Directed by John Wayne
Starring John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey, Frankie Avalon, Patrick Wayne, Linda Cristal, Joan O’Brien, Hank Worden, John Dierkes, Denver Pyle, Olive Carey, Chill Wills, Joseph Calleia, Ken Curtis, Richard Boone
We may never get to see John Wayne’s The Alamo (1960) restored the way we want it to be — the way it deserves to be. But there’s something out there — a Blu-Ray/DVD set from Germany — that’s a little closer to the ideal.
Koch has a three-disc set with the shorter cut on Blu-ray and the 202-minute roadshow version on DVD. (Sadly, the only known print of the longer cut has deteriorated to the point that nothing can be done with it.) There are a handful of extras, some in German, some in English. Amazon.de had a version with different cover art — that one is already sold out.
Since this might be as good as we’ll ever get, this is highly recommended. If you have any details about this — like is the roadshow version anamorphic, is the intermission included and what sort of region lock might be on it — please let us know.
Thanks to Graham for bringing this up.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
Hi,
Any info on new Roy Rogers Blu Rays?
I rather like The Alamo, flaws and all.
Wayne’s Alamo certainly has its flaws, but I’ve always felt the good far outweighed the bad. Its real strength, to me, are the character parts. I particularly love Hank Worden and John Dierkes in this one.
I am a big fan of DENVER PYLE. He did some episodes of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW as BRISCOE DARLING. Briscoe was a widower who had four sons and one daughter CHARLENE(MAGGIE PETERSON). Denver is probably best known for playing UNCLE JESSE on THE DUKES OF HAZZARD. He was in the reunion movie of The Andy Griffith Show and also the first reunion movie of Dukes. Does anyone want to comment on Denver or those two shows?
All things Andy Griffith are an institution for most of us here in North Carolina. Those Pyle episodes were my gateway to bluegrass (and The Dillards), which I’ll always be thankful for.
In fact the extended version in the Koch set is on a Blu-ray too, NOT on a DVD.
It’s presented in 720p high definition. The footage that is used in the theatrical cut is downscaled from the 1080p version, the additional scenes are upscaled from the analog Laserdisc master.
Thanks for the clarification. Have you seen it? If so, how does it look?
I’ve only checked a few minutes of the extended version so far. I have streamed the theatrical version not long ago so currently I’m not in the mood to watch the movie again.
The scenes taken from the theatrical version have almost Blu-ray quality, the additional scenes are obviously much worse. But people who own the Laserdisc say they look better on the Koch disc than on the Laserdisc.
The theatrical version supposedly looks fantastic but personally I haven’t checked it yet.
The Koch set is region B coded.
BTW avoid the french “Alamo” Blu-ray set because apparently that one DOES have the extended version on a non-anamorphic DVD only.
Thanks so much for filling us in. I really appreciate it.
Speaking of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW I want to mention that two of its guest stars have recently passed away. GAVIN MacLEOD was in a black and white episode with BARBARA STUART and was in a color one where he played the actor that was in SHERIFF WITHOUT A GUN. Gavin was best known for two shows-THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW (as MURRAY) and THE LOVE BOAT (as the CAPTAIN).
The other guest star is ARLENE GOLONKA who played MILLIE HUTCHINS on two color eps. Millie was dating HOWARD SPRAGUE. Arlene was a regular on MAYBERRY RFD where her name was MILLIE SWANSON. On this show she became the girlfriend of SAM JONES. She worked at the bakery. I am a fan of both Gavin and Arlene. Arlene also did two eps of MARY TYLER MOORE and two of THE LOVE BOAT. P.S. Gavin is the first cast member of The Love Boat to pass away. Gavin did three eps of THE BIG VALLEY and Arlene was a guest star too.
I just watched a 2021 interview with Will Hutchins .He was 90 ant the interviewer was Rob Word.He talked about how he got cast for SUGARFOOT and his career.Does anyone know why SUGARFOOT 1951 with Randolph Scott has not been released on DVD yet given the number of Scott collections around today?Maybe they haven’t got a good copy or just couldn’t be bothered.Wb are certainly dragging the chain on this one.
I’ve always heard Sugarfoot had some sort of story rights issue tying it up.
Thanks for that Toby.It’s a shame if that is the case.Usually something holding a release up.Someone wanting their slice of the pie.
Of coruse the Scott film, Sugarfoot, has nothing to do with the television series with the exception of a hijacked title. The Hutchins show is Boy From Oklahoma. Boo!
Barry,thanks for that.I was aware that SUGARFOOT was based on THE BOY FROM OKLAHOMA .Will Hutchins mentions this in his interview with Bob Terry and mentions the fact that WB said that they had a film called SUGARFOOT.
Does anyone want to comment on my posts about GAVIN MacLEOD and ARLENE GOLONKA? I just started commenting here about two months ago. Back then there was more activity on this web site.
Bad news regarding Kino’s latest deal with Universal. Of the 100+ films they’ve arranged for, there’s apparently only going to be one or two westerns, according to the Kino Lorber Insider. I was hoping for a good number of 1950s Universal westerns to be included. Sigh.
Bert, I would hope that Kino Lorber would reconsider and release more Blu-ray’s of those wonderful Universal-International Westerns from the 1946-62 years. Another by-gone era, I guess.
Possibly of interest – Eureka in the UK are releasing a deluxe limited edition of Johnny Guitar in their Masters of Cinema line in September.
Colin,not one of my favourite westerns ,but I just checked out Eureka’s upcoming release and I might just buy it,given the extras.Walter,lets hope Kino gets a deal with some of the other studios like WB,Sony etc.I see a release date has been set for MACHO CALLAHAN.I love David Janssen,but I do hope they cut out that gruesome horse scene.Totally unnecessary.
Graham, the only time I ever saw MACHO CALLAHAN(1970) was on THE CBS FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIES in 1976. I haven’t seen it since, and I don’t remember the horse butchering scene, but I’m pretty sure, at that time, the scene would have been cut for television viewing. I don’t remember a lot about the movie, so in other words, I can’t say if it is worth viewing. Personally, I wouldn’t spend any money on it. Why Kino Lorber is releasing MACHO CALLAHAN on Blu-ray when there are so many really good Western movies out there, that aren’t on Blu-ray.
Colin, JOHNNY GUITAR(filmed 1953, released 1954) is, as you know, well worth watching and I really enjoyed your past write-up of this Classic.
https://livius1.com/2012/06/11/johnny-guitar/