Crawdaddy's "Random Thoughts" about Home Video, Film & TV (2 Viewers)

[Robert Crawford]

The following are my mini-reviews of some film noirs I recently watched:

Cover Up (1949)

The Blue Lamp (1950)

The Velvet Touch (1948)

 

[Robert Crawford]

Now, I'm down to the final 10 westerns as I watched "Last of the Dogmen" (1995) starring Tom Berenger and Barbara Hershey this morning. The film was narrated by Wilford Brimley. The storyline starts off in contemporary times with three escape convicts that killed a guard and escape from a bus wreck into Montana's Oxbow Quadrangle. An experienced bounty hunter with tracking skills is hired by the local sheriff (former father-in-law) played by Kurtwood Smith to track and bring in the escaped convicts. Unfortunately, for the convicts before Berenger can captured them, those convicts came into contact with something in the wilderness. Lewis/Berenger after hearing gunshots and seeing something in the early morning fog, but finding no trace of the convicts except a bloody prison shirt and shot gun casing, Berenger starts investigating different stories. There has been several disappearances over many decades in the Oxbow region as well as a railroad employee that came upon a young Indian boy in 1935, who didn't speak any English and later escaped from his jail cell back into the wilderness. Along, with Lillian Sloan, an expert on Native Americans, Lewis/Berenger heads back into the Oxbow to seek some answers to the decades old mystery disappearances. After a week or so in the Oxbow, they finally come into contact with the mystery behind those Oxbow disappearances. For those that don't know the term "Dog Soldiers" its applied to the militaristic band within the Cheyenne tribe. They are the warriors sworn to protect the tribe at all costs.

I remember seeing this movie in a theater back in 1995. It instantly became a favorite western of mine as I found the storyline compelling for a band of Cheyenne Indians to remain undiscovered for over 100 years and free to exist within their own culture that remained the same as it was in the late 1860s. Unfortunately, I had to view this movie again with the 2000 DVD which has a non-anamorphic video presentation. The good news is that Kino will be releasing a Blu-ray in 2022. I hope they include the director's commentary that is on this DVD.


Crawdaddy's "100" All-Time Favorite Westerns:

• 3 Godfathers (1949) (DVD/HD Digital)
• Big Sky, The (DVD)
• High Noon (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Lonely are the Brave (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Open Range (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Ox-Bow Incident, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Red River (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Sons of Katie Elder, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Unforgiven (4K/UHD/4K Digital)
• Wild Bunch, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)

• 3:10 to Yuma (1957) (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• 5 Card Stud (DVD)
• Alamo, The (1960) (DVD/HD Digital)
• Ambush (DVD)
• Angel and the Badman (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Apache (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Arizona (DVD/HD Digital)
• Backlash (Blu-ray)
• Big Country, The (Blu-ray)
• Blood on the Moon (Blu-ray)
• Bravados, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Broken Lance (Blu-ray)
• Buffalo Soldiers (1997) (DVD)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Blu-ray/4K Digital)
• California (Blu-ray)
• Canyon Passage (Blu-ray)
• Cheyenne Autumn (DVD/HD Digital)
• Comanche Station (Blu-ray)
• Cowboy (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Death Hunt (Blu-ray)
• Destry Rides Again (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Devil's Doorway (DVD)
• Dodge City (Blu-ray)
• El Dorado (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Escape from Fort Bravo (Blu-ray)
• Fastest Gun Alive, The (DVD)
• Fort Apache (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Four Faces West (Blu-ray)
• Furies, The (HD Digital/Criterion BD)
• Geronimo (1939) (Not on Home Video)
• Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Gunfighter, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hombre (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hondo (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Horse Soldiers, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hud (DVD/HD Digital)
• Jeremiah Johnson (Blu-ray)
• Joe Kidd (Blu-ray)
• Jubal (Blu-ray)
• King and Four Queens, The (Blu-ray)
• Kit Carson (DVD)
• Last Hunt, The (Blu-ray)
• Last of the Dogmen (DVD/2022 Kino BD)
• Last of the Mohicans, The (1992) (DVD/Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Last Train from Gun Hill (DVD/Upcoming Paramount BD)
• Last Wagon, The (Blu-ray)
• Magnificent Seven, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Man Without a Star (Blu-ray)
• McLintock! (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Monte Walsh (Blu-ray)
• My Darling Clementine (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Naked Spur, The (Blu-ray)
• Nevada Smith (DVD/HD Digital)
• Night Passage (Blu-ray)
• Only the Valiant (Blu-ray)
• Outlaw Josey Wales, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Pillars in the Sky (Blu-ray)
• Plainsman, The (1936) (DVD/Kino BD)
• Professionals, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Proud Ones, The (DVD/HD Digital)
• Pursued (Blu-ray)
• Ride the High Country (Blu-ray)
• Rio Bravo (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Rio Grande (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Rocky Mountain (DVD)
• Searchers, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Shane (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (Blu-ray)
• Shootist, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• South of St. Louis (Blu-ray)
• Stagecoach (1939) (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Tall in the Saddle (DVD/HD Digital)
• Tall Men, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• They Died with their Boots On (DVD/HD Digital)
• Tin Star, The (DVD)
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Unforgiven, The (1960) (Blu-ray)
• Union Pacific (German Blu-ray/Kino BD)
• Vera Cruz (MGM Blu-ray/Kino Blu-ray)
• Virginia City (DVD/HD Digital)
• Walk the Proud Land (DVD)
• Warlock (Blu-ray)
• War Wagon, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Westerner, The (DVD)
• Western Union (Blu-ray)
• Westward the Women (DVD)
• Will Penny (DVD/HD Digital)
• Winchester '73 (DVD/HD Digital)
• Yellow Sky (Blu-ray)

 

[cda1143]

...

That's right, yesterday, I finally watched "Shane" in two different aspect ratios in their entirety and then went back to sampling different scenes with both aspect ratios. ...

Robert: AR aside, what’s are thoughts on MOC vs. Paramout?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Robert: AR aside, what’s are thoughts on MOC vs. Paramout?

I didn't compared the 1.37 versions between the two releases. However, I thought the Paramount 1.37 version looked better to my eyes than the MOC 1.66 version. For some reasons, the colors on the MOC looked browner and less vibrant.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Today, I also watched three "film noir" Blu-rays from WA. Here are my thoughts on "The Window" (1949), "I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes!" (1948) and "Step By Step" (1946).

I also watched Criterion's 4K disc of "Citizen Kane" which I was very impressed with. I know some people think this movie is overrated and/or boring, but I always viewed it as great filmmaking with a storyline that I also appreciated with some fine spoken dialogue and acting. I guess different strokes for different folks.

Yeah, a busy day with five different movies.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This weekend's "Noir Alley" movie is "Tight Spot" (1955) starring Ginger Rogers, Edward G. Robinson and Brian Keith. With a screen play by William Bowers and directed by one of my favorite underrated directors Phil Karlson, I'm really looking forward to watching my Blu-ray of it that I just recently purchased as it's part of Indicator's Columbia Noir #2. TBH, I think this will be my first viewing of this 96 minute movie in its entirety. I've seen bits and pieces of it over the years, but I never watched it from beginning to end. Today, I'll rectify those missed opportunities and if I'm in the mood, I might even watch it again with the Nora Fiore audio commentary.


Updated TCM's Noir Alley 2021 schedule:

01-02-21: The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
01-09-21: The Glass Key
01-16-21: Witness to Murder
01-23-21: Born to Kill
01-30-21: The Killers
02-06-21: The Killer that Stalked New York
02-20-21: Native Son
02-27-21: Odds Against Tomorrow
03-06-21: Killer's Kiss
03-13-21: The Night Holds Terror
03-20-21: The Third Man
03-27-21: Pepe Le Moko
05-15-21: Touch of Evil
05-22-21: The Brothers Rico
05-29-21: Act of Violence
06-05-21: Possessed (1947)
06-12-21: Walk a Crooked Mile
06-19-21: The Blue Gardenia
06-26-21: Shadow of a Doubt
07-03-21: Guilty Bystander
07-10-21: The Bribe
07-17-21: Los Tallos Amargos (The Bitter Stems)
07-24-21: Cause for Alarm
07-31-21: Hollow Triumph aka The Scar
09-04-21: Cloudburst
09-11-21: Drive a Crooked Road
09-18-21: Human Desire
09-25-21: Hell Bound
10-02-21: The Glass Wall
10-09-21: Brighton Rock
10-16-21: The Dark Past
10-23-21: La bestia debe morir (The Beast Must Die)
10-30-21: Cat People/The Leopard Man
11-06-21: Five Steps to Danger
11-13-21: The Lineup
11-20-21: Johnny O'Clock
11-27-21: Tight Spot
12-04-21: The Unsuspected
12-11-21: Cruel Gun Story
12-18-21: Blast of Silence

 

[Matt Hough]

I've never seen Tight Spot, but I'm looking forward to it. Such talented stars should make for a fine film.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I've never seen Tight Spot, but I'm looking forward to it. Such talented stars should make for a fine film.

TBH, I never liked the casting of Ginger Rogers in this movie. Her performance in it bother me for some reason. However, after watching the movie twice today in its entirety, I have a higher opinion of the movie and Rogers performance.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I saved "The Sons of Katie Elder" to be one of the last ten movies I watch from my list below, because I last watched the movie when Paramount released the Blu-ray in September, 2020. This movie has some sentimental value to me as I watched it more than a couple of times during its theatrical run late in the summer of 1965. It was one of those movies that my circle of friends and I would walk to our neighborhood movie theater and watch it over and over again. I guess it represents a connection to my childhood memories that I can never forget and will always appreciate to my dying days. Seeing John Wayne shooting that dude in the ass still still makes me laugh as they always featured that scene in the movie's trailer. IMO, this is not one of the Duke's best westerns, but it will remain one of my favorite westerns. Also, Dean Martin was damn good as Tom Elder. Each year, I've come to appreciate him more as an actor and there are more than a few of his movies that I watched too in a movie theater such as 4 for Texas, Rough Night in Jericho, Bandolero!, 5 Card Stud and the Matt Helm movies. This reminds me I need to watch my Blu-ray of Some Came Running which I didn't see in a movie theater, but on TV in pan and scan.

Back to "The Sons of Katie Elder" the Blu-ray's video presentation is okay, but I thought the movie deserved better than a 3 out of 5 video presentation. No doubt, the HD digitals on Vudu and iTunes are derived from the same scan used for this Blu-ray. IMO, it's an older scan. After attending their mother's funeral, the Elder brothers decide to find out who killed their father six months earlier and how their parents lost their large ranch. Wayne, Martin, Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson Jr. play the four brothers. James Gregory and George Kennedy play the baddies with Dennis Hopper as the Gregory's sniveling son. There are some holes in the script and how many bullets did Wayne have in his six-shooter during the final gun battle? Anyhow, it's an entertaining western that again, has sentimental value to me which is why it's listed below so my film grade is 4 out of 5 stars.

I'll be watching at least one of the last nine westerns before Wednesday, December 1st.



Crawdaddy's "100" All-Time Favorite Westerns:

• 3 Godfathers (1949) (DVD/HD Digital)
• Big Sky, The (DVD)
• High Noon (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Lonely are the Brave (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Open Range (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Ox-Bow Incident, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Red River (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Unforgiven (4K/UHD/4K Digital)
• Wild Bunch, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)

• 3:10 to Yuma (1957) (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• 5 Card Stud (DVD)
• Alamo, The (1960) (DVD/HD Digital)
• Ambush (DVD)
• Angel and the Badman (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Apache (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Arizona (DVD/HD Digital)
• Backlash (Blu-ray)
• Big Country, The (Blu-ray)
• Blood on the Moon (Blu-ray)
• Bravados, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Broken Lance (Blu-ray)
• Buffalo Soldiers (1997) (DVD)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Blu-ray/4K Digital)
• California (Blu-ray)
• Canyon Passage (Blu-ray)
• Cheyenne Autumn (DVD/HD Digital)
• Comanche Station (Blu-ray)
• Cowboy (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Death Hunt (Blu-ray)
• Destry Rides Again (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Devil's Doorway (DVD)
• Dodge City (Blu-ray)
• El Dorado (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Escape from Fort Bravo (Blu-ray)
• Fastest Gun Alive, The (DVD)
• Fort Apache (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Four Faces West (Blu-ray)
• Furies, The (HD Digital/Criterion BD)
• Geronimo (1939) (Not on Home Video)
• Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Gunfighter, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hombre (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hondo (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Horse Soldiers, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hud (DVD/HD Digital)
• Jeremiah Johnson (Blu-ray)
• Joe Kidd (Blu-ray)
• Jubal (Blu-ray)
• King and Four Queens, The (Blu-ray)
• Kit Carson (DVD)
• Last Hunt, The (Blu-ray)
• Last of the Dogmen (DVD/2022 Kino BD)
• Last of the Mohicans, The (1992) (DVD/Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Last Train from Gun Hill (DVD/Upcoming Paramount BD)
• Last Wagon, The (Blu-ray)
• Magnificent Seven, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Man Without a Star (Blu-ray)
• McLintock! (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Monte Walsh (Blu-ray)
• My Darling Clementine (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Naked Spur, The (Blu-ray)
• Nevada Smith (DVD/HD Digital)
• Night Passage (Blu-ray)
• Only the Valiant (Blu-ray)
• Outlaw Josey Wales, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Pillars in the Sky (Blu-ray)
• Plainsman, The (1936) (DVD/Kino BD)
• Professionals, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Proud Ones, The (DVD/HD Digital)
• Pursued (Blu-ray)
• Ride the High Country (Blu-ray)
• Rio Bravo (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Rio Grande (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Rocky Mountain (DVD)
• Searchers, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Shane (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (Blu-ray)
• Shootist, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Sons of Katie Elder, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• South of St. Louis (Blu-ray)
• Stagecoach (1939) (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Tall in the Saddle (DVD/HD Digital)
• Tall Men, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• They Died with their Boots On (DVD/HD Digital)
• Tin Star, The (DVD)
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Unforgiven, The (1960) (Blu-ray)
• Union Pacific (German Blu-ray/Kino BD)
• Vera Cruz (MGM Blu-ray/Kino Blu-ray)
• Virginia City (DVD/HD Digital)
• Walk the Proud Land (DVD)
• Warlock (Blu-ray)
• War Wagon, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Westerner, The (DVD)
• Western Union (Blu-ray)
• Westward the Women (DVD)
• Will Penny (DVD/HD Digital)
• Winchester '73 (DVD/HD Digital)
• Yellow Sky (Blu-ray)

 

[Robert Crawford]

TBH, I never liked the casting of Ginger Rogers in this movie. Her performance in it bother me for some reason. However, after watching the movie twice today in its entirety, I have a higher opinion of the movie and Rogers performance.

Eddie and I have the same criticism of the movie. I posted my comments here. Before yesterday, I felt the movie was like a 2 out of 5 film grade for the reasons I stated in my comments. Rogers was just too talky for my taste and as Eddie stated she was trying too hard, especially in the first half of the movie. She was much better in the second half of the movie which is why my current film grade is 3 out of 5. With that said, Gloria Grahame would have been my ideal choice for that part. Those other actresses that Eddie named would have worked too.

 

[Matt Hough]

I have been meaning to watch my unopened The Sons of Katie Elder for months, and I think I will finally get to it some time this week. Your talking about it brings back memories of my seeing it on TV (never saw it at the movies; as a kid, I didn't go to too many westerns).

 

[Matt Hough]

Boy, howdy, are you and Eddie both right! Ginger Rogers was SO miscast in this movie! I didn't believe one single word that escaped her lips for the entire running time of the film. I've always considered her a good rather than great actress, but she wasn't talented enough to pull off a tough dame. Just didn't have it in her, and all those grammatical mistakes she's making sounded so phony and hollow. And just on an esthetic note, her hairstyles in the film made her look older than her years. That short clipped style was in fashion in the mid-50s: Doris Day and Joan Crawford both sported it in their films during this period, but Doris was smart enough to have some height to the hair on top of her head rather than the hair being so matted to her scalp: a far more flattering look for Doris. Joan's look in Queen Bee (at Columbia) and Female on the Beach was very severe like Ginger here, and it's just not a flattering style.

As for the film, I really appreciated being surprised by the Brian Keith twist and liked seeing the bad guys get their due though the ending seemed abrupt.

 

[Robin9]

Also, Dean Martin was damn good as Tom Elder. Each year, I've come to appreciate him more as an actor and there are more than a few of his movies that I watched too in a movie theater such as 4 for Texas, Rough Night in Jericho, Bandolero!, 5 Card Stud and the Matt Helm movies. This reminds me I need to watch my Blu-ray of Some Came Running which I didn't see in a movie theater, but on TV in pan and scan.

I recommend that you watch Ada where Dean Martin plays opposite Susan Hayward. It's one of his (and her) less well-known movies but it's a pretty good film and he's excellent. (I won't presume to recommend The Young Lions or Rio Bravo!)

 

[Robert Crawford]

I recommend that you watch Ada where Dean Martin plays opposite Susan Hayward. It's one of his (and her) less well-known movies but it's a pretty good film and he's excellent. (I won't presume to recommend The Young Lions or Rio Bravo!)

Do you seriously think I haven't seen any of those three films or that they're not already in my disc collection? The movies I mentioned in my earlier post were Dean Martin movies that I first watched in a movie theater as a youngster and teenager. Ada, The Young Lions and Rio Bravo came out when I was much too young to go to the movies by myself or even with my friends or family for that matter. However, I'm very familiar with all three movies and have seen each of them multiple of times since the mid-1960s.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Boy, howdy, are you and Eddie both right! Ginger Rogers was SO miscast in this movie! I didn't believe one single word that escaped her lips for the entire running time of the film. I've always considered her a good rather than great actress, but she wasn't talented enough to pull off a tough dame. Just didn't have it in her, and all those grammatical mistakes she's making sounded so phony and hollow. And just on an esthetic note, her hairstyles in the film made her look older than her years. That short clipped style was in fashion in the mid-50s: Doris Day and Joan Crawford both sported it in their films during this period, but Doris was smart enough to have some height to the hair on top of her head rather than the hair being so matted to her scalp: a far more flattering look for Doris. Joan's look in Queen Bee (at Columbia) and Female on the Beach was very severe like Ginger here, and it's just not a flattering style.

As for the film, I really appreciated being surprised by the Brian Keith twist and liked seeing the bad guys get their due though the ending seemed abrupt.

Matt,

It's one of the reasons why I could never sit down and watch the movie in its entirety as Ginger got on my nerves after a while. Over the years, I pieced together the movie by watching it in bits and pieces. However, on Saturday, I forced myself to watch the entire movie and I thought her performance was better in the second half of the movie. I then watched it again and Nora Fiore's commentary helped convinced me in liking the movie better than I did before my Saturday viewings. The movie went from being just mediocre to alright. With that said, Ginger was still miscast for that part. I think Gloria Grahame in that same part would have lifted the movie from being alright to good.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yes, as Eddie said, GLoria or Jan Sterling could have done well by that part. Not as sure with Judy Holliday that he suggested. I don't think she had street toughness about her persona either though the bad grammar wouldn't have sounded so false coming out of her mouth.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Over the last few years, many of my "holy grail" movie titles have been released on Blu-ray with good to great video presentations. Unfortunately, "The Big Sky" (1952) starring Kirk Douglas is still missing in that regard. This Howard Hawks directed western/adventure film has been a favorite of mine since first watching it on WWOR Channel 9 out of NYC when they used to show RKO movies back in the day. Today because it's one of my all-time favorite westerns that I haven't watched yet again in 2021, I decided to revisit my DVD-R of it. The following are some of my quoted remarks with some revised edits from my last viewing which was over three years ago.

The DVD-R of "The Big Sky" was 138 minutes which is two minutes less than the film's preview running time of 140 minutes. The film was cut to 122 minutes before its general release. TBH, there are sequences in the 138 minute showing that is darn right awful filled with bad audio and dupe video from a different and distant source. However, there are also some sequences that looked very good so without a doubt some of this transfer was derived from different film elements. Some of the cut footage was among the worse looking sequences in this 138 minute version. "The Big Sky" stars Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Arthur Hunnicutt, Elizabeth Threatt and Hank Worden as Poordevil. It appears that Elizabeth Threatt was of Native American blood which I did not know until now. This was the only movie she appeared in. Hunnicutt was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this film. Also, a shout out to Steven Geray as "Frenchy" Jourdonnais, the French leader of this trading expedition.

A great western with some fine action sequences about a trading expedition that leaves St. Louis in 1832, by river boat up the Missouri River to trade with the Blackfeet, 2,000 miles away in Montana. Douglas and Martin are buddies that joins Martin's uncle, Hunnicutt and some French traders on their trading expedition through hostile Indian country while battling an established trading company that's trying to maintain its trading monopoly with the Indians. Teal Eye/Threatt, the captured Blackfoot princess that these traders are returning to her people plays prominently in this expedition. Again, this movie has some great action sequences, nicely written dialogue with plenty of humor and fine acting. One of the funniest scenes was after Hunnicutt chops off Douglas's injured infected finger and they're drunkenly crawling on the ground on all fours looking for his missing finger digit.

This movie has never been considered one of Howard Hawks best films, but I think it has been underrated for many years. Dudley Nichols wrote the screenplay derived from a novel by A.B. Guthrie Jr. The cinematographer was Russell Harlan on this black and white movie that was filmed a great deal in 1951, on location in Montana and Wyoming in the Grand Teton mountains. If this movie was filmed in Technicolor, I think it's reputation would be much greater than it is now. Even so, the film did receive an Oscar nomination for best black and white cinematography. Dimitri Tiomkin did the musical score which I think is quite good.

We can only hope that Warner is able to deliver a good Blu-ray of this fine movie like they did with another movie from Hawks's Winchester production company "The Thing From Another World". Here's hoping that 2022 brings us some good news on that front.

Well, I'm now down to the final eight of my "100" All-Time Favorite Westerns. I might squeeze in one more between now and tomorrow night.

Crawdaddy's "100" All-Time Favorite Westerns:

• 3 Godfathers (1949) (DVD/HD Digital)
• High Noon (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Lonely are the Brave (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Open Range (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Ox-Bow Incident, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Red River (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Unforgiven (4K/UHD/4K Digital)
• Wild Bunch, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)

• 3:10 to Yuma (1957) (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• 5 Card Stud (DVD)
• Alamo, The (1960) (DVD/HD Digital)
• Ambush (DVD)
• Angel and the Badman (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Apache (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Arizona (DVD/HD Digital)
• Backlash (Blu-ray)
• Big Country, The (Blu-ray)
• Big Sky, The (DVD)
• Blood on the Moon (Blu-ray)
• Bravados, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Broken Lance (Blu-ray)
• Buffalo Soldiers (1997) (DVD)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Blu-ray/4K Digital)
• California (Blu-ray)
• Canyon Passage (Blu-ray)
• Cheyenne Autumn (DVD/HD Digital)
• Comanche Station (Blu-ray)
• Cowboy (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Death Hunt (Blu-ray)
• Destry Rides Again (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Devil's Doorway (DVD)
• Dodge City (Blu-ray)
• El Dorado (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Escape from Fort Bravo (Blu-ray)
• Fastest Gun Alive, The (DVD)
• Fort Apache (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Four Faces West (Blu-ray)
• Furies, The (HD Digital/Criterion BD)
• Geronimo (1939) (Not on Home Video)
• Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Gunfighter, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hombre (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hondo (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Horse Soldiers, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hud (DVD/HD Digital)
• Jeremiah Johnson (Blu-ray)
• Joe Kidd (Blu-ray)
• Jubal (Blu-ray)
• King and Four Queens, The (Blu-ray)
• Kit Carson (DVD)
• Last Hunt, The (Blu-ray)
• Last of the Dogmen (DVD/2022 Kino BD)
• Last of the Mohicans, The (1992) (DVD/Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Last Train from Gun Hill (DVD/Upcoming Paramount BD)
• Last Wagon, The (Blu-ray)
• Magnificent Seven, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Man Without a Star (Blu-ray)
• McLintock! (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Monte Walsh (Blu-ray)
• My Darling Clementine (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Naked Spur, The (Blu-ray)
• Nevada Smith (DVD/HD Digital)
• Night Passage (Blu-ray)
• Only the Valiant (Blu-ray)
• Outlaw Josey Wales, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Pillars in the Sky (Blu-ray)
• Plainsman, The (1936) (DVD/Kino BD)
• Professionals, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Proud Ones, The (DVD/HD Digital)
• Pursued (Blu-ray)
• Ride the High Country (Blu-ray)
• Rio Bravo (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Rio Grande (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Rocky Mountain (DVD)
• Searchers, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Shane (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (Blu-ray)
• Shootist, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Sons of Katie Elder, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• South of St. Louis (Blu-ray)
• Stagecoach (1939) (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Tall in the Saddle (DVD/HD Digital)
• Tall Men, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• They Died with their Boots On (DVD/HD Digital)
• Tin Star, The (DVD)
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Unforgiven, The (1960) (Blu-ray)
• Union Pacific (German Blu-ray/Kino BD)
• Vera Cruz (MGM Blu-ray/Kino Blu-ray)
• Virginia City (DVD/HD Digital)
• Walk the Proud Land (DVD)
• Warlock (Blu-ray)
• War Wagon, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Westerner, The (DVD)
• Western Union (Blu-ray)
• Westward the Women (DVD)
• Will Penny (DVD/HD Digital)
• Winchester '73 (DVD/HD Digital)
• Yellow Sky (Blu-ray)

 

[bujaki]

Over the last few years, many of my "holy grail" movie titles have been released on Blu-ray with good to great video presentations. Unfortunately, "The Big Sky" (1952) starring Kirk Douglas is still missing in that regard. This Howard Hawks directed western/adventure film has been a favorite of mine since first watching it on WWOR Channel 9 out of NYC when they used to show RKO movies back in the day. Today because it's one of my all-time favorite westerns that I haven't watched yet again in 2021, I decided to revisit my DVD-R of it. The following are some of my quoted remarks with some revised edits from my last viewing which was over three years ago.

The DVD-R of "The Big Sky" was 138 minutes which is two minutes less than the film's preview running time of 140 minutes. The film was cut to 122 minutes before its general release. TBH, there are sequences in the 138 minute showing that is darn right awful filled with bad audio and dupe video from a different and distant source. However, there are also some sequences that looked very good so without a doubt some of this transfer was derived from different film elements. Some of the cut footage was among the worse looking sequences in this 138 minute version. "The Big Sky" stars Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Arthur Hunnicutt, Elizabeth Threatt and Hank Worden as Poordevil. It appears that Elizabeth Threatt was of Native American blood which I did not know until now. This was the only movie she appeared in. Hunnicutt was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this film. Also, a shout out to Steven Geray as "Frenchy" Jourdonnais, the French leader of this trading expedition.

A great western with some fine action sequences about a trading expedition that leaves St. Louis in 1832, by river boat up the Missouri River to trade with the Blackfeet, 2,000 miles away in Montana. Douglas and Martin are buddies that joins Martin's uncle, Hunnicutt and some French traders on their trading expedition through hostile Indian country while battling an established trading company that's trying to maintain its trading monopoly with the Indians. Teal Eye/Threatt, the captured Blackfoot princess that these traders are returning to her people plays prominently in this expedition. Again, this movie has some great action sequences, nicely written dialogue with plenty of humor and fine acting. One of the funniest scenes was after Hunnicutt chops off Douglas's injured infected finger and they're drunkenly crawling on the ground on all fours looking for his missing finger digit.

This movie has never been considered one of Howard Hawks best films, but I think it has been underrated for many years. Dudley Nichols wrote the screenplay derived from a novel by A.B. Guthrie Jr. The cinematographer was Russell Harlan on this black and white movie that was filmed a great deal in 1951, on location in Montana and Wyoming in the Grand Teton mountains. If this movie was filmed in Technicolor, I think it's reputation would be much greater than it is now. Even so, the film did receive an Oscar nomination for best black and white cinematography. Dimitri Tiomkin did the musical score which I think is quite good.

We can only hope that Warner is able to deliver a good Blu-ray of this fine movie like they did with another movie from Hawks's Winchester production company "The Thing From Another World". Here's hoping that 2022 brings us some good news on that front.

Well, I'm now down to the final eight of my "100" All-Time Favorite Westerns. I might squeeze in one more between now and tomorrow night.

Crawdaddy's "100" All-Time Favorite Westerns:

• 3 Godfathers (1949) (DVD/HD Digital)
• High Noon (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Lonely are the Brave (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Open Range (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Ox-Bow Incident, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Red River (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Unforgiven (4K/UHD/4K Digital)
• Wild Bunch, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)

• 3:10 to Yuma (1957) (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• 5 Card Stud (DVD)
• Alamo, The (1960) (DVD/HD Digital)
• Ambush (DVD)
• Angel and the Badman (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Apache (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Arizona (DVD/HD Digital)
• Backlash (Blu-ray)
• Big Country, The (Blu-ray)
• Big Sky, The (DVD)
• Blood on the Moon (Blu-ray)
• Bravados, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Broken Lance (Blu-ray)
• Buffalo Soldiers (1997) (DVD)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Blu-ray/4K Digital)
• California (Blu-ray)
• Canyon Passage (Blu-ray)
• Cheyenne Autumn (DVD/HD Digital)
• Comanche Station (Blu-ray)
• Cowboy (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Death Hunt (Blu-ray)
• Destry Rides Again (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Devil's Doorway (DVD)
• Dodge City (Blu-ray)
• El Dorado (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Escape from Fort Bravo (Blu-ray)
• Fastest Gun Alive, The (DVD)
• Fort Apache (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Four Faces West (Blu-ray)
• Furies, The (HD Digital/Criterion BD)
• Geronimo (1939) (Not on Home Video)
• Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Gunfighter, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hombre (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hondo (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Horse Soldiers, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Hud (DVD/HD Digital)
• Jeremiah Johnson (Blu-ray)
• Joe Kidd (Blu-ray)
• Jubal (Blu-ray)
• King and Four Queens, The (Blu-ray)
• Kit Carson (DVD)
• Last Hunt, The (Blu-ray)
• Last of the Dogmen (DVD/2022 Kino BD)
• Last of the Mohicans, The (1992) (DVD/Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Last Train from Gun Hill (DVD/Upcoming Paramount BD)
• Last Wagon, The (Blu-ray)
• Magnificent Seven, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Man Without a Star (Blu-ray)
• McLintock! (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Monte Walsh (Blu-ray)
• My Darling Clementine (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Naked Spur, The (Blu-ray)
• Nevada Smith (DVD/HD Digital)
• Night Passage (Blu-ray)
• Only the Valiant (Blu-ray)
• Outlaw Josey Wales, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Pillars in the Sky (Blu-ray)
• Plainsman, The (1936) (DVD/Kino BD)
• Professionals, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Proud Ones, The (DVD/HD Digital)
• Pursued (Blu-ray)
• Ride the High Country (Blu-ray)
• Rio Bravo (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Rio Grande (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Rocky Mountain (DVD)
• Searchers, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Shane (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (Blu-ray)
• Shootist, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Sons of Katie Elder, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• South of St. Louis (Blu-ray)
• Stagecoach (1939) (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Tall in the Saddle (DVD/HD Digital)
• Tall Men, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• They Died with their Boots On (DVD/HD Digital)
• Tin Star, The (DVD)
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Unforgiven, The (1960) (Blu-ray)
• Union Pacific (German Blu-ray/Kino BD)
• Vera Cruz (MGM Blu-ray/Kino Blu-ray)
• Virginia City (DVD/HD Digital)
• Walk the Proud Land (DVD)
• Warlock (Blu-ray)
• War Wagon, The (Blu-ray/HD Digital)
• Westerner, The (DVD)
• Western Union (Blu-ray)
• Westward the Women (DVD)
• Will Penny (DVD/HD Digital)
• Winchester '73 (DVD/HD Digital)
• Yellow Sky (Blu-ray)

I haven't watched it yet, but the Criterion Channel is showing a version of the film restored by The Film Foundation.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I haven't watched it yet, but the Criterion Channel is showing a version of the film restored by The Film Foundation.

I’ll take a look to see if it’s better than what I watched today on my OLED.

 

[bujaki]

I’ll take a look to see if it’s better than what I watched today on my OLED.

Please let us know. It's part of a collection of films under the banner Thirty Years of the Film Foundation (or something like that). The Lusty Men is included.