Blu-ray Review A Few Words About A few words about…™ Shenandoah – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Henry Gondorff]

Walter Brennan's range was wider than many people realise. I love it when he was cast against type; for example in Hangmen Also Die and Slightly Dangerous.

A perennial character actor who collected three Oscars. One of my favorites was in "Bad Day At Black Rock". Tracy, Brennan, Ryan, Borgnine, Sturges - what a team.

 

[roxy1927]

Even appeared in a Disney musical. He's great in The Westerner. I just hope the Martin Luther King story is not true. He's always been a favorite of mine since I used to watch him on TV in The Real McCoys.

 

[ahollis]

Can we talk about the great character actor James Best? He was an amazing actor that always brought a scene to the best

 

[Joseph McBride]

James Best has a magnificent scene in Sam Fuller's SHOCK CORRIDOR about why he defected during the Korean War.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yeah, James Best seemed to turn up as a guest star in every other TV series of the 1960s. Always enjoyed his contributions.

 

[Santee7]

Perhaps Donna Reed would beg to differ.

Yeah, it always amazed me that he didn't care for Donna Reed, and felt they had no chemistry together. I think that was a miss for Mr Stewart. Of course I grew up with Donna Reed. She was almost like a second Mom. (caught her show in reruns every afternoon after school)

 

[roxy1927]

Yes I'm a very big fan of hers.

 

[Santee7]

Even appeared in a Disney musical. He's great in The Westerner. I just hope the Martin Luther King story is not true. He's always been a favorite of mine since I used to watch him on TV in The Real McCoys.

I heard that story and it really cut me to the core. It truly did. After all, Brennan was the "voice of reason" in BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK. Course I also read he couldn't stand Spencer Tracy,(because of Spence's association with Kate Hepburn,) and of course Brennan only worked once with Ford, also viewed as a too far left. However there is no doubt, what the man did on screen was always magic.

 

[roxy1927]

However there is no doubt, what the man did on screen was always magic.

Indeed! A wonderful talent.

 

[Robert Harris]

It’s always best to respect people for their work, and when necessary steer clear of politics.

I had a very pleasant series of exchanges with Leni Riefenstahl, which whom I did not see eye to eye politically.

 

[roxy1927]

How amazing to speak with her! One of my favorites encounters was with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf who turned to the person next to her and said when I greeted her you see even the young like me. This was many years ago and I have her complete commercial recordings and still listen to her with enormous pleasure. I don't concern myself with other things.

 

[Virgoan]

As much as I disagree with RAH about “Shenandoah”, I would definitely not call his film opinion a “rare miss”. I think it’s not right to label a contrary opinion as a “rare miss”. Film appreciation is subjective and we should respect contrary opinions that differs from our own.

As I very clearly stated, it was a rare miss FOR ME! I find I am virtually always attuned to his POV. Spare the lecture!

 

[Robert Crawford]

As I very clearly stated, it was a rare miss FOR ME! I find I am virtually always attuned to his POV. Spare the lecture!

It wasn't a lecture, but my POV that differences of opinion are inevitable when it comes to subjective appreciation of movies, no matter how attuned you might be with a specific person.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

It’s always best to respect people for their work, and when necessary steer clear of politics.

I had a very pleasant series of exchanges with Leni Riefenstahl, which whom I did not see eye to eye politically.

I wish that I were wise enough to know what I would have done if I had been in her position. That said, she indisputably was a brilliant filmmaker.

 

[mark brown]

Leni Biography by Steven Bach is excellent!

 

[Dee Zee]

Watched the BD of Shenandoah yesterday, seeing the film for the first time since the theater of 1965 when I was 14. I remembered the film as vibrant but somewhat confusing and so many years later I can see why. First the Confederates want the brothers. Then the “Federals” want their horses but the film does not explain that toward the end of the Civil War in Virginia both the North and South were fighting for men and supplies.

There are other oddities I see better now. The magical Negro once a slave now a savior of the youngest boy is one of them. Would have been good if the African American young man came back with the younger “boy” in the end to also integrate the church, but I digress.

Another odd scene was Stewart preparing the honeymoon bed for his daughter and son-in-law with all the boys in the next room. Creepy today.

Stewart is the STAR here and he does most of the heavy lifting. His long soliloquy near the end with I think only one cut was quite the tear jerker. He was one of a kind.

Overall I enjoyed seeing the film again despite all the flaws. But beware it is dated. The Blu-ray looked fabulous.

 

[Waldo Lydecker]

“Shenandoah” belongs to that odd genre of backlot/TV looking westerns from the sixties era…Cheyenne Social Club, Texas Across the River, Journey to Shiloh, etc. And every civil war film of the era used the same stock battle footage of horses and caissons crosssing a stream with water bursting up into the camera lens…A guilty pleasure, but not John Ford…

 

[Rick Thompson]

On the subject of Andrew V. McLaglen, I think of him as a predecessor to Peter Hyams, who I once read as being "King of the Two and a Half Star Movie" -- in other words, you're not going to see a masterpiece, but it won't be a stinker either. Basically, his films are comfort food -- and I like most comfort food!

 

[mskaye]

On the subject of Andrew V. McLaglen, I think of him as a predecessor to Peter Hyams, who I once read as being "King of the Two and a Half Star Movie" -- in other words, you're not going to see a masterpiece, but it won't be a stinker either. Basically, his films are comfort food -- and I like most comfort food!

I think Hyams did aspire beyond simply action movies. McLaglen didn't and couldn't (lack of taste, directorial vision and visual artistry.) For Hyams, Outland and 2010 (especially) aspire to more (in 2010s case a lot more.) His films never really pay off though but at least they have their moments. A lot of his later stuff is pretty hackworthy though.