Winchester '73 [DVD]

Great classic movie

While not my favorite western, it’s pretty good. James Stewart does a good job with his character. The plot is decent, not the best. It’s black and white which I say because I know there are people who don’t give movies a shot just because they “can’t get through black and white movies”. I understand that perspective cause as a 30yr old I had that perspective at one point. I grew up watching old westerns with my grandfather but when it came to black and white, I would just never give them a chance but after I started watching them I realized many of them are actually better than the color movies. The quality of image is decent for a dvd release like this but at times has its fuzzy spots. As always with most of these old westerns the atmosphere is great and something that modern movies just can’t replicate. Pretty average western when you get down to it but still a better watch than most modern junk on tv and in theaters.

The story goes that in 1950 Jimmy Stewart was looking around for something a little different for himself, something where he could play a character less folksy and warm. He sure did find it in this film, as well as all the other magnificent westerns he did with gritty, noir director, Anthony Mann (T-Men, Raw Deal, Railroaded, etc). This is the first of their collaborations.When the film was first shown to test audiences, there were titters in the crowd when Jimmy Stewart's name appeared in the credits. "Mr. Smith" in a western? Shooting people? Please. By the end of the film, the tittering was all done and Stewart had established himself as a viable western hero (although in truth the magic of these Mann/Stewart westerns is that the characters Stewart plays are hardly "heroic." They are usually driven, neurotic men, nearly shifty-eyed, with a mean streak a mile wide - bitter men, and always very, very angry and eager to kill.The basic set-up of this film is beautifully simple: Jimmy Stewart has a prize rifle stolen from him, a Winchester Model 1873 (which at the time the film takes place was state-of-the-art in the world of firearms), and he spends the rest of the movie hunting the man that stole it.The story unfolds, however, as the movie rolls quickly along to something much more complex, culminating in one of the finest shootouts in movie history. The two principal actors of the film, James Stewart and Stewart McNally, spent a great deal of time practicing with their rifles (in Stewart's case Mann often found him walking around the set with bleeding knuckles, the results of his hours of self-training working the classic lever-action Winchester). Their hard work paid of in a tremendous realism.Anthony Mann brought in cinematographer, William Daniels, for Winchester '73, a veteran who most notably had worked a great deal with Garbo in the 30's. Daniels brought his tremendous sense of lighting to the table to create one of the most beautiful looking Westerns of all time. Daniels' light, combined with Mann's unmatched visual sense, made things look nearly 3-demensional in their reality. When viewing this film, watch for the staggering long shots, or the scenes near dusk or at night. Pure texture and light - at once glamorous yet real.This film also has my favorite depiction of aging Western legend, Wyatt Earp, the Law in Dodge, played with easy authority by Will Greer. Greer always offers his suggestions to town folks with a warm smile, as when he asks Stewart to give up his gun in an early scene. There is always a bit of steel in the old gunfighter's eyes, though, and folks always do just as he suggests. Quickly.All in all a great treat and a must-have for any fan of the Western (or for that matter, any lover of movies). A true classic all the way. --Mykal Banta

DVD came quickly, great shape, movie was a classic old western, I loved it !!

As advertised

It's a very good classic Western but long and doesn't really give fulfillment at the end

I love this movie. Movies made 'back in the day' were awesome. This movie had top actors - James Stewart, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Shelly Winters. Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson had bit parts, which was first movies for them. I'm an old movie buff and don't care for Westerns made past the sixties. There was lots of action that kept you on the edge of your seat. I can watch this movie over and over again. Dan Duryea was so outstanding that I purchased a few of his old mysteries. James Stewart starts out by winning the Winchester only to have his brother steal it from him. The brother loses the rifle in a card game, then to clever Indians, Shelly Winters boyfriend, then to some Army soldiers, Dan Duryea, then back to the brother and back to James Stewart's character. Excellent movie. A real must see movie.

This may not be considered a work of art like John Ford's "My Darling Clementine" and "The Searchers" but this is the ultimate Western. It is a tale of relentless hatred and revenge worthy of any Greek tragedy and it has cowboys and Indians, shoot outs, a taciturn hero and a fallen lady with a heart of gold. Jimmy Stewart is the hero at his brooding best; Shelley Winters has the heart of gold. Will Geer puts in great but brief performance as Wyatt Earp. Geer felt that he was miscast as Earp but he manages to embody the spirit and bravura of the old west. Dan Duryea is at his psychotic best as the mad killer, Waco Johnny Dean, and Stephen McNally is the snake-in-the-grass nemesis of Jimmy Stewart. Keep an eye out for two aspiring young actors in very small supporting roles: Rock Hudson with a fake nose is an Sioux war chief and Tony Curtis is wet-behind-the-ears cavalry trooper. It is chock full of western action and it might sound like a load of western cliches but the superlative cast makes it seem fresh. If you only watch one western, this is the one to watch.

One Of The Rare Western Movies That can be Truly Called A Classic. Winchester 73 is basically a simple premise cowboy wins a legendary shooting rifle in a shootout contest The rifle is stolen and changes many hands including an Indian chief before being reunited with it's rightful owner. One of The movies beloved Hollywood stars James Stewart plays The Quiet spoken cowhand who wins The rifle only To have it stolen from him and Through The remainder of The movie begins his long Quest in search of The rifle. The movie is filled with legendary western characters like Wyatt Earp references To Custer's defeat at The Little Big Horn is heard at various points in The movie. and Through all This excellent supporting leads look out for Rock Hudson as an Indian chief who Through a Twist of fate comes into contact with The rifle and Tony Curtis in one of his first roles as a army soldier. Winchester 73 is just one of Those movies were all The right ingredients fall into place Excellent story and an Excellent cast. filmed in glorious black and white by Universal pictures it's one of Those movies That looks better for being filmed That way had it been shot in colour I Don't Think it would have had The same pull That it as. being a big fan of This movie I have owned VHS & DVD copies of The movie Though non come close To The stunning High Definition Blu-ray Transfer we have here. There are no extras To speak of just The movie itself offering full scene selections Though really The classic movie itself is all you really need. It's The movie That really established James Stewart as a True movie cowboy putting him alongside The likes of John Wayne in The movie polls. and This one of Stewart's most memorable movies comes Highly recommended.

Winchester 73 is a classic. And I had warm but fuzzy memories from watching it when I was a child. The Westerns that James Stewart made with Anthony Mann are among the best ever made. This one was the one to start off their collaboration. It has everything you expect from a great Western: great characters, a gripping narrative, and strong set pieces. The Blu-ray disc has very clear picture albeit a little grainy. But that is nothing to complain about for a film that is almost 70 years old. The only small sting is that there is no bonus material whatsoever.

Winchester `73 (Anthony Mann, 1950, 92')James Stewart starred in five Westerns by director Anthony Mann: Winchester '73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), The Far Country (1954), The Man from Laramie (1955). The Stewart and Mann collaboration established a new persona for Stewart: one more violent and disillusioned, but still likeable. In all five, he plays a man who is haunted by the past. The films make notable use of the landscape to portray the characters' feelings.Winchester '73 also stars Shelley Winters, and Stephen McNally. Written by Borden Chase and Robert L Richards, the film is about the journey of a prized rifle from one ill-fated owner to another and a cowboy's search for a murderous fugitive. The movie features early film performances by Rock Hudson as an American Indian, Tony Curtis, and James Best. It was shot in black and white on location in Arizona and in Universal Studios, California.The film was originally intended to have been directed by Fritz Lang but Universal did not want Lang to produce the film through his own Diana Productions company. Lang's idea was to have the rifle being Stewart's character's only source of strength and his only excuse for living, making the quest for his rifle a matter of life and death. With Lang out of the picture, Universal produced the film itself with the up-and-coming Anthony Mann, who was James Stewart's choice, directing.Mann changed the idea through Chase rewriting the film to make the rifle a character, showing its adventures passing though the hands of a variety of people. Stewart had wished to make Harvey for Universal-International but, when the studio wouldn't pay the $200,000 salary Stewart wanted, studio head William Goetz offered Stewart to make both Harvey (with director Henry Koster, 1950) and Winchester '73 for a percentage of the profits. Stewart's agent got him 50% of the profits, eventually amounting to $600,000 from the film's unexpected success.The money from a percentage deal was taxed as a capital gain attracting a much lower rate of tax than a normal salary would incur; on top, Stewart's deal also gave him control of director and co-stars. Winchester `73 is proof hat such an arrangement can produce quality and not only commerce. Acting throughout (only Rock Hudson as junior Sioux chief is below par) is excellent, and there is fantastic camera work by William H Daniels (1901-1970), who had been Greta Garbo's personal lensman and early in his career had worked regularly with director Erich von Stroheim. No wonder!121 - Winchester `73 (Anthony Mann, 1950, 92') - 4/8/2012

This was, as many have mentioned here, the first pairing of director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart in what would become their `psychological Western' sequence. This first collaboration is a fine film, but better was to come.Stewart had built up an on screen persona of affability, likeableness and general do gooding. It must have been a bit of a surprise to the film goers of the time to see him here, playing much the same character but with the added dimension of being hell bent on a mission of vengeance. Lin McAdam is a generally nice guy, but he has a mission to complete, he must find and kill the man who shot his father. He is almost blind to all else. It's a step away from Stewart's usual character, and even bigger steps into the dark side of the human soul would follow in later films.As well as the story of McAdam's mission of vengeance this film also follows a gun, the Wnchester 73 of the title. One in a thousand, this is a special gun and everyone covets it. By rights it belongs to McAdam after he won it in a shooting contest, but it gets stolen and passes through many hands until it is used against him in the final shootout. This allows the director to give us a series of vignettes built around the people that have the gun, giving us some fascinating characterisations.There is a generally fine supporting cast to lift this another notch (the weak link is Rock Hudson's Apache warrior). Millard Mitchell puts in another great turn as the solid and dependable companion of McAdam (why he never became a leading man I'll never know, he provided many memorable supporting performances), Dan Duryea is a charming unhinged wildman and Shelley Winters is perfect as the lady of the piece. The scene where she explains she knows what the last bullet is for is very memorable.A great study of human nature, a thrilling story as the heroes deal with various Indian attacks and gunslingers, topped with an unexpected twist right at the end and one of the bust shoot-outs ever filmed, this is an out and out classic. But because better films followed it I am only going to give 4 stars.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***This is a story of the Winchester Rifle Model 1873 "The Gun That Won The West" To cowman, outlaw, peace officer or soldier, the Winchester 73 was a treasured possession. An Indian would sell his soul to own one...Winchester 73 is the first collaboration between director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart, a duo that would go on to create a run of superior Westerns that added a new, psychological depth to the genre. The story sees Stewart as Lin McAdam pursuing the man who killed his father. Riding into Dodge City with his trusty friend, Johnny Williams {Millard Mitchell}, Lin runs into Dutch Henry Brown {Stephen McNally}, the man he wants. But with Wyatt Earp {Will Geer} having taken all the guns from those entering the town, both men are unable to have the shoot-out that they are ready for. The men instead square up in a competition to win a Winchester 73 rifle, a competition that Lin eventually wins. But before he can leave town with the magnificent prize, Dutch ambushes him, steals the rifle and skips town fast. As Lin sets off in hate filled pursuit of both man and rifle, the rifle will changed hands a number of times, with each time adding another dimension as the day of reckoning for all approaches.Very much a benchmark for what became known as the so-called "psychological Western", Winchester 73 is basically a story of a decent man driven to borderline insanity by an event in his past. Tho shot in black and white {the only one of the duos Westerns that was} the landscapes are still breathtaking feasts for the eyes. The tone is set with the opening scene as Lin and Johnny on horseback, and in silhouette, amble over a hillside as they make their way to Dodge City. It's just the starting point that would see Mann use his vistas as a way of running concurrent with his characters emotional states.Stewart gives one of his finest and most intense performances as McAdam, proving once and for all that he was one of Americas finest and most versatile actors. The support cast isn't too bad either. Shelley Winters is excellent as the sole female in amongst the machismo, while Mitchell, McNally, Geer and the always great Dan Duryea add further class to proceedings. There's even bit parts for Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson in here, tho the latter playing an Indian brave is a stretch too far.Originally the film was a project for Fritz Lang, who even had the script ready to run. But Lang walked away from it, something that proved to be a blessing for Western fans. For as great as a director that Lang was, with Mann directing {and with a new script from Borden Chase & Robert Richards in hands} it set the wheels in motion to alter the course of the genre. Not only with the further efforts that Mann & Stewart produced, but also in who they influenced. The likes of Budd Boetticher, Nicholas Ray and Sam Fuller were all taking notes, and gleefully for the Western purists, they followed suit and carried the psychological torch still further.A big hit at the box office back on release, Winchester 73 is a magnificent film that still packs a punch in the modern age. 9.5/10