The John Wayne Westerns Collection (Hondo, Mclintock!, True Grit, Rio Lobo, El Dorado, Big Jake, The Shootist, The Sons of Katie Elder, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) [DVD]

 

 

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This collection contains the following:

* HONDO (1953; director John Farrow)
* McCLINTOCK! (1963; director Andrew V. McLaglen)
* TRUE GRIT (1969; director Henry Hathaway)
* RIO LOBO (1970; director Howard Hawks)
* EL DORADO (1966; director Howard Hawks)
* BIG JAKE (1971; director George Sherman)
* THE SHOOTIST (1976; director Don Siegel)
* THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER (1965; director Henry Hathaway)
* THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962; director John Ford)

I bought this collection about two years ago and it has provided me with hours of great entertainment. These are quality films, some of them genuine classics. I will briefly review some of them here (excluding three I have not yet seen):

* THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE is one of John Ford's often overlooked but very great films which expertly explores themes like the handling of violence, machismo, order, and Civilisation versus Lawlessness. James Stewart plays an attorney, new in town and unarmed, and John Wayne is the bullish local rancher, both up against forces of crime in a small town. Stewart becomes a local schoolteacher and also teaches reading and writing to the illiterate members of the adult population. The film mostly revolves around his attempt to use US law to deal with a criminal making trouble in town (which is at odds with Wayne's method - the gun). This film is in beautifully shot black and white (all of the other films in this set are in colour) and belongs to John Wayne and James Stewart equally.

* THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER was a surprise to me, I had never heard of it before and after reading that it was a Western loosely based on King Lear I wasn't sure that I would like it. Westerns that grapple with Shakespeare have never worked for me as they are usually either absurdly bad or good but too earnest (and as an unfortunate result, dull). However, this film (along with another superb 'Shakespearean' Western, also based on King Lear: BROKEN LANCE) is entertaining, moving and exciting with good characterisation and a storyline that satisfies to the end. I enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

* EL DORADO. What's not to love? A film rich in humour, fun, action and memorable characters. Robert Mitchum is my favourite as the sheriff, giving a convincing performance both as a lonely, jaded drunk, and as a highly skilled and professional gunman. However, he needs a lot of help, support and coffee to get from the former to the latter! John Wayne also plays a professional and fatherly gunslinger, and James Caan is good fun as 'Mississippi', a roguish and misguided young dude seeking vengeance on the man who killed his old friend, but also subconsciously seeking a father figure and some decent shooting lessons (guess who provides these).

This film is the second of Howard Hawks's two remakes of his great revisionist Western, RIO BRAVO (1959). The last remake was RIO LOBO in 1970 which I have not yet seen. Wayne stars in all three (of course!) but between this and RIO BRAVO, EL DORADO is my personal favourite. It is at least as well acted as the original and funnier too. I feel that RIO BRAVO suffered from miscasting the passionless and squeaky-clean Ricky Nelson as Colorado Ryan (similar to Caan's Mississippi). Ricky, if you don't already know, was a pop idol of his day who simply doesn't cut it for me as an inhabitant of the Old West or a member of Wayne's gang. Caan, on the other hand, plays an almost identical character here but is far more convincing as a hotheaded greenhorn. He would go on, of course, to play a similarly passionate character in The Godfather later.

Don't watch EL DORADO expecting a masterpiece - just enjoy the interaction of the characters played by actors who are so obviously having a rollicking good time. N.B. it's great to watch in the evening with nacho crisps and a little whisky!

* TRUE GRIT is a terrific family movie, based on the novel of the same name which was, at the time, considered so great that it was to be entered into the American literary canon - that is, before Hollywood made it into this film, following which the literary elite balked. John Wayne famously won his only Oscar for his performance here as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn. The story is of a young girl, whose father has been murdered by his hired worker, seeking revenge and enlisting the help of Cogburn. I haven't watched it for many years but I did see it on TV as a kid with my parents and LOVED it. A remake, directed by the Coen Brothers, was made very recently starring Jeff Bridges.

* HONDO starts off very well, leisurely and carefully, as a stranger (Wayne) wandering through the land with only his rifle and a dog for company comes across a homesteader woman living alone with her young son. She gracefully gives him accommodation in her home and he in turn helps her with daily work. A bond grows between he and the boy as Wayne, again, provides a father figure to a fatherless youngster, and is also good company for the wife, who insists that her husband will soon return (Wayne believing otherwise). What I really love about this film is the dialogue between these two characters, corny but often poetic, sometimes prickly and sometimes warm, more like a play in places that a movie. One example:

Angie: And then you come along and you're good and fine... and now in your vanity, you want to spoil Johnny's chances and mine.
Hondo: Varlabania.
Angie: What?
Hondo: When the Indians finish up their squaw-seekin' ceremony, they only say one thing: "Varlabania". It means "forever". Forever.

After the first third of the film or so the action gets going and hardly stops until the end. It's good fun for action lovers but for me it dragged after five minutes, and almost seems to have been put there to make up for the slower and wordier opening scenes. For me, this film is at its best when it is concentrating on the story between the characters and the overall theme i.e. what a good man is, whether as an all-round human being or specifically in the role of father and husband, and not in an overly idealistic or sentimentalised fashion, but in everyday reality. I liked it very much for this and have seen it twice.

* THE SHOOTIST was John Wayne's last Western and was created as an elegy to the Old West. Wayne plays an old gunfighter who is dying from cancer, James Stewart gives a quality turn as his sympathetic but honest doctor and Lauren Bacall plays a lonely widow whose room Wayne books to live the remainder of his days in. As you can expect however, this particular gunman does not intend to die in bed but outdoors and in fastpaced action, and he gets an idea of how to go out with a bang instead of a whimper. It's well acted, slightly predictable and feels too short but is very enjoyable.

* McCLINTOCK!, RIO LOBO and BIG JAKE I have not yet seen, and the reviews I have read of them are mixed, but they look entertaining enough to watch on a wet weekend.

* BONUS MATERIAL: Aside from the films themselves there are some wonderful extras included too, well worth checking out and unmissable if you love old Westerns. HONDO in particular is studded with them, including an introduction with Leonard Maltin, a documentary on the film itself and another very insightful documentary on the screenwriter (and director) of Hondo, James Edward Grant, who was a frequent John Wayne collaborator/friend and very respected in his time. This one in particular is my favourite, being highly informative and engaging. Off the top of my head I believe there is also a portrait documentary of Ward Bond in this collection somewhere, who was a regular co-actor and friend of Wayne, as well as a famous Western stalwart. These are not slapdash mini-documentaries or 10-minute features of the kind that you get with so many DVD's, but well researched and extensive features that told me a lot I didn't know. I don't believe you can find them anywhere else, so something to remember if you want another reason to buy this.

I bought this for myself as a further introduction to Wayne's Western titles, having seen only a couple of his other 'oaters' (or 'horse-operas', as Westerns are sometimes called). I have now watched more than eighty Westerns over the last three years and I can say that this set was in part responsible for making me both a John Wayne fan and a Western enthusiast (along with Sergio Leone's excellent Dollars Trilogy, also worth a look). If you have also seen and enjoyed any of his movies and would like to go further you cannot go wrong with this, especially considering how many films are included and the fair price. Highly recommended.

This is an excellent set of films. I admit I am a big JW fan but these are good films. The quality of the movie - picture, sound - is good on all of them. Not sure why there are different styles of labels on the films but waht difference does that make? The packaging is a pack with cardboard slots to put the DVD in. not great but does the job.

If you like classic John Wayne films then get this selection - gives you many hours of great movies.

Great films - shame about the packaging.

Looking at Amazon's illustration above, my copy arrived with the bottom right hand corner of the packaging fairly crushed. DVDs were not damaged, but packaging only consists of a multi-foldout with the bare discs slipped into half-moon slots in cardboard! - like the multi-disc classical collection everyone's seen advertised on TV - Most unsatisfactory and not good for the longevity of the disc surface!

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4.0 out of 5 stars John Wayne Westerns Collection
For lovers of John Wayne this collection of westerns is a must have. You may also like to consider the 'John Wayne Collection' John Wayne Collection [DVD]

Published 11 months ago by NuttyGirl65

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
This was a excellent buy very pleased with dvds. Arrived in quick time very happy with seller A************

Published 15 months ago by rose

5.0 out of 5 stars John Wayne as his best
It is a great fun and pleasure to watch John Wayne and many others in this precious collection. You travel back in time when the good was good and bad was bad. Read more

Published 20 months ago by Mr. A. Aminolshari

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
I have watched this collection a few times now....absolutely brilliant - all me favs together.

Published 21 months ago by G. Cole

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for John Wayne fans
An excellent selection of films, including some lesser known owns. An essential for the collector of John Wayne movies.

Published on 23 Jan 2010 by AV maestro

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful
I bought this for my husband he thinks it is great and well done amerzon for there quick delivery service

Published on 26 Dec 2009 by Sadler

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