Product Description

WHV WESTERN CLASSICS COLLECTION (DVD MOVIE)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5079 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-08-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 619 minutes

Features

• Includes the following titles: Escape from Fort Bravo (1954) Many Rivers To Cross (1955) Cimarron (1960 Remake) The Law and Jake Wade (1958) Saddle The Wind (1959) The Stalking Moon (1958) Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN Rating: NR Age: 883929011728 UPC: 883929011728 Manufacturer No: 1000037389

Amazon.com
There's plenty in this set for Western fans to enjoy, but let's note that none of these movies rises to the classic status the box title claims. If the term "Western classic" is to mean anything--and it should--it has to be reserved for the likes of Stagecoach, The Naked Spur, Seven Men from Now, and Unforgiven. What we have here are half a dozen pictures that came out in mid–20th century, have recognizable professionals going about their business, and agreeably remind us of how they made 'em before they stopped makin' 'em the way they used to. And for a pleasant weekend's viewing, that'll do nicely. The Civil War–era Escape from Fort Bravo (1953), the first of director John Sturges's many Westerns, has flint-hard U.S. Cavalry officer William Holden riding herd on Confederate POWs in Arizona. Once Holden has fallen for his colonel's daughter's best friend Eleanor Parker, who's also secretly the fiancée of Rebel officer John Forsythe, the film itself is allowed to escape Fort Bravo and echo off the walls of some picturesque canyons well-supplied with hostile Indians. Sturges had a good eye for staging action, and the big climax involves a kind of Apache Agincourt, a patiently lethal military tactic on the part of the Mescaleros. Cameraman Robert L. Surtees was forced to abandon Technicolor for Ansco color, which has a pleasing palette for standard scenes but tends to go greenish and speckly in desert longshots. This was MGM's first production in modest widescreen (1.77:1), which your flat-screen TV may shave a mite. The other five films in the set, all full CinemaScope (2.35:1), look fine.

The Law and Jake Wade (1958) is another Sturges-Surtees picture, one of three vehicles for fading MGM star Robert Taylor. He's a reformed outlaw turned town marshal who springs former partner Richard Widmark from jail, thereby paying off an old debt. But as Widmark sees it, they still have unfinished business, best settled by dragging Taylor and fiancée Patricia Owens off to a ghost town haunted by old guilt and savage Indians. As a journey Western, the movie pales alongside the great Budd Boetticher films of the same era, but the felonious traveling companions include Henry Silva, Robert Middleton, and DeForest Kelley, and the derelict town and its Boot Hill make a memorable killing ground. The credits of Saddle the Wind (1958) feature two unlikely names to be connected with a Western: the script is by Rod Serling (pre–Twilight Zone), and the wind in need of saddling is personified by John Cassavetes, doing an 1860s variation on a 1950s juvenile delinquent. He's kid brother to Robert Taylor, an ex-gunfighter who's turned rancher with the blessing of range baron Donald Crisp. The peace of their valley is variously threatened by gunman Charles McGraw, an extended family of squatters (headed by Royal Dano in anguished righteousness mode), and most of all the volatile, gun-happy Cassavetes. Saddle the Wind turns out to be something of a discovery, thanks to Serling's metaphor-rich dialogue and intriguingly oblique direction by Robert Parrish. There's some facile '50s-TV psychologizing, but mood trumps plot, and the inevitable showdown takes a surprising turn. Plus it never hurts to have Julie London around to gaze soulfully and sing the title song.

The final Robert Taylor item, Many Rivers to Cross (1955), is the one out-and-out clinker in the bunch, an excruciating attempt at frontier comedy largely set against painted vistas à la Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. As it happens, both films were produced by Jack Cummings, a veteran of MGM musicals--only this is no musical, and the ill-cast Taylor seems poleaxed as free-living vagabond Bushrod Gentry (a rascal role that cries out for Kirk Douglas or Burt Lancaster). Eleanor Parker is fun as the fire-haired "she-fiend" who sets her cap for Bushrod, but really only James Arness hits the right note in a too-brief appearance about an hour in. Master Western director Anthony Mann is credited with Cimarron, the 1960 remake of the 1931 Academy Award winner. However, Mann left in mid-production ("creative differences"), and the movie seems more typical of the MGM contract director who took over, Charles Walters. Edna Ferber's novel of pioneer Oklahoma offers a plethora of themes--several species of prejudice, capitalism vs. charity, sons unhappily following in fathers' footsteps, and the irreconcilable tensions between a stability-craving wife and her footloose husband--but the action is front-loaded and the husband, Glenn Ford, is offscreen for years at a time. Most of the large cast comes and goes without establishing identities, and Maria Schell's Sabra Cravat is tiresome as both ditz and pill. However, the Oklahoma land rush gives grand spectacle. That leaves The Stalking Moon (1969), an odd-film-out since it's the only non-MGM production in the set and a decade more recent than the rest. Gregory Peck plays a scout trying to protect a white woman (Eva Marie Saint) and her half-breed son from an Apache warrior, the woman's captor-husband of ten years. The mostly unseen Apache is a veritable monster of determination, cunning, and bloodthirstiness: Peck and his charges doom entire Southwest communities to extermination just by passing through the neighborhood. This fierce amalgam of Western and horror movie was the last of seven collaborations between director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula--a distant cousin of their To Kill a Mockingbird. As a palm-sweater it's demonically effective, and fascinating as prelude to the great paranoid trilogy Pakula went on to direct, Klute, The Parallax View, and All the President's Men. Robert Forster has an early role as a fellow, part-Indian scout. --Richard T. Jameson

From the back cover
Escape from Fort Bravo: Union officer William Holden contends with Johnny Reb prisoners inside Fort Bravo... and fierce Indians outside. John Sturges (The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven). Many Rivers to Cross: Bullwhip-crackin' trapper and resolute bachelor Bushrod Gentry comes to Kentucky, where a marriage-minded lass is a-waitin'. Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker team in a comedy/adventure. Cimarron: Oklahoma is theirs.. if they can tame it. Glenn Ford stars in the decades-spanning tale of the famed land rush and of settlers sinking deep roots. Anthony Mann (Winchester '73) directs. The Law and Jake Wade: Lawman Robert Taylor is sworn to uphold the law but destined for a showdown with his outlaw past when former partner Richard Widmark resurfaces. Directed by John Sturges. Saddle the Wind: Blood for blood. Brother against brother. An ex-gunslinger's attempts to go straight meet a fury of violence ignited by his brother. Robert Taylor stars in Rod Serling's taut tale. The Stalking Moon: A suspenseful manhunt saga. A relentless foe tracks Army scout Gregory Peck as he attempts to lead a woman (Eva Marie Saint) once held captive by Apaches to safety.

Customer Reviews

A pretty good collection of western films from the 50's and 60's
This is a pretty good collection of miscellaneous westerns by Warner Home Video. There is no word on extra features yet, but here are the details on the films themselves and my viewpoint on each one.

Escape From Ft. Bravo (1953) Directed by John Sturges. (4/5)
At the end of the Civil War, Ft. Bravo is being used to house Confederate POWs. William Holden stars as Captain Roper, a man responsible for retrieving escapees from the Fort. He is often brutal in the execution of his duties, but he feels he must be or risk even more escapes. Eleanor Parker comes as a visitor to the fort and butters up Roper. All the while she is helping enable the escape of her true love, a Confederate prisoner. Roper falls in love with Parker's character. When he finds out the truth - after the prisoners escape - he could just leave them to the Apaches. Instead he goes out to rescue and retrieve the prisoners and the girl who betrayed his trust.

Many Rivers To Cross (1955) Directed by Row Rowland. (4/5)
This is a rather unusual cross between a comedy and a western. I really didn't like it the first time I saw it, but it does grow on you. Eleanor Parker stars as a woman who is afraid she will be a spinster and sets her sights on Robert Taylor's character, Bushrod Gentry. Bushrod is an unlikely husband and an untameable frontiersman, or so it seems.

Cimarron (1960) Directed by Anthony Mann (3/5)
Maybe I was spoiled by the 1931 version - in particular the very hammy portrayal of Yancey by Richard Dix. That film won an unbelievable Best Picture Oscar and a Best Actor nomination for Dix. This movie is far superior to the original, with Glenn Ford as Yancey. It confronts head-on the issues that the original just skirts around, yet in doing this it just seems to take on too much. The film is about an ill-matched couple that settles in Oklahoma during the land rush years and how things progress between the two of them as the years progress. Yancey is a wanderer at heart. His wife, Sabra, wants Yancey to settle down and raise a family. You'll probably like this one more if you haven't seen the original.

The Law and Jake Wade (1958) Directed by John Sturges (4/5)
This one has great performances in a rather unremarkable story. Robert Taylor plays Jake Wade. Richard Widmark plays Clint Hollister. It turns out that in years past Clint saved Jake's life when they were in the same gang. Jake goes straight and becomes a sheriff. Jake hears that Clint is about to hang - for something that he actually did - yet feels a debt and breaks him out of jail. Clint does the natural thing - he kidnaps Jake and his fiancee and forces him to return some money Jake stole when he was with the gang. You can pretty much see where this one is going at every turn, but it is worth it to see Taylor and Widmark in the lead. They really are excellent.

Saddle The Wind (1958) Directed by Robert Parrish (3/5)
The only western written by Rod Serling, this one was rather disappointing considering its author. Robert Taylor once again plays a bad guy gone straight, this time as a farmer. He has a younger brother (John Cassavetes) who is following in his wild footsteps but surprises everyone when he brings home a wife. This doesn't prevent him from getting into deep trouble from which his brother must rescue him.

The Stalking Moon (1968) Directed by Robert Mulligan (4/5)
Considering it was made at a time when westerns were largely out of fashion, this one is very good. It does a great job of building suspense. An army scout (Gregory Peck) takes in a woman and her half-Apache son who are pretty much ostracized by society because of their origins. Unfortunately, the boy's Apache father is a violent fellow who wants his "property" back.

Dissapointing
I got this box set for Christmas this year. I wanted it mostly for Glenn Ford's version of Cimmaron and Escape from Fort Bravo. These two films are the best of the 6, although Saddle the Wind is also very good. The law and jake wade was very disappointing. I am a huge Richard Widmark fan but this one misses the mark, mostly because of Robert Taylor, who is not a good western actor but is in 3 of the 6 films in this set.

The Stalking Moon is ok, but should not be in this box set. Many Rivers To Cross is a terrible movie. If you can buy Cimmaron and Escape from Fort Bravo separate, I would suggest doing so. A better deal would be to buy this set on sale somewhere. It is not worth the 50 bucks, but Cimmaron and Escape from Fort Bravo are amazing movies.

There is also no special features and no chapter selection on any of the DVD's in this set. For such a high price, the menu's are very cheap and look like something out of the public domain. You would be better off buying these western sets:

Classic Western Round-Up, Vol. 1 (The Texas Rangers / Canyon Passage / Kansas Raiders / The Lawless Breed)

Classic Western Round-Up, Vol. 2 (The Texans / California / The Cimarron Kid / The Man from the Alamo)

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

Hope you find this review helpful.

At Long Last! Rare Westerns Finally Released on DVDs!!
Warner Bros will soon be releasing this Boxed Set of 6 DVDs which should please most fans of Classic Western movies:

1. Escape From Fort Bravo, stars William Holden, 99 minutes, Released 1953, Color.
2. Many Rivers to Cross, Stars Robert Taylor, 94 minutes, Released 1955, Color.
3. The Law and Jake Wade, Stars Robert Taylor & Richard Widmark, 86 minutes, Released 1958, Color.
4. Saddle the Wind, Stars Robert Taylor, 84 minutes, Released 1958, Color.
5. The Stalking Moon, Stars Gregory Peck, 109 minutes, Released 1968, Color.
6. Cimarron, Stars Glenn Ford, 147 minutes, Released 1960, Color.

The boxed Set will be released August 2008.