Customer Reviews

Shootout

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

 

 

a very good western with a good cast and and story line. Peck does a fine job as always as a man on a vengence crusade that is interupted when a little girl is placed in his care. As the story progresses he starts to love this little girl and realize what life is really about and that he has all the treasure that he'll ever want and someone is trying to take it all away.

I saw Shoot Out when it was first released and just watched it again a few days ago. Although the negative comments that have been posted are generally accurate, the film has several elements that make it worth watching. Imagine combining 'To Kill a Mockingbird' with 'One-Eyed Jacks' and you will have a pretty good idea of what this story is all about. Unfortunately Gregory Peck did not put Aticus Finch energy into the Clay Lomax character, and even though Dawn Lyn (Dodie from 'My Three Sons') is fine as the little girl-the idea just doesn't work. There is at least one story too many in this movie and it would take a great script to pull it together. But as someone has already mentioned this is not a great script and there are 1970's dialogue issues that periodically jar the viewer back to reality, making it impossible for this thing to ever really get going.

On the plus side Robert Lyons gives a nice 'really out there' performance as the wacko bad guy. Lyons was that era's Gary Oldham. Also the production designer did a good job on the overall feel of the film, there several absolutely great visuals (check out the shot of Dawn Lyn standing on the train station platform), and there is a very original non-formula climax. The production has excellent overall unity and someone really paid attention to continuity issues (watch how the progress of the water dripping on the cabin table is matched to the time sequence of the scene).

What stayed with me through the years and motivated me to watch this again was the first film performance of Susan Tyrrell, as the dumb but plucky saloon girl. She actually deserved a supporting actress nomination. Then she played dumb and plucky again in 'Fat City' and actually received a Supporting Actress Nomination. At the time I was convinced that she would be the next big female star. There was a young actress talent vacuum in the 1969-78 period and hack blondes like Candice Bergen and Cybill Sheppard got a lot of work-with very painful to watch results. That many of their parts did not go to Tyrrell and to Elizabeth Hartman is an example of the Hollywood anti-meritocracy. So check out her performances and curse Hollywood for not recognizing her potential and giving her a lot more work.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Henry Hathaway found a recipe for making western movies and did not alter one lousy bit. True Grit, Five Card Stud, Shootout - the bad guys from each film in order - Dennis Hopper, Roddy McDowall, and Robert Lyons - they all wear the same outfit. What did they do - pass them down from one film to the other? Also, it appears that True Grit and Shootout have some of the same location scenes shot from the same angle. One more thing - take a close look at the scene at the train depot and see if you cannot find a jet stream. I recommend Gregory Peck's, The Stalking Moon, over Shootout. Stalking Moon has a little more bite and grit and makes no reference to "punks".

... This is s film that is worth a watch. No one will ever rank it with The Searchers... but it has its own charms. To those who slam the film for the alleged anachronism... the use of the word "punk..." I suggest that they look up the origin of the word. It is not modern... Shakespeare used it four times and by 1858 in the United States was used not only as rotten wood used for starting a fire... but as term for worthless young man. Sorry... it is *not* '70s slang... You need to find another club with which to beat the film.

... Peck took a lot of heat for the mustache that he had in The Gunfighter... critics griped about it at the time (though absolutely correct for the period...) Today the film is viewed as a classic... Anachronisms? Try 1890s Winchesters in westerns set in the 1860s and 70s... and most notoriously in The Comancheros, set in the 1840s... This film deserves to be viewed on its merits.

This is an old movies that I have always loved. Seller sent this to me in a matter of couple of days. I was very happy with the quality, packaging, and the speed in which I received it. I would order from them again.

This movie is worth seeing just for Gregory Peck, who never made a bad movie. Here he is in Atticus Finch mode in an old West setting, and Peck pulls it off grandly. This is not a film without flaws (such as Peck letting his guard down in a widow's ranch house with the bad guys hot on his trail- he had to have known they would be following him), but there are genuine moments of suspense and tension, especially a "William Tell" like sequence where villian Robert Lyons attempts to shoot tea cups off the head of the little girl. Overall, a western worth seeing.

As far as the audio/video quality, both are very good to excellent. This disc is one of the "Universal Vault Series" manufactured-on-demand (MOD) discs, similar to the Warner Archives discs. I watched this disc on a 60 inch Sony Bravia HD-TV, using a Panasonic Bluray player. The video image transfer was excellent and looked like a mass produced retail DVD. My sound system has 7.1 surround sound, and the audio of this disc was also very good. I did not have to turn the volume up very loud to enjoy full stereo sound.

The colors are rich, especially in some of the scenes involving broad vistas and panoramic shots. The darks looked good with little to no artifacting. I have purchased about five of these Universal MOD discs, and SHOOT OUT is the first one I've watched. Overall, I am very pleased with the quality of this MOD disc.

It is unfortunate if MOD is the future of DVD, with the studios no longer producing pressed DVD's of their catalog titles, but on the other hand, I'd rather have these films on DVD, even MOD, than not have them at all.

Like James Stewart & Randolph Scott, Gregory Peck is made to make western movies. The way he moves & walks & his actions just draws you into the movie. Shoot Out is no exception a out & out excellent western movie that you don't know what's going to happen next & after it's over you want to watch it again. It only has one draw back & the language is a little strong. Other than that Shoot Out is top of the list as far as I am concerned. I'm not into telling about the movie as I feel like I don't want to know how they go that's why we watch them to enjoy them not know what's going to happen before it happens. Take my word for it Shoot Out will make you enjoy a top notch western from start to end.

What can I say ,I like old western movies,I like them , for the most part, better than the new western movies.

How could you go wrong with Gregory Peck,he was great in westerns as well as other movies he made

So incredibly bad, this flick could reach cult status one day if the general public ever discovers it,
but that explains why I never heard of this pig before. I can't believe Henry Hathaway and Hal Wallis
put their stamp of approval on this thing.

Great story becomes a victim of the creeping sensitivity of the 60's/70's in the silly tradition of
geriatric sentimentality found in The Shootist, Rooster Cogburn, and that fingernails on the blackboard
Raindrops scene in Butch Cassidy, but without a script. I defy anyone to name a movie with more ill
conceived, outright moronic but hysterically funny dialogue and you'll be rolling on the floor as Gregory
Peck, one of Hollywood's most revered actors introduces the word "punk" into the genre....4 TIMES!
Dawn Lyn warms up for her role in Walking Tall, and brings the musical score from this turkey with her.
And this is the first time I can ever remember seeing that sideways gansta' pistol pointing and prophetically
the token Chicano outlaw "Pepe" gets taken out by this new and unexplainable technique. Hilarious!

If you don't like westerns you will probably love this thing; and if you are a fan of westerns you will laugh
your majookas off. Would really make a good Mystery Science project-unintentionally very funny. And amazingly,
the quality of the DVD transfer is very very good. Colors, texture, detail all there. Far beyond what you would
expect from those mooks as Goodtimes because most of their work sucks. The audio is OK but you wont care
because you'll be too busy bouncing off furniture and holding your sides as 3 of the stupidest outlaws of all
time go on a menacing rampage with Peck as their intended target.

Laugh factor is strong, quality rating is low. A recommended rental with a 6 pack. 2 Teacups