Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 19th, 2007
When I picked up Rio Bravo – Ultimate Collector’s Edition to review, I realized I had never seen a John Wayne movie. “The Duke” starred in well over 100 films, so I was more than a little surprised at this gaping hole in my viewing repertoire. Then I looked up director Howard Hawks (The Big Sleep) and discovered another long list of films I’ve overlooked. Defensively, I asked myself whether I was really missing out. Could their old movies be worth my time so many years later?
If Rio Bravo is any indication, their films are absolutely worth watching, though they’re perhaps not as masterful as they’re reputed to be. No matter your opinion, this Ultimate Collector’s Edition is one fine DVD set.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 12th, 2007
Seraphim Falls was a sparsely released film released early in 2007, recently finding its way to DVD. In addition to being the first film where two Irish stars - Pierce Brosnan & Liam Neeson - share screen time together, it also marks the directorial debut of David Von Ancken who also happened to be a co-writer. After watching this movie I can definitely tell you that I am looking forward to any future projects of Von Ancken’s. But that’s aside from the point, how was this film?
Before watching this m...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 7th, 2007
Synopsis
When all his cowhands desert him to take part in a gold rush, John Wayne is left with no alternative but hire a group of schoolboys, between the ages of 9 and 15, to work for him on a long and dangerous cattle drive. Along with all the usual hazards of such a journey, they are also being stalked by Bruce Dern and his band of rustlers.
What a peculiar concoction. All the expected western conventions are present, but most of the cast is a half or a third of the age one would generall...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 6th, 2007
I should have known I was in trouble from the opening credits. The graphics are accompanied by some really cheap sounding synthesizer music. It sounds like they sprung for the $39 Casio. Beyond the crappy sound, the melody, if you can call it that, didn’t fit the western I was unfortunately about to see. Let’s keep this simple, shall we? If you pick this baby up at your local video store, I’m going to advise you to put it down and back away from the shelf. Now you owe me. I gave you back 2 hours of your life you we...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 19th, 2006
Louis L’Amour has been synonymous with the modern Western novel for decades. His stylized depictions of the Old West are always populated with colorful characters. Foremost of these characters would have to be The Sackett Brothers. Two of L’Amour’s Sackett adventures contributed to this 1979 mini-series. “The Daybreakers” and “Sackett” combine to form this 3 hour presentation.
Fresh off the enormous success of such Western shows as Bonanza and Gunsmoke, his mini-series has all the earmarks of that traditional television western.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 4th, 2006
The career transformation that Clint Eastwood has endured over the last several generations can be called nothing short of extraordinary. After all, we are talking about a guy who made a steady name for himself in action films of the late '60s and '70s, first appearing in the spaghetti western films of Sergio Leone, then moving onto the Dirty Harry films of director Don Siegel, before moving on again to more of a directing role. Some of his works were hits and others were plain misses.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 7th, 2006
The Culpepper Cattle Company was a surprise for me, and one that I looked forward to immensely. I love a good western, and I'm particularly fond of anything post-Leone. A western doesn't have to be spaghetti, however, for me to like it. I just feel that, for all Sergio's overblown proportions, he did instill an accurate degree of nastiness in his films, which I'm sure was prevalent in that time of American history. Once Sergio came, westerns grew up, even if they were playing closer to the American style of fi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 31st, 2006
Yellow Sky is one of those near classic Westerns from 1949. For decades the film has flown under the mainstream radar, only to finally be rediscovered on DVD. Gregory Peck is an unlikely choice to play the lead role. Stretch heads a band of thieves that strike from town to town hitting usually banks. The film wastes very little time getting started. We see the gang set up, and soon pull off, one of these heists in the first five minutes. The gang is quickly chased out into the unforgiving desert sun of the Western badlands.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 11th, 2005
Synopsis
G.W. McLintock (John Wayne, True Grit, Rooster Cogburn) made most of his money by being a cattle baron. He made so much money in fact, the film’s fictional town was named after him. How cool is that? But all is not milk and honey in McLintock’s life. He has an estranged wife who does not live with him (Quiet Man co star Maureen O’Hara), and now wants a divorce.
Those hostilities are put aside when their daughter Becky (Stefanie Powers, Hart to Hart) returns hom...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2005
Missouri Breaks starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson is an overlooked, under-appreciated western, which succeeds where most films fail -- as first a character study, and last an action piece. Set in Montana, Missouri Breaks tells the story of a fun-loving outlaw (Nicholson) and his comrades (including a much younger Randy Quaid and good old Harry Dean Stanton), who set out on a crime spree as a means of payback against an evil land baron responsible for the death of one of their friends.
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