Customer Reviews

Big Iron Collection: Crooked River, Colorado Ranger, Fast On The Draw, Hostile Country, Marshal of Heldorado & West Of The Brazos

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films presents "BIG IRON COLLECTION" --- (1950) (330 mins/B&W) (Dolby Digitally) --- For the die hard fans of two Hopalong Cassidy sidekicks Jimmy Ellison and Russell Hayden, this is a treat --- Realize some of the dialog maybe a little hokey, but this is really a hoot to behold --- If you're an avid fan of the genre, this is about as good as it gets --- The picture and sound quality is exceptional for films over fifty years old --- Thomas Carr (Director) strong in good direction with some of the familiar B-Western and Serial character actors involved in one of the last oaters during the 50's with two of it's stars --- Sadly these films would be the end of an era for the B-Western forever on the big screen --- Television would enter the picture and keep them going for a while with new stars on the horizon --- Only the fans and collectors of today can keep it alive for the next generation of young cowboys.

Each film opens with four horsemen riding toward the camera, they are Jimmy Ellison, Russell Hayden, Raymond Hatton and Fuzzy Knight while a familiar theme trots down the trail with them --- Some wonderful character actors in the cast are Julie Adams, Tom Tyler, George J. Lewis, John L. Cason, Stanley Price, I. Stanford Jolley, Stephen Carr, Dennis Moore, George Chesebro, Bud Osborne and Jimmy Martin, make these six oaters worthwhile, recommend them to all fans young and old.

DISC ONE (1)
CROOKED RIVER ( 9 June 1950) (56 min.)
COLORADO RANGER (12 May 1950) (59 min.)
FAST ON THE DRAW (30 June 1950) (55 min.)

BONUS FEATURES:
1. An interview with Director Thomas Carr by St. Louisian Mike Nevins (excerpted from Western Clippings)
read by Richard Roberts

DISC TWO (2)
HOSTILE COUNTRY (24 March 1950) (59 min.)
MARSHAL OF HELDORADO (21 April 1950) (63 min.)
WEST OF THE BRAZOS (2 June 1950) (58 min.)

BONUS FEATURES:
1. Original Advertising Materials Photo Gallery
(images courtesy of Boyd Magers, Western Clippings)
2. Trailers and Coming Attractions of the films listed below:
"Stranger on Horseback" featuring Joel McCrea
"Panhandle" featuring Rod Cameron
"Little Big Horn" featuring Lloyd Bridges, John Ireland & Marie Windsor

Jimmy Ellison and Fuzzy Knight are very good, but Russell Hayden and Raymond Hatton are scene stealer's whenever on camera --- Hatton long time sidekick and character actor with many of the greats in B-Westerns can handle drama and comedy with ease --- Director Thomas Carr does a fantastic job of directing six oaters with the same cast playing several parts within a months time --- These are not award winning Westerns, but fun to watch --- Great job of synopses by Boyd Magers of Western Clippings, who keeps this genre alive and also whom I respect --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 330 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video KPF #604 ~ (08/04/2009)

That collection means a lot to me.
I had only seen THE TALL STRANGER in a 35 mm print, and the serials available from VCI and WB.
So this is some kind of movie buff heaven for me.

The six films were shot in 29 DAYS, TOGETHER, using the same technicians, of course, and the same 14 MAIN ACTORS!
5 of them in the same roles.
The transfers are quite good, especially for CROOKED RIVER, from a British print.
The direction is just great. The actors, as already said in the above review, are great. JULIE ADAMS appears as BETTY ADAMS.
The visual experience as expected (the photographs and lobby cards shown with the interview are really exciting) is a winner: ERNEST MILLER who seems to have photographed only westerns, except for FULLERT's THE STEEL HELMET.
The cameraman ARCHIE DALZELL well remembered for his television work. RAY MERCER also known as a good special effects man.
GLEN GLENN as the sound engineer must be the future president of GLEN GLENN SOUND of TV fame.
The only weak part, as usual is the musical direction, using, carelessly, musicals bits of the catalog.
This morning, instead of working on something of national importance, I think (I'm never told) I watched CROOKED RIVER.
Still a classic western, before the western cut its own throat in the fifties by his agressive thinking.
The film is never boring (50 minutes) or too conventional, unlike the early Technicolor fifties westerns from Paramount,
Universal (not he MANN of course), WB and Columbia. Especially the artificial women's parts at Universal who compromise the integrity
of the western genre.
The 5 stars are not for masterpieces. The movie buff is not a condescending snob.
It's all tradition in a pure form: take it or leave it.

I really didn't think about the picture, I just enjoyed it.

BEAUTIFUL prints of this B-Western series that used and re-used locations, stock footage and actors and actresses over and over again into one bundle of very good-looking dvd releases! Amazing for what it is, no sense at all in trying to relate plot lines and such as most of the fun here comes in spotting character changes and oft used location sites. However, this does not mean that the series is poor, unwatchable, or a forgettable laugh-fest. Quite on the contrary, this is a HIGHLY enjoyable series, very well-made on a next to nothing budget. I know of nothing else like it! All involved are to be commended!......and it's really great seeing baddies Tom Tyler, Dennis Moore, etc., being killed over and over, again and again, movie after movie, with hardly a change in clothes!!!
A GREAT example of such stuff, probably the best to date. Super, super low budget film making at it's finest! For B-Western fans, 5 STARS as a rating can't do this release justice...You need this collection.