Posted in Anthony Quinn, Barbara Stanwyck, Brian Donlevy, Cecil B. DeMille, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Joel McCrea, Kino Lorber, Paramount on February 6, 2021| 2 Comments »
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Akim Tamiroff, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, Brian Donlevy, Anthony Quinn
Union Pacific (1939) is a great big Cecil B. DeMille picture about the building of the railroad. It’s got a great cast, some remarkable action sequences and the overall DeMille thing we all love so much.
Kino Lorber is bringing it to Blu-Ray this summer, which should really be something to see. Highly recommended.
Posted in 1955, 1957, 1958, 20th Century-Fox, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, John Sturges, Paul Landres, Sam Fuller on May 5, 2020| 8 Comments »
John Ericson
(September 25, 1926 – May 3, 2020)
John Ericson didn’t make a lot of movies (there’s tons of TV), but he’s in some really good ones, especially when it comes to 50s Westerns — John Sturges’ Bad Day At Black Rock (1955), The Return Of Jack Slade (1955), Sam Fuller’s Forty Guns (1957, above), Day Of The Badman (1958) and Paul Landres’ Oregon Passage (1958). He has passed away at 93.
Ericson’s probably best known by folks today for TV’s Honey West (1965) with Ann Francis. Worth looking for is Pretty Boy Floyd (1960), a cheap entry in the late-50s, early-60s run of gangster bios. It’s no Baby Face Nelson (1957), but it’s well worth your time.
Thanks to Walter for the tip.
Posted in Allan Dwan, Andre de Toth, Anthony Mann, Audie Murphy, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Ben Johnson, Budd Boetticher, Burt Kennedy, Clayton Moore, Clint Walker, Dale Evans, Dale Robertson, Delmer Daves, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Frank Ferguson, Fred F. Sears, George Montgomery, George Sherman, Glenn Ford, Gordon Douglas, Guy Madison, Hank Worden, Jack Arnold, Jacques Tourneur, James Coburn, James H. Griffith, Jay Silverheels, Jeff Chandler, Joel McCrea, John Ford, John McIntire, John Payne, John Sturges, John Wayne, Julie Adams, Kirk Douglas, Lesley Selander, Lippert/Regal, Mara Corday, Marie Windsor, Paul Landres, Phil Karlson, Randolph Scott, Ray Nazarro, Republic Pictures, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, Rory Calhoun, Roy Rogers, Sam Katzman, Sam Peckinpah, Sterling Hayden, The Lone Ranger, Universal (International), William Castle, William Elliott, Yvonne DeCarlo, Zachary Scott on September 4, 2019| 22 Comments »
A while back, I asked for Want Lists of the 50s Westerns still lost on the high-def trail. Here they are, presented in chronological order. The titles in bold are the ones that were brought up most frequently.
With the recent news about Fox/Disney’s lack of interest in their back catalogs appearing on shiny silver circles, getting this finished and posted seemed very timely. Many of these, mind you, haven’t even turned up on DVD yet.
The Virginian (1946)
Albuquerque (1948)
Coroner Creek (1948)
Whispering Smith (1948)
3 Godfathers (1949)
Colorado Territory (1949)
Hellfire (1949)
Streets Of Laredo (1949)
Ambush (1950)
Branded (1950)
Devil’s Doorway (1950)
The Nevadan (1950)
Saddle Tramp (1950)
Short Grass (1950)
Showdown (1950)
Trail Of Robin Hood (1950)
Across The Wide Missouri (1951)
Along The Great Divide (1951)
Apache Drums (1951)
Best Of The Badmen (1951)
The Great Missouri Raid (1951)
Inside Straight (1951)
Man In The Saddle (1951)
Red Mountain (1951)
The Redhead And The Cowboy (1951)
The Secret Of Convict Lake (1951)
The Texas Rangers (1951)
Westward The Women (1951)
Vengeance Valley (1951)
Warpath (1951)
The Big Sky (1952)
Bugles In The Afternoon (1952)
Hangman’s Knot (1952)
The Lawless Breed (1952)
The Lusty Men (1952)
The Naked Spur (1952)
Ride The Man Down (1952)
The Savage (1952)
The Story Of Will Rogers (1952)
Untamed Frontier (1952)
Ambush At Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Charge At Feather River (1953)
City Of Bad Men (1953)
Devil’s Canyon {1953)
Escape From Fort Bravo (1953)
The Great Sioux Uprising (1953)
Jack McCall, Desperado (1953)
Last Of The Comanches (1953)
The Last Posse (1953)
The Silver Whip (1953)
The Stranger Wore A Gun (1953)
Wings Of The Hawk (1953)
Tumbleweed (1953)
Apache (1954)
The Bounty Hunter (1954)
Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954)
The Command (1954)
Dawn At Socorro (1954)
The Law Vs. Billy The Kid (1954)
The Outcast (1954)
Ride Clear Of Diablo (1954)
Silver Lode (1954)
Wyoming Renegades (1954)
The Yellow Tomahawk (1954)
At Gunpoint (1955)
Chief Crazy Horse (1955)
The Last Frontier (1955)
The Man From Bitter Ridge (1955)
Shotgun (1955)
Smoke Signal (1955)
Tennessee’s Partner (1955)
The Violent Men (1955)
Wichita (1955)
Backlash (1956)
Dakota Incident (1956)
Fastest Gun Alive (1956)
Fury At Gunsight Pass (1956)
Great Day In The Morning (1956)
The Last Wagon (1956)
The Lone Ranger (1956)
The Maverick Queen (1956)
Reprisal! (1956)
Seven Men From Now (1956)
Stagecoach To Fury (1956)
Tribute To A Bad Man (1956)
Copper Sky (1957)
Domino Kid (1957)
Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957)
Hell Canyon Outlaws (1957)
From Hell To Texas (1958)
Frontier Gun (1958)
The Lone Ranger And The Lost City Of Gold (1958)
Face Of A Fugitive (1959)
Last Train From Gun Hill (1959)
No Name On The Bullet (1959)
Thunder In The Sun (1959)
Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
The Alamo (1960)
Hell Bent For Leather (1960)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
Firecreek (1968)
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973)
As this was being compiled, a few titles actually made their way to Blu-Ray, one of them being the exquisite new Wagon Master (1950) from Warner Archive.
Posted in 1957, 20th Century-Fox, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Criterion, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Hank Worden, Lippert/Regal, Sam Fuller on January 16, 2019| 12 Comments »
Written, Produced, Directed by Samuel Fuller
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Art Direction: John Mansbridge
Music: Harry Sukman
Film Editing: Gene Fowler Jr.
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck (Jessica Drummond), Barry Sullivan (Griff Bonnell), Dean Jagger (Sheriff Ned Logan), John Ericson (Brockie Drummond), Gene Barry (Wes Bonnell), Robert Dix (Chico Bonnell), Jidge Carroll (Barney Cashman), Paul Dubov (Judge Macy), Gerald Milton (Shotgun Spanger), Ziva Rodann (Rio), Hank Worden (Marshal John Chisum)
__________
With a Sam Fuller movie, there’s always something kinda off. Not off in a bad way, off as in different from anything else you’ve ever seen — except another Sam Fuller movie. The performances, pacing, editing, dialogue — they’re just different. And that’s before you get to the story itself.
A great example of this is Fuller’s Forty Guns (1957). It’s unlike any Western you’ve ever seen.
Forty Guns is a big sweeping epic on one hand and a glorified Regalscope picture on the other. There’s a scene pretty early in the movie where John Ericson and his gang of punks are busting up the town. They throw stuff, shoot stuff and just generally create total mayhem. Fuller cuts back and forth across the street as they shoot from one side and their bullets hit windows or whatever on the other side — then to the helpless, wigged-out townspeople watching all this. The footage doesn’t cut together in the smooth, traditional Hollywood way, but it perfectly creates the chaos and movement the scene needs.
Barbara Stanwyck is terrific as Jessica Drummond, a female take on the rancher who runs the town. Barry Sullivan is Griff Bonnell, a former gunman now working for the government. So far, it sounds like one of your standard B Western plots — how many times was Roy Rogers a government agent? But that’s where the similarities end, as Forty Guns goes off in directions only Sam Fuller would even think of taking it. And he’s got a cast and crew eager to help him get there.
It has one of the damnedest opening sequences I’ve ever seen, as the Drummond and her 40 guns come thundering along a deserted and pass by Sullivan and his brothers. I’d love to experience it on a big curved CinemaScope screen.
But from one end to the other, Forty Guns is a movie absolutely filled with striking images, cooked up by Fuller and delivered in gorgeous B&W CinemaScope by Joseph Biroc — and all flawlessly captured on Blu-Ray by Criterion. They’ve really got the contrast perfectly dialed-in on this one. Wish every black and white movie looked like this on video — everybody who helps bring old movies to TV and video needs to take a look at this.
Of course, it’s got a typically Criterion-ish slew of extras — interviews, a documentary, even a chapter of Fuller’s autobiography. It’s a pretty deep dive, and it’s always a treat to wallow in Sam Fuller. He was a real character, a true original and one helluva filmmaker. Highly, highly recommended.
Posted in 1957, 20th Century-Fox, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Criterion, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Hank Worden, Sam Fuller on September 18, 2018| 34 Comments »
Directed by Sam Fuller
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger, John Ericson, Gene Barry
Criterion has announced a December 11 date for their edition of Sam Fuller’s Forty Guns (1957). The extras sound terrific and I can’t wait to see its black and white Scope in high definition.
This is one of those movies where you find something new to be dazzled by each time you see it. Absolutely essential.
Posted in 1957, 20th Century-Fox, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Hank Worden, Lippert/Regal, Sam Fuller on May 1, 2015| 147 Comments »
Written, Produced, Directed by Samuel Fuller
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger, John Ericson, Gene Barry, Robert Dix, Hank Worden
We all want to do our part to boost international trade. And here’s an easy way to do it. Samuel Fuller’s Forty Guns (1957) will come riding onto Blu-ray in June, thanks to the folks at Eureka Entertainment in the UK.
I don’t know what you think of this crazy thing, but I love it. It’s a big sweeping epic on one hand and a glorified Regalscope picture on the other. It’s got everything we expect from a Sam Fuller movie. And it has one of the damnedest opening sequences I’ve ever seen. I’d love to see it on a big curved CinemaScope screen — which I’m sure some of you have experienced.
It’s a Blu-ray/DVD combo, part of their Masters Of Cinema series, with an audio interview with Fuller among its extras. But who needs extras when you get Joseph Biroc’s incredible black and white ‘Scope photography in high definition?
Posted in 1954, 1955, Allan Dwan, Audie Murphy, Barbara Stanwyck, Dan Duryea, Making Movies, Robert Wagner on February 25, 2014| 3 Comments »
Robert Wagner and Virginia Leith on location for White Feather (1955). For some reason, this Delmer Daves-scripted picture has been overlooked. Seek it out.
Barbara Stanwyck and Allan Dwan chat between scenes on Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954). Dwan could do no wrong during this late phase of his incredible career.
Dan Duryea and Audie Murphy hanging out while making Ride Clear Of Diablo (1954). Both were at the top of their game on this one.
Posted in 1950, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, Anthony Mann, Barbara Stanwyck, Festivals, screenings, Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Robert Taylor on January 28, 2014| 2 Comments »
Another day, another reason I’m living on the wrong end of the country. UCLA will present a very thorough Anthony Mann retrospective, covering all the noir and Westerns we know and love, at the Billy Wilder Theater starting this week. Click on Gary Cooper for details.
The 50s Westerns include:
The Furies (1950) January 31
Devil’s Doorway (1950) March 3
Winchester ’73 (1950) March 15
The Naked Spur (1953) February 9
The Far Country (1954) March 23
The Man From Laramie (1955) February 5
The Last Frontier (1956) February 21
The Tin Star (1957) March 30
Man Of The West (1958) March 30
Posted in 1957, Barbara Stanwyck, Exhibition, theaters, etc., Hank Worden, Making Movies, Sam Fuller, Technical on June 26, 2013| 18 Comments »
This video from FilmmakerIQ.com may not teach you anything you don’t already know, but it sure is arranged and presented well.
Up top is Hank Worden and Barry Sullivan in Sam Fuller’s Forty Guns (1957) in CinemaScope.
Posted in 1952, 1954, 1956, 1959, Barbara Stanwyck, Howard Hawks, John Sturges, Kirk Douglas, Making Movies, Mara Corday, Republic Pictures, Rex Allen, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers on February 25, 2013| 7 Comments »
Rex Allen and Roy Rogers, somewhere on the Republic lot.
Mara Corday studies the Raw Edge (1956) screenplay.
Donna Reed and Richard Widmark at work on Backlash (1956). That’s John Sturges obscured in the ball cap.
Howard Hawks shows Kirk Douglas how to do a fight scene for The Big Sky (1952).
Ronald Reagan and Barbara Stanwyck discuss the arms situation on the set of Cattle Queen Of Montana (1954).
Satchel Paige and Robert Mitchum shoot the breeze between takes on The Wonderful Country (1959).
