Product Description

Few hauteur directors are more revered and beloved than Oscar "Budd" Boetticher, Jr., who lived a life more amazing than any movie. And few films have been more eagerly-awaited on DVD than the spare, adult westerns he made at Columbia in the late 1950s, all starring Randolph Scott, most written by future director Burt Kennedy, and co-starring such outstanding actors as James Coburn (in his film debut), Richard Boone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, and Craig Stevens. Now, at last, you hold them in your hand: The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome and Comanche Station. Rounding out the set is Bruce Ricker's acclaimed feature-length documentary, A Man Can do That, executive produced Budd's friend Clint Eastwood. Sony Pictures and The Film Foundation are honored to present one of the absolutely essential collections of this or any year.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18524 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2008-11-04
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 380 minutes

Amazon.com
To anyone interested in the Western genre, classic American cinema, and/or the history and art of film, the DVD release of director Budd Boetticher's five Columbia pictures starring Randolph Scott is a world-class event. For sustained and distinctive achievement in B-movie filmmaking, these movies--often referred to as "the Ranown cycle"--are rivaled only by the horror films Val Lewton produced for RKO in the 1940s. In each case the "B" is strictly a matter of budget and release pattern, not quality. Unlike the Lewtons, however, the Boetticher-Scott films have rarely been properly showcased in America, either individually or as a collective experience--in Martin Scorsese's observation, "one long extended movie" whose echoes, recurrences, and variations accrue extraordinary power and richness. The series properly originated with Seven Men from Now (1956), a movie not included here (but available separately) because it was made for another company. That picture more or less accidentally brought together Scott, Boetticher, and neophyte screenwriter Burt Kennedy--an uncanny blending of talents and qualities to create a great, thoroughly original Western that became the paradigm for the Ranown cycle. All the films run about an hour and a quarter and were shot in 10 days or so. In each, Scott plays a lone-riding man of few words with a personal, indeed private, mission to complete. Details of his backstory are few, and parceled out judiciously so that the understanding of both the audience and the other characters keeps evolving over the literal or figurative journey the film describes. In most cases, there's a key rival or adversary who poses the greatest threat to Scott's mission, yet is also the person closest to Scott in spirit or capability--often a disquietingly sympathetic figure whose necessary showdown with Scott occasions considerable regret. In keeping with Boetticher's own experience in Mexican bullrings, the climactic action takes on the spatial and spiritual overtones of a corrida.

It's scarcely coincidental that the three Ranown titles on a par with Seven Men from Now were likewise written by Burt Kennedy. The Tall T (1957), based on an Elmore Leonard story, centers on a life-or-death situation with Scott and another man's just-married bride (Maureen O'Sullivan) held hostage in the backcountry by three cold-blooded killers. Its fierce air of menace is enhanced by a bracing strain of dark humor, and Richard Boone is brilliant as the outlaw leader, an intelligent man who loathes his brute partners in crime and craves Scott's respect--even as he won't hesitate to kill him. Ride Lonesome (1959), widely regarded as the series peak, maddeningly has been the hardest to get to see, especially in the CinemaScope format Boetticher deploys so fluently. This time Scott is a man bringing a jokey outlaw (James Best) out of the badlands, with the apparent intention of collecting the bounty. Because local Indians are on the warpath, he's soon acquired unwanted traveling companions--a stationmaster's wife (Karen Steele) and two amiable galoots (Pernell Roberts, James Coburn) looking to take Scott's prisoner away from him. And somewhere behind, riding hell-for-leather with his gang, is Best's outlaw brother (Lee Van Cleef). This was Coburn's first film, and upon recognizing the young man's unique talent and appeal, the director wrote new material on location to enlarge his part. Comanche Station (1960) closed out the cycle with its purest, sparest manifestation. Scott rescues a white woman (Nancy Gates) from longtime captivity among Indians and sets out to return her to her husband. Chief rival in this case is Claude Akins, appropriating a few moves of Lee Marvin's from Seven Men from Now. The opening and closing images of Comanche Station define and crown this magnificent body of work. Yes, we've skipped a couple of titles--merely damn good movies rather than masterpieces. Critics habitually pegged Scott as a limited actor (an opinion in which he good-naturedly concurred), but he rises to the offbeat challenge of Decision at Sundown (1957), whose would-be hero gets just about everything wrong, from the nature of his grievance to the impact his quest has on everybody else. Unlike Boetticher's celebrated journey Westerns, this is a town movie, and so is Buchanan Rides Alone (1958). Buchanan, too, is a bit of a departure in being free of guilt or obsession; the happy-go-lucky cuss is merely passing through the border community of Agrytown on his way back from lucrative adventures in Mexico when he falls afoul of the corrupt clan running the place. Boetticher's dry sense of humor informs all these movies, but this one is played close to outright comedy--very black comedy. It's also the only Ranown entry whose cheapness is conspicuous, with tacky sets, crude Pathe Color (with which cameraman Lucien Ballard struggles gamely), and an uncredited score scrapped together from the Columbia music library. But as its criss-crossed motives and multiple betrayals play out, you may find yourself wondering whether this sardonic movie might have inspired Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961).

There's a bonus to the set, a feature-length portrait, A Man Can Do That. Written by film critic-historian Dave Kehr and exec-produced by Clint Eastwood, the documentary includes testimonials from Eastwood, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Towne, and other directorial admirers, plus the eloquent participation of Boetticher himself a year or so before his death in November 2001. Each of the Kennedy-scripted Ranowns gets a full-length audio commentary (Jeanine Basinger's on The Tall T is a model of historical perspective and stylistic appreciation), and there are pre-film introductions by Eastwood (Comanche Station), Martin Scorsese (The Tall T, Ride Lonesome), and Taylor Hackford--but watch these after seeing the movies, to avoid spoilers. As for the DVDs themselves, these movies have never looked better. Even Buchanan Rides Alone. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Excellent representation of the "Ranown" westerns...
In the late 1950s, the "Adult" western was at its zenith. There were several men responsible for this (James Stewart and Anthony Mann, notable among them), but three men stand out - Budd Boetticher (director), Burt Kennedy (writer) and Randolph Scott (actor). Scott, along with his partner, Harry Joe Brown, produced them through his production company - Ranown Productions. With Scott, Boetticher, and often Kennedy, they made seven westerns - the Ranown Westerns - that stand as the model for the genre, and set the stage for the more realistic (and often more violent) westerns that would come in the 1960s (films like Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch")

Two of these seven Ranown westerns are not actually from Ranown, though they were made with Scott, Beotticher, and Kennedy. Those two - Seven Men From Now (1956) and Westbound (1959) are not in this set. The other five are. I have seen each, and here is my take on them.

"The Tall T" (1957) Ranown starts off with a bang. Perhaps the best of them. Scott was never better. Richard Boone played the heavy - I'd say the best of them in all the Ranown westerns. Henry Silva is also very good as another heavy. Maureen O'Sullivan was perfect in the female lead. A great early story from Elmore Leonard. Boetticher did a great job directing a taut, lean story, scripted by Kennedy. Many say it was the best of the Ranowns. This film includes a horrible way to "dispose of" two people (father and his young son) that is not shown, just described. The horror created by the description is more frightening than anything you could feel if you actually saw it. While there may be one Ranown western that was as good - "Commanche Station" (1960) - none were better.

"Decision at Sundown" (1957) A misfire. Scott again plays the lead, a man who was wronged long ago by the villain. But in this film, he has no one to play off of. John Carroll is ordinary as the man who wronged Scott. Karen Steele, an extraordinary beauty, plays the female lead, but there is little she is asked to do, other than look extraordinarily beautiful. There is very little action, and surprisingly little drama. Altough Boetticher did his best (he himself said it was the weakest of the Ranowns), it is telling that this film is one of the Ranowns that Burt Kennedy did not script. All in all, this film is the most forgettable of the 5 in this set.

"Buchanan Rides Alone" (1958) Getting better. Not great, but good. Also, possibly the funniest of the set. The eulogy that Pecos Hill (LQ Jones) gives for one of his "friends", whom he has just killed to save the life of Scott is simply not to be missed. At the end of it, Scott says the only thing he can say that could top it. While the plot is not too strong - Scott is fine, but there are too may heavies to focus on the classic good vs. evil conflict that is necessary to all good drama. Actually, outside of Craig Stevens, none of the villains were very notable. And there is no female lead to speak of. All in all, this poorly constructed story, albeit with some very amusing quirks, is good, but no more.

"Ride Lonesome" (1958) Very good. Not the best, but very good. Scott plays a wronged man who is now a bounty hunter. He captures an outlaw with a price on his head (a great turn by James Best). By the way, this is a Kennedy script. How do you know? When he captures the outlaw (Best), the outlaw says "whatever they are payin' you...it's not nearly enough". To which Scott replies, "I'd hunt you free". There is another outlaw that figures into this - Best's brother, (a young Lee van Cleef, also great here). Pernell Roberts and James Coburn (his film debut, Scott, the producer, liked him and expanded his part) are also very good, although Roberts is a bit too mannered in his acting of some of his scenes. Karen Steele is the female lead here also, and is given more to do. She is quite good here as well. One more thing: The final scene is perhaps the most memorable image in all the Ranown westerns.

"Comanche Station" (1960) Perfect. The last of the Ranown westerns, perhaps the best (though some might give that distinction to "The Tall T"). An excellent story (again, a great Kennedy script). The ending is one you will not see coming (kudos to Kennedy and Boetticher). A perfect performance from Scott - a man accepting a task that defies explanation - until you learn why. Claude Akin is excellent as the heavy - not quite as good as Richard Boone in "The Tall T", but close (his smile is pure evil). Richard Rust was also quite good as the young heavy, trying to reform. And the beautiful Nancy Gates is perfect - especially in the scenes where she and Scott are alone - in the female lead. What makes this a great film is the direction by Boetticher, working with another great script by Kennedy. It is filled with great scenes, and there are no weak scenes. Most important, the story is distilled to perfection. Boetticher included only those scenes that were needed to advance the story and cover the themes he wanted to illustrate (courage, determination, and, above all, honor). And he included no scenes that were redundant or otherwise non-essential. This is the mark of a great director. Scott was so good in this that he retired afterwards, only to be talked out of it to make one more film - the classic "Ride the High Country" (1962) with Joel McCrea and directed by a young Sam Peckinpah. Then he retired for good. Even if he did not make that final film, "Commanche Station" would have been a perfect swan song for Randolph Scott.

Seeing these five films, plus two others - "Seven Men From Now' (1956) and the previously mentioned "Ride the High Country" (1962) - will give you an appreciation of why Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher have such a high reputation among a growing number of classic film lovers.

Budd and Randy
After the Batjac release of SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, a welcome announcement of the rest of Scott/Boetticher collaborations will be available in one collection. These were small films in their times -- a feature that would probably be less than 90 minutes and play before the main movie. As time has gone along their fame has steadily grown and it is now accepted that several are among the most important westerns following in the wake of the 1950 Stewart/Mann classic, WINCHESTER '73. Infact the Mann/Stewart westerns and the Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher films have a similar sense about them. Scott and Stewart are usually men on a quest, generally involving revenge. I would say that Stewart's characters are for the most part, bitter and cynical. Scott still tend to be moral pillars. The most strikingly different of the lot is DECISION AT SUNDOWN. In this one Scott is tracking the man he feels is responsible for his wife committing suicide. He gives her qualities she never had and ultimately discovers the truth. But, all in all, if you love the western than this collection will make a solid addition to any library. You'll also be treated to a wealth of fine actors: Richard Boone, Henry Silva, James Coburn, Claude Akins, LQ Jones and so many more. Extras include a documentary on Boetticher, intros to the films by Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorcese,and Taylor Hackford. Terrific transfers, you really get the sense of the wide open spaces as Boetticher intended. If you enjoy these films -- impossible not to -- I'd recommend the Stewart/Mann collaborations: WINCHESTER '73, BEND OF THE RIVER, THE NAKED SPUR, THE FAR COUNTRY and THE MAN FROM LARAMIE.

At Last!
The DVD juggernaut has finally gotten around to releasing the Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher westerns. Together, they made seven western films in the fifties. Five are in this box from Columbia.

Their first collaboration, "Seven Men from Now," is already available in a nice package from Paramount with lots of extras. That leaves only "Westbound," produced by Warner Bros, yet to be released. (Also worthy is "Ride the High Country," Randolph Scott's swan song from 1962, directed by Sam Peckinpah)

Together with the five James Stewart/Anthony Mann collaborations ("Winchester '73, Bend of the River, The Naked Spur, The Far Country, and The Man from Laramie" - all are available on DVD), these films defined the adult Western movement of the nineteen-fifties.

OK - I should also include "Hondo" and "The Searchers" (John Wayne/John Farrow/John Ford) in this list. Great movies all.