Customer Reviews

Fox Western Classics (Rawhide / The Gunfighter / Garden of Evil)

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4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
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Three long overdue for DVD Westerns are together in one collection. Each of these movies are great individually, but together, makes this a must-have Western film. Here are the three films -

Rawhide - Rawhide deserves not only a DVD release, but recognition as one of the greatest Westerns ever. Taut, masterful direction by the great Henry Hathaway, and excellent perfomances by everyone makes this a must have film for anyone who loves the Western genre.

Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward are trapped at a stage way station by a gang of desperate criminals. Surprises and tragedy unfold as Power, Hayward, and Hayward's baby try to survive and outwit the criminals.

There are scenes in this film that are so tense that even today's hardened, jaded moviegoers will appreciate. This was not a film with larger than life heroes or cardboard cutout villains, but real people well portrayed with great lines from a magnificent script.

The Gunfighter - Gregory Peck, with his natural, spare acting style, and his folksy, plain demeanor, was a natural for Westerns, and his greatness in this genre was never more evident in this 1950 film, which was one of the earlier psychological Westerns.

Peck plays Jimmie Ringo, the most notorious gunfighter in the West, is running from the brothers of a man he killed. He shows up in a town where his ex-wife lives with their young son. Ringo holds up in the town saloon as a favor to the town marshal, who an old friend, while he waits for an opportunity to see his wife.

Meanwhile, the town is taken over with the nervous enthusiasm of people wanting to see a celebrity, a shootout, or a dead celebrity. At the same time, a young punk, would-be gunfighter has heard that Ringo is in town, and is itching to make his reputation off of killing Ringo.

Everyone delivers excellent performances, and the movie has a lot to say about voyeurism, celebrity, longing, and regret. This is a fantastic movie, and without question, one of the best Westerns ever made.

Garden of Evil - This great Western was never even released on VHS, much less video, which is a shame since it had great performance from two great Western actors, Gary Cooper and Richard Widmark. Cooper, Widmark, and two other soldiers of fortune, played by Cameron Mitchell and Victor Manuel Mendoza, arrive in Mexico having responded to an add to make lots of money. They are greeted by Susan Hayward, who takes them on a perilous journey to rescue her husband, who has been injured in a mining accident. If the journey and the rescue weren't hard enough, the location of the mine in in Indian territory. Soon, alliances are made, broken, and remade, and emotions, greed, and violence ensues.

This film may be regarded as the least of the three by some, but it has terrific acting by all, and is a wonderful showcase of Cooper beginning the twilight phase of his magnificent career, where he tended to play veteran loners who find that they still have lots to live for, and who usually finds love and renewed courage along the way.

All three films are excellent, and should have merited individual releases, making this release combining all three is even more special.

At long last "The Garden of Evil"(Color 1954) even if it is included in a trilogy with two other great western movies "Rawhide" and "The Gunfighter", in a collection called "Fox Western Classics". These are great western films, but to me the crown jewel is "Garden of Evil". An extraordinary western with a star studded cast that includes, Gary Cooper, Susan Hayward, Richard Widmark, Cameron Mitchell, Victor Manuel Mendoza and Rita Moreno. This one alone "is worth the ticket". You will not be sorry in purchasing the unique box set. If you like westerns, do not miss this one. I highly recommend it.

1954's GARDEN OF EVIL is a Western rich with characterization that seems stereotypical on the surface, but on analysis, runs much deeper. Susan Hayward (an enigmatic heroine) hires a group of stranded travelers in a Mexican waterfront town to follow her to a remote mine where her husband is trapped. The adventurous group is comprised of Gary Cooper (the upright, moralistic hero), Richard Widmark (a cynical witticism spouting gambler), Victor Manuel Mendoza (the good-natured Mexican guide) and Cameron Mitchell (the back-shooting kid gunslinger). They must traverse perilous and dangerous Indian territory to get to the mine, but their motives are unclear. Is it the trapped man, the lure of gold or the subdued sexual attraction that Hayward exudes that drives them? The narrative is a study of personalities in conflict, their motivations, loyalties, cowardice and heroism. Richard Widmark's character comes off as the most interesting. He lingers in the viewer's mind long after the film is over and the question is raised - which is the more honorable: the moralistic hero or the dubiously elegant yet noble rogue? Henry Hathaway is a director known for atmosphere, character and authentic locations. He combines mood and action. This film has all those elements. It is beautifully photographed, yet the picturesque landscapes are juxtaposed with disturbingly photographed death scenes, menacing ever-lurking Indians (always photographed from a distance) and even mysterious looking set designs. The church bell tower sprouting up from the dried lava is all that remains of the town outside the mine and is symbolically ominous in appearance. Frank Fenton's screenplay is filled with vague dialog and only adds to the total feeling of uneasiness that permeates this film. Bernard Herrmann's score accentuates the moodiness of this haunting adventure tale, itself also vague and non-specific. It is very untypical of the Hollywood Western. He achieved a recurrent sense of ominous fate throughout this entire film without the score ever entering into the psychological realm. This is by no means a minor score by Herrmann and I rank this as one of his great scores. GARDEN OF EVIL under Henry Hathaway's direction intelligently yet emotionally integrates the psychological aspects of his characters and even the threatening locale into the action elements found in the standard Western genre to create an unnerving and very thought provoking experience.

1950's THE GUNFIGHTER directed by Henry King is a great character study of the larger than life notion of the hired gunman. Gregory Peck's performance breaks down the mythology of the Western gunman and makes him a real a man who had hopes and aspirations and saw those dreams slip through his fingers and blow away like tumbleweed. The script by William Bowers, William Sellers, André De Toth and Nunnally Johnson develop a familiar theme that is so central to many Westerns since. The focus is on the one way of life that has been outlived by time, the collapse of open space and the indistinct progress of civilization. And if that way of life has been characterized by human failures and transgressions, is redemption through a return to a conventional life possible? Alfred Newman's score is very thought provoking and subtle and is a important enhancement to this central theme. THE GUNFIGHTER also has a strong cast that strengthens the narrative with the likes of Karl Malden, Skip Homeier, Richard Jaeckel, Kenneth Tobey, Ellen Corby, Helen Westcott and Alan Hale Jr.

1951's RAWHIDE also directed by Henry Hathaway is a solid entry in the Western genre strong on character motivations and building suspense as outlaws hold citizens captive in a stagecoach station. It has a superlative cast including Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Dean Jagger, Jack Elam, Edgar Buchanan, Hugh Marlowe, Kenneth Tobey and George Tobias. Thomas Little and Stuart A. Reiss designed the primary sets with art designs by Lyle Wheeler and George W. Davis and great camera work by cinematographer Milton Krasner all essential to the central story. Composers Sol Kaplan and Lionel Newman turned in an interesting score.

3 good westerns in one package...and yet after having watched the 3 movies, it's the performances of the great late Susan Hayward that mesmorizes me the most...

In "Rawhide"(1951) as much as in "Garden of Evil" (1954) she is fascinating in her timing,agressivity yet always extremely feminine and sexy...

What a star she was...Studios (especially 20 century fox) should threat her superb legacy much better by releasing one or two Susan Hayward DVD boxsets featuring the big hits she was in from the second half of the fourties up to the late sixties....She remained a front rank super star for 20 years..not a small feat for a female star of her generation!


In "Garden of evil" she is spectacular in technicolor! Watch her...

The Gunfighter DVD

Gregory Peck stars as the proverbial gunfighter who is forced into a kill-or-be-killed life.

Jimmy Ringo has legendary speed with a gun, hence every young cowpoke who thinks he's fast wants to kill him to get his reputation. Peck plays a superb role in this western classic.

Highly recommended for fans of Gregory Peck and western movies.

Gunner December, 2007

Is there any place, any retreat, any home of retirement, that an inevitably tiring gunman can move on to?

This predicament is best conveyed, explored and given its full tragic weight in Henry King's 'The Gunfighter.'

Ringo (Gregory Peck), wearing his reputation as the fastest gun in the south-west territories like a heavy load, enters each bar warily when he needs a quiet drink, knowing full well the reaction--fear, respect, perhaps admiration, and certainly the intervention in some form or other of a young upstart with itchy gun-fingers.

Although Ringo, guilty for previous sins, tries to refrain and to avoid the shoot-out... But he is always compelled to eliminate the worthless maladjusted gunmen, wishful for a big name...

The pattern is set early on when Peck has to shoot a boy (Richard Jaecke1) in self-defense. And so a feud begins--you feel it's only one of many--with the three brothers of the boy (Alan Hale Jr., David Clarke and John Pickard) hell-bent for revenge...

Peck deals with this situation, at least for the moment, sighs and then moves on to a place that passes for home... Here is his wife (Helen Westcott) and his son, who won't, however, be providing him with a welcome since in the eight years that husband and family have been apart the wife has been trying to build a life of their own... Here also is a sheriff (Millard Mitchell) formerly engaged in Peck's outlaw activities, but now reformed, and an old girl friend (Jean Parker) ready to he1p him in anything that concerns him most... His actual concern is reconciliation with his wife and a new life together... There is a tentative rapprochement but, of course, there is another of those young contender interventions, this time in the person of Skip Homeier...

Henry King draws up carefully the ultimate end of the 'top gun of the West.' His film is an inclination towards a classical tragedy, destined to be destroyed inevitably... Peck strikes the right note from his first edgy entry... He wants to shake off his past... He is disgusted to kill in order to survive... He is aimless for a change, sick with death and glory, showing tiredness of killing, conscious to a tragic fate one day...

Peck is superb in his brief and nervy reunion with his small son, impressed like the rest of the local kids by the fact that Jimmy Ringo, the gunfighter, is in town...

"The Gunfighter", keen and penetrating, explosive and tense, is beautifully acted, tautly directed and superbly photographed by Arthur Miller in black-and-white...

I am not going to go into the details on these movies as they have already been well reviewed by Joe Doherty. I just wanted to say all three movies are good with some of the best actors of this period. Having enjoyed Westerns for some time, growing up in the 50's and 60s it was a Smorgasbord at the movies and on TV. Today the Westerns are few and far between and even on cable TV there are only a couple of networks that televise them. Any fan of this genre should definitely add this three movie set to their Western collection. This set can't be found just anywhere, and not even Netflix rents these movies. This set would be a good deal at $19.99 and it was a bargain at $14.99. I highly recommend this set at Amazon for the amazing steal of $10.99, and you won't find it cheaper if you can even find it. If you have Prime Shipping you get them in a couple days and you're in for some great entertainment. Great quaility DVDS with good replayability. If you enjoyed these catch "Stalking Moon" and "Cimarron". - C. Luster

These are three terrific 50's Westerns starring and directed by some of the greats of all time! The restorations are fabulous and the bonus featurettes are also absolutely tasty and informative...this is a ridiculous bargain at this price...for any ONE of the movies much less all three. If you are a fan of westerns or these actors..buy with confidence the prints are stunning and as I said...these are good movies to boot!

Fox Western Classics offer three major, but rarely televised, westerns from the early 1950s. A real treat, and the best of the three in my opinion, is the "Garden of Evil". This is a really fun adventure/western that has Gary Cooper offering lines like "let's ride!" and this retort to Susan Hayward's comment about Richard Widmark staying behind to take on the Indians alone; "Somebody always stays and get's it done." I am not a Cooper fan but after seeing him in this film, I better understand his appeal. The source material for the disc is excellent and the widescreen color presentation of some very exotic Mexican locales is worth the price of the dvd. This film also has a musical score by Bernard Herrmann.

"Rawhide", directed by Henry Hathaway (as was Garden of Evil)features Tyrone Power and, again, Susan Hayward in a black and white western that is also quite well done. The dvd presentation is excellent.

Gregory Peck "stretches" as an actor by playing a semi-bad guy (complete with a villian's mustache) in "The Gunfighter". Another good western character study and another excellent dvd presentation.

All three films are major "A" budget projects from the 50s that are not often seen anywhere, not at revivals, not on television, and, not to my recollection on VHS tape.

A real bargain for anyone looking for a quality western dvd package.

Triple feature of 3 enjoyable movies from the long ago days when Hollywood knew how to make a decent western, which today is pretty much a lost art.

Received my copy from Amazon a short while ago, noticed our local library also has their copy. Not a bad movie in the bunch, however, I believe my favorite is RAWHIDE. And it has been a movie very difficult to find.

Won't waste many more words: I watch westerns and read western books, so if you have any interest in the fictional west, do not, I stress, DO NOT pass up these 3 movies at this bargain price.

Best in watching, pards.

Semper Fi.