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It’s a new deluxe Limited Edition of Sam Peckinpah’s mangled masterpiece, the third fancy boxed set in as many years. Arrow’s presentation is certainly got the edge in graphic elegance. They’ve also strived to include as many earlier extras as possible, plus new analytical-critical takes on the picture, and an excellent (and wickedly funny) visual essay from David Cairns. The disc has both of my commentaries, including the comprehensive one that details the missing scenes with information taken directly from Sam Peckinpah and Oscar Saul’s screenplay. And hey, you never know: this could be the year that Mitch Miller’s Singalong Gang makes an incredible comeback, and we can All fall in behind the Major.

Major Dundee

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 136, 122 min. / (2-Disc Limited Edition) / Street Date June 29, 2021 / 59.95

Starring: Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, James Coburn, Senta Berger, Jim Hutton, Michael Anderson Jr., Brock Peters,...

The new [Imprint] label turns its attention to the Sam Peckinpah favorite, the almost-classic that suffered a number of setbacks — a studio regime change, impractical remote locations, the wrong producer — and a director with zero diplomatic skills, who couldn’t finish his script and fought political battles when his movie needed his full attention. That the finished film shows so much brilliance is a tragedy, as this could have been a landmark epic, Charlton Heston’s best. CineSavant turns its attention to a favored film one more time — to play imagination games with re-cuts. Viavision [Imprint]’s lavish boxed set is said to be sold out, but that may only be at the company source.

Major Dundee

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 11

1965 / Color/ 2:35 widescreen / 136, 122 min. / Street Date October 28, 2019 / available at [Imprint] / $79.95 au

Starring: Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, James Coburn, Senta Berger, Jim Hutton, Michael Anderson Jr., Brock Peters, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, R.G. Armstrong,...

Before he became the flag bearer for cinema violence, Sam Peckinpah made his reputation with this unique western, a marvelous rumination on ethics, morality and personal responsibility. MGM all but threw it away in the summer of 1962 but it immediately became a critical favorite.

Ride the High Country

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr, Edgar Buchanan, R.G. Armstrong, Jenie Jackson, James Drury, L.Q. Jones, John Anderson, John Davis Chandler, Warren Oates.

Cinematography Lucien Ballard

Art Direction Leroy Coleman, George W. Davis

Film Editor Frank Santillo

Original Music George Bassman

Written by N.B. Stone Jr.

Produced by Richard E. Lyons

Directed by Sam Peckinpah

MGM’s western Ride the High Country put Sam Peckinpah on the map with critics and the foreign cinema literati — although it didn’t do big box office when new,...

He took a bullet to the chest in a shooting that wounded two Boise, Idaho, police officers last week. Now, Jardo the K9 officer is on the road to recovery, thanks to blood donations from two dogs who came to his aid when he needed it most.

According to Kboi 2 News, who first reported the story, a 6-year-old golden retriever named Myles and a 5-year-old pit bull named Cricket each donated blood that helped save Jardo’s life.

Jardo was shot by an armed suspect as officers were trying to apprehend him Friday afternoon in a Boise neighborhood, according to...

By John M. Whalen

“Barquero”(1970) stars Lee Van Cleef as Travis, an ex-gunslinger living a quiet life as the owner/operator of a barge that is the only way to cross the river at a certain spot between Texas and Mexico. When we first see him he’s in bed with Nola (Marie Gomez), a hot looking Mexican chick who likes to suck on cigarillos. Everything’s fine until the creepy Fair (John Davis Chandler) shows up at his doorstep leering down at the naked Nola and says he and two men with him want to go across the water to Texas. Travis doesn’t like the way he’s looking at Nola and tells him “A ride across the river is all your money’s going to buy.” They get across and Fair pulls a gun on him and tells his amigos to tie him up.

Meanwhile, in a...

Ann-Margret movies: From sex kitten to two-time Oscar nominee. Ann-Margret: 'Carnal Knowledge' and 'Tommy' proved that 'sex symbol' was a remarkable actress Ann-Margret, the '60s star who went from sex kitten to respected actress and two-time Oscar nominee, is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 13, '15. As part of its “Summer Under the Stars” series, TCM is showing this evening the movies that earned Ann-Margret her Academy Award nods: Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Ken Russell's Tommy (1975). Written by Jules Feiffer, and starring Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel, the downbeat – some have found it misogynistic; others have praised it for presenting American men as chauvinistic pigs – Carnal Knowledge is one of the precursors of “adult Hollywood moviemaking,” a rare species that, propelled by the success of disparate arthouse fare such as Vilgot Sjöman's I Am Curious (Yellow) and Costa-Gavras' Z, briefly flourished from...

By Lee Pfeiffer

One of the most rewarding byproducts of reviewing movies for a living is that you will often encounter some prominent gem that somehow managed to escape your attention previously. In certain cases, it's arguable that a film might well be more appreciated many years later than it was during its initial release. Such a case pertains to the 1965 crime drama Once a Thief. Directed by the under-rated Ralph Nelson, the film successfully invokes the mood and atmosphere of the classic black-and-white film noir crime thrillers of the 1940s and 1950s. Although this movie was widely credited as being Alain Delon's first starring role in an English language production, he was among the all-star cast seen the previous year in the big budget Hollywood production of The Yellow Rolls Royce. It is accurate to say, however, that Once a Thief afforded him his first opportunity to be...

Reviewed by Chris Wright, MoreHorror.com

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994)

Directed By: Don Coscarelli

Written By: Don Coscarelli

Starring: Reggie Bannister (Reggie), A. Michael Baldwin (Mike), Bill Thornbury (Jody), Angus Scrimm (The Tall Man), Gloria Lynne Henry (Rocky), Kevin Connors (Tim), Cindy Ambuehl (Edna), John Davis Chandler (Henry), Brooks Gardner (Rufus), Irene Roseen (Demon Nurse), Sarah Davis (Tanesha),

“It’s time now boy.” “Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead” takes a different approach entirely than the first two films. The first film relies more on low budget eeriness. The second film keeps some of the atmosphere but has more action and special effects. The third installment injects more comedy than the first two combined. This sequel is also the first that never went to theaters and was straight to video. Even though this film has more weaknesses than its two predecessors, it is still a very enjoyable movie!

Randolph Scott Westerns, comedies, war dramas: TCM schedule on August 19, 2013 See previous post: “Cary Grant and Randolph Scott Marriages — And ‘Expect the Biographical Worst.’” 3:00 Am Badman’S Territory (1946). Director: Tim Whelan. Cast: Randolph Scott, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Ann Richards. Bw-98 mins. 4:45 Am Trail Street (1947). Director: Ray Enright. Cast: Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys. Bw-84 mins. 6:15 Am Return Of The Badmen (1948). Director: Ray Enright. Cast: Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, Tom Keene aka Richard Powers, Robert Bray, Lex Barker, Walter Reed, Michael Harvey, Dean White, Robert Armstrong, Tom Tyler, Lew Harvey, Gary Gray, Walter Baldwin, Minna Gombell, Warren Jackson, Robert Clarke, Jason Robards Sr., Ernie Adams, Lane Chandler, Dan Foster, John Hamilton, Kenneth MacDonald, Donald Kerr, Ida Moore, ‘Snub’ Pollard, Harry Shannon, Charles Stevens. Bw-90 mins. 8:00 Am Riding Shotgun (1954). Director: André De Toth. Cast: Randolph Scott, Wayne Morris,...

Charlton Heston movies: ‘A Man for All Seasons’ remake, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ (photo: Charlton Heston as Ben-Hur) (See previous post: “Charlton Heston: Moses Minus Staff Plus Chariot Equals Ben-Hur.”) I’ve yet to watch Irving Rapper’s melo Bad for Each Other (1954), co-starring the sultry Lizabeth Scott — always a good enough reason to check out any movie, regardless of plot or leading man. A major curiosity is the 1988 made-for-tv version of A Man for All Seasons, with Charlton Heston in the Oscar-winning Paul Scofield role (Sir Thomas More) and on Fred Zinnemann’s director’s chair. Vanessa Redgrave, who plays Thomas More’s wife in the TV movie (Wendy Hiller in the original) had a cameo as Anne Boleyn in the 1966 film. According to the IMDb, Robert Bolt, who wrote the Oscar-winning 1966 movie (and the original play), is credited for the 1988 version’s screenplay as well. Also of note,...

By Harris Lentz, III

Character actor John Davis Chandler made his film debut as the sniveling psychotic gangster in the title role of 1961’s Mad Dog Coll. Over the next three decades he appeared in numerous films and television productions, often typecast as weasely villains in western and crime productions. He was the crazed Acid in the 1968 exploitation film The Hooked Generation, a shark poacher in Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976), and a vicious pot farmer in Whiskey Mountain(1977).

Chandler was born in Hinton, West Virginia, on January 28, 1937. He appeared frequently in films and television from the early 1960s. His film credits include Sam Peckinpah’s Ride the High Country (1962) as Jimmy Hammond, Major Dundee (1965), the werewolf tele-film Moon of the Wolf (1972) with Bradford Dillman and David Janssen, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Capone (1974) as gangster Hymie Weiss, The Outlaw Josie Wales (1976) with Clint Eastwood, Chesty Anderson, Usn (1976), the horror...