The Classic Western Thread

[Akijama]

Old thread has been lost,so here we go,again.

What westerns would you like to see be released on Blu-ray?

My top ten list :

Shane
McCabe & Mr.Miller
High Plains Drifter
The Shootist
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
My Darling Clementine
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Seven Men from Now
Ride the High Country
El Dorado

Honorable mentions:

The Man from Laramie
The Tall T
3:10 to Yuma
The Sons of Katie Elder
Duck, You Sucker (A Fistful of Dynamite)


Classic western movies available in Region B:

Yellow Sky (Germany)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (available in various countries)
The Ox-Bow Incident (Germany)
Warlock (France)
Broken Arrow (France)
Broken Lance (France)
Garden of Evil (France)
Man of the West (Germany)
The Scalphunters (Germany)
The Unforgiven (France)
Navajo Joe (Germny;Italy)
Soldier Blue (available in various countries)
The Tall Men (Germany)
The Last Sunset (Germany)
McLintock (Scandinavia)
The Last Hard Men (Scandinavia)

[inlayterms]

If High Plains Drifter comes out on Blu-ray, I'll be happy.

[HotRats]

Il Grande Silenzio / The Great Silence

[in2video2]

Classic western movies over the years that I am most waiting to add to my Blu-Ray collection include the following in no particular order:

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Paint Your Wagon (1969)
North to Alaska (1960)
Chisum (1970)
The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
The Alamo (1960) - if it can ever be financed for restoration
The Undefeated (1969)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Soldier Blue (1970) - released elsewhere with no US release... possibly over the politically sensitive subject matter and graphic violence toward the end of movie.

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by in2video2

Classic western movies over the years that I am most waiting to add to my Blu-Ray collection include the following in no particular order:

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Paint Your Wagon (1969)
North to Alaska (1960)
Chisum (1970)
The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
The Alamo (1960) - if it can ever be financed for restoration
The Undefeated (1969)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Soldier Blue (1970) - released elsewhere with no US release... possibly over the politically sensitive subject matter and graphic violence toward the end of movie.

Great list! Surprised to see Soldier Blue there, not many people mention that film. I think a US BD is doubtful, Lionsgate holds the rights and they rarely do deep catalog for Blu-ray. And the US DVD has 3 minutes cut from it, the more brutal scenes in the Indian massacre. I've had the German PAL DVD for some time as it's the uncensored full 115 minutes. I also bought the German BD, it's a nice upgrade. It's also been released on BD in Scandinavia & Australia, but they're Region B locked.

Yeah, Warner needs to get with it and release Yellow Ribbon on BD so we'll have all 3 of John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy on Blu-ray. The DVD was released in 2007 and looks very nice, so it shouldn't need much prep work to release on BD.

[Drewza89]

My Most Wanted:

1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
2. Geronimo: An American Legend (instant classic, IMO)
3. The Alamo (both versions)
4. The Shootist
5. McLintock!
6. Mackenna's Gold (in widescreen!)
7. The War Wagon
8. The Sons of Katie Elder
9. El Dorado
10. Buffalo Bill and the Indians

Honorable mentions: High Plains Drifter, Red River, Bandolero!, and Two Mules for Sister Sara.

I guess they'd be classified as "Neo-Westerns," but I also would like to have Hud and Bad Day at Black Rock.

I'd also love to have the director's cut of Tombstone. Wasn't there a rumor that there was like an additional 2 hours or more of deleted footage somewhere? It'd be awesome if Kurt Russell would take the time to assemble an extended director's cut.

[in2video2]

Originally Posted by The Duke

Great list! Surprised to see Soldier Blue there, not many people mention that film. I think a US BD is doubtful, Lionsgate holds the rights and they rarely do deep catalog for Blu-ray. And the US DVD has 3 minutes cut from it, the more brutal scenes in the Indian massacre. I've had the German PAL DVD for some time as it's the uncensored full 115 minutes. I also bought the German BD, it's a nice upgrade. It's also been released on BD in Scandinavia & Australia, but they're Region B locked.

Yes, I have to agree with you. Ralph Nelson's Soldier Blue (1970) comes across at first as a regular western. At the time of its release I was living in Australia and got to see the movie in its uncut director's version. As the movie moves along we, the audience, are caught unaware of what is about to happen. The story is so benign at first, with plenty of humor to spare with our odd couple Cresta Lee and Pvt. Honus Gant. Later the tone changes... ever so slowly at first. Then the repercussions of the opening sequence blow us away as the US Cavalry obliterates the Native American tribe taken by surprise and causing their entire genocide - men, women and children. The Sand Creek massacre is re-enacted in all its graphic violence. Controversial and politically sensitive even today. You'll never again think of the US Cavalry "riding to the rescue" in quite the same way again. Soldier Blue is such an important western drama it deserves the proper treatment and respect it has received outside of the USA restoring the missing 3 minutes cut here in the USA - which is the whole point of the movie... the very historic lesson we are meant to be left with at the end of the movie. Violence begets violence. John Ford tried to do the Native American justice in his Cheyenne Autumn (1964) another movie with the same message deserving a Blu-Ray. So far Arthur Penn's Little Big Man has made the journey to Blu-Ray. Let's hope these other two important movies are restored and brought to Blu-Ray shortly.

[Simple Lines]

It's not well-known, but if The Great Silence ever came out with a good transfer on blu, I'd be happy.

[Maggot]

High Plains Drifter
7 Men From Now
The Last Wagon
McLintock!
Red River

[oildude]

All of the above, to which I will add two more:

1) Robert Aldrich's Ulzana's Raid (1973) - brutally realistic and very non-PC depiction of the Apache wars. I don't think it could be made today. Burt Lancaster plays a grizzled scout for an army detachment searching for a renegade Apache chief and his warrior band. One of the main themes is the "coming of age" of a young, religious West Point 2nd Lt who has trouble reconciling his faith with the brutality of the Southwest.

The whole film is available on youtube for viewing, if anyone is interested in checking it out. I have the old snap case DVD.

2) Philip Borsos' The Grey Fox (1982) - it is hard to believe that this highly praised and award winning Canadian film, commonly found in video stores on VHS in the early 1990s when I first rented it, has never been released on DVD. It is almost completely forgotten now, and that is a shame, because it is an incredible movie. The cinematography is fantastic - even on VHS it was memorable, as is the performance of Richard Farnsworth as a former Old West stagecoach robber released from prison into the 20th Century. He is lost, out of time, until trains become his new obsession after watching his first film The Great Train Robbery.

There are only two clips on youtube. Here they are:

The Grey Fox Trailer VHS Rip - YouTube

The Grey Fox - YouTube

[m_burlock]

"High Plains Drifter".

"The Alamo" (1960).

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by in2video2

Classic western movies over the years that I am most waiting to add to my Blu-Ray collection include the following in no particular order:

The Alamo (1960) - if it can ever be financed for restoration

UK online retailer play.com has a listing for a John Wayne Triple Box Set Blu-ray with a Oct. 1 release. The 3 movies are The Alamo, The Horse Soldiers, and Red River. Play.com doesn't ship to US or Canada, and no listing at Amazon UK yet. I had read that The Alamo was in need of a restoration, but as the price is only £9.99 (around US$16) for all 3, I highly doubt if any restoration has been done on it, they're likely using the DVD master. But I have The Horse Soldiers US BD and it's pretty decent, so hopefully Fox does a decent job with Red River and The Alamo - and release them in the US soon.

[Akijama]

Originally Posted by The Duke

UK online retailer play.com has a listing for a John Wayne Triple Box Set Blu-ray with a Oct. 1 release. The 3 movies are The Alamo, The Horse Soldiers, and Red River. Play.com doesn't ship to US or Canada, and no listing at Amazon UK yet. I had read that The Alamo was in need of a restoration, but as the price is only £9.99 (around US$16) for all 3, I highly doubt if any restoration has been done on it, they're likely using the DVD master. But I have The Horse Soldiers US BD and it's pretty decent, so hopefully Fox does a decent job with Red River and The Alamo - and release them in the US soon.

That Play listing is dead wrong.It's a DVD release,not a Blu-ray.

[Akijama]

The Alamo premiered at its 70mm roadshow length of 202 minutes, including overture, intermission, and exit music, but was severely cut for wide release. UA re-edited it to 167 minutes. The 202-minute version was believed lost until a Canadian fan, Bob Bryden, realized he had seen the full version in the 1970s. He and Alamo collector Ashley Ward discovered the last surviving print of the 70mm premiere version in Toronto.[23] It was pristine. MGM (UA's sister studio) used this print to make a digital video transfer of the roadshow version for VHS and LaserDisc release.

The print was taken apart and deteriorated in storage. By 2007 it was unavailable in any useful form. MGM used the shorter general release version for subsequent DVD releases. The only version of the original uncut roadshow release is on digital video. It is the source for broadcasts on Turner Classic Movies. The best available actual film elements are of the 35mm negatives of the general release version.

A restoration of the deteriorating print found in Toronto, supervised by Robert A. Harris, is underway

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by Akijama

Could you possibly post links to your quotes? Thanks.

[retablo]

McCabe & Mrs. Miller
The Naked Spur
Winchester '73
The Far Country
The Great Silence
Four of the Apocalypse
Hud (that's kinda a western, I guess)
Dodge City
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
El Dorado

and proper remasters of The Man With No Name Trilogy

[budious]

(1967) Face to Face - faccia a faccia (Italy)

Film was supposed to have received a UK BD release but it never happened. Never released on R1 DVD either.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=153376 (UK BD)

[cartman781]

I would love to get some old B&W Gunsmoke Seasons on Blu-ray. Can't get enough Marshall Matt Dillon, Festus, and Miss Kitty. It's also fun to see some oldtimers making cameos when they were young.

[Akijama]

Originally Posted by The Duke

Could you possibly post links to your quotes? Thanks.

Sure.But we have every reason to doubt its accuracy.

The Alamo (1960) Wikipedia


Btw,McLintock and The Last Hard Men are coming to Blu-ray this October,through Danish label called Soul Media.Though,all their releases are 1080i/50.

[Whitey75]

"The last hard men"

What an unfortunate title. Sounds like something that tobias would watch in arrested development....hahaha