Directed by Andre de Toth
Screenplay by Philip Yordan
Director Of Photography: Russell Harlan
Starring Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise, Alan Marshal, Nehemiah Persoff, David Nelson
1959 was a great year for 50s Westerns, taking the decade out on a really high note. And, for me, one of the cream of the year’s crop would have to be Andre de Toth’s Day Of The Outlaw. Kino Lorber has just announced a Blu-Ray release for August. Russell Harlan’s B&W cinematography should make this a must-have Blu-ray.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
A marvelous film and one that does deserve to be seen in tip-top quality, preferably when the air outside has a bit of a chill.
The UK Blu-ray looks very good and it’s great that US viewers are getting the opportunity to pick up a domestic release of this.
I asked my contact from Twilight Time if they could release DRAGOON WELLS MASSACRE but he said to try WB .However ,WB said it is not one of theirs and ESC said they would not release it in the coming months .Whoever owns it is anybody’s guess.
gcwe1
I’ve said this many,many times before but it’s worth one more run around
the block………….
Several decades back a whole heap of the Allied Artists/Monogram
catalogue was sold to Republic Pictures along with several Regalscope
titles as well.
Warner Brothers have released most,but not all of the Allied Artists Westerns
that they own,certainly all of the ones made in CinemaScope and colour.
If Warners still owned the titles that were sold to Republic they would have
released most of them by now….someone at Warner Archive loves Allied
Artists Westerns.
The Republic catalogue is now owned by Paramount which means that
they now own the following Allied Artists Westerns:
JACK SLADE,RETURN OF JACK SLADE,LAST OF THE BADMEN,
AT GUNPOINT,THE TALL STRANGER and DRAGOON WELLS MASSACRE.
Kino Lorber have for the time being stopped releasing Republic titles.
Sidonis France do have some sort of deal with Paramount,as do Olive Films.
There is a wealth of titles in Paramount’s vaults not only the Republic titles
but also lots of highly desirable Paramount titles like THE GREAT MISSOURI
RAID,THE SAVAGE,RED MOUNTAIN,FLAMING FEATHER,THUNDER IN THE
SUN and all those A.C.Lyles titles.
The sad fact is that the market for traditional Westerns is dwindling unlike
say Spaghetti Westerns which seems to be on the up,sad but true.
Even German labels like Koch always in the past a gold mine for traditional
Western fans,now seem to be releasing fewer and fewer traditional Westerns.
Very few re-issue labels have deals with Paramount,unlike,say Universal
and Sony/Columbia.
The recently restored Republic titles (THE OUTCAST,THE PLUNDERERS,
HELLFIRE,FAIR WIND TO JAVA and ACCUSED OF MURDER) are in
Scotland’s Park Circus library so there’s no reason companies like Koch,
Explosive,Elephant,Eureka or Indicator could not release them but there’s no
takers yet. Park Circus have worldwide (apart from the USA) rights to these
titles.
As an add on to the above I think there is still hope for traditional Westerns
getting released if they feature A List stars like Kirk Douglas,Burt Lancaster,
Gregory Peck and James Stewart.
Sadly Westerns starring the likes of Barry Sullivan,Sterling Hayden,
Rory Calhoun,Rod Cameron,Forrest Tucker,William Elliott,George Montgomery
and others seem to have dried up. I don’t think the guys who had the leads in
the Lyles Westerns are on the radar of re-issue labels these days.
Another,later Allied Artists Western now owned by Paramount is
BLOOD ON THE ARROW with Dale Robertson;I remember it at the time
being similar to the Lyles efforts and would really like to see it again.
I’ve just about given up on some these films getting released.Someone on WB Facebook requested SURFSIDE SIX ,77 SUNSET STRIP and Hawaiian EYE .Good luck with that .ESC advised me that GERONIMO and CALIFORNIA will be getting released on the 18th June instead of the 4th .
Back to “Day of the Outlaw”, I saw this in a Chilly Cinema in Oldham and then a few years ago on TV, it still made me feel frozen and just remembering it now makes me shiver, a brilliant Movie and superbly photographed and acted. Based on a Novel by Lee Wells. Question ? did Robert Ryan ever make a bad film !
I’d say he did appear in a few mediocre efforts, Bruce, but maybe we should be asking whether he ever gave a poor performance.