Posted in Dale Evans, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Mill Creek Entertainment, Republic Pictures, Roy Rogers, William Witney on December 23, 2018| 25 Comments »
Mill Creek has announced a 20-picture Roy Rogers DVD set — “authorized by the Roy Rogers estate” — for release in March. But so far, I can’t track down its actual contents. I have my doubts that it’ll give us uncut, color versions of the movies we’re all waiting for, since those are controlled by Paramount these days. Plus, it sounds suspiciously like the old King Of The Cowboys set from Timeless.
Stay tuned.
Posted in Budd Boetticher, Burt Kennedy, Charles Starrett, Columbia, DVD/Blu-Ray News, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Fred F. Sears, George Montgomery, Kino Lorber, Mill Creek Entertainment, Nicholas Ray, Randolph Scott, Ray Nazarro, Smiley Burnette, The Durango Kid, Ward Bond on December 19, 2018| 23 Comments »
When I started doing DVD and Blu-Ray commentaries, it no longer felt appropriate to survey the best 50s Westerns DVD and Blu-Ray releases for the year. So, as a substitute (maybe a poor one), here’s a reminder of a few things we were treated to this year — and we’ll let all the praise, complaints or ranking come from you in the comments. Part 2 can be found next door at The Hannibal 8.
2018 didn’t see a lot of 50s Westerns turn up on DVD, but what turned up was certainly worthwhile.
The Durango Kid Collection
Mill Creek has come through with some terrific multi-picture sets over the last few years. They’re often Columbia pictures, and many have been available already as MOD releases, but they look great, the prices can’t be beat, and they’re big space savers as we watch our collections gobble up our square footage. The Durango Kid movies are fun, and this set gave me an excuse to really wallow in them for a while.
The Fastest Guns Of The West: The William Castle Western Collection
Another Mill Creek set, this offers up eight William Castle Westerns, most of them done for Sam Katzman. This was very eagerly awaited around here, and many of us are hoping for a second volume.
The True Story Of Jesse James (1957)
Twilight Time gave The True Story Of Jesse James a Blu-Ray release, giving us all a great opportunity to re-assess this Nicholas Ray picture — which was mangled by 20th Century-Fox. CinemaScope really benefits from 1080 presentation, and Ray is known for his great use of ‘Scope.
Five Tall Tales: Budd Boetticher & Randolph Scott At Columbia
It was about time somebody got around to the Ranown cycle in true high definition. So, where’s Seven Men From Now (1956)?
A Man Alone (1955)
This under-appreciated Ray Milland Western got a thorough restoration from Paramount — and a nice DVD and Blu-Ray release from Kino Lorber. It even played at the Museum Of Modern Art.
So there’s a few to get us going. What Western DVD and Blu-Ray releases stood out to you this year?
Posted in Marie Windsor on December 11, 2018| 38 Comments »
Marie Windsor
(December 11, 1919 – December 10, 2000)
My favorite actress, Marie Windsor, was born 99 years ago today. She’s seen above in Dakota Lil (1950).
Emily Marie Bertelsen was born in Utah and went to Brigham Young University. She headed for Hollywood in 1939 and studied acting at Maria Ouspenskaya’s school (about the same time Ouspenskaya played the old gypsy women in The Wolf Man). Around this time, she started using the name Marie Windsor.
Marie worked on radio, was a telephone operator and did lots of bit parts before getting a really good role in Force Of Evil (1948) with John Garfield. A string of noirs and Westerns followed, so much good stuff: Hellfire (1949), The Fighting Kentuckian (1949), The Showdown (1950), The Sniper (1952), The Narrow Margin (1952), Trouble Along The Way (1953), The Bounty Hunter (1954), Abbott & Costello Meet The Mummy (1955), The Killing (1956), Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) and The Outfit (1973). That’s just a few. She was busy in TV, too: Cheyenne, Maverick, Perry Mason, Rawhide, Batman, Adam-12 and more.
Ms. Windsor passed away one day short of her 81st birthday.
Posted in 1956, 1957, Character actors, Forrest Tucker, Lippert/Regal on December 3, 2018| 27 Comments »
That’s Wright King to the right, appropriately enough.
Wright King
(January 11, 1923 – November 25, 2018)
Character actor Wright King passed away last month at 95.
King didn’t make a lot of features, but he’s in some good stuff: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, he was in the original Broadway production, too), Friendly Persuasion (1956), Stagecoach To Fury (1956), Hot Rod Rumble (1957), The Gunfight At Dodge City (1959) and Planet Of The Apes (1968), to name a few.
On TV, he was on tons of stuff, including Wanted Dead Or Alive, Twilight Zone, The Gabby Hayes Show, Johnny Jupiter, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Father Knows Best, The Fugitive and Mannix.
Posted in 1958, Ben Johnson, Elisha Cook, Hank Worden, John Dierkes, Karl Malden, Katy Jurado, Paramount, Slim Pickens on December 2, 2018| 12 Comments »
On December 2, 1958, under the watchful eye of DP Charles Lang, the big VistaVision cameras rolled for Marlon Brando’s One-Eyed Jacks (1961). It would be six full months — June 2, 1959, to be exact — before they stopped. A number of inserts and reshoots came later.
My book on the film isn’t taking quite that long. Not quite, anyway.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 