Budd Boetticher’s excellent semi-autobiographical film may be Hollywood’s most uncondescending depiction of high-end Mexican culture. Robert Stack is the pushy Gringo who only slowly understands Latin society’s definitions of loyalty and machismo; his rocky relationship with Joy Page’s cultured señorita is as important as the bullfighting story with Gilbert Roland. It’s Boetticher’s best film, presented for the first time in two encodings, the 87-minute release version and the UCLA Film and TV Archive’s restoration of the full 124-minute seen South of the Border. The extra commentary and featurettes are welcome too.
Bullfighter and the Lady
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1951 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 124 + 87 min. / Torero, Muerte en la arena, Tarde de toros, L’amante del torero, El torero y la dama, Death in the Sands / Street Date , 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Robert Stack, Joy Page, Gilbert Roland, Virginia Grey,...
Bullfighter and the Lady
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1951 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 124 + 87 min. / Torero, Muerte en la arena, Tarde de toros, L’amante del torero, El torero y la dama, Death in the Sands / Street Date , 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Robert Stack, Joy Page, Gilbert Roland, Virginia Grey,...
- 7/30/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hollywood’s most macho liberals pack this action western with cheating, double crosses, rampant greed, uncouth heroes and decadent sneering villains… and that’s not counting the wall-to-wall revolutionary carnage. Toothy Burt Lancaster and philosophical Gary Cooper double-deal with cannon-fodder Juaristas and Cesar Romero’s decadent Frenchman, to steal a fortune in gold. Francois Truffaut called it ‘the first cynical western.’ Robert Aldrich’s direction emphasizes wince-inducing violence. The ‘dirty dozen’- like supporting freebooters include Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jack Elam and Archie Savage. This eye-opening blockbuster strongly influenced Sergio Leone’s Italo westerns made ten years later.
Vera Cruz
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:2.0 widescreen (Superscope) / 94 min. / Street Date October 12, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Gary Cooper, Sarita Montiel, George Macready, Denise Darcel, Morris Ankrum, Charles Buchinsky (Bronson), Ernest Borgnine. Jack Elam, Henry Brandon, Archie Savage, Jack Lambert.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Production Designer: Alfred Ybarra...
Vera Cruz
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:2.0 widescreen (Superscope) / 94 min. / Street Date October 12, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Gary Cooper, Sarita Montiel, George Macready, Denise Darcel, Morris Ankrum, Charles Buchinsky (Bronson), Ernest Borgnine. Jack Elam, Henry Brandon, Archie Savage, Jack Lambert.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Production Designer: Alfred Ybarra...
- 9/25/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
America’s top box office star John Wayne sneaks away to a remote corner of the Sahara Desert with the top Italian sex symbol Sophia Loren … and foolishly brings an entire camera crew with him. Henry Hathaway’s impressive desert adventure boasts a fairly amazing, bona fide Lost City, made even more impressive through the Technirama cinematography of the legendary Jack Cardiff. Rossano Brazzi co-stars as a treasure hunter, who can’t handle the truth about his explorer-father.
Legend of the Lost
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date December 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: John Wayne, Sophia Loren, Rossano Brazzi, Kurt Kasznar.
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Art Direction: Alfred Ybarra
Original Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Written by Ben Hecht and Robert Presnell Jr.
Produced & Directed by Henry Hathaway
Not enough color in your life? Perhaps this movie will perk up your retinas — cameraman...
Legend of the Lost
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date December 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: John Wayne, Sophia Loren, Rossano Brazzi, Kurt Kasznar.
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Art Direction: Alfred Ybarra
Original Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Written by Ben Hecht and Robert Presnell Jr.
Produced & Directed by Henry Hathaway
Not enough color in your life? Perhaps this movie will perk up your retinas — cameraman...
- 1/6/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s the one saga of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral that puts Western legend into proper perspective as to the nature of money, power and the law: Edward Anhalt’s vision is of a gangland turf war with sagebrush and whiskey bottles. James Garner is a humorless Wyatt Earp, matched by Jason Robards’ excellent Doc Holliday. It’s one of John Sturges’ best movies.
Hour of the Gun
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date September 19, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: James Garner, Jason Robards, Robert Ryan, Albert Salmi, Charles Aidman, Steve Ihnat, Michael Tolan, William Windom, Lonny Chapman, Larry Gates, William Schallert, Jon Voight.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Art Direction: Alfred C. Ybarra
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Edward Anhalt
Produced and Directed by John Sturges
Producer-director John Sturges’ Hour of the Gun was a dismal non-performer in...
Hour of the Gun
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date September 19, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: James Garner, Jason Robards, Robert Ryan, Albert Salmi, Charles Aidman, Steve Ihnat, Michael Tolan, William Windom, Lonny Chapman, Larry Gates, William Schallert, Jon Voight.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Art Direction: Alfred C. Ybarra
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Edward Anhalt
Produced and Directed by John Sturges
Producer-director John Sturges’ Hour of the Gun was a dismal non-performer in...
- 9/19/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Now a successful producer, John Wayne tries a big budget action picture with an anti-Communist theme. It’s The Alamo on a ferryboat, set in the far East where the locals are a hungerin’ for Freedom. Wayne is an apolitical adventurer who just feels like savin’ Chinese and kissin’ Lauren Bacall. Ace director William Wellman holds it together — barely.
Blood Alley
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date July 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Paul Fix, Joy Kim, Berry Kroeger, Mike Mazurki, Wei Ling, Henry Nakamura.
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Film Editor: Fred McDowell
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by A.S. Fleischman, from his novel.
Produced by John Wayne
Directed by William Wellman
John Wayne was extremely busy in 1955, starring in movies for big studios as well as for his own company Batjac. He was rated the most popular Hollywood star and was making constant public appearances,...
Blood Alley
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date July 18, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Paul Fix, Joy Kim, Berry Kroeger, Mike Mazurki, Wei Ling, Henry Nakamura.
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Film Editor: Fred McDowell
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by A.S. Fleischman, from his novel.
Produced by John Wayne
Directed by William Wellman
John Wayne was extremely busy in 1955, starring in movies for big studios as well as for his own company Batjac. He was rated the most popular Hollywood star and was making constant public appearances,...
- 7/6/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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