me ..” puts an entire world view into perspective.
Likewise your view that GET’s excellent quality in the movies they show is an “abomination” shows us your world view. Meantime, returning to reality, the quality of the movies GET shows has nothing to do with one’s or mine if you insist on getting personal “world view”. My world view would probably frighten you.
I have not dipped my toe too much into Mill Creek but I must
state that their Blu Ray releases of the Hammer and William Castle
double bills were gorgeous.
I did resist their TORTURE GARDEN release but I’m glad I did because
Gary at DVD Beaver has just reviewed Powerhoue/Indicator’s release-
the extras and alternate version look awesome.
I don’t know what the heck Gary is talking about when he goes on about
“Maxed out bitrates” but it impresses me Luddite that I am-even I know
it can only be good.
Gary provides an incomparable service to us collectors when deciding
to “splash the cash”…after Gary’s review it’s TORTURE GARDEN…kerching!!
Gary’s screen grabs for TORTURE GARDEN look pretty scary but
pale in comparison when compared to Nick Beal’s “World View! 🙂
There’s too much mean spiritedness in the World today so guys,lets
keep it friendly despite our varying World Views.
I’ve been happy with almost all the Mill Creek titles/sets I’ve picked up. I’ve heard that the Randolph Scott sets have better mastering than the older Columbia version, though without the extras. Gonna give em a try soon.
I completely agree about the mean-spiritedness. Can’t this be the ONE place where folks can treat each other OK?
I do so agree, you’ll please note that I merely commented on Get’s movie quality, not any personal insult. I then was forced after I was insulted first and even in my kindly response I still stuck to the issues, that is GET’s movie quality. Let us not direct mean spirited accusations all around if only one party is guilty. I purposely and consciously go very lightly here knowing this is not the place for politics of personal destruction even when others get personal.
Gary (@ DVD Beaver) never ceases to amaze me.
Even Nick Beal does not know this but Walsh’s masterpiece HIGH
SIERRA has just shown up in France, as, I kid you not, a bootleg
Blu Ray (BD/R)
I totally agree that HIGH SIERRA deserves better treatment than this-
but having said that Gary admits that the picture quality is pretty good.
Gary normally avoids bootlegs’s (and Sidonis with their horrid “forced” subs)
but he’s made an exception this time purely because of HIGH SIERRA’s
massive importance as an all time classic.
As Gary correctly states HIGH SIERRA needs an “official” Blu Ray from
Warner Archive sooner rather than later.
I might add we also need COLORADO TERRITORY on Blu Ray and for
me the Western version is the superior of the two…others will beg to differ.
I have heard bad things about the French HIGH SIERRA Blu Ray and have avoided. However there is a lovely 1080p download freely available in the ether for those that know where to look (RARBG) which bodes well for a future official release. I’d have to disagree with John about the relative merits of COLORADO TERRITORY and HIGH SIERRA. I love the McCrea Western but the Bogart has a depth of characterisation that the former can’t really match IMO. Both stunning movies though, and I would buy either on Blu-ray in a heartbeat.
As for the bootleg issue, I don’t give a monkeys as to the source of a movie, all I’m concerned with is viewing in the best possible picture quality with the best possible sound.
I think GET-TV does a fine job. Great programs that haven’t been seen on TV in decades, like The Thin Man with Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk (so clever and far ahead of its time it should be required viewing) or the Judy Garland variety show she hosted way back in 1963. Clearly they don’t carve up programs the way ME-TV and Antenna TV do. All in all, a great network, and I can watch it free with an outdoor antenna.
Thanks Ken for seconding my opinion on GET. They have shown so many, many rarely and never seen, since their original broadcast, programs that they will have my gratitude forever for that alone.
Not only Lawford’s Thin Man & Judy’s variety series, but such great never seen series such as Mrs G Goes To College, Peter Loves Mary, Girl With Something Extra, Burt Reynolds’ early series Hawk, now Dan August, Felony Squad, Ensign O’Toole, Jimmy Stewart Show, Nanny & Professor, loads of never seen westerns (though all of them now available commercially), well so many more. And even better all of these are presented UNCUT, in that they give 30” shows 40” and 1’ long shows 75”, so even when you cut out the long commercials you still wind up with the complete UNCUT episodes.
Now contrary to what you might think, I don’t work for GET, though perhaps their PR dept. should hire me, but they have put on so many uncut never seen shows I can’t find any reason to put them down, corner station ID or not, it doesn’t matter when you consider the alternative is not to see these shows at all. I can put up with a corner FADED, by the way FADED, station ID if it means I get to see these NEVER seen shows again.
The Durango Kid entry LARAMIE featured in this package uses the ending of 1939’s STAGECOACH as stock footage. When I saw Starrett dressed in The Ringo Kid’s outfit, I could see it coming.