50s Westerns Blu-Ray News #259: The Ranowns Headed For Blu-Ray.

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.

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Now Playing, 1958.

Here are a couple of interesting movie marquees from 1958. First, Gary Cooper in Anthony Mann’s Man Of The West playing in Buenos Aires.

Next is a marquee for a theatre on a military base somewhere. Friday’s feature is Frontier Gun, a Regalscope picture with John Agar, Joyce Meadows, Barton MacLane, Robert Strauss, James H. Griffith and Morris Ankrum. It was directed by one of my favorite unsung directors, Paul Landres. On Tuesday is It! The Terror From Beyond Space, a terrific little science fiction thing starring Marshall Thompson and directed by Edward L. Cahn.

That marquee is as good a pitch for joining the military as anything I’ve ever seen. Take me back to 1958 and sign me up!

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Blu-Ray News #246: The Law And Jake Wade (1958).

Directed by John Sturges
Starring Robert Taylor, Richard Widmark, Patricia Owens, Robert Middleton, Henry Silva, DeForest Kelley

The Law And Jake Wade (1958) is one of the best Westerns of the 50s. It’s tight, tense and in CinemaScope, which is exactly what you want in a John Sturges movie. Oh, and it’s coming to Blu-Ray from Warner Archive.

Jake Wade (Robert Taylor) wants to go straight, but his old partner Richard Widmark wants to know where he buried the loot from an old bank job. Before long, Widmark’s abducted Taylor’s fiancé (Patricia Owens) and they’re all headed into Comanche territory — and the Comanches are on the warpath.

This is as good as it gets, folks — and I’m sure Warner Archive will treat it right. Essential stuff.

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50s Westerns Blu-Ray News #242: The Big Country (1958).

Directed by William Wyler
Starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, Chuck Connors

The Big Country (1958) is coming to Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber with a slew of extras — commentary, documentary, interviews, etc.

The cast is a great one. Burl Ives won an Oscar for his incredible, and incredibly mean, performance. But, to me, Chuck Connors steals the picture — he’s absolutely perfect in a complex, tragic role.

Franz F. Planer’s Technicolor and Technirama cinematography is beautiful, offering up stunning vistas that live up to the film’s title. The opening credits were created by Saul Bass, and the score by Jerome Moross is one of the best to ever grace a Western.

The old Blu-Ray was a huge improvement over the DVD, but it had some distortion problems. Let’s hope those are sorted out for this new one. And I hear the stereo tracks still haven’t turned up.

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50s Westerns DVD News #238: Gun Fever (1958).

Directed by Mark Stevens
Screenplay by Stanley H. Silverman and Mark Stevens
Starring Mark Stevens, John Lupton, Larry Storch, Maureen Hingert (Jana Davi), Aaron Saxon, Jered Barclay, Dean Fredericks

Almost didn’t post this one since, to me, Sidonis’ forced subtitles are a deal-breaker. But the movie itself — Mark Stevens in a 1958 revenge Western that ran into trouble with the PCA, sounds so cool I just had to throw it out there.

Mark Stevens co-wrote and directed Gun Fever (1958), so we can count on it being a tough little picture. (The crime picture Cry Vengeance, which he directed in 1954, is really cool.) The director of photography was Charles Van Enger, who shot Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), one of my all-time favorites.

Gun Fever should be B&W 1.85. Sidonis out of France have it listed as a May DVD release. I’ve never seen this one, and I’m dying to.

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Making Movies: Various.

Here’s a batch of behind-the scenes photos to help wrap up 2016.

Let’s start with Maria Elena Marques and John Derek on the set of Fred F. Sears’ Ambush At Tomahawk Gap (1953).

Next is Edith Head, Jeff Chandler and Melvin Frank going over costumes for The Jayhawkers! (1959).

Here’s Satchel Page and Robert Rossen at work on The Wonderful Country (1959).

Then there’s Virginia Mayo and Clint Walker shooting Fort Dobbs (1958).

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Four Shopping Days Left Till Christmas.

Back in 1958, Acme Boots were evidently a hot item. Click on the ad and it gets a lot bigger.

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