Fox Western Classics (Rawhide / The Gunfighter / Garden of Evil) Review

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(More customer reviews)Three long overdue for DVD Westerns are together in one collection. Each of these movies are great individually, but together, makes this a must-have Western film. Here are the three films -
Rawhide - Rawhide deserves not only a DVD release, but recognition as one of the greatest Westerns ever. Taut, masterful direction by the great Henry Hathaway, and excellent perfomances by everyone makes this a must have film for anyone who loves the Western genre.
Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward are trapped at a stage way station by a gang of desperate criminals. Surprises and tragedy unfold as Power, Hayward, and Hayward's baby try to survive and outwit the criminals.
There are scenes in this film that are so tense that even today's hardened, jaded moviegoers will appreciate. This was not a film with larger than life heroes or cardboard cutout villains, but real people well portrayed with great lines from a magnificent script.
The Gunfighter - Gregory Peck, with his natural, spare acting style, and his folksy, plain demeanor, was a natural for Westerns, and his greatness in this genre was never more evident in this 1950 film, which was one of the earlier psychological Westerns.
Peck plays Jimmie Ringo, the most notorious gunfighter in the West, is running from the brothers of a man he killed. He shows up in a town where his ex-wife lives with their young son. Ringo holds up in the town saloon as a favor to the town marshal, who an old friend, while he waits for an opportunity to see his wife.
Meanwhile, the town is taken over with the nervous enthusiasm of people wanting to see a celebrity, a shootout, or a dead celebrity. At the same time, a young punk, would-be gunfighter has heard that Ringo is in town, and is itching to make his reputation off of killing Ringo.
Everyone delivers excellent performances, and the movie has a lot to say about voyeurism, celebrity, longing, and regret. This is a fantastic movie, and without question, one of the best Westerns ever made.
Garden of Evil - This great Western was never even released on VHS, much less video, which is a shame since it had great performance from two great Western actors, Gary Cooper and Richard Widmark. Cooper, Widmark, and two other soldiers of fortune, played by Cameron Mitchell and Victor Manuel Mendoza, arrive in Mexico having responded to an add to make lots of money. They are greeted by Susan Hayward, who takes them on a perilous journey to rescue her husband, who has been injured in a mining accident. If the journey and the rescue weren't hard enough, the location of the mine in in Indian territory. Soon, alliances are made, broken, and remade, and emotions, greed, and violence ensues.
This film may be regarded as the least of the three by some, but it has terrific acting by all, and is a wonderful showcase of Cooper beginning the twilight phase of his magnificent career, where he tended to play veteran loners who find that they still have lots to live for, and who usually finds love and renewed courage along the way.
All three films are excellent, and should have merited individual releases, making this release combining all three is even more special.

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Disc 1: Garden of Evil (1954) Feature Film Disc 2: The Gunfighter (1951) Feature Film Disc 3: Rawhide (1951) Feature Film

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MacArthur (1977) Review

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(More customer reviews)Those that are interested in General Douglas MacArthur, and admire his qualities of courage and fortitude, will find this film fascinating; it is beautifully filmed, with marvelous re-creations of the mid 20th century, and the battle scenes are very well done.
The speeches alone are a glory to listen to, full of passion for "duty, honor, and country", and the words are so exquisitely crafted they are like the finest prose.
The film starts and ends in MacArthur's beloved West Point, on a blustery day, as he speaks to the cadets, and is among the many memorable scenes; others are the landing on Layte, and the signing of Japan's surrender, on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, which is a fabulous re-staging of the historic event.
Gregory Peck gives a monumental portrayal of MacArthur; it is nuanced and brilliant, and from the old film clips I have seen of General MacArthur, subtly captures his posture and movement, with his many different pipes. This film is one of Peck's best, and it's sad it did not have more critical acclaim, as I feel it certainly deserved it.
Other terrific performances come from Marj Dusay as his wife Jean, Sandy Kenyon as General Jonathan Wainwright, and Ed Flanders as President Truman is quite exceptional; tough, gritty, and angered by MacArthur.
An excellent score by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Mario Tosi complements the well-paced direction by Joseph Sargent. If it has a flaw, I feel the film makes too much of the publicity loving aspect of MacArthur's personality. Yes, he liked to use the media to his advantage, and most people who make history feel the same way no doubt...otherwise it is a fairly balanced depiction of one of the great men of the 20th century.
It is interesting to speculate what would have happened had General MacArthur been able to do what he thought was right, and not the "capitulation" and "immoral compromise with evil" he felt he was forced to accept. Perhaps over time millions of lives would have been saved, but I'm sure many would argue otherwise.
Total running time 130 minutes.
"A soldier above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war".

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Gregory Peck Film Trailer Collection Review

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(More customer reviews)This DVD has no movies on it, it is basically a listing of his top movies. The DVD plays the original movie reel intro's from the adverts in the cinema pre release of the film.

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The Big Country (1958) Review

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(More customer reviews)What we have here is a blood feud over water rights between two ranching families headed by Major Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford) and Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives), with school teacher Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) caught in the middle. Directed by William Wyler with stunning cinematography by Franz Planer, we follow a narrative which involves the engagement of Easterner James McKay (Gregory Peck) to Terrill's beloved daughter Pat (Carroll Baker). Frankly, what he sees in her continues to elude my understanding. Some reviewers have dismissed this as a "B" movie but I do not. The quality of the acting (notably Ives's which earned him an Academy Award for best supporting actor) is outstanding. Although in what I guess could be considered a minor role as Steve Leech, Terrill's ramrod, Charlton Heston delivers a remarkably nuanced and controlled performance as does Chuck Connors as Buck Hannassey. This is much less a western than a study of two patriarchs (Terrill and Hannassey) who play a zero sum game to gain control of access to water on which they and their herds obviously depend. But there is something else at work in this great but (for whatever reasons) under appreciated film. Julie Maragon is quite willing to allow both patriarchs access to the water. That is not the core issue: rather, it is the conflict between the inflated egos of two proud and stubborn men who detest each other.
For me, one of the most memorable scenes occurs when, just before dawn, McKay and Leech finally have it out. It is an awkward but inevitable and immensely effective fist fight, with much of it filmed as if we were observing it at a distance. Of course, the fist fight achieves nothing other than demonstrating that McKay is more of a "man" than Leech once thought. Before they begin throwing punches, McKay insists that no one know about their fight. Leech totally misunderstands McKay's reasons. Another memorable sequence of events focuses on Terrill and Hannassey as they slowly and carefully work their way through a canyon to their final confrontation. To repeat, theirs is a zero sum game except that neither wins. In these and other scenes, Planer's cinematography and Jerome Moross' music score blend effectively with the cast's superb performances under Wyler's direction.
Why has The Big Country been under appreciated, if not totally ignored among western films? I have no idea. I really don't.

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One of Hollywood's greatest directors teams with a cast of incredible screen legends for this bold, sweeping tale of a ship's captain who ventures west to find a hotbed of jealously, hatred and dangerous rivalries. As the reluctant hero is thrust into the maelstrom, he must summon all of his resolve to save not only his own life, but the life of the woman he loves.
Four-time Academy Award® Winner William Wyler directs this action-packed adventure that triumphs as "a work of art" (Motion Picture Herald). Starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston, Chuck Connors and Burl Ives (in an Oscar®-Winning performance), this magnificently entertaining epic will take your breath away with unbridled suspense, exhilarating excitement and explosive drama on a grand scale.
Special Features:
- Fun in The Country
- TV Spot
- Theatrical Trailer

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TCM Greatest Classic Legends Film Collection: Lucille Ball (The Long, Long Trailer / Forever Darling / Room Service / Du Barry Was a Lady) Review

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(More customer reviews)This will no doubt be one of the big sellers in TCM's "Greatest Classic Films Collection", a series designed to bring classic movies to the masses in budget-friendly double disc sets. However it's a bit of a shame that this Lucille Ball-themed collection doubles up on films already covered in the series.
THE LONG, LONG TRAILER is in the TCM Comedy set, and ROOM SERVICE can also be found in the Marx Brothers set. LONG, LONG TRAILER is undoubtedly Lucy's best film comedy, and operates almost like a feature-length "I Love Lucy" episode (it was filmed at the height of "Lucy" mania). ROOM SERVICE is a Marx Brothers film first and foremost, with young Lucy in one of her first major supporting roles.
Of the two remaining films, FOREVER DARLING is one of Lucy's most disappointing, downright dreary comedies (and her co-star James Mason always regarded it as one of his worst films). The story sees Lucy and Desi Arnaz playing a married couple on the verge of a messy divorce, until a Guardian Angel - played by James Mason - intervenes. DU BARRY WAS A LADY is a big splashy Technicolor musical, based on the hit Broadway show, in which Ball shares the screen with an up-and-coming Gene Kelly, and Red Skelton.
Why TCM has decided to recycle ROOM SERVICE is anybody's guess (though I can rationalise why LONG, LONG TRAILER is here once more). Instead of ROOM SERVICE, I would have preferred perhaps "The Big Street" (one of Lucy's best dramatic performances); or maybe even the delicious "Dance, Girl, Dance".

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