Westerns, Westerns and more Westerns. If you love your cow-puncher flicks, you'll find an embarrassment of riches has been released on DVD this week:
— "Have Gun — Will Travel: The Complete First Season" (Paramount, 1957-63, not rated, b/w, $49.99, six discs). Young people may find it hard to believe, but there was a time when Westerns dominated American television in the same way that police procedurals do today. This half-hour black-and-white Western drama had a very successful run. It hit No. 4 in the ratings during its first year, then for three years in a row was at No. 3, behind two other Westerns, "Gunsmoke" and "Wagon Train."
Richard Boone stars here as Paladin, a cultured gunslinger who spouts poetry, quotes Shakespeare and uses science or historical knowledge to his advantage. He bases himself in a fancy San Francisco hotel, where he scans newspapers from all over the West, then mails his calling card to potential clients. The card has the figure of a paladin (the white chess knight) and this inscription: Have Gun, Will Travel. Wire Paladin, San Francisco." The only other regular on the show is Kam Tong as Hey Boy, who works in the hotel and serves Paladin, as well as other customers.
I don't think I'd seen this show since the 1960s, but it holds up quite well, compact 26-minute stories with occasional guest stars destined for bigger things — Charles Bronson, Angie Dickinson, Jack Lord, Stuart Whitman. Veteran character actor Victor McLaglen ("The Quiet Man") shows up in one episode, and his son Andrew ("McLintock!") is the director of several; Gene Roddenberry, who would find his greatest success with "Star Trek" nearly a decade later, wrote some of the scripts.
Great fun for Western fans or those who simply have a fondness for vintage television.
Trivia note: According to Disc 1, the dramatic theme music was written by Bernard Herrmann, who scored such Hitchcock classics as "North By Northwest," "Vertigo" and "Psycho."
Extras: Full frame, 39 episodes, text production notes, biographies, trivia, etc.
— "The Gunsmoke Movie Collection" (Paramount/CBS, 1987-92 ; two rated R, one rated PG-13; $35.99, three discs). "Gunsmoke" went off the air in 1975, after an amazing 20-year run. Then, some 12 years later, James Arness returned to the role of now-retired U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon for the first of five TV movies that were well-received by audiences in the late '80s and early '90s. And the three in this package hold up pretty well today. They're rather brutal but with strong characters played primarily by seasoned actors, sharp dialogue and that distinctive right-is-right motif of the "Gunsmoke" shows.
"Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge" (1987, rated R for violence) reunited Dillon with Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake) and Newly (Buck Taylor). The movie took a "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn" approach — bringing in a character (played by Steve Forrest) that had been Dillon's nemesis in an episode of the original "Gunsmoke" show, with flashbacks from that episode. Earl Holliman and Tantoo Cardinal also have prominent roles. (Though the box says this film is 113 minutes long, it's actually 92 minutes, as are the other two.)
"Gunsmoke: The Last Apache" (1990, rated PG-13 for violence). The surrender of Geronimo figures in this follow-up film that also takes a page from an episode of the original series, as Matt is summoned by a former love (Michael Learned, best known as the mother on "The Waltons") and discovers he has a daughter (Amy Stock-Poynton). This one also borrows from "The Searchers."
"Gunsmoke: To the Last Man" (1992, rated R for violence). Finally, this one picks up right where the previous film left off, and it owes something to "The Ox-Bow Incident." Dillon is now a rancher whose 100 head of cattle have been rustled and his top ranchhand murdered. When he goes off to reclaim his herd, his daughter (again played by Stock-Poynton) follows, and they encounter a feud between two families and a Ku Klux Klan-style lynch mob (led by Pat Hingle). Joseph Bottoms co-stars.
My only question is this: Why weren't all five "Gunsmoke" movies released in this package?
Extras: Full frame, chapters, Spanish-language option.
— "Posse" (Paramount, 1975, PG, $14.99). Kirk Douglas stars in and directed this Western, which reflects the cyncism of the 1970s about corrupt politics. Douglas plays a U.S. marshal who is running for senator, but he must capture a notorious gunslinger (Bruce Dern) to secure his election. He does so early on, but eventually Dern turns the tables on him, and the film becomes a muddle of who's more corrupt, the "bad" guy or the "good" guy.
Douglas employs a mix of traditional Western and spaghetti Western techniques in his direction, and he plays the marshal with a smart mixture of roguish charm and ruthless ambition, allowing Dern to all but steal the show with his intelligent but cold attitude. Even the majority of Douglas' disciplined "soldiers" are corrupt.
Despite all these conflicting undercurrents, the film doesn't lack for action — especially when Dern takes over a train, turns the cars into an inferno and escapes by driving it backward!
Extras: Widescreen, etc.
— "The Tin Star" (Paramount, 1957, not rated, b/w, $14.99). This traditional Western, which is also touched with cynicism, is directed by Anthony Mann, best-known for his great Westerns with James Stewart ("The Far Country," "Winchester '73," The Man From Laramie," etc.). Here, Henry Fonda stars as a former marshal-turned-bounty hunter who offers some instruction to the ill-equipped sheriff of a small town, played with all his quirky traits by Anthony Perkins.
The story is fairly predictable, but the sterling cast (which includes John McIntore, Betsy Palmer, Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef, among others) and Mann's straightforward direction make it better.
Extras: Widescreen, etc.
— "Rustlers' Rhapsody" (Paramount, 1985, PG, $14.99). This farce is a bit too hit-and-miss to earn a spot next to the best Western comedies ("Support Your Local Sheriff," "Blazing Saddles"), but it has its moments as it directly spoofs old B-Western singing-cowboy flicks of the 1930s and '40s. In fact, it may be a bit too specific; younger audiences may not get it. (There are also a few gags aimed at the spaghetti Westerns of the '60s.)
Tom Berenger stars as Rex O'Herlihan, who wears fancy duds and is bound by the code of the good guy. Also on hand are the town drunk who becomes his sidekick (G.W. Bailey), the saloon hostess (Marilu Henner), the cattle baron (Andy Griffith), his daughter (Sela Ward), the railroad baron (Fernando Rey), etc.
The cast is game, but writer/director Hugh Wilson ("Police Academy") lets the pacing go slack, and too many gags fall flat.
Extras: Widescreen, etc.
E-mail: hicks@desnews.com