| FILM
When Jimmy Stewart died a few years ago you could always tell
the film buffs from the average movie fan by how they remembered
Stewart's performances. The average movie fan mentioned films
like It's a Wonderful Life and Harvey, while the film buffs zeroed
in on his Anthony Mann directed westerns (Winchester 73, Naked
Spur, etc) and the darker films he made like Vertigo. The films
he made with Anthony Mann in the fifties changed the public's
opinion of what Stewart was capable of expressing. In these films
Stewart usually played a man seeking revenge and was capable of
just about anything. These films were a far cry from the aw shucks
characters he played until this point. The
Man from Laramie is actually the last film the two worked on
together. At first Stewart just seems like a regular trader
in town, but we soon realize this is not the truth when the
spoiled son of the local cattle baron burns all of Stewart's
wagons and shoots his mules. Stewart's rage moves to the forefront
and we find out that not only is he going to get even with the
baron's son, but that he is looking for someone who is selling
repeating rifles to the local Apache's and that he plans on
killing them.
Stewart
makes it back to town and the fireworks start. Stewart gets
in an all out brawl with the local ranch hand played by Arthur
Kennedy, is accused of killing the local drunk, and gets in
a gunfight with the cattle baron's son. In this fight Stewart
hits the son in the hand and what follows is one of the more
brutal scenes in 1950's American cinema. Stewart is surrounded
and the cattle baron's son shoots him point blank through the
hand. Scenes like this are common in many of Anthony Mann's
films which is one of the reasons most of them are so intense.
VIDEO
A few months ago I bought a Toshiba widescreen TV and the old
Cinemascope films look absolutely gorgeous in full widescreen
mode. The transfer is very well done. Practically no digital
artifacts and the colors are reproduced wonderfully. In fact
the few problems that creep in every now and then are from the
source print. As with many film from the fifties the color fades
into a strange dullness in a couple of sections. I have to give
a special salute to Columbia for their outstanding work. This
Enhanced for Widescreen transfer is no exception.
AUDIO
I actually watched the film with the original three channel
soundtrack. I wish all films from the fifties sounded this good.
Great use of the left, right and center channels to supplement
the on screen action. I would imagine the Dolby Surround remix
would have to be just as good. One special thing to listen for
is the sound that plays over the main menus. Great use of all
five channels. It brought a big smile to my face that the designer
took the time to do something a little extra.
EXTRAS
Not much here. Just the typical theatrical trailer along with
a picture of the original poster. There had to be a few things
in the archives for this film, I just wish they had included
some of them.
SUMMARY
The are not a whole lot of westerns out on DVD so it is really
nice to get a high quality transfer of a fairly unknown film.
If you are a fan of Jimmy Stewart, Anthony Mann or the western
this is a most own disc. If you are just the casual Stewart
fan put this on your rental list and see what the man was capable
of.
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