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FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!! - Page 4

post #91 of 122
5/10/08 at 5:10am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by haroldS
The Big Trail, as well as Fox Western Classics and The Westerner, as of yesterday, were in the Fox/MGM buy two, get one free, sale list at DeepDiscount. Like the earlier comment on the John Wayne/Big Trail collection, I had already ordered two of these titles, before the sale, paying more then the DeepDiscount net sales price.

Thanks for the heads-up. Order both The Big Trail & FOX Western Classics, and got The Iron Horse as a freebie...all under $30 shipped.
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post #92 of 122
5/11/08 at 4:51am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

My preorders are finally on their way to me. Of course, "The Gunfighter" will be the first viewing followed by "Rawhide", "Garden of Evil" and "The Big Trail".





Crawdaddy
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post #93 of 122
5/11/08 at 7:00am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

I got my DVDs on Friday and 'The Gunfighter' was indeed the first title I watched (having only seen it previously on TCM). Fox did a terrific job delivering this classic in a nicely restored edition complete with some great extras for under $5. The Fox Westerns set along with the long-awaited westerns that MGM released make this week one of the best ever for fans of Westerns.

-D
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post #94 of 122
5/30/08 at 7:22am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Just a quick word on the Grandeur 'The Big Trail'; yes, Wayne is a little gauche and he's far from the finished article, yes, as with many early sound films, the actors are still trying make themselves heard in the back stalls, but from the point of view of the production as a whole, it's simply breathtaking.

The cinematography and production values combine to give us a spectacular picture the likes of which wouldn't be seen again for nigh on a quarter of a century. Stunning stuff, just stunning.
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post #95 of 122
5/30/08 at 8:54am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Hodson
Just a quick word on the Grandeur 'The Big Trail'; yes, Wayne is a little gauche and he's far from the finished article, yes, as with many early sound films, the actors are still trying make themselves heard in the back stalls, but from the point of view of the production as a whole, it's simply breathtaking.

The cinematography and production values combine to give us a spectacular picture the likes of which wouldn't be seen again for nigh on a quarter of a century. Stunning stuff, just stunning.

John: I couldn't agree more. I just watched this the other night and found the landscapes stunning. It couldn't be more beautiful. To think it was released in 1930...so much closer to when such events actually transpired, is really something.

Some of those action sequences of the wagons crossing rivers and being lowered down the cliffs are tremendously harrowing.

About the audio. I've been recommending that people watch it with the subtitles turned on. There are many instances where you will see dialogue which I doubt you would be able to pick out otherwise--especially in the crowd/action sequences. It makes keeping up with the plot a less strenuous effort for the viewer.

Walsh didn't believe in many close-ups, did he? There are only a few instances where we get close to the principal actors in any given scene. At the very end there is a tight shot of Wayne with Marguerite Churchill which is one of the few instances in which we really get to see details of the actress' face.

In the meantime, I haven't been able to find the Fox Westerns Classic Collection (including The Gunfighter) in any of my local B&M stores...including Borders, Best Buy, Circuit City, FYE, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. I realize, of course, that I could always order it from amazon or anyone else. I'm just a little surprised that I haven't been able to find it in ANY store.
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post #96 of 122
5/30/08 at 9:34am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Frezon
Walsh didn't believe in many close-ups, did he? There are only a few instances where we get close to the principal actors in any given scene. At the very end there is a tight shot of Wayne with Marguerite Churchill which is one of the few instances in which we really get to see details of the actress' face.

Quite so (and quite Fordian ), but what is remarkable is that Walsh is so assured with Grandeur; the framing is so, well, modern; as someone says in the doco, it's sometimes like looking at a Remington painting. And I'm looking for mattes where there are none; look in the backgrounds and mostly what you see is real - the town, the wagon train, the indian village and as you say that incredible scene where they're lowering the wagons over the cliffs.

The narrative is almost incidental as one sumptuous vista is topped by the next.
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post #97 of 122
5/30/08 at 11:13am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

It's worth comparing a similar "lowering the wagons" (and the people) scene in THE WAY WEST. Whereas THE BIG TRAIL's scene ws apparently improvised by Walsh, the scene in THE WAY WEST is more like a ski-lift--and in closeups--with the "hearty" pioneers cheering Lola Albright on.
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post #98 of 122
5/30/08 at 11:38am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Hodson
Quite so (and quite Fordian ), but what is remarkable is that Walsh is so assured with Grandeur; the framing is so, well, modern; as someone says in the doco, it's sometimes like looking at a Remington painting. And I'm looking for mattes where there are none; look in the backgrounds and mostly what you see is real - the town, the wagon train, the indian village and as you say that incredible scene where they're lowering the wagons over the cliffs.

The narrative is almost incidental as one sumptuous vista is topped by the next.

While you might compare it to a Remington painting, I was thinking, as I watched it, of a current-day 16:9 film--only much more beautiful than 95% of what passes for modern-day cinema. It was remarkable how successful an experiment it was. While I am curious about how the 4:3 version looks, I'm not sure I'll be taking the time--anytime soon--to give it a look.

I was, however, thinking just like you about which, if any, of the backgrounds were matte paintings. My conclusion was that there weren't any.

I haven't had time yet to visit any of the bonus features to learn more about the Grandeur process or the film-making process of The Big Trail...but I will surely be making time for those soon!

Charles: I will have to check out The Way West sometime. Haven't seen it.
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post #99 of 122
5/30/08 at 2:41pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

I received "The Big Trail" last week along with several other titles, but haven't had time to watch any of them. After reading these comments on "The Big Trail" it has been moved to the top of my viewing list. Thanks to everyone for the posts!
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post #100 of 122
5/30/08 at 5:49pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

The Gunfighter/Rawhide/Garden of Evil set was the best set of westerns I've seen in a long time. For $5 a piece, only a fool would pass these up.
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post #101 of 122
5/30/08 at 6:02pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by WadeM
The Gunfighter/Rawhide/Garden of Evil set was the best set of westerns I've seen in a long time. For $5 a piece, only a fool would pass these up.
I watched each title in that boxset and was very pleased with the PQ.





Crawdaddy
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post #102 of 122
5/31/08 at 3:59am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Managed to watch "Rawhide" from the FOX Westerns Classic box last night. All I can say is, "Wow...what a movie!". I really wasn't expecting much, but was immediately drawn in to the story and characters. Being a huge John Wayne fan, I'm aware that Henry Hathaway did a great job directing some of Duke's best films. I was gratified to see him do the same top-notch job with this one as well. I had only seen Tyrone Power in one other film ("The Long Grey Line"), and didn't really care for him in that. But it's almost as if he was born to play the character he portrays in Rawhide. Jack Elm was never slimier, and Edward Buchanan, who is only in it for a short time, was never better. I highly recommend it those who have not seen it...great stuff!

This set was a blind buy for me. Now after seeing Rawhide, I can't wait to see the other two.
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post #103 of 122
5/31/08 at 4:54am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by jim_falconer
Managed to watch "Rawhide" from the FOX Westerns Classic box last night. All I can say is, "Wow...what a movie!". I really wasn't expecting much, but was immediately drawn in to the story and characters. Being a huge John Wayne fan, I'm aware that Henry Hathaway did a great job directing some of Duke's best films. I was gratified to see him do the same top-notch job with this one as well. I had only seen Tyrone Power in one other film ("The Long Grey Line"), and didn't really care for him in that. But it's almost as if he was born to play the character he portrays in Rawhide. Jack Elm was never slimier, and Edward Buchanan, who is only in it for a short time, was never better. I highly recommend it those who have not seen it...great stuff!

This set was a blind buy for me. Now after seeing Rawhide, I can't wait to see the other two.
I don't think you'll be disppointed in the other two titles. Over the years, I actually preferred "Rawhide" over "The Garden of Evil", but I'm definitely in the minority in that opinion. Just goes to show you how film appreciation is so subjective.




Crawdaddy
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post #104 of 122
5/31/08 at 10:56am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Crawford
I don't think you'll be disppointed in the other two titles. Over the years, I actually preferred "Rawhide" over "The Garden of Evil", but I'm definitely in the minority in that opinion. Just goes to show you how film appreciation is so subjective.

I'm with you on that, Crawdaddy, having watched everything in this boxset now on a blind buy. Garden of Evil is very nicely filmed and has that great score, plus some good drama whenever they get around to it, but the script is heavy on philosophizing and short on character or compelling situations. Rawhide has a much tighter and more involving script, with interesting stuff for pretty much every character to do.
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post #105 of 122
5/31/08 at 1:17pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Apparently the FOX CLASSIC WESTERNS collections are NOT BEING SOLD IN QUEBEC...

Does anyone know why??
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post #106 of 122
5/31/08 at 2:40pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

^ I suspect it's because there is no French on the packaging. I got mine in Canada, rare for me for a boxset. There are French language tracks.
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post #107 of 122
5/31/08 at 6:31pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

I doubt that Craig, there are lots of releases without bilingual packaging. Well... not enough unfortunately. But Raoul Walsh's BIG TRAIL is a recent release that I purchased on street date and was happy to find it without a bilingual cover.

The recent MGM western singles on the other hand, I had to order online (DVDPlanet) because they didn't escape the wrath of the silly Quebec product language laws.

I wonder if there is a licensing issue with one of the titles in the set that is preventing it from being distributed in Quebec??
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post #108 of 122
5/31/08 at 6:56pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

^ Oh well, was just a (superficial) guess from looking at the packaging. I got my "John Wayne: The Fox Westerns" from the U.S., only bilingual set packaging around here.
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post #109 of 122
6/1/08 at 4:48am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Haggai
I'm with you on that, Crawdaddy, having watched everything in this boxset now on a blind buy. Garden of Evil is very nicely filmed and has that great score, plus some good drama whenever they get around to it, but the script is heavy on philosophizing and short on character or compelling situations. Rawhide has a much tighter and more involving script, with interesting stuff for pretty much every character to do.

Thirded. 'Rawhide' is an excellent western with a cracking script; a big hand for Dudley Nichols.
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post #110 of 122
6/1/08 at 6:30pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Damn...with all those comments...I'm gonna have to order that set. Pronto!

Has anyone seen this set at a B&M?
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post #111 of 122
6/2/08 at 8:34am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

In answer to Mike's question, yes, I found the set at a Virgin Megastore. True enough, it was filed in the 'action'/'westerns' section, but it was stashed at the tail-end of the section, as if no one was quite sure where it would have been filed alphabetically.
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post #112 of 122
6/2/08 at 10:46am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Thanks, Dave.

Yup. I've been looking under "F" for Fox and "W" for Western and still wondering if I'm missing it because it got filed under something else...

I've seen the Big Trail filed under "B", "W" (for Wayne) and even--I kid you not--"T" (for The!). And, I've seen it in "War/Westerns", "Action/Adventure" and even "Drama."

I've seen similar filing issues at the big B&Ms with the Wayne Fox Western collection and the Ford at Fox collections.

And that's why I haven't been sure if the stores aren't stocking it...or I've just been missing it.
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post #113 of 122
6/3/08 at 6:49pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

BIG NEWS!

The Big Trail is on sale for $8.99 this week @ Best Buy. This title is NOT included in the sale ad list of $8.99 titles on sale for father's day. But, as I was walking through my local store tonight...there it was in the display (marked $14.99). I took a copy to customer service and it scanned for $8.99. Lucky for me, I had my receipt from my prior purchase of The Big Trail @ BB still in my wallet and I immediately got a price adjustment pocketing $6.48.

Then I walked across the mall to my local FYE (TransWorld) store. FINALLY, I found a copy of the Fox Westerns Collection (filed under "F" in the War/Westerns section)! Although I knew I would be able to do much better I decided to take the plunge at the sticker price of $19.99. Lo and behold, at the register, it rang up $12.99!!! With tax that comes to $4.66 per movie.

What a surprisingly fortuitous night this bargain hunter had!
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post #114 of 122
6/9/08 at 3:15pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Late to the party, but finally got around to Garden of Evil yesterday. The sound... The dialog was very intelligible, the background hiss pretty constant but not annoying to me, it was the 4.0: that drove me crazy. People would turn their heads or move a couple inches, and the sound would zip from center to far right/left. My decoder insisted this was a 5.0 track (??, I didn't hugely investigate), perhaps it just needs a good beating.

The scene where they first arrive at the abandoned Mexican town where everybody is a bit spread out is a good example. Ping pong sound. Or was it just here? If so I'll make a note of any setup suggestions for the next time (maybe I should have deleted the center speaker?). Thanks.
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post #115 of 122
6/9/08 at 3:24pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

i just got the fox westerns collection along with the big trail this week. so far i've only watched the big trail & rawhide but they were both great. i was really impressed with the visuals in the grandeur version of the big trail. there is so much going on in every shot either with the huge cast or the background it really seemed like a massive undertaking for such an old film that was pulled off very well. another thing that i'm impressed with is the extras on the fox set. i really wasn't expecting much especially with the low price, but i was pleasantly surprised. i hope they keep these up as long as they can!
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post #116 of 122
6/9/08 at 4:01pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Yeah, I guess that was pretty lousy of me to mention the only "bad" thing I noticed in this bunch of movies. It was like a persistent itch though.
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post #117 of 122
6/9/08 at 5:50pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigF
Late to the party, but finally got around to Garden of Evil yesterday. The sound... The dialog was very intelligible, the background hiss pretty constant but not annoying to me, it was the 4.0: that drove me crazy. People would turn their heads or move a couple inches, and the sound would zip from center to far right/left. My decoder insisted this was a 5.0 track (??, I didn't hugely investigate), perhaps it just needs a good beating.

The scene where they first arrive at the abandoned Mexican town where everybody is a bit spread out is a good example. Ping pong sound. Or was it just here? If so I'll make a note of any setup suggestions for the next time (maybe I should have deleted the center speaker?). Thanks.
That is typical of early '50s stereo sound. Sound was recorded and mixed very differently then than it is now. To achieve directionality of the dialog, they literally had 3 microphones on stage so that the voices bounce around based on which mike picked up the most. You'll notice that you can always hear the dialog in all 3 front channels though it will be louder in one. A head-turn could literally cause a shift from one microphone to another.
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post #118 of 122
6/9/08 at 6:31pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

^ Ah...thanks. So it's not an artifact of the DVD production then, but is "accurate". That's fine then, long as I know, I guess I've never experienced this before or noticed it as much.
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post #119 of 122
6/9/08 at 9:03pm

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

All three of these are blind buys for me (ashamed as I am to admit that).

Watched The Gunfighter the other night. Absolutely terrific. A classic western done really well. I thought that while some of the exterior scenes seemed excessively dark and grainy, that it was probably the intention of the director and DP for it to be so. The rest of the PQ seemed excellent and the sound was terrific.

While I guess some like to draw comparisons with Unforgiven, I thought both High Noon and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance both had a lot in common with The Gunfighter.
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post #120 of 122
6/10/08 at 2:57am

Re: FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark-P
That is typical of early '50s stereo sound. Sound was recorded and mixed very differently then than it is now. To achieve directionality of the dialog, they literally had 3 microphones on stage so that the voices bounce around based on which mike picked up the most. You'll notice that you can always hear the dialog in all 3 front channels though it will be louder in one. A head-turn could literally cause a shift from one microphone to another.

I love the fact that Fox DID retain the directional dialogue for GARDEN OF EVIL. So often with '50s stereo films, dialogue is remixed on DVD to only come from the centre speakers.
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