John Wayne Centennial DVD Sets From WB and Paramount (1 Viewer)

USA Today reports this morning that box sets for John Wayne's 100th birthday are forthcoming this summer, and will include a two-disc "Rio Bravo", plus these additional ones from Warners --- "Reunion In France", "Without Reservations", "Tycoon", "Trouble Along The Way", and "Big Jim McClain". Paramount also has a brace of Wayne DVD's forthcoming, but other than "True Grit", no specific titles were indicated.

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I'm not too worried about Paramount. No doubt it will be just a collection of re-packaged titles. If Paramount releases anything original, that's news.

They've already indicated that True Grit will be a 'special edition' with, as yet, unspecified extras.

From DVD Times:

Warner Home Video (WHV) and Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE) will join forces to honor the great John Wayne on May 22 -- the week that would have been ‘the Duke’s’ 100th birthday. With 9 new titles due the studios combined DVD libraries now offer 48 Wayne popular classics. The lead titles in the promotion are Rio Bravo in both a Two-Disc Special Edition ($20.97 SRP) and Ultimate Collectors Edition ($39.92 SRP), The Cowboys as a Deluxe Edition ($19.97 SRP) and True Grit as a Special Collector’s Edition ($19.99 SRP).

WHV also will debut the John Wayne Film Collection, a six-disc set (also available individually) featuring six films never before on DVD: Allegheny Uprising, Reunion in France, Tycoon, Without Reservations, Trouble Along the Way and Big Jim McLain. Retail on the Collection is $49.92 SRP, and $12.97 SRP for the individual releases.


The Films


True Grit: Special Collector’s Edition (PHE)
This classic cinematic masterpiece features Wayne in a larger-than-life performance as the drunken, uncouth and totally fearless one-eyed U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn. The role won him his only Academy Award® for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the age of 63 after 40 years of making films, and Wayne himself said that it was “my first chance to play a character role instead of John Wayne.” Called “one of the most delightful, joyous and scary movies of all time” (Roger Ebert), True Grit is a glorious adventure and American odyssey lead by Wayne, whose screen presence fully embodies his status as a star and legend. Directed by prolific filmmaker Henry Hathaway, the film also features enchanting performances by Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Robert Duvall and Strother Martin.

Bonus features:
Commentary by Jeb Rosebrook, Bob Boze Bell and J. Stuart Rosebrook
True Writing
Working with the Duke
Aspen Gold: Locations of True Grit
The Law and the Lawless
Theatrical trailer

Rio Bravo: Special Edition and Ultimate Collectors Edition (WHV)
Director Howard Hawks lifted the Western to new heights with Red River. He does it here again, capturing the legendary West with a stellar cast in peak form. Wayne is Sheriff John T. Chance, a small-town lawman enlisting the help of a ragtag team to hold a murderer in jail until the state marshal can arrive. On one side is an army of gunmen dead-set on springing the murderous cohort from jail. On the other are Chance and his two deputies: one a recovering drunkard (Dean Martin), the other a crippled codger (Walter Brennan). Also in their ranks are an unseasoned, trigger-happy youth (Ricky Nelson) and a woman with a past (Angie Dickinson) – and her eye on Chance. Rio Bravo will feature a new digital transfer from restored picture and audio elements.


DVD Special Features:

Disc One
Remastered feature film
Commentary by John Carpenter and Richard Schickel (Renowned director Carpenter and film critic Schickel explore how this legendary Western was an extension of Hawks’ own personality and why it’s considered such an influential classic today)
Wayne trailer gallery

Disc Two
The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks (1973 documentary)
Two All New Featurettes:
Commemoration: Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo
Old Tucson: Where the Legends Walked

Ultimate Collector’s Edition includes everything in the Rio Bravo Special Edition plus the following collectible memorabilia:
Press book
Dell comic book
Lobby cards

The Cowboys: Deluxe Edition (WHV)
This deluxe edition has been newly restored and remastered, and features a new cast/director featurette. The Cowboys gave Wayne one of his juiciest roles as a leather-tough rancher who, deserted by his regular help, hires 11 greenhorn schoolboys for a cattle drive across 400 treacherous miles. When the dust settled, Wayne had given one of his best performances. “In The Cowboys,” Rex Reed wrote, “all the forces that have made him a dominant personality as well as a major screen presence seem to combine. Old Dusty Britches can act.” Co-starring the equally memorable Roscoe Lee Browne, Colleen Dewhurst and Bruce Dern, The Cowboys was directed by Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond).

DVD Special Features:
Commentary by Mark Rydell (Director Rydell discusses how he helped his young, inexperienced cast work with screen legend Wayne)
The Cowboys: Together Again
The Breaking of Boys and the Making of Men
Theatrical Trailer

Allegheny Uprising (WHV)
Only months after his Stagecoach breakthrough, John Wayne brings his one-of-a-kind line readings and presence to the real-life role of colonial man of action James Smith. The place is Pennsylvania a decade before the American Revolution. Joined by like-minded frontiersmen, Smith intercepts trade shipments, besieges forts and risks the certain-death charge of treason against the king. Another Stagecoach alumna joins the Duke: Claire Trevor, playing a fiery barmaid eager to join the scrap against the redcoats.

Special Features:
The Bill of Rights [1939 WB short]
Land of the Midnight Fun [1939 WB cartoon]

Big Jim McLain (WHV)
All 6’4” of John Wayne plays the title role, a federal agent ferreting out subversives in Hawaii. Rallying to the cause are co-stars Nancy Olsen and Veda Ann Borg. And 6’7” James Arness (whom Wayne would later recommend to star on TV’s “Gunsmoke”) is McLain’s war-hero partner, Baxter. The documentary-style story moves swiftly, with good-natured humor peppered throughout. Pre-statehood Hawaii locales range from elite resorts to a Shinto temple and from the sunken remains of the battleship Arizona to a Molokai leper colony.

Special Features:
So You Want to Enjoy Life [1952 WB short]
The Super Snooper [1952 WB cartoon]
Theatrical Trailer

Reunion in France (WHV)
John Wayne is in straight-up heroic mode as a fugitive RAF pilot on the run from the Gestapo, and Joan Crawford (in haute couture despite the war) is Michele, the spoiled, high-society Parisian who discovers her own patriotism as she helps the airman escape his Nazi pursuers. This glossy, briskly paced thriller also stars Philip Dorn as Michele’s fiancé, an industrialist she suspects of collaborating with the Germans.

Special Features:
We Do It Because [1942 MGM short]
War Dogs [1943 MGM cartoon]
Theatrical Trailer

Trouble Along The Way (WHV)
This sports comedy-drama is directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca). John Wayne tackles the role of Steve Williams, a former top football coach who has been banned from the major conferences for his inability to conform and is making ends meet as a bookie. When he receives a call from likable Father Burke (Charles Coburn) with an offer to establish a football program – fast- in a last-ditch effort to save his tiny St. Anthony’s College from bankruptcy, Williams sees it as a way to prove to a Children’s Court officer (Donna Reed) that he’s a fit parent as he fights for custody of his 12 year old tomboy daughter. Of course, there’s bound to be Trouble Along the Way.

Special Features:
So You Think You Can’t Sleep [1953 WB short]
Muscle Tussle [1953 WB cartoon]
Theatrical trailer

Tycoon (WHV)
A tumultuous love story (with co-star Laraine Day), a dynamite supporting cast, horizon-spanning location filming and brilliant Technicolor make Tycoon exciting entertainment. But the biggest thrill is watching Wayne as a bold, bare-knuckled railroad honcho high above an Andean gorge in a breathless grand finale that involves a half-built bridge, an onrushing wall of water, and a locomotive with the Duke at the controls.

Special Features:
Hollywood Wonderland [1947 WB short]
Red Hot Rangers [1947 MGM cartoon]

Without Reservations (WHV)
Claudette Colbert and Wayne are a double delight in this playful, romantic comedy. Colbert plays Kit Madden, a novelist who’s heading to Hollywood to turn her bestseller about a handsome pilot into a film. On the train she meets real-life marine pilot (John Wayne), and thinks he’s the perfect man to portray her screen hero…except he thinks the whole thing is “a lot of hooey.” Their comedic rapport becomes more captivating with one misadventure after another as they make their way cross-country. Adding to the fun are surprise walk-ons from stars like Jack Benny, Cary Grant, Louella Parsons playing herself, and director Warner LeRoy.

Special Features:
I Love My Husband, But! [1946 MGM short]
Holiday for Shoestrings [1946 WB cartoon]

Also part of the promotion are 3 new DVD Collections from Paramount with a total of 14 films.

John Wayne Century Collection ($99.99 SRP) brings together 14 classic films starring John Wayne, including the new Special Collector’s Edition of True Grit and four additional Special Collector’s Editions. The films in the collection are:
The High And The Mighty Special Collector’s Edition (Adventure Collection)
Island In The Sky Special Collector’s Edition (Adventure Collection)
True Grit Special Collector’s Edition (Western Collection)
Hondo Special Collector’s Edition (Western Collection)
McLintock! Special Collector’s Edition (Western Collection)>
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Western Collection)
The Shootist (Western Collection)
Big Jake (Western Collection)
Donovan’s Reef (Adventure Collection)
In Harm’s Way (Adventure Collection)
Hatari! (Adventure Collection)
Rio Lobo (Western Collection)
The Sons Of Katie Elder (Western Collection)
El Dorado (Western Collection)

Noted in brackets are the films which make up the 2 smaller DVD collections, with the 9-film John Wayne Western Collection priced at $74.99 SRP and the 5-film John Wayne Adventure Collection priced at $42.99 SRP.

Edit - beaten

Excellent news!

Wow...what a great way to start the week. Thanks for the excellent news. The week of May 22nd can't come fast enough!

Wowzers...sounds absolutely great. I'll be buying both of these sets, but I wish they packaged Rio Bravo with the new set, like how they did with the Ford/Wayne Collection.

I'll probably buy just rio bravo and the PAramount collection. I'd but the warners set if it included Rio Bravo, so unless Amazon or someone has a good package, I'll probably skip it. I'm not familiar with any of the 6 films with it, and it's too much of a blind buy seperate, when with Rio Bravo packed in, it would be much more tempting.

Finally a nice value collection from Paramount that includes ALL the Wayne titles without rehashing anything from previous sets or leaving out any essentials. I hope they serve up some new and more appealing cover art, but I bet it's just a repackaging and pricing of the previous releases.

Also greatly looking forward to the Warner films, especially the new 2-disc 'Rio Bravo' which I purposefully held off on purchasing as I was expecting an upgrade from the old snapper disc. Glad to know that it's finally coming. I hope they stick with the same poster art for the cover.

I have a major issue with Paramount's boxsets because some of those titles were just released last year. Also, I need to know the specifications for the rest of those titles like El Dorado and The Sons of Katie Elder. Will "In Harm's Way" finally have an anamorphic presentation?

I disagree Robert, I think Paramount is finally doing them the right way. But I can understand why you'd be frustrated if you recently purchased last year's sets. I personally passed on them because for the price, I didn't like how they were split up in separate volumes and how some of the Wayne westerns previously issued were missing entirely. The whole point of a themed boxed set for me, is to conveniently collect films in both an economic and comprehensive fashion. With so many other classic film sets released last year, Paramount's didn't seem as convincing. But with new transfers, special editions and finally ALL the Wayne properties under one comprehensive packaging, I feel as though I can finally justify spending the money on the Century Collection. But if I had purchased any of these titles in 2006, I'd probably feel slighted.

Actually, Paramount is just re-releasing a bunch of films already out on DVD...with the exception of the 2-disc "True Grit". I see no reason whatsoever to buy the Paramount box, as I already own all those films.

The box from Warner is much more exciting, seeing as these films have never been released in region 1 before.

That is what I'm thinking and if true then I'm very disappointed because a couple of those titles needed to be revisited due to their lack of anamorphic presentations while some others titles that just came out during the summer of 2005, while this time their releases are nothing more than a double dipped.

Now if Fox would just give us a widescreen version of THE BIG TRAIL...

I was mistaken about last year, they were released in the summer of 2005, Hondo, The High and the Mighty, Island in the Sky and McClintock with all of them being available separately which I bought for about $9.00 a title.

sold as I have none of these titles

...and THE BARBARIAN AND THE GEISHA if only for the gorgeous widescreen photography.

I'll gladly pick up the Rio Bravo SE, but it looks like they're double-dipping on the Hawks episode of The Men Who Made the Movies series. That one's already on the 2-disc SE of Bringing Up Baby.

They may be using the original 1973 version of the Hawks episode (the version on Bringing Up Baby is a revised version with new narration). Though most of the clips and interviews are presumably the same in both versions.

Ah, OK, thanks for the clarification.