Columbia/Sony releasing several Classic Westerns on 4/5/05 (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

The same with "The Violent Men". Since, this is Columbia, I'm a little leary about whether these releases will be in their OAR.

One more thing about Columbia, it seems like they finally caught up with the other studios by lowering the price structure for their catalogue releases. I've read that Columbia titles didn't sale very well because their catelogue pricing was too high compared to dvds from Fox, Warner, Paramount and others. I believe that article was correct because I basically stopped buying Columbia titles over that issue as a private protest and I have over 2600 dvds in my library which means if a collector like myself isn't buying their product than who is? The answer is not very many. Of course, films like Spider-Man 2 not withstanding.





Crawdaddy

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Three New-to-DVD Oaters From the Golden Age of Hollywood

Bonanza Town
A Good Day for Hanging
The Texican


Available on DVD for the First Time April 5, 2005

On April 5, 2005, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release three rip-roarin', gun-shootin', dust-chokin' classics of the Hollywood Western-era on DVD for the first time. BONANZA TOWN, A GOOD DAY FOR HANGING and THE TEXICAN will each be available for the low price of $14.94 SLP each.

Bonanza Town (1951)
Starring Charles Starrett (starred as The Durango Kid in over 60 Westerns) and co-starring Smiley Burnett (starred in over 50 movies as himself). Directed by Fred F. Sears (Rock Around the Clock, Don't Knock the Rock, Raiders of Tomahawk Creek).

Into a dusty, lawless town, atop his trusty white steed rides the heroic masked crusader, out to restore justice
to the Wild West. Legendary screen cowboy Charles Starrett (Laramie Mountains, Law of the Canyon, Cyclone Fury) returns as the Durango Kid, teaming up once again with his singing comic sidekick Smiley Burnett (Smoky Canyon, Pecos River) in this fast-paced, rootin' tootin' Western directed by Fred F. Sears.
Steve Ramsey, the Durango Kid's alter-ego is hired by the Treasury Department to locate $10,000 stolen in a Dodge City holdup. A trail of marked money leads him to Bonanza Town, where he tracks down black-hearted outlaw Henry Hardison, working in cahoots with crooked town boss Krag Boseman. The Durango Kid heads up a posse to expose the corruption and rid Bonanza Town of its murderous vigilantes.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:

• Remastered in High Definition
• Presented in its Original Aspect Ratio of 1.33
• Audio: English
• Subtitles: English
• Bonus Previews

Rated: Not Rated
Black & White / Closed Captioned
Running Time: 55 Minutes
DVD SLP: $14.94

A Good Day for a Hanging (1959)
Starring Fred McMurray (The Caine Mutiny, The Egg and I), Margaret Hayes (The Glass Key) and
Robert Vaughn (TV's The Man From U.N.C.L.E.). Directed by Nathan Juran (1942 Academy Award® Winner How Green Was My Valley).

Six men think they saw Eddie "The Kid" Campbell (Vaughn) shoot down Marshall Cain in cold blood. But only respected lawman Ben Cutler (McMurray) would swear to it in court for Ben was determined to see the Kid hang for the crime. But was it because Campbell was a murderer or because Cutler's
daughter was the Kid's sweetheart and no father would ever let his daughter marry an outlaw?
Sentenced to the gallows, Campbell's sensitive demeanor soon convinces everyone that he's been framed. Everyone that is but Cutler. For only Cutler knows whether the
Kid's truly guilty or not, and justice will be done, even if he has to take the law into his own hands.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:

• Remastered in High Definition
• Presented in its Original Aspect Ratio of 1.85
• Audio: English
• Subtitles: English, Japanese
• Bonus Previews

Rated: Not Rated
Color / Closed Captioned
Running Time: 86 Minutes
DVD SLP: $14.94

The Texican (1966)
Starring Audie Murphy (To Hell and Back, No Name on the Bullet) and Broderick Crawford (Academy Award® Best Actor, All the King's Men).

Wanted north of the border, Jess Carlin (Murphy) resides safely in Mexico until he hears his brother was killed in a gunfight with another man. Knowing his brother never carried a gun he heads north to find his brother's killer. After battling bounty hunters he arrives in Rimrock, a town controlled by Luke Starr (Crawford). Starr is the man he wants but he unable to find any evidence until he is given an item found by his brother's body.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:

• Remastered in High Definition
• Presented in its Original Aspect Ratio of 2.35
• Audio: English
• Subtitles: English, Japanese
• Bonus Previews

Rated: Not Rated
Color / Closed Captioned
Running Time: 88 Minutes
DVD SLP: $14.94

 

[Larry Bevil]

I'm really glad to see Glenn Ford get better representation on DVD. He is definitely one of my favorite actors. I will purchase all of these releases.

 

[Matthew Kiernan]

Good news: SEVEN MEN FROM NOW is due later this year from Paramount, who recently made a deal with the John Wayne estate to release all of the films from Wayne's production company.

 

[JasonKZ]

For the new Silverado, I hope they include the good 35 minute featurette that is on the current release.

 

[Doug Bull]

Talking of Aspect Ratios on Columbia Westerns, I had wanted to purchase Glenn Ford's COWBOY since it was first released some time ago on Region 1 but the Full Screen specs put me off.
There is some dispute as to it's original Aspect ratio, but I do think that it was probably shot flat and released to Cinemas with the choice of projecting it full screen or with the recommendation that it be matted at about 1.85.

Anyhow to cut the story short, I was going through the list of Region 2 Westerns and discovered that the Region 2 Version of COWBOY is 1.85 Anamorphic.
Needless to say my order went in straight away.

Why on earth has Columbia released 2 different versions?
Do they think that the bulk of region 1 customers are not interested in Widescreen?

 

[Robert Crawford]

The OAR for Cowboy is 1.85:1 which is one of the reasons why I'm kind of pissed at Columbia/Sony for not releasing a Region 1 dvd in its OAR.





Crawdaddy

 

[Paul Sandhu]

That Silverado Box-Set looks sweet. I'm definetly picking that up.

 

[John Hodson]

DVD Beaver has reviews on some of the latest crop of Columbia westerns:

The Violent Men
The Desperadoes
Lust For Gold
Texas
A Good Day For A Hanging
Jubal

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'll be watching the three widescreen films today.







Crawdaddy