George Randolph Scott
(January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987)
Let’s mark the birthday of my all-time favorite movie star, Randolph Scott — one of the key players in 50s Westerns. The still above is from The Bounty Hunter (1954), the last of six Westerns Scott made with director Andre de Toth.
The picture also stars my favorite actress, Marie Windsor — and that pairing makes this seem like a better movie that it really is. Despite its faults, I like it a little more every time I see it.
It’s a huge shame The Bounty Hunter is still missing on DVD and Blu-Ray, though there’s an OK-looking DVD out in Spain. Wish Warner Archive would move it to the top of their to-do list. Since it was shot in 3-D, but never released that way, it made sense a few years ago to consider a 3-D Blu-Ray. But it doesn’t seem like the world’s all that in love with 3-D television, and I wish they’d scrap those plans if they’re what’s holding it up.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
I think I’d have to join you in your statement “my all-time favourite movie star”, Toby! Although a number of other contenders jostle for position, Scott wins with me because of his unrivalled body of work in the western genre.
Happy Birthday, Randy!
I read where Patricia Neal was suspended by WB for refusing to co star in a western with Randolph Scott .I don’t think Scott was the problem ,although she did star in Bright Leaf ,if you can call that a western with Gary Cooper .I like Randolph as a western star although he’s not in my top 3.I have the Spanish copy of THE BOUNTY HUNTER from Impulso Records who always do a good copy of films.I’m surprised WB has not released this on DVD,but then again we are still waiting for SUGARFOOT starring Scott.
@gcwe1 – Would love to know your top 3 – since there are many choices from major to minor. Scott is in my top 3 for many reasons – including the way he rode a horse and while I am definitely in the senior status of life I am still too young to have seen Harry Carey, Tom Mix, Buck Jones and many others. I am going to guess that you have Cooper & Wayne as part of your 3 – but there are so many others e.g. Peck, Stewart, Fonda, Eastwood etc. that you show great restraint to limit to 3:)
Lyson,you are right about Wayne and Cooper being in my top 3 ,but it is hard to choose .I would probably watch Joel McCrea more then Scott or Eastwood but they are still all good actors.
So hard to choose – you could have picked many actors – even Lancaster, Douglas, Widmark, Murphy,Brennan etc. beyond who we have mentioned – it’s personal choice & fascinating – no wrong answers!
Oddly enough, Sugarfoot is the picture Patricia Neal refused to do.
wp.me/pEScW-wy
Just about to watch one of my favourite John Wayne films BIG JAKE.I noticed the censor rating was PG 13 for western violence .I didn’t know that they give westerns a different rating.If a film is violent,family,childrens or what ever they shouldn’t be catergorised into genres
Big Jake had the old rating GP (General Patronage) when it was first released. The “Western violence” thing is a new one — it came when they started listing all the stuff in the rating, such as drug use, smoking etc.
There’s “Science fiction violence,” too.
The scene in Big Jake when Wayne first makes an appearance is a classic .”Now why did they have to do that for”
Feeling under the weather yesterday, I let the day pass with no celebration. Oh, the shame!
To think that Randolph Scott would have been 120 now. I think he would have slowed down a bit on the draw by now if he was still around. He was a real man’s man, what every kid would have wished his father to be like and what every man wished he could be like. By the way, having decided that I’ve waited long enough for Universal to release an American or British DVD of Audie Murphy’s SEVEN WAYS FROM SUNDOWN, I’ve finally bought the Spanish release of it through amazon and it arrived today. It’s a nice clear transfer with excellent image and sound quality, although it’s presented open matte in full frame 4 x 3. But as it’s not a CinemaScope film, none of the image is missing. Recommended.
UPDATE: I’ve just bought the DVD of RAILS INTO LARAMIE from the same seller, Great-DVD’s, in Madrid, Spain, with John Payne; Mari Blanchard; Dan Duryea; Lee Van Cleef and Myron Healey.
Rails Into Laramie also has James H. Griffith!
I “discovered” Rails Into Laramie on the western Channel last year and bought the DVD on Hollywood Scrapheap – no issue with the quality but I don’t like the full frame 4 x 3 composition – same issue with Law & order – the Ronald Reagan version:(. Love both movies – Hate the 4 x 3. very oftputting but maybe I’m just a whiner.
Bounty Hunter sounds like a perfect candidate to watch this coming Saturday. Could even make it a Marie Double Header by watching Heckfire afterward!
Actually Caftan Woman has shamed me into watching a Randy ASAP – checked my DVR and Santa Fe is the logistical if not the esthetic choice! Oh well if he is in it it will be watchable!
My new write up about SEVEN WAYS FROM SUNDOWN, uploaded today, can be seen on my Facebook page, which us open to the public. Since receiving the DVD, I’ve been able to capture frames from it. https://www.facebook.com/david.rayner.37266
Bounty Hunter is a great movie, one of my favorites. Personally I put Scott dead even with John Wayne because he’s more down to earth in his roles. Sure, we’d all like to be able to beat up 4 guys at once like the Duke, but is this believable? No. But no one delivers lines and soaks up the screen like John Wayne, no one.
My #3 would probably be Clint Eastwood or Joel McCrea.
Jim West could beat up a bunch of guys all at once, ever watch Wild Wild West? Good series with lots of action.
My favorites? Glad you asked, #1 Duke, #2 Joel McCrea, #3 R. Scott, #4 Fred MacMurray. There’s a top 4 for anyone to enjoy.
Funny you mentioned Robert Conrad!! My father knows Mr. Conrad and would always laugh during the fight scenes in Wild Wild West and say “that little guy couldn’t beat up your grandmother”. Of course my dad is 6’6″ – 275 lbs and everybody is small to him.
Mr. Roan, first of all I would like to say that you have a really good blog, which I enjoy reading. You do a wonderful job of bringing back memories of my first time watching of so many of these Westerns, back in the day. You can’t get any better than watching a great one, or a good one, for that matter. So, keep up the really good blogging that you are doing.
For a Western movie fan, there is none better than Randolph Scott. If you liked Westerns, Scott never let you down. Back in the Fifties, Western fans received plenty of Scott’s Westerns, He had four out in 1951, 1953, 1955, and three released as late as 1957.
If you like Westerns and Mysteries, then THE BOUNTY HUNTER will be a pleasure for viewing. All I can say about Patricia Neal not wanting to co-star in SUGARFOOT(1951) is, her loss was Adele Jergens’ gain.
As I take my hat off in memory of Randolph Scott I can hear the angelic sound of a Heavenly Choir.
GritTV is showing a slate of Warner westerns this month: Scott, Taylor, Ford etc. Sunday morning they are showing a very nice looking RAGE AT DAWN.
GritTV keeps listing THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER on the schedule but so far a different movie is shown instead. CHARGE is listed again for Sunday night. It proobably won’t be there, again.
In all the prints of THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER I’ve seen on television, the battle scene by the river near the end of the film has been shown reversed, like an mirror image, with the loading slots on the Winchester rifles shown to be on the wrong side of the guns. Very odd. However, Max Steiner’s score is, as usual, excellent.
That reverse is probably a design choice so the battle is seen right to left.
My old VHS copy is from the ’80s. I’ll have to take a look, and re-watch the CHEYENNE TV version of CHARGE, called “West Of The River”.
Can you also reload a Winchester by exchanging the under-barrel for another? I noticed in watching ARIZONA- 1940 Jean Arthur is handling spare rifle ammunition and it appears to be in tubes.
GritTV is also showing that lost Republic Trucolor owned by RKO/Warner, MONTANA BELLE.
Cancelled my Amazon.de order for the blu-ray of THE FAR COUNTRY. After two delays, the latest touting a February release, they emailed with a firm date of January 2019. Ha! If they ever actually release it, I’ll reorder.
I wonder what the Australian blu of WINCHESTER 73 will look like. Since Germany and France have also announced it, I want the best one.
I did watch Bounty Hunter Sat. night. While I enjoyed the story and Randolph in a western what I found odd was the direction. Seemed to me it was done poorly.
For instance in a fight scene Randy is fighting 3 or 4 guys in a cabin, after punching one guy he looks into the camera supposedly at another guy then it shows a guy dressed in black (just like Randy’s attire) punching a guy. I had to watch this 3 times, suddenly it appeared there were 2 guys in black fighting and the 2nd one didn’t look at all like Randolph. I thought, wasn’t Randy the only one in black, did I miss something? That’s why I watched it again. Turns out it was just poor directing, having Randy look and then what you think he’s looking at is actually supposed to be him now punching another guy. And the reason for the “other guy” dressed in black, when it was always supposed to be Randy, is that the stuntman doing the fight didn’t look at all like Randy, he seemed bulkier and his face was fatter and was seen clearly and it was clearly not Randy.
Well, anyway the movie was still a fun one and I’d recommend it. It was a typical Randolph Scott western, enjoyable but to me at least, they all tend to run together and seem to be alike. I can’t tell one Scott western from another. For instance, I still remember clearly Heckfire w/Bill Elliott & Marie Windsor after only seeing it once couple years back, but I forgot entirely Bounty Hunter w/Marie even though I saw it a year or 2 ago. Scott movies are all enjoyable for sure, but all alike.
Yes Bounty Hunter has a few scenes that look a little cheap but I think its due to bad editing more than bad directing. Also we’ve seen many John Wayne movies where you can totally tell that they’re using a stunt double to get punched, jump thru a window or roll in the mud. Watch McClintock or Big Jake and its really obvious. But I disagree that the Scott movies are alike. Yes a handful of them follow familiar plots but all of the Boetticher, Batjac and earlier Scott movies were very different, to me anyway. Randolph Scott just has a way of cruising thru his westerns in way that is unique and spellbinding. Shootout At Medicine Bend is one of my favorites and showcases this style to a T.
I can’t understand how such obvious mistakes get through to the final release version of a film. Mistakes such as Gary Cooper’ tin star appearing and disappearing off his waistcoat while he’s sat at his desk in the marshal’s office and talking with someone in HIGH NOON and Randolph Scott riding into town in THE TALL T in what was supposed to be the 1870s and he passes a side street in which can clearly be seen a parked car. How on earth could anyone not notice these things while viewing the rushes? Maybe the mistakes were spotted, but the films were being made on such a tight budget that they hadn’t got the time or the money to re-film the scenes. Nevertheless, why didn’t Gary Cooper at least ask where his tin star was when they were about to shoot his scene and why didn’t the cameraman notice that car, as he was looking straight at it?
Seeing the fender of that car in Tall T is pretty wild! Obviously these guys were under pressure to “wrap it up” and print it. Nobody’s perfect and even newer heavily edited movies have crazy slip ups. We have to realize that these 1880s period movies were shot in the 1950s and occasionally stuff leaks thru. (I always look for tire marks when a scene involving a posse or gang riding horses is involved. Return of The Badmen has a couple of these, and its kind of fun to spot them.
Paging Mike Kuhns……
The Explosive Media version of THE FAR COUNTRY has been
delayed as Universal are supplying a brand new 4K restoration which
should look amazing.
WINCHESTER’73 needs a Criterion release with a stack of extras
I’ll get the Aussie release as a stop-gap until a version finally appears
worthy of this classic…the old DVD is pretty rough by today’s standards.
I still really enjoy Scott westerns, but to me at least they all do tend to run alike. But they’re all likeably alike. Almost like a good TV series with one star in a different episode every week. Scott’s still one of my 4 favorite western guys. Though I really should add Bill Elliott to that list too.
Lists of one’s favourites can be pretty taxing, I find – ‘Right, there’s my list. Oh….but hold on I forgot A…..oh, and then there’s B; how did I forget him!!??’
I too would have Bill Elliott high on my list; Rod Cameron too, definitely.
I liked that Johnny Guitar included Fred Mac Murray at no. 4. Fred’s easily forgotten but shouldn’t be. He wasn’t very happy to do so many westerns in the 50s (his star career had slipped a bit) but gosh he was darn good in them!
I’m with y’all on Fred MacMurray. He’s one of my favorites, too. Quantez, Face Of A Fugitive, Good Day For A Hanging, Day Of The Badman. His career may have geared down, in one sense, but he was on a real roll in another.
Interestingly, we watched Absent Minded Professor last night.
I watched My 3 Sons this morning, I watch it every Monday with breakfast. Fred and eggs go together like bacon and My 3 Sons’ Beverly Garland (another great western gal, Gunslinger anyone?)
I watched an episode of “The Loner” recently and there was white airplane streaks in the sky, I also remember in another western hearing a plane flying in the sky. Today they could digitally remove a car from a scene, but I don’t think you can fix a plane flying overhead other than to delay filming. Well, you could dub it all in later. OK so I consider myself an expert filmmaker.
The other day I watched THE TREASURE OF PANCHO VILLA and I think most of us have seen the Coca Cola sign in this film and no effort was made to cover this up with another sign even though it can be seen a number of times in the early part of the film .I agree with David that budget and time were probably the main reasons why they did not reshoot these scenes.
Jerry,Bill Elliott and Rod Cameron are 2 of my favourites as well.
Is’nt it annoying when you know you have a film and you just can’t find it.I just turned my cupboards over 3 times looking for DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER and finally found it .Yesterday I watched another Widmark western made for TV called THE LAST DAY which really needs a proper DVD release .Highly recommended.
gcwe1, Coca Cola has been around since 1886.
Bob G ,I know that Coke has been around a long time and I did research their history ,but apparently the design of the sign was from the 1940s ,rather then 1915.
I’m gonna get pretty “political” at the end of all this…I know
Toby does not like this sort of thing but to quote Randy-“there are just
some things a man can’t ride around”
Toby-delete if you will
Anyway,firstly the more pleasant stuff.
I finally received my Blu Ray of THE HANGING TREE and as Toby has
already commented the transfer from Warner Archive is a stunner.
The scenery and the beautifully lit interiors are eye popping to say
the least-the film has never looked better.
I do have certain “issues” with the film-it’s far from my favorite Delmer
Daves Western-I prefer the three he made with Glenn Ford and
3.10 TO YUMA is one of the greatest of all time.
I’m also very fond of THE LAST WAGON and DRUM BEAT.
THE HANGING TREE is an odd combo of psychological Western and
out & out melodrama. It does not all work but having said that I will
take it over MAN OF THE WEST any day. Gary Cooper is perfectly
cast in THE HANGING TREE-I simply cannot imagine another actor doing
a better job,apart from perhaps McCrea.
I do have issues with some of the casting-Ben Piazza I’m afraid did not do
too much for me-Vic Morrow would have been sensational.
Also Royal Dano would have been equally sensational in the George
C Scott role and furthermore Karl Malden has never worked for me
in Westerns.
I need to give THE HANGING TREE further viewings,at any rate the supreme
Warner Archive transfer has raised the game of the film considerably-
it’s a big budget picture and it really shows.
I hope we get other Warner Brothers Westerns given this sort of love
and attention on Blu Ray-especially CARSON CITY,THUNDER OVER THE PLAINS,TALL MAN RIDING,SPRINGFIELD RIFLE and DRUM BEAT.
Just for the record my top three Western stars are Scott,McCrea and
Murphy…they were true “Western stars” and devoted most of their careers
to the genre.
I’m gonna save my “rant” to later which will make it all the easier for Toby
to trash it or as Mike Richards would say drop it into the “sin bin”
Now the nasty stuff…I don’t know how others feel but I’m getting
more and more pissed off with “political” statements by today’s
generation of so called stars.
The clips I have seen from the recent Grammys had me reaching for the
sick bucket.
I grew up in the era of “True” music stars,The Everly Brothers,Bo Diddley,
The Ventures,Sam Cooke,Ricky Nelson,Chuck Berry and so on.
I’m afraid the likes of Beyonce,Jay Z,Ed Sherran,Sam Smith do nothing
for me. Just when you think things cannot get any worse they wheel out
Cher from the Hollywood House Of Wax.
I’ve never understood how the truly nauseating James Corden took on
over in America…you guys can keep him…good riddance!!
These awards things have now become a political platform for the under
talented and WAY overpaid.
God only knows what’s going to happen at The Oscars..one things for
sure I will not be watching.
I don’t see this being about politics, but about basic human decency. I couldn’t agree more. What happened to having a little class?
They’re only actors, for Heaven’s sake, so why should we want to know their political opinions. They should stick to what they do know about, supposedly.
The thought of seeing Bo Diddley in his prime at the Grammys, now that brought a smile to my face.
John, I think the “sin bin” lid is closed for now.
Agreed on all points, but they only scratch the surface.
Politics went out the window when Barbra Streisand presented John Wayne with his best actor award ,two people who had very different views on the Vietnam war which was still being fought at the time.I’ve read where many actors have put their political views aside,and that’s good.
Regarding John Wayne and Barbra Streisand. They conducted themselves as adults, politics had nothing to do with it, but in John Wayne’s case, people actually liked him as a person, views notwithstanding. He was a nice man.
Wayne loved the concept of America, and that meant letting folks have their own opinions — and voice those opinions. To do less than that would’ve gone against what he believed, and he was no hypocrite. Dennis Hopper and others worked with him with no trouble.
I noticed in the film I mentioned earlier ,BIG JAKE ,we don’t get to find out who Jake’s grandson’s mother is.
Thanks Toby,
Before all this P.C. mania took over, The Oscars used to be about
creative and technical excellence.
“Stars” that only seem to have been around for 5 minutes think they
have a platform to say something which generally amounts to
no part of nothing.
As for me I.m very happy to see wonderful transfers of films like
THE HANGING TREE turning up in gorgeous high definition.
I ought to have added THE COMMAND,THE BOUNTY HUNTER and
THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER to Warner Brothers Westerns that
I’d love to see on Blu Ray.
Film producers these days get a bad rap,understandably I guess, but I was very
pleased recently to see a quote from Michael Dante on a thing I was
looking into on a thread I contributed over at Laura’s recently.
Michael called David Weisbart “the most wonderful human being”
and that’s great because Mr Weisbart produced several of my all time
favorite movies-as well as lots of others that I have really enjoyed.
I DO hope the cats at Warner Archive get to see this thread not only to
see how popular our “birthday Boy” is but how much we long to get
high def versions of those fabulous Warner Brothers Westerns.
I stopped watching all self-congratulatory award shows back in the ’80s when the libs used to show how “brave” they are by attacking Reagan, knowing full well there would be no retaliation by the liberal industry. They’ve been standing on their soapboxes of clay now for decades, so why bother watching and making yourself mad? I have better things to do. The good news is the ratings for the last award travesty were the WORST in history. Now that does put a smile on my kisser.
Thumbs up.
I just wanted to throw a little praise for the much overlooked Mexican Actor Alfonso Bedoya ( -1958) who starred in a LOT OF WESTERNS; not only in his own country, but also as a CO-STARRING, supporting actor in American Films, as well. His vaquero-western ‘ thing’ was to be UNFLINCHING to any bullet that was shot at him as to just miss his head! HE was THE MEXICAN BANDIT in John Huston’s THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948) with BOGART; BORDER RIVER (1950) WITH McCREA; many others. His last role was REALLY MEMORABLE, and not much credit ever given to his character RAMON, who takes sides with GREGORY PECK (Jim McCAY) against boss CHARLES BICKFORD (Henry Terrill), in William Wyler’s magnificent THE BIG COUNTRY (1958). Here, in his LAST film role before losing his battle with alcohol before the films release, Alfonso plays a most memorable and loveable character who is an IMPORTANT part of this milestone story; a film which was deserving of many more OSCAR NOMINATIONS than the two pinned on it; (and only WINNING ONE!). Alfonso acted out these mostly -villain-roles with a great zest! And not to be TOO CORNY here;,… ”he didn’t need any stinkin” badge’* to prove it !. (*from TREAS/SIERRA MADRE).) Check him out! A great western movie supporting star, for sure.
Coming soon from Kino Lorber,THE LAST COMMAND 1955 on DVD and BLU RAY on a brand new HD MASTER from a 4K scan by Paramount Pictures Archives .Highly recommended .I already have the German release.
Kudos to John K, because I couldn’t agree more. Yes, Toby it is about basic human decency and class. At the Academy Awards Ceremony, where John Wayne received his Best Actor Oscar, Barbara Streisand gave him a kiss on the facial cheek. A class act all the way.
During the 1990’s, I remember listening to a telephone interview conducted by Ray Nielsen, producer and host of the GOOD TIMES PICTURE SHOW. The interview was with actor Jeff Corey, following a showing of WAKE OF THE RED WITCH(1948). Corey had co-starred with Wayne in this movie. Over twenty years later, Corey and Wayne worked together again in TRUE GRIT(1969). Corey had been blacklisted in 1951 and didn’t appear in another movie until 1963. Clearly, Corey and Wayne were opposites on the political spectrum.
Ray Nielsen asked Corey if there were any problems between him and Wayne after all those years of being blacklisted. Corey said that before they started filming, that Wayne walked up to him and put his arm around Corey’s shoulders and said to him, that it had been a long time since they had worked together. Corey said that they had no problems working together in TRUE GRIT. He stated that John Wayne was not a hater, like some were. Jeff Corey and John Wayne a class act.
I just did some research on Corey for a commentary for Singing Guns from Kino Lorber. Corey was great.
Since this thread began as a birthday tribute to Randolph Scott, I would like to mention that Jeff Corey was in, one of my favorites, THE NEVADAN(1950) with Scott and the recently deceased Dorothy Malone. Jeff Corey was an actors’ actor.
Thanks Walter for that great Jeff Corey info.
The best Wild Bill Hickok ever in LITTLE BIG MAN
Actually I NEVER watch those awards shows..the Grammys
have zero interest to me but the dumb antics of those involved
make the mainstream news over here (UK)
I will not watch The Oscars but no doubt the self righteous pranks
of those involved will continue to generate news headlines
which,I guess is reason enough for these “children”
John K. I never watch the awards shows either. I think the last Academy Wards show that I watched was in 1999. By that time it was mainly to watch who received the Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The Jeff Corey interview from the 1990’s, was packed full of information. He told of how Pat Boone went to bat for him in the early 1960’s. He said it was because of pressure put on Twentieth Century Fox by Pat Boone, that he was able to re-enter the movies. Jeff Corey said, “Pat Boone was one of the good guys.” Again, a class act.