Major Westerns that are still MIA on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Eric Peterson]

With the multitude of westerns that came out in May ("The Gunfighter", "Man of the West", "The Westerner", etc...), the re-release of "High Noon", and the upcoming release of "How the West Was Won", I started pondering about which major titles we are still missing.

Here's what I have come up with:

• JOHNNY GUITAR (Nicholas Ray) - Joan Crawford, Arthur Kennedy, etc.. (LION'S GATE)
• RANCHO NOTORIOUS (Fritz Lang) - Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Elam (?????)
• TWO RODE TOGETHER (John Ford) - James Stewart, Richard Widmark (COLUMBIA)
• WAGON MASTER (John Ford) - Ben Johnson, Ward Bond (WARNER BROTHERS)
• THE TALL T (Bud Boetticher) - Randolph Scott (?????)
• COMMANCHE STATION (Bud Boetticher) - Randolph Scott (?????)
• WILD ROVERS (Blake Edwards) - William Holden, Ryan O'Neal (WARNER BROTHERS)
• THE LUSTY MEN (Nicholas Ray) - Robert Mitchum, Susan Hayward (WARNER BROTHERS)
• BLOOD ON THE MOON (Robert Wise) - Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes (WARNER BROTHERS)
• DEVIL'S DOORWAY (Anthony Mann) - Robert Taylor (WARNER BROTHERS)
• RAMROD (Andre DeToth) - Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake (LION'S GATE)
• WELCOME TO HARD TIMES (Burt Kennedy) - Henry Fonda, Aldo Ray (WARNER BROTHERS)
• THE HANGING TREE (Delmar Daves) - Gary Cooper and George C. Scott (WARNER BROTHERS)

There are several other Boetticher/Scott westerns also. This list is intended to focus on major titles, but I must be missing some. Any thoughts? I realize that a few of these are available in other regions, but I'm not desperate enough to go hunting for any of these, but when they show up in Region 1, I'll be near the front of the line.

 

[Charles H]

WILD ROVERS (Blake Edwards)--William Holden, Ryan O'Neal
THE LUSTY MEN (Nicholas Ray)--Robert Mitchum, Susan Hayward
BLOOD ON THE MOON (Robert Wise)--Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes
DEVIL'S DOORWAY (Anthony Mann)--Robert Taylor
RAMROD (Andre DeToth)--Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake
WELCOME TO HARD TIMES (Burt Kennedy)--Henry Fonda, Aldo Ray
THE HANGING TREE (Delmar Daves)--Gary Cooper and George C. Scott
By the by, the western channel is showing some rarely seen westerns (apparently they have a deal with WB now that akso includes "Maverick" series): YELLOWSTONE KELLY (Clint Walker), THE MOONLIGHTER (Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray together again).

 

[Eric Peterson]

Those are some good titles Charles. I'll update my first post.

I forgot to mention that if you know who owns the rights to each title, that will also be helpful.

Ironically, I purchased a poster for Ramrod last year and have been wanting to see it ever since. It's a beautiful poster from the film's re-release in the early 50s.

 

[Bob Graham]

TWO RODE TOGETHER, a Columbia Picture, has been playing on the HD Net Movies channel, so a high def master exists. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

 

[Charles H]

LionsGate owns RAMROD. All the rest are WB...

 

[Alan Tully]

TWO RODE TOGETHER & WAGONMASTER are available in the U.K. I'd like RIO CONCHOS & those great Boetticher/Scott westerns - isn't there supposed to be a box set from Sony this year? Also THE LAST HUNT (France have it, but it's not anamorphic)............& the biggie. A big deluxe ONE EYED JACKS. Fingers crossed!

 

[Richard--W]

1965 The Glory Guys (United Artists) Arnold Laven.
Tom Tryon, Senta Berger, James Caan, Slim Pickins. Thinly disguised take on Custer's last stand written by Sam Peckinpah and filmed in picturesque Durango, Mexico.

1964 A Distant Trumpet (Warner Brothers) Raoul Walsh.
Troy Donahue, Suzanne Pleshette, Claude Akins. Huge calvary epic exquisitely photographed by William Clothier in deep rich Technicolor.

1961 A Thunder of Drums (MGM) Joseph M. Newman.
George Hamilton, Richard Boone, Luana Paton, Charles Bronson, Richard Chamberlin. Young calvary officers must come to terms with the savagery of Indian warfare in this James Warner Bellah original that continues to develop the idea he wrote in the better-known cavalry epics for John Ford.

1959 Ride Lonesome (Columbia) Budd Boetticher.
Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, James Best, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, James Coburn. Lean mean revenge-themed western written by Burt Kennedy and shot in the dusty Alabama Hills in beautiful widescreen Technicolor. Much admired by western buffs.

1958 Buchanan Rides Alone (Columbia) Budd Boetticher.
Randolph Scott, Craig Stevens, L.Q. Jones. Scott rides into a corrupt town and gets into trouble with a corrupt law. Lots of twists and turns in this town-based plot that takes good advantage of Old Tucson's authentic locations. Under-rated but growing in reputation.

1956 Star In the Dust (Universal)
Charles F. Haas. John Agar, Colleen Gray, Richard Boone, amd Mamie Van Doren. Tense and suspenseful backlot western about a conflicted Sheriff and whether or not he'll go through with the hanging. Really nice color print airs on cable stations occasionally.

1956 Backlash (Universal)
John Sturges. Richard Widmark, Donna Reed, John McIntire, and Old Tucson locations in widescreen Technicolor. Written by Borden Chase from a novel by Frank Gruber.

1955 Wichita (Allied Artists)
Jacques Tourneur. Joe McCrea as Wyatt Earp, Vera Miles, Lloyd Bridges, and Jack Elam. Wyatt Earp is the town-tamer before movin' on to Tombstone. Well-acted Technicolor western directed with impeccable style by Tourneur.

1955 Man Without a Star (Universal)
King Vidor. Kirk Douglas, Jeanne Craine, Claire Trevor, William Campbell. Another Borden Chase screenplay.

1954 Masterson of Kansas (Columbia)
William Castle. With George Montgomery as Bat Masterson and a caustic James Griffith doing Doc Holliday. A B western with A-quality ideas. Beautiful Technicolor. Encore has been known to air a pristine print.

1954 Four Guns to the Border (Universal) Richard Carlson.
Rory Calhoun, Colleen Miller, Walter Brennan, John MciNtire, Jay Silverheels. Colleen Miller is going to town with her pa, Walter Brennan, when they cross trails with outlaws are being pursued. But that's not what it's about. It's really a coming-of-age tale about a girl who learns how to use her sexuality to stop men from killing each other. A couple of sexually charged scenes, one in the rain and another in the barn, in which Miller and Calhoun confront their feelings for each other would be R-rated today. Subversive, brilliant, and with a subtext that ain't on the page. Beautifully shot in deep rich color and superbly directed by former actor Richard Carlson. Why isn't this adult character study better known?

1954 Dawn At Socorro (Universal) George Sherman.
Rory Calhoun, Piper Laurie, Edgar Buchanan, Skip Homier. Calhoun gambles to save innocent Piper Laurie from a life as a saloon girl. Tense and well written backlot western in Technicolor. B movie with A-list ideas.

1953 The Charge at Feather River (Warner Brother) Gordon Douglas.
Guy Madison, Vera Miles, Frank Lovejoy. Scott Brodie. This rugged cavalry epic was a big influence on THE SEARCHERS (1956) and was the biggest grossing film / western of 1953. It is also state-of-the-art 3-D film making, one of the best 3-D films ever made, although it plays just fine in standard flat 2-d so don't let that scare you off, Warner Home Video.

1952 The Big Sky (RKO) Howard Hawks.
Kirk Douglas, Arthur Hunnicutt, Jim Davis. Hank Wordon. A.B.Guthrie classic adapted by the great Dudley Nichols. One of the most eagerly awaited westerns and long overdue.

1951 Along the Great Divide (Warner Brothers) Raoul Walsh.
Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, Walter Brennan, John Agar. Douglas is determined to deliver a prisoner no matter what. Crisp early morning photography in the Alabama Hills at Lone Pine, CA in glorious monochrome.

 

[DanMel]

Maria Cooper owns between 65-75 percent of The Hanging Tree as it was passed down to her from her father Gary. WB owns the rest. They would have to come to some sort of deal in getting it restored and released as WB would not get restoration costs back from dvd sales since they would only recieve bewteen 25-35 percent of the profits. All legal disputes between the film owners and the decendents of the writer of the book have been settled, which did go on for about 10 years.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Don't forget these:

THREE GODFATHERS (1936, MGM) starring Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan; directed by Richard Boleslawski -- DVD: WB

WELLS FARGO (1937, Paramount) starring Joel McCrea, Frances Dee; directed by Lloyd Bacon -- DVD: Universal

COLORADO TERRITORY (1949, WB) starring Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo; directed by Raoul Walsh -- DVD: WB

WESTWARD THE WOMEN (1951, MGM) starring Robert Taylor; directed by William Wellman -- DVD: WB

BANDIDO (1956, United Artists) starring Robert Mitchum, Gilbert Roland; directed by Richard Fleischer -- DVD: MGM

THE BADLANDERS (1958, MGM) starring Alan Ladd, Ernest Borgnine; directed by Delmar Daves -- DVD: WB

THE BIG GUNDOWN (1966, Columbia) starring Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian; directed by Sergio Sollima -- DVD: Sony

DEATH RIDES A HORSE (1967, a legit R1 widescreen release, United Artists) starring Lee Van Cleef, John Phillip Law; directed by Giulio Petroni -- DVD: MGM

THE MERCENARY (1968, United Artists) starring Franco Nero, Jack Palance, Tony Musante; directed by Sergio Corbucci -- DVD: MGM

MONTE WALSH (1970, National General) starring Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, Jeanne Moreau; directed by William Fraker -- DVD: Paramount

 

[Robert Crawford]

How about Western Union with Randolph Scott and Robert Young. Another favorite of mine is South of St. Louis with McCrea.

Anyhow, I think most of the Warner westerns will eventually make it.

 

[Charles H]

Universal has yet to portal over to dvd these titles from their "Western Collections" line: WALK THE PROUD LAND, GUNSMOKE, RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO, TEXAS RANGERS RIDE AGAIN, COMMANCHE TERRITORY, TOMAHAWK, MAN IN THE SHADOWS. Most conspicuously absent in the 1946 version of THE VIRGINIAN, which is available in R2. The 1929 version with Gary Cooper is seminal and was rumore to becoming out as part of a Gary Cooper collection at one point (with THE SPOILERS).

It is good to see that WB has made a dent in their Robert Taylor catalog with their forthcoming Western Collection in August. That leaves: RIDE VAQUERO!, AMBUSH, THE LAST HUNT, CATTLE KING, STAND UP AND FIGHT, WESTWARD THE WOMEN (a remarkable film), and BILLY THE KID. The latter could be coupled with KingVidor's 1930 version that was filmed in Grandeur--although I don't believe that that version still survives.

Taylor's post-war credentials in the western genre are almost as impressive as those of Stewart, McCrea, and Cooper and they deserve to be more widely seen.
.

 

[Radioman970]

Hannie Caulder. Paramount.

 

[John Hodson]

Completely agree about Taylor; more please Warner. I think I've mentioned this before about the UK R2 of '46 'The Virginian', but Universal appears to have sourced a print which has a title sequence - including odd, certainly not original, title music - that originates from years later, possibly (though I don't quite know the reason) for TV showing. I only hope this is corrected when it's released in R1; otherwise it's a decent looking transfer.

 

[Brad Vautrinot]

I'm really excited that studios are releasing Westerns that either have never been on DVD before or were of such poor quality they were practically unwatchable. I've been buying all the releases as soon as they are available and never looked back. With all the talk lately about Westerns I was wondering how folks felt about the early ones that I grew up with as a kid - the so-called "oaters", I guess, or "B" Westerns. I can still remember being thrilled beyond belief to take my quarter to see movies all Saturday afternoon long at the local theater. I'm talking about movies starring:

Roy Rogers
Gene Autry
Hopalong Cassidy
Wild Bill Elliott
Lash Larue
The Cisco Kid
Johnnie Mack Brown
Red Ryder
The Lone Ranger
Bob Steele
Tom Mix
Hoot Gibson
Wayne Morris
Sunset Carson
Spade Cooley
Tex Williams
Don Barry
Ken Maynard
The Durango Kid (Charles Starret)
Dorothy Page, the Singing Cowgirl
Tex Ritter
Rod Cameron
Monte Hale
Bob Livingston
Buster Crabbe

...and tons more but that's all I remember right now. What memories writing these names brings back....Anyone else like these or am I just a dinosaur?

Brad

 

[Robert Crawford]

You mean Warner has made a dent. Anyhow, we have something to look forward to next year and the years after that. However, I hope consumers buy enough of this first Western Collection so that other studios follow suit.




Crawdaddy

 

[R-T-C Tim]

Just an FYI for anyone interested:


Check out the Spanish or Australian DVDs, I have the former and it looks good with English audio, the latter is apparently solid too.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Here's what I'd like to see...


*UPDATED*


The Big Sky
Blood on the Moon
The Lusty Men
Man Without A Star
Johnny Guitar
Colorado Territory
Two Rode Together
Northwest Passage
Lonely Are The Brave
Devil's Doorway
Ride, Vaquero!
The Last Hunt
Station West
Rancho Notorious
Wagon Master
Witchita
Stars in My Crown
Along the Great Divide
Westbound
The Fastest Gun Alive
The Hanging Tree
Lone Star
The Tall T
Commanche Station
The Badlanders
The Iron Mistress
The Oklahoma Kid
Tribute to a Bad Man
The Hangman
Death Of A Gunfighter
Silver River
Westward The Women
Strange Lady in Town
The Moonlighter
The Sheepman
The Big Land
Rachel and the Stranger
Advance To The Rear
Billy The Kid
Vengeance Valley
Day of the Evil Gun
Ambush
Best Of The Badmen
Return Of The Badmen
The Charge at Feather River
The Command
The Burning Hills
Wild Rovers
The Outriders

I'd also welcome a box of b-westerns the likes of Bel-Air Studio (War Paint, The Yellow Tomahawk, Fort Yuma, The Broken Star, etc. - In fact that would make a choice collection!) and any other typical 50's cheapies or matinée westerns that don't play for high cinematic achievement, just pure bygone entertainment!

And I've said it before and I'll say it again... it's a damn shame that FOX didn't chose to pair their overdue release of The Gunfighter with the wonderful television film adaptation scripted by none other than Sam Peckinpah, End Of A Gun. This was produced for The 20th Century Fox Hour and I would love for it to be officially released in some context since the series is no longer being broadcast on television; It would have made for the perfect compliment and supplement to Fox's recent DVD release!

 

[CineKarine]

Some I'd especially like to see on DVD:

The Rawhide Years (56)
Destry (54)
A non-PD version of Vengeance Valley (51)
South of St. Louis (49)
Quantez (57)
Horizons West (52)
Dakota Lil (50)
The Gallant Legion (48)
Gun Town (46)
Red Mountain (51)

 

[OliverK]

I do own these on DVD, got all of them from Amazon France. The French know a thing or two about movies:

The Big Sky
Man Without A Star
Johnny Guitar
Lonely Are The Brave


These have already been aired in HD:

Two Rode Together
Buchanan Rides Alone


My favorites that I still would like to get, preferably in HD:

One Eyed Jacks (crappy version exists)
Ride Lonesome
The Tall T
Comanche Station
Monte Walsh
The Hanging Tree (crappy version exists)
Blood on the Moon
Devil's Doorway

 

[Simon Howson]

Grover Crisp said in an interview with film historian David Bordwell that a boxed set of restored Boetticher westerns is coming soon. He says they are the most requested titles. See here: Observations on film art and FILM ART : American (Movie) Madness

It's about 2/3 the way down, above the big bunch of frame grabs.