FOX WESTERN CLASSICS I'm upset (1 Viewer)

[Joe Caps]

Doug Bull, Glad you mentioned White Feather. The film is always shown on fox movies here, but always pan and scan and mono.

 

[ted:r]

"Decision Before Dawn" may be currently obscure, but it was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. It may have been forgotten due to the fact that the actors are not "first" rank and Anatole Litvak is relatively obscure. Not that I'm denigrating any of the actors (I very much like Merrill, Basehart and Werner) or Litvak, but I doubt they jump to the forefront of most people's memories.

There are a lot of Fox films I would love to see released, including "The Gunfighter" (and "Viva Zapata!", "Pretty Poison", "Sons And Lovers", "Wilson", etc etc etc) but I do commend Fox for continuing to actually releasing catalog, unlike, to a large extent, Paramount, Universal and Columbia.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I've known this film for many decades. I've just never heard anyone speak of it.

 

[Richard--W]

Where did you order the Spanish disc from?

 

[John Hodson]

It's here:

http://www.xploitedcinema.com/dvds/dvds.asp?title=3602

 

[Opi]

I can't believe , they still refuse to release BROKEN ARROW.
I've bought almost all Fox Western released last year and additionally all James Stewart Universal Western (+ the superior German TWO RODE TOGETHER) so BROKEN ARROW is one of a few Western of my childhood I still miss. The German/UK DVDs lack Subtitles therefor no sale for me.
Can anyone explain how those marketing guys select the movies for DVD release ? Broken Arrow is in the same league as CHEYENNE AUTUMM. It has a message of humanity and is one of a few films that treat the natives as equal people and not just as cannon fodder for the Winchester equiped Hero.

This said, I won't hesitate to order Yellow Sky and The Last Wagon.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PLEASE release I Will Fight No More Forever (www.imdb.com/title/tt0073138) whoever has the DVD rights

 

[John Hodson]

Opi, just FYI, Sony has also released Two Rode Together in the UK.

 

[Opi]

Hi John

My German-DVD (by Sony Germany, should be the same as the UK disk) remark was only made to show the US people that there is a far better disk available in Europe. I was going to buy the RC1 (what I usually do) but furtunately I've read about it in time before I could made a bad desicion (think it was the helpful BEAVER).

 

[John Hodson]

Opi, as far as I know, there is no R1 version of Two Rode Together?

 

[Opi]

Hmm, I see ....

Seems you're right and I was too eager to contribute something valuable to this thread :b
Nevermind folks, buy PAL and enjoy

Researching ....
This was a mix-up with The Indian Fighter / Als Vergeltung sieben Kugeln !
Sorry for that - I've bought both disks on the same day.

 

[Doug Bull]

The UK DVD of BROKEN ARROW is very good with a nice sharp, acurate reproduction of FOX Technicolor from the fifties.
I recommend it.

BROKEN ARROW stands tall among the best Westerns ever made.

 

[Opi]

Yeah, you're right Doug, but sadly Optimum refuses to include Subtitles HoH on their western DVDs. Their German licencee Koch Media does the same bad job, so no captions no sale. As a non native speaker I rely on captions to understand all those mumblings and accents
Besides, I prefer NTSC to avoid Pal-speedup wherever possible.

 

[Jim Bur]

This is the first I've heard about the westerns that Fox is releasing on DVD in May. If the information is correct, there appear to be several very good westerns being released, however on the whole I'm disappointed in their selections. Yellow Sky is an outstanding western. The Last Wagon and the Proud Ones are also very good westerns. The Culpepper Cattle Company was one of the better westerns of the early 70's, and These Thousand Hills is an above average western. That being said, I still think that, with the exception of Yellow Sky, there are at least eight, and possibly nine, westerns in the Fox vaults which are qualitatively better than the ones they are releasing. The eight include Jesse James (1939)(directed by Americana specialist Henry King, and along with Stagecoach the best western released in the magical movie year of 1939) Western Union (1941) (along with The Big Heat, arguably the best Amercian movie directed by Fritz Lang, and the best of the empire building westerns), Broken Arrow (1950)(an entertaining and landmark western), The Gunfighter (1950)(one of the great westerns-also directed by the underrated Henry King), Garden of Evil (1954) (an excellent Gary Cooper film directed by Henry Hathaway that could be classified as both a western and an adventure movie), The Tall Men (1955)(arguably Clark Gable's best post-war movie, and one of the best westerns directed by action film master, Raoul Walsh), From Hell to Texas (1958) (a great and underappreciated western film with a great supporting performance from Chill Wills-in my humble opinion the greatest of Henry Hathaway's westerns, and that includes How the West Was Won, Nevada Smith, True Grit, etc.), and Monte Walsh (1970)(a terrific western and in my opinion,along with Point Blank, Lee Marvin's best movie). The ninth film that might be considered better than those being released is Rawhide (1951), an excellent and taut western directed by Henry Hathaway with its only drawback perhaps being a little too claustrophobic since virtually the entire movie takes place at one location. From the films selected, it appears Fox is selecting their films based on format rather than quality, as, with the exception of Yellow Sky, the films being released on DVD are I believe cinemascope films, a technology which didn't exist when Jesse James, Western Union, Broken Arrow, and The Gunfighter were made. However, even in this regard the selections don't make a lot of sense. For instance, it is hard to explain why they are choosing to release These Thousand Hills over From Hell to Texas. Both films star Don Murray, and both films are in cinemascope and were made within one year of each other, however From Hell to Texas is a far greater film, so if they wanted to release a wide screen late 50's western starring Don Murray it is, without further information, hard to understand why they chose the lesser quality film (unless there were some rights issue which prevented them from releasing From Hell to Texas on DVD). Why they selected 100 Rifles over Monte Walsh is equally inexplicable. The possible silver lining in this cloud is the hope that Fox might elect in the near future to release films such as The Gunfighter and Jesse James and/or Broken Arrow in their studio classic line of film, as they did for the Ox Bow Incident and My Darling Clementine. If Fox releases these westerns as studio classics it would be even better, since we might get some extra features. Here's hoping they will, otherwise we will have to wait another year or more until finally they get it right by a sheer process of elimination. c Jim Bur

 

[Richard--W]

Excellent post.
I'm in agreement with your reasoning.
Bear in mind the original MONTE WALSH (1970) was a box-office disappointment. Fox may be considering the numbers when deciding which films to release. 100 RIFLES was popular and earned a profit, MONTE WALSH did not. Maybe they're saving the better films for next year.

Incidentally, as an aside, the dp / director chose a serene location at Mescal, Arizona to build a new town street for the original MONTE WALSH. One of the reasons why the film looks so good is that the director was able to build his sets for the composition he had in mind. An elegant film. Later this same set served as the location for DIRTY LITTLE BILLY, DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE, LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN, TOM HORN, and STAGE COACH (1986 TVM remake). After it was expanded with more construction it served as the location for the DESPERADO made-for-tv films, THE QUICK AND THE DEAD with Sharon Stone, TOMBSTONE, and the disasterous SOUTH OF HEAVEN, WEST OF HELL. Today the western buildings and facades are falling to pieces with housing developments encroaching on three sides. No more panaramic vista shots on that location.

 

[Dan McW]

Monte Walsh would be an outstanding choice, but the release likely would come from Paramount. It's a Cinema Center/National General release, and films in that stable--even if Fox put them out on VHS at one time--have been released on DVD by Paramount. These include Prime Cut, Big Jake, Rio Lobo, The Reivers and Scrooge (1970), and it seems like the CBS logo is also on all of these DVD releases.

Western Union was issued on VHS only in a $39.98 job back in the 1980s. Movies issued only on super-expensive or non-sell-through VHS tapes not only are rarely on TV but have rarely come to DVD (one exception: The Night of the Following Day, not on TV but now on DVD). Western Union, however, has aired several times in the last year on, of all places, Turner Classic Movies. TCM has been running Fox movies for more than a year, and this is about the only title they have from Fox that's not widely available on home video in every format. Maybe DVD availability for WU is not too far in the future.

 

[Opi]

Just as information for those who do not shy away from PAL disks or are in desperate need of these movies.
Fox Germany has already released The Gunfighter (Der Scharfschütze) as well as Jesse James (Jesse James - Mann ohne Gesetz) in their series GROSSE FILM KLASSIKER. I'm willing to assist to aquire both disks (in case somebody wants them and needs help).

 

[Jim Bur]

Richard W--

Your nice comments are appreciated.


Dan McW

Thanks for pointing out that Fox doesn't have the DVD rights on Monte Walsh. I had purchased Fox's release of Monte Walsh on VHS back in 1993 in their Western Classic series, so it had stuck in my mind that Fox had control of that one. You indicate any release of Monte Walsh would probably come from Paramount. Since Jack Schaefer who wrote Monte Walsh, also wrote Shane, perhaps Paramount could release Monte Walsh, and at the same time re-release a new print of Shane in a special edition.

Speaking of Paramount, I've heard that as of January 1, 2006, Paramount reacquired the entire Republic/NTA library of films, which contain a veritable mother lode of old western films, including quite a number of little gems. Whoever previously held the rights on those films did very little with them, putting out only a few on DVD, and some of these DVD's appeared to be poorly made. Does anyone know if Paramount has any plans in the near future to release any of these old westerns on DVD? Jim Bur

 

[Doug Bull]

WESTERN UNION is available in UK PAL Region 2.

The early Technicolor looks nice in some scenes and only average in others.
The DVD is nowhere near the quality of what Warners have been doing to their early Technicolor films.

When shown recently on Cable here in Australia the Host Movie expert really went overboard proclaming it's excellence.
While it is enjoyable with a likeable cast, I think that it's a bit lightweight and generally overated.

I think the Beaver has a review of it, with frame grabs.