The word on the street is that Powerhouse/Indicator out of the UK is prepping some of the Budd Boetticher – Randolph Scott pictures, the five Columbia ones, for Blu-Ray. Of course, those were put out by Sony in a terrific set several years ago, with plenty of extra stuff — but we’ve all been pining for all of these to make their way to Blu-Ray.
Michael Dante, Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher on the Westbound set.
Powerhouse/Indicator will do a tremendous job with these. This would leave Seven Men From Now (1956) and Westbound (1959) orphaned in high-definition. Seven Men is handled by Paramount these days, and Westbound is in the care of the Warner Archive. More news as it turns up.
Thanks to John Knight for the tip.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
DVD Beaver love Powerhouse Indicator…they find their
transfers flawless.
A lot has happened since the 2008 DVD set so these films
should look sensational-it’s bound to raise the game of the lesser
title in the set BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE,which taken on it’s own
is still a darn good Western.
If this is a top seller,hopefully Powerhouse might treat us to a
Randolph Scott Blu Ray collection including such classics as
THE DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA,THE WALKING HILLS,HANGMAN’S KNOT
and MAN IN THE SADDLE.
My eyes are starting to ache just thinking about the beauty. More! We want more!
John k, Toby, this is great news, because this is what keeps the Western movie genre alive and well. We are living in a “Golden Age” of home viewing.
THE TALL T(1957) is my favorite of the Ranown, Budd Boetticher directed Classics. Burt Kennedy scripted from “The Captives,” a tension filled short story written by Elmore “Dutch” Leonard. What a cast set in Lone Pine country.
BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE(1958) is top notch also.
Great news about the upcoming Powerhouse BluRays of five of the Ranown westerns. “The Tall T” is definitely one of the best of these, but I’ve always wondered about the meaning of the title. I used to think that maybe “The Tall T” was the name of the ranch that became the stage stop hijacked by the outlaws. That would make sense, but there’s no reference to the name of the ranch in the movie. Does anyone have any info on what the title means or refers to?
Barney Bailey, when I first saw THE TALL T(1957) as a youngster, I thought it probably meant The Tall Texan, referring to Randolph Scott, because many Arizona ranchers came from Texas. Apparently that wasn’t the case. The source story was Elmore Leonard’s “The Captives” published in the February, 1955 issue of ARGOSY A COMPLETE MAN’S MAGAZINE. No help there either. Burt Kennedy, who wrote the script, used Leonard’s title. The American Film Institute notes that THE CAPTIVES and THE TALL RIDER were used as working titles during the July-August,1956 production shoot. Before the movie was released in April,1957 it was retitled THE TALL T.
Director Budd Boetticher wrote in his memoirs, WHEN IN DISGRACE(1989), “It took Burt and me five months to discover why and what the ‘T’ stood for. There was another picture registered as The Captives, and rather than go to court over the title, some young executive in New York thought of The Tall T. We finally discovered the ‘T’ came from the first letter in ‘Tenvoorde,’ the owner of the ranch where Randy goes to buy the Brahma bull.” So, there it is, maybe.
Walter,we certainly are living in a “golden age of home viewing”
as you so aptly state.
My favorite of the Scott/.Boetticher Westerns is COMANCHE STATION
the series certainly went out on a high note.
Scott was never better as the terse,rather puritanical hero-and that ending,
you have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by it.
COMANCHE STATION gets better with each viewing as does Scott’s
wonderful performance.
It’s indeed heartening to see an increasing number of Scott Westerns
now turning up in high definition.
Off topic…and with all due respects to Randy & Budd…
I have noticed a few followers of FWOTF are very interested in what
The Hollywood Scrapheap are up to.
They have just released NAKED ALIBI a tough little Universal Noir
featuring iconic Noir favorites Sterling Hayden and Gloria Grahame.
Film also features Gene Barry as a psycho and Chuck Conners as a cop,
so what’s not to like.
Interestingly,in the UK NAKED ALIBI played as the bottom half of a bill
paired with BLACK HORSE CANYON a superb evening’s entertainment
by anyone’s standards…believe me I was there.
I should imagine the Scrapheap’s version is a clone of the recently
released Italian bootleg which in fact was a wonderful transfer-I guess
ripped from a high def TV station.
In fact the Italian NAKED ALIBI DVD was better than some Blu Ray’s
that I have seen.
As the Universal; Vault series now seems to be no more these versions
are the only way we are going to get to see some movies.
The rule for these Euro releases is simple-if there is no logo (Sony,Universal,
Warner Bros and so on..) then it’s a bootleg-these cats can get around
doing pirate versions but if they display a company logo of a major
then they are in serious trouble.
Naked Alibi is a good one. It and Black Horse Canyon would’ve been a great night out, for sure.
Hi Linnet ,that probably explains the reason why some of these Japanese box sets I recently bought have the logo and in some cases part of the credits blacked out.Does anyone know if COPPER SKY is on DVD.I have searched for it but cannot find it.
Laura,I did read your review of it.
Walter, thanks very much for the background information about how “The Tall T” got its title. Wondering about the title was always a slight distraction for me when watching this terrific movie. Not any more! Thanks again!
I noticed a couple of forthcoming books on Amazon that might be of interest. One is a volume about Republic Pictures. Another is a book on Budd Boetticher films edited in part by Gary Don Rhodes, who has done some great scholarshp
in the past on Bela Lugosi and other subjects.
Barney Bailey, I can understand your slight distraction with the title. I still don’t like the explanation of T for “Tenvoorde.” It doesn’t make sense, unless it is intended to be a red herring, which I doubt would cross a young New York executive’s mind. I clicked over to the Turner Classic Movies site and watched the original trailer for the movie. Across the screen appeared THE TALL T[T for TERROR]. Well, the young executive may have got the T from Tenvoorde Ranch, but in the trailer it was used in a more thrilling way. So, who knows.
Yes Walter….
and I think “T is for terror” was also used on some of the UK press ads.
The French site DVD Classik has just reviewed the Sidonis version
of BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE with a ton of screen grabs.
The quartet of French critics all rate the film 4 stars…much more
generous than their usual ratings.
The French were certainly the first to take Boetticher seriously,in fact
the esteemed Andre Bazin was ahead of the pack regarding this…at the time
I think he rated SEVEN MEN FROM NOW over SHANE.
Circa 1963 the UK’s Chris Wicking further spread the word,greatly impressing
Budd himself.
It’s amazing that at the same time the British Film Institute held a season of
films by what they called “one shot directors” i.e. directors who had only
made one film or in Budd’s case only one film of note,THE RISE &
FALL OF LEGS DIAMOND.
Chris’ championing of Budd’s work certainly raised his profile.
A Universal Blu Ray Box set of his Universal Westerns would certainly
be most welcome.
gcwe 1….sadly COPPER SKY like many RegalScope Westerns is not
available on DVD.
Jeff over at Jeff Arnold’s West has just reviewed two of the best
RegalScope’s THE QUIET GUN and STAGECOACH TO FURY.
One double bill I sadly missed at the time was George Sherman’s engaging
swashbuckler romp THE SON OF ROBIN HOOD coupled with Paul Landres’
FRONTIER GUN..seeing those two on the massive CinemaScope screen
would have indeed been a joy to behold.
To think fare like this was picked up by the major circuits in England,sure
am sorry I missed it.
John K, you always have good information. Yes, I appreciate what Andre Bazin and the other French essayists and critics at CAHIERS DU CINEMA, American Robert Warshow at COMMENTARY, Englishman Edward Buscombe at BFI, and others did to lift up the American Western into the realms of artistic criticism, starting back in the 1950’s. They saw what fans were seeing, whether these fans realized it or not. We liked Westerns because they were morality tales. We liked the stories, characters, beautiful vistas, and the action.
This brings me back to what Barney Bailey said about what he experienced as a kid, in 1954, on seeing William Witney’s THE OUTCAST, ” I could tell there was something special about this movie – the way it moved – the realism and excitement of the action scenes. I kept a lookout for the name[William Witney] and saw a lot of his movies and TV shows. He never let me down.” I remember seeing for the first time John Ford’s THE SEARCHERS(1956) on the WREC-TV Late Movie. As a youngster I was captivated by that great movie and I wanted to know more about who made the movie. So, the journey began. It was difficult in the beginning, because I was born and raised out in the hinterlands, west of the Mississippi River. No reading material on the History, or of the making of movies, for the most part. So, I had to pay attention to who wrote and directed the movies and tv shows as I watched them.
John K. you mentioned the name of Christopher Picking, an English screenwriter, who helped spread the word about Western Movies. I read his and co-writer Tise Vahimaji’s THE AMERICAN VEIN: DIRECTORS AND DIRECTIONS IN TELEVISION(1979). This book was a great primer and had an impressive roll call of directors. It helped my private movie and tv studies in a tremendous way.
I am also excited to hear this news – does anyone know if the Powerhouse Blu-Rays will be region free like Panamint’s Abilene Town with Scott? I have the 2008 box set and watch each of them almost every year except for Decision at Sundown – for some reason I always skip that and substitute 7 Men from Now. My favorites in order are – Commanche Station, The Tall T, Ride Lonesome, 7 Men from Now, Buchanan Rides Alone, & Westbound / Decision at Sundown I guess tied for 6th since I seem to rarely get to those two. How enjoyable is it to spot many of the same locations with different settings in the various movies.
Walter, I knew Chris Wicking quiet well in the early sixties.
One night,circa 1963 I was round his flat with several other film fanatics
and Chris showed THE BIG SHOT (the Bogart film) on his living
room wall.
Milton Subotsky turned up and he was between his mini misicals
like IT’S TRAD DAY and soon to hit the big time with DR TERRORS HOUSE
OF HORRORS.
Mr Subotsky had an awesome knowledge regarding cinema.
Actually it was Chris who turned me onto Boetticher.
He was into loads of different stuff and admired Lesley Selander as well.
Funny how one subject leads to another. I remember Big Shot as one of the few Bogart movies that was hard to find. For a long time I read of this movie in Bogart movie books and only wished I could see it. Finally one day TCM showed it, ahh, my chance, I recorded it and I’ve enjoyed it ever since. It immediately reminded me of High Sierra but had it’s own good points too. This was a great example of a Bogart movie and did not disappoint in the least when I finally had the chance to “screen” as the hoity toity critics call watching a movie. After my “screening” I had a big smile, great Bogie.
Which brings up another subject referred to. How hard it was to research a movie or TV show back in the pre-internet days. I used to make regular visits to several book stores that carried a large supply of movie/TV books. Now I have bookshelves filled with those books. I remember well, when I wanted to read about a subject involved I’d go to my books and look it up. Today you can simply go to the internet. Still though you won’t find those books info. but other info. will be there. I wonder if young people today are missing out on collecting books on movies and TV shows, they may believe what they need is on the web, but books still provide so much more.
As an example, here was the best informative source on Gunsmoke I’ve ever seen, got this back in either the ’70’s or ’80’s. The Suzanne/Gabor Barabas book, “Complete History”:
Not much cover, only orange with writing, but great book.
I think l have bought about a dozen McFarland books over the years. All very expensive for UK buyers, but most were excellent. The only thing that let them down was the lack of a colourful dust jacket. Your Gunsmoke book would have looked great with Matt Dillon on the front.
I have found a new love for the color Gunsmokes, season 14+. I watch them on youtube a couple times a week.
I agree with that, Johnny. I use the internet for information all the time (like right now!!) but the movie reference books on my shelves don’t gather dust. I use them a lot still also and there’s no true substitute to the depth of detail a good book can bring to the table.
We are so spoilt today with all this plenty. I well remember the days before it and it was fun trying to cobble together filmographies etc.
My early reference for westerns was the Western Film Annual series (1951-1961) edited by F. Maurice Speed here in the UK. I still get pleasure from thumbing through them.
Thank you World of Yesterday and Empire Publishing!
Jerry knows what l mean.
Oh, I do indeed, Mike!!
Great news about the Boetticher – Scotts going BluRay. I will buy them all. Still would like to see remastered Sugarfoot, Bounty Hunter, Fighting Man of The Plains. Always scratching my head as to why AMERICAN studios don’t release these. Maybe I’ll email Trump and ask him to start tweeting about it.
I always thought Ride Lonesome as best of the Boettichers, followed by Buchanan Rides Alone. The frustration of Scott repeatedly not being able to get out of Agrytown is writing & directing genius.
I agree with Tom on studios should be releasing never released R. Scott movies first, like Sugarfoot, Bounty Hunter & COLOR version of Fighting Man of The Plains rather than re-releasing movies that have already been out there for years. In fact these movies recently announced were released twice over in recent years, the Boetticher set (the one I bought) and the more recent really cheap set filled with these movies for so much less than the Boetticher set. Now, do we really need a third release of the same ol’ same ol’ AGAIN? Where’s Sugarfoot and color Fighting Man of Plains already??? They can keep this third re-release.
If the problem is rights, then some of these things might never show up. I’m pretty sure that’s the problem with Sugarfoot, the original story rights.
If it’s material, then it might be too much trouble, or expense, to patch some of these things up. But spiffing up something that’s clearly in excellent condition, like maybe The Tall T, that’s a piece of cake.
Bounty Hunter, from what I understand, should be an easy one to pull the trigger on. I’m dying for that one.
Johnny Guitar ,I too don’t know why the studios keep releasing the same old films,but I think this release is aimed at the BLU RAY market,so I am happy for those fans of BLU RAY that this is being released.What I would like to see get released is a A C Lyles western boxset and I have put in requests to Olive and Kino Lorber.If this was released in BLU RAY only ,I would switch to BLU.RAY.
There is a very good print of Sugarfoot available by download on WinRAR/POS. I’ll find it and see what resolution it is. I would prefer to pay the legit way for a remastered print, but if they’re not going to release it – I’ll do what I have to.
Sugarfoot WAS available on Youtube and on the westerns website that played western movies, BUT in both places it was removed. What I don’t get, is if WB refuses to release this movie legit then why do they do their best to keep removing it from the web. If they’re not going to release it, why care if people are able to at least see it? Personally, I don’t care, I’ve got a couple different copies on DVD, but it should still be on the web as long as WB won’t do it. But if it were to be released officially, I’d buy it in a minute. Such is the story with all movies that are hard to find today, if they became available officially they’d be bought.
The Reverend Billy Graham died yesterday at age ninety-nine. Reverend Graham was a longtime friend of Randolph Scott. Graham delivered the eulogy for Scott at a private graveside service for about 25 family members and close friends at Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 15-minute service was as quiet as the life of the film legend, a private man who rarely granted interviews. Reverend Graham said of his friend, “I never knew a finer character in my whole life than Randy Scott. He was a humble man. He didn’t want to go parading around like so many former film stars, as he could have done, from talk show to talk show and that sort of thing.”
Preacher Billy Graham R.I.P.
A nice reminder and tribute to the actor that possibly tops many readers of this blog’s favourites.
Thanks for your note, Walter.
Walter…never knew about the Billy Graham connection…
very interesting.
I know Micheal Curtiz considered Scott the one true gentleman in a town
full of self centred SOB’s.
There’s a great photo in the museum at the Billy Graham Library of Billy and Randy (on a golf course, I believe).
Jerry, John K, and Toby. Ray Nielsen producer/host of THE GOOD TIMES PICTURE SHOW(1976-98) was conducting a telephone interview with Joel McCrea soon after Randolph Scott’s death in March, 1987. Ray asked Joel about his working with Scott. Joel answered, “Working with Randy was one of the most pleasurable experiences of my life, because he was a TRUE SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN.”
McCrea speaking of Scott – that just made my day!!
Nielsen used to have a monthly column comprised of his interviews in “Classic Images” back in the 1980s and early-1990s. About a year ago, I dug out my old issues and had a great time revisiting the articles, with Nielsen’s interviews almost always the highlight. I told him last year at the Memphis show how much I’d enjoyed them.
Switching gears, I don’t know how any western buff can do without Kino’s “The Covered Wagon” (1923) release. Just got my copy in yesterday. I used to have the old vhs tape that Paramount put out in the late-1980s, but watching this Blu-ray is like seeing it again for the first time. It’s a knockout. The sharp print really allows you to appreciate the grandeur and the huge scale of it all. Also very pleased with Toby’s commentary, which was both genial and quite informative. I’m usually not much a fan of commentaries, as they are so often doused with a bit of current-age hipster condescension and modern contexts. A silent western would have been ripe for such unwelcome treatment, but Toby kept things just the way I like it (and even a reference to Karl Brown’s “Stark Love” as well! Wish Kino would put that out on blu, as its location work would really pop. Saw it ages ago). So kudos to Toby.
Just kills me that so many of the silent westerns are lost. I’d love to see the original version of “To the Last Man” (1923), which also sported Lois Wilson as the leading lady. I’ve never quite known the status of a lot of them, but there were some early-1920s William S. Hart titles like “O’Malley of the Mounted” (1921), and things like “North of the Rio Grande” (1922) with Jack Holt. Also a little western called (I believe) “Sundown” (1924) with Bessie Love. Always sounded intriguing. Grim survival rates on so many of these things. Depressing.
Well, Bert, I feel like I owe you lunch for those kind words about the commentary on The Covered Wagon. Thanks a bunch. I saw it as a huge honor to do that one. Actually, I do with all of them, since this track will be sitting in people’s houses for quite some time. (The Last Command, with The Alamo as its subject matter, is also an honor to do — and quite intimidating. My Texan mom will be looking down from heaven, daring me to screw it up.)
And thanks to the amped-up definition of this Blu-Ray, those incredible lines of hundreds of REAL covered wagons are more impressive than ever. Awesome in the actual dictionary sense of the word.
I’m still trying to get over my disbelief that Roy Rogers color movies of the late 1940’s and early ’50’s are “lost”, supposedly. 1922, I can understand, 1949?, I can’t. There are some early Laurel & Hardy movies that are also supposed to be missing. Very frustrating, these gems of the very near past and even distant past are supposedly “lost”.
Bert Greene, I’ve never read any of the Ray Nielsen interviews published in CLASSIC IMAGES, but I would watch THE GOOD TIMES PICTURE SHOW on Saturday nights on the local PBS station. After the feature, Nielsen would speak by telephone(taped before) to someone connected with the picture he had just shown. These were great interviews. He probably did a 1,000 interviews over the years. I miss the show, and I’m not alone.
THE COVERED WAGON(1923) was quite a spectacle and the story behind the making of this movie is amazing. Also, I still have the VHS Paramount video from 1995, but I saw this movie for the first time during the 1970’s on Channel 10 WKNO-TV, a local PBS station. This station would show silent movies as well as foreign. In mentioning STARK LOVE(1927) a rare bird, if ever there was one. Where, and when, did you see this movie?
I got to see “Stark Love” on tape, courtesy a collector who showed it to me and an acquaintance, when I was out in CA, back about 25 to 30 years ago. I recall it wasn’t exactly an optimum presentations, as the tv-screen was small and the print (I think) was sans any musical accompaniment. But the film was intriguing, and I’ve always wanted to see it again. I’ve kept my eye out for it on the usual collectors’ circuit all these years since, but I never have run across it. I think I vaguely recall reading of it being screened years ago at one of the Cinecon or Cinevent type conventions, but it wasn’t one in which I attended. I really enjoyed some of those Cinecon shows in the early-1990s, which were awash in rare films and old-time film vets guesting.
Another film in the same boat, which I viewed, was “Hit and Run” (1924) with Hoot Gibson. One of his breezy Universal westerns, but this one had a kind of baseball subplot. I’ve been on the lookout for a copy of it as well, but haven’t managed to do so. Seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. In recent years I’ve tried to collect all the circulating silent western features, and I’ve accumulated about 100 of them, but some are still elusive. Not counting, of course, the vast numbers of titles that are lost altogether!
Bert Greene, thank you for your great information. I wonder how many so-called lost movies are un-cataloged at the Library of Congress. Wow! So, you have about 100 silent Western features. Are these film and DVD’s? I’m sure you have been on this journey for a long time.
Actually, it’s not been a particularly difficult chore to collect these silent westerns, as so many have now filtered out via sources like Grapevine, Sinister, and even Alpha. The vast majority are PD, and even the occasional exceptions that still seem to maintain a copyright, like “Nevada” (1927) with Gary Cooper or “Redskin” (1929) with Richard Dix, are pretty easy to come by. A good guideline to what exists and circulates (to varying degrees) is Boyd Magers’ handy list of reviews at his site. Sometimes there are even some surprises to find on YouTube, where last year I ran into someone who put Tom Mix’s “North of Hudson Bay” (1923) up.
I’ve never collected film, but I did have the quirky luck of finding an original 35mm nitrate of a ‘lost’ Yakima Canutt western at a flea-market here in Texas. The dealer told me he’d just found the reels stacked in a closet in an abandoned farmhouse in Arkansas. It was a late silent (1929) entitled “Bad Men’s Money.” The middle reel was missing, and the film itself wasn’t too hot. Not nearly as good as Yak’s earlier Goodwill series. Seemed to be the same indy production outfit that made those later, rock-bottom cheapies with Art Acord. Anyway, I sent the canisters of reels off to Greg Luce (of Sinister Cinema), who transferred it and made it available to folks. That’s what I wanted to do, to just get it out so it could be seen.
There are still a number of such films that are extant and occasionally screened, but not circulating, of course. Last year, I noticed that the Capitolfest ran “Wild Horse Stampede” (1926-Univ) with Jack Hoxie and a young Fay Wray as his leading lady. I would have loved to have seen that. And speaking of Hoxie, I think William K. Everson mentioned “Don Quickshot of the Rio Grande” (1923) in his book, so I guess there’s a print of that one out there somewhere. With the Kodascope and Play-at-Home series, it’s not entirely inconceivable some things can still turn up from time to time.
Bert Greene, I really enjoyed the story of you finding a 35mm print of a silent Western at a Texas flea market, and that the dealer had found it in an abandoned farmhouse in Arkansas. Also, sending the film to Sinister Cinema was a good thing to do. These finds need to be put out there where they can be viewed by the public. I’ve wondered how many so-called lost films are in possession of families and others, who initially bought them for home viewing back in the 1930’s and ’40’s. Who knows, but sometimes a find will appear, as in your case.