Imprint has announced The Magnificent Seven Collection, a new five-disc set of The Magnificent Seven (1960) and its three sequels, limited to just 1,500 copies.
The original is included on both 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray, with the three sequels on Blu-ray. Return Of The Seven (1966) will feature a (magnificent?) commentary by yours truly.
The Magnificent Seven (1960) Directed by John Sturges Starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, Horst Buchholz, Eli Wallach
Return Of The Seven (1966) Directed by Burt Kennedy (below, with Yul Brynner) Starring Yul Brynner, Robert Fuller, Warren Oates, Claude Akins, Emilio Fernández, Fernando Rey
Guns Of The Magnificent Seven (1969) Directed by Paul Wendkos Starring George Kennedy, Monte Markham, Bernie Casey, James Whitmore, Reni Santoni, Joe Don Baker, Fernando Rey, Michael Ansara
The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972) Directed by George McCowan Starring Lee Van Cleef, Stefanie Powers, Michael Callan, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Luke Askew
Imprint’s boxed sets are a jewel in anybody’s collection, and this one will be no different. There are a ton of extras — trailers, commentaries, interviews, etc. — and each film is presented in stereo surround and the original mono. Coming in March. Recommended!
Cheyenne (1955-62) was more than just an excellent 50s Western TV show. It was the first hour-long Western, the first hour-long dramatic TV show to run more than a single season. It was also the first TV series produced by a major studio (Warner Bros.) that wasn’t derived from an established film property.
Now on Blu-Ray from Warner Archive — 107 episodes on 30 discs, Cheyenne is one of the best examples of classic TV in high definition I’ve seen so far. Scanned in 4K from the original camera negatives, these things are just stunning.
In its first season, Cheyenne shared its time slot with King’s Row and Casablanca, two WB shows based on their films. After the first season, those two vanished and Cheyenne had other slot-mates (Sugarfoot in the third season).
Clint Walker plays Cheyenne Bodie, a cowboy/scout riding across the post-Civil War West. Each week, he rides into a new spot and happens upon a new batch of folks. The plots are very much in line with what the laters B Westerns had been — and what we think of today as a 50s Western.
Cheyenne was raised by the Cheyenne after his parents were killed by another tribe. He later lived with a white family (the particulars vary a bit from show to show). He’s fair, kind, strong and always ready to help out those in need. And as if to prove the idea that “no good deed goes unpunished,” Cheyenne’s servant nature often lands him in a real mess.
Warner Bros. put their major-studio muscle behind their TV product, and it shows. Cheyenne fits right in with what Warners was doing with Western features in the late 50s. From the sets to the casts to the music, these episodes play like 50-minute versions of what WB was sending to theaters. For example, James Garner and Angie Dickinson appear in a second-season episode (“War Party”) about the same time they were in Warner’s Randolph Scott picture Shootout At Medicine Bend (1957).
The directors who did episodes of Cheyenne is a bit of a Western Who’s Who, with pros like George Waggner, Paul Landres, Thomas Carr, Joe Kane, Howard W. Koch, Paul Henreid, Lew Landers and Arthur Lubin.
Same with cinematographers. Shooting Cheyenne were folks like Harold E. Stine, Carl E. Guthrie, Bert Glennon, Ted McCord, William H. Clothier, Harold Rosson, William P. Whitley and Ellis W. Carter.
From week to week, the cast was incredible. Here’s just a sample of the folks who turn up over the course of the show: James Garner, Jack Elam, Ray Teal, Myron Healy, Bob Steele, Kathleen Crowley, Leo Gordon, Ann Robinson, Rod Taylor, Marie Windsor (above), Adele Mara, Gerald Mohr, Peggie Castle, Robert J. Wilke, Penny Edwards, Dennis Hopper, James Griffith, Angie Dickinson, John Qualen, Lee Van Cleef, Denver Pyle, Phil Carey, James Coburn, Nestor Paiva, Slim Pickens, John Carradine, Frank Ferguson, Joan Weldon, Tom Conway, Guinn “Big Boy” Williams, Edd Byrnes, Evelyn Ankers, John Russell, Claude Akins, Don “Red” Barry, Don Megowan, Dan Blocker, Adam West, Connie Stevens, Faith Domergue, James Drury, Lorne Greene, Mala Powers, Merry Anders, Alan Hale Jr., R. G. Armstrong, Ahna Capri, Ellen Burstyn, Sally Kellerman, Michael Landon, Harry Lauter and Ruta Lee. In three of the early episodes, LQ Jones (below) is his sidekick Smitty. (I left out dozens because it would’ve made for a pretty ridiculous paragraph.)
Cheyenne was a hit and it made Clint Walker a star. With a hit show, the exacting schedule that came with it, no features on the horizon, and an exclusive contract that paid him just $150 a week, after the third season, Walker was unhappy.
Clint Walker: “… I found out they [Warner Bros.] turned down some pretty nice features that I could’ve done… I heard that when people inquired, they were told, ‘When Clint Walker does features, he’ll do ‘em for Warner Bros.’ So that’s where we had the difference of opinion.” *
So, Clint Walker, well, walked. The show zigzagged to a “fake Cheyenne,” Bronco Layne (Ty Hardin) and kept going until Walker was coaxed back into the saddle. Warners put him in the excellentFort Dobbs (1958), which I’d love to see make the leap to Blu-Ray. Bronco Layne got his own series for a while, called simply Bronco.
This is an excellent TV series, a consistent favorite of fans of 50s Westerns — and for good reason. And Warner Archive has given us all good reason to pick up this set. They look wonderful. The audio has plenty of punch. They’re uncut and have the original WB openings and closings in place. A nice slipcover thing holds the seasons nice and neat.
Cheyenne was a home run back in 1955 — and it’s a home run on Blu-Ray 70 years later. Highly, highly recommended.
*From a phone conversation with this author back in 2010.
A while back, Warner Archive dug the series Colt .45 out of their vaults for a stunning Blu-Ray set. They’ve done it again with a Warner Bros. series that’s been even harder to see over the years — The Alaskans (1959-60) starring Roger Moore and Dorothy Provine.
Roger Moore stars as Silky Harris, a con man in Skagway, Alaska during the state’s Gold Rush. Jeff York is his cohort Reno McKee and Dorothy Provine is the saloon singer Rocky Shaw. It looks and plays much like the other Westerns WB was putting on TV in the late 50s, only this one trades the Wild West for gold-crazy Alaska (which had recently become a state).
Of course, the Alaska we see here is actually the WB backlot. One of Roger Moore’s complaints about the show was how miserable it was wearing a parka in the California sun.
A TV show is almost like a living thing. It’s born, it grows and hopefully it finds its way. Most shows’ early episodes are a far cry from that first season’s final ones. With The Andy Griffith Show, for instance, Andy’s take on his character is almost completely different going from Season 1 to Season 2. And look at how The Man From UNCLE changed as it went to color (and maybe the suits saw the success of Batman).
Though The Alaskans was part of a terrific ABC Sunday-night lineup (all Westerns!), and it boasted an incredible roster of guest stars — from Julie Adams and Claude Akins to Frank Ferguson and Leo Gordon to Ray Teal and Lee Van Cleef to Marie Windsor and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., the show never quite took off. After a single season, it was done. (Moore was then coerced into joining the cast of Maverick when James Garner left).
The Alaskans has the look and feel of the other WB TV Westerns of the period (and reportedly some recycled Maverick scripts), but something never quite clicks. (Jeff York’s character often seems totally unnecessary.) Close, but no cigar.
But all these years later, with this nice Blu-Ray set at our disposal, it’s easy to give The Alaskans some grace. There’s that cast, directors like Jesse Hibbs, Leslie H. Martinson, Jacques Tourneur and George Waggner, and gorgeous 4K transfers from the camera negatives. I’ve longed to see it (never thinking I would), and even though its shortcomings were what I’d been warned about, it’s easy to recommend it.
It’s more than just a curio from the early days of Moore’s career, and I’m grateful to Warner Archive for putting it out.
And back to that idea of TV shows being like living things. The Alaskans didn’t get a second season, but here’s its chance at another life. Check it out.
Directed by Henry Levin Starring Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, Neville Brand, Robert Middleton, Elaine Aiken, Elisha Cook, Jr., Claude Akins, Lee Van Cleef, Denver Pyle, John Doucette
When I reviewed the DVD of Henry Levin’s The Lonely Man (1957) many moons ago, I commented that with Lionel Lindon’s Vistavision photography, it’d make a swell Blu-Ray. Well, thanks to Kino Lorber, we’ll find out just how swell. They have it on the way, with a commentary track by yours truly.
The Lonely Man is a variation on the gunfighter-wants-to-hang-up-his-guns idea, with an estranged son tossed into the mix. Gunman Jacob Wade (Jack Palance) comes home to lead a normal, peaceful life, only to find the wife he abandoned dead (suicide?) and his son (Anthony Perkins) a very bitter young man. Father and son wind up at Wade’s ranch, where they encounter Ada (Elaine Aiken), a herd of mustangs and some guys from Wade’s past — Neville Brand, Claud Aikens, Lee Van Cleef and Elisha Cook. And to top it all off, Wade’s going blind.
The picture’s probably Henry Levin’s best. And it’s got a great cast, almost a Bad Guy Hall Of Fame. But the real “star” of The Lonely Man is cinematographer Lionel Lindon. He did some fine work over the course of his long career — from Road To Utopia (1945) and The Black Scorpion (1957) to The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and The Munsters, but this one is just stunning. The rich shadows of the interiors and the deep focus of the Alabama Hills exteriors are gorgeous in black and white VistaVision. And that’s the primary why this Blu-Ray comes so highly recommended.
Directed by Henry Levin Starring Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, Elaine Aiken, Neville Brand, Robert Middleton, Elisha Cook, Jr., Claude Akins, Lee Van Cleef
Kino Lorber has announced that they are getting Henry Levin’s The Lonely Man (1957) ready for Blu-Ray. It’s a good one, a solid father-son redemption story with an excellent performance from Jack Palance (looking quite a bit like his character in Shane (1953).
It also serves as a Bad Guy Hall Of Fame—featuring Jack Palance, Neville Brand, Elisha Cook, Jr., Lee Van Cleef, Claude Akins and John Doucette. And it was shot in B&W VistaVision by Lionel Lindon. By the way, the Blu-Ray will have a commentary by yours truly.
Directed by Howard Hawks Starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, Claud Akins, John Russell
Warner Bros. is bringing their new restoration of Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959) to 4K disc in July. Haven’t seen any info on a new DVD or Blu-Ray. This is my favorite Western and it has never been all that stellar-looking on video, so I’m really stoked about this. Hope and pray it doesn’t have that sickly yellow tint that infects so many restorations of older films lately.
The Criterion Collection has announced an upcoming 4K set of Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher’s Ranown Cycle: The Tall T (1957), Decision At Sundown (1957), Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), Ride Lonesome (1959) and Comanche Station (1960).
It’s coming in July, so get to shopping for 4K players and TVs!
Wish someone would convince the John Wayne estate to pave the way to get Seven Men From Now (1956), the film that launched the Scott-Boetticher collaboration, out on Blu-Ray.
Nashville Scene used to boast a film writer named Jim Ridley. He’s about my age and he passed away a few years ago. Came across a compilation of his writing over the weekend called People Only Die Of Love In The Movies. In it, there’s his short piece on Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959).
You may know by now that Rio Bravo is my favorite Western. I’m not gonna say it’s the best necessarily, but if I was headed to the electric chair and I got to watch one Western before they threw the switch, that’d be the one I’d pick (and not because of its long-ish running time).
Anyway, Mr. Ridley nailed Rio Bravo. What makes it special. What it is about it that’s so different. After reading his piece, I thought I would’ve loved to have met him for coffee or lunch somewhere just to geek out on Rio Bravo. That woulda really been something.
Here’s a couple gems from his review (from Nashville Scene, November 2, 2006):
“After the big-budget thud of Land Of The Pharaohs, Howard Hawks emerged from a three-year sabbatical, including a stay in Paris and a purposeful study of TV drama, to create his 1959 rifle opera: a laid-back yet hard-headed response to the sanctimonious High Noon — which pissed off the director because no lawman worth his badge would ask civilians to risk their hides doing his job. The result is an irresistible ode to loyalty, cool under fire and masculine honor — which in the Hawks universe extends even to Angie Dickinson’s stand-up saloon girl.”
“Perhaps the most purely enjoyable Western ever made, Rio Bravo only deepens with age and repeated viewing, right down to the genial juxtaposition of Martin’s slouch and Wayne’s saunter. It’s doubtful another American movie has ever taken so much interest in the way its characters walk — or understood why it matters.”
Mr. Ridley, I’m sure sorry we never got to talk Rio Bravo. Would’ve been a blast.
Mill Creek has announced the six-disc, 12-movie Blu-Ray set The Randolph Scott Collection, which gives us a great batch of Scott’s Westerns for Columbia.
The Desperadoes (1943) Directed by Charles Vidor Starring Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor, Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, Edgar Buchanan
Scott plays a sheriff after two separate bands of outlaws who rob the same bank at about the same time. Turns out the first robbery was an inside job.
The Nevadan (1950) Directed by Gordon Douglas Starring Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone, Forrest Tucker, Frank Faylen and George Macready
Scott’s a Marshal who lets an outlaw (Forrest Tucker) escape so he can recover $250,000 in stolen gold.
Santa Fe (1951) Directed by Irving Pichel Starring Randolph Scott, Janis Carter
Scott’s trying to help build a railroad, with even his own brothers trying to stop him.
Man In The Saddle (1951 Directed by Andre de Toth Starring Randolph Scott, Joan Leslie, Ellen Drew, Alexander Knox, Richard Rober, John Russell, Alfonso Bedoya, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, Clem Bevans, Cameron Mitchell, Tennessee Ernie Ford
Scott’s a farmer who locks horns with Alexander Knox, who wants his land. The first, and maybe best, of the Scott pictures directed by Andre de Toth.
Hangman’s Knot (1952) Directed by Roy Huggins Starring Randolph Scott, Donna Reed, Claude Jarman, Jr., Frank Faylen, Richard Denning, Lee Marvin
Confederate soldiers, led by Scott, steal a shipment of Yankee gold and end up with a posse after ’em.
The Stranger Wore A Gun (1953) Directed by Andre de Toth Starring Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor, Joan Weldon, George Macready, Alfonso Bedoya, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine
This time, Scott’s a Confederate spy who’s in in a big robbery but has a change of heart. Originally in 3-D, widescreen (1.85) and stereophonic sound, it’ll be interesting to see what we get here.
A Lawless Street (1955) Directed by Joseph H. Lewis Starring Randolph Scott
Then we get four of the Budd Boetticher/Burt Kennedy Ranown cycle, some of the finest Westerns ever made. What’s missing from the unofficial series are Batjac’s Seven Men From Now (1956) and Warner’s Westbound (1959) which aren’t available on Blu-Ray.
The Tall T (1957) Directed by Budd Boetticher Starring Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Maureen O’Sullivan, Arthur Hunnicutt, Skip Homeier, Henry Silva
Scott and Maureen O’Sullivan are held captive at a way station by a bunch of crooks. This is an incredible movie, based on a story by Elmore Leonard.
Decision At Sundown (1958) Directed by Budd Boetticher Starring Randolph Scott, John Carroll, Karen Steele, Valerie French, Noah Beery Jr., John Archer, Ray Teal
Scott rides in Sundown to kill John Carroll., who had an affair with his wife.
Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) Directed by Budd Boetticher Starring Randolph Scott, Craig Stevens, Barry Kelley, L.Q. Jones
Tom Buchanan (Scott) rides into the border town of Agry and is robbed and framed for murder. Naturally, Scott isn’t happy about this and does something about it. This was my entry point into the films of Randolph Scott, and it remains a favorite.
Ride Lonesome (1959) Directed by Budd Boetticher Starring Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, James Coburn
Ben Brigade (Scott) is a bounty hunter trying to take Billy John to Santa Cruz and turn him in. Standing in the way are Billy John’s brother and a group of Indians.
Comanche Station (1960) Directed by Budd Boetticher Starring Randolph Scott, Claude Akins, Nancy Gates, Skip Homeier
Scott rescues a women from the Comanches, not knowing her husband has a $5,000 reward for her return, dead or alive. Along come some dirtbags, lead by Claude Akins, who know about the five grand and want her for themselves.
This set is essential. Some of these are available on Blu-Ray elsewhere, some are not. Order yours now.
Directed by Henry Levin
Produced by Pat Duggan
Written by Harry Essex & Robert Smith
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Music by Van Cleave
Film Editor: William B. Murphy
Cast: Jack Palance (Jacob Wade), Anthony Perkins (Riley Wade), Neville Brand (King Fisher), Robert Middleton (Ben Ryerson), Elaine Aiken (Ada Marshall), Elisha Cook, Jr. (Willie), Claude Akins (Blackburn), Lee Van Cleef (Faro), Harry Shannon (Dr. Fisher), James Bell (Judge Hart), Adam Williams (Lon), Denver Pyle (Brad), John Doucette (Sundown Whipple)
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It’d be easy to call The Lonely Man (1957) another gunfighter-wants-to-hang-up-his-guns movie, with an estranged son tossed into the mix. But you’d be really selling this one short. After all, one thing you learn from watching a couple hundred 50s Westerns is that the fun often comes from seeing what each picture does with a well-worn, basic framework we’ve all seen before.
After many years, gunman Jacob Wade (Jack Palance) comes home to lead a normal, peaceful life, only to find the wife he abandoned dead (suicide?) and his son a very bitter young man. Father and son wind up at Wade’s other ranch, where Ada (Elaine Aiken), a herd of mustangs and plenty of trouble await. That trouble, it’s some guys from Wade’s past — Neville Brand, Claud Aikens, Lee Van Cleef and Elisha Cook — and they have a score to settle. And to top it all off, Jacob’s going blind.
Palance is dressed a bit like his character, Jack Wilson, in Shane (1953), but all similarities end there. Jacob Wade has a conscience here, and is filled with regret. This isn’t how he wanted things to turn out, and he hopes to make things right with his son. Anthony Perkins is quite good as Riley Wade. He has plenty to learn, but he doesn’t come off as a spineless toad. Though he’s angry and spiteful, we still like him and feel for him.
Robert Middleton, who’s always good, has a great part as the one member of Wade’s old gang who’s still loyal. We like him, but we don’t really trust him.
Elaine Aiken is really good as the woman Jacob’s been with since leaving his family. She didn’t make many movies, this was her first, but she became a noted acting teacher — and a founder of the Actors Conservatory. The bad guys, from Neville Brand to Lee Van Cleef, have well-rounded parts — and the actors make the most of their limited screen time.
The dialogue by Harry Essex and Robert Smith is terrific and the direction from Henry Levin and editing by William Murphy are very tight. This is solid picture.
But for my money, the real “star” of The Lonely Man is cinematographer Lionel Lindon. He did some fine work over the course of his long career — from Road To Utopia (1945) and The Black Scorpion (1957) to The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and The Munsters, but this one is just stunning. (Let’s not forget his beautiful Trucolor work in 1955’s A Man Alone.) The rich shadows of the interiors and the deep focus of the Alabama Hills exteriors are gorgeous in black and white VistaVision.
The Paramount DVD of The Lonely Man has been around for a while, and it’s a terrific example of what a good transfer can be. The VistaVision is sharp as a tack, as it should be, and the blacks are absolutely perfect, and that’s critical to appreciating Lionel Lindon’s work on this film. The Alabama Hills have rarely been presented so beautifully. I’d love to see this make it to Blu-Ray.
The Lonely Man certainly deserves more attention than it gets. Highly, highly recommended.
Interestingly, a few months later, Anthony Perkins and Neville Brand were back in another black and white VistaVision Western for Paramount — Anthony Mann’s The Tin Star (1957).
Elaine Aiken is really good as the woman Jacob’s been with since leaving his family. She didn’t make many movies, this was her first, but she became a noted acting teacher — and a founder of the Actors Conservatory. The bad guys, from Neville Brand to Lee Van Cleef, have well-rounded parts — and the actors make the most of their limited screen time.
50 Westerns From The 50s.