62-66 Five Tall Tales: Budd Boetticher & Randolph Scott at Columbia, 1957-1960

[Jonathan S]

Paramount gradually released all six seasons of HGWT on DVD, though only seasons 4-6 appear to have undergone restoration, at least in these individual releases (I don't know whether they restored the earlier ones for the complete box set). I found Season Five has the most consistently high standard for both content and technical quality - though Season Six, which begins with the oddball episode "Genesis" (about Paladin's past), also contains many strong episodes, despite its detractors.

Perhaps a barrier to HGWT's wider revival is the naming and marginalisation of the Chinese servants "Hey Boy" and (in the fourth series) "Hey Girl" but elsewhere, when portraying racial minorities and themes, the series usually demonstrates the same level of sensitivity and liberal intentions found in some other American TV shows and films of the late '50s and early '60s.

[MichaelB]

This is the first review of the Boetticher box that I'm aware of, and hopefully will set the tone for the rest.

Indicator’s five-disc Five Tall Tales: Budd Boetticher & Randolph Scott At Columbia is a labor of love. [...] I’m surprised at the number of great extras on this set. The new material constitutes the best resource on Budd Boetticher I’ve seen anywhere.

[Apperson]

Beaver

[What A Disgrace]

I wish the Beaver review detailed the full length of all of the extra features. I'm kind of a nerd about that sort of thing.

[tenia]

I wish the Beaver review detailed the full length of all of the extra features. I'm kind of a nerd about that sort of thing.

Gary does it all the time. It's in the table below the boxset cover art, save for a few of them.

[What A Disgrace]

Oh, I noticed, but its the few of them that were saved that bug me.

[onedimension]

Anyone else have an Amazon US pre-order delayed? Not sure if I should cancel and import it myself..

[Tuco]

I ordered from amazon UK on the 27th - it was in my mailbox on the 31st!

[M Sanderson]

In a nutshell, one stupendous transfer (Ride Lonesome), two fine/good ones (Tall T & Comanche Station) and two faded ones from apparently DVD era masters (Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone).

Ride Lonesome looks very crisp, detailed, with pin sharp grain and nuanced colours. I was hugely impressed just looking at the different shades of brown in Scott’s coat, at one point. Tall T and Comanche Station - which we know already is a good, older remaster - look balanced in colour and with satisfying detail. Whereas Decision has blacks that are pushing yellow, detail is wanting and murky wood tones and Buchanan has yellow contours on people and objects and essentially doesn’t show levels of colour you’d expect in HD.

Any box set is a mixed bag (Arrow’s Poe/Corman box had a faded Tomb of Ligeia, others films fading far better; Arrow’s Fassbinder had weird compression artifacts in Effie Briest, otherwise looking amazing, all other films fated great aside from a very soft & faded Chinese Roulette, etc etc). This Boetticher box does feature 3 crucial films - can not wait for the Fuller, knowing that, at very least, Underworld USA and Crimson Kimono will look spectacular.

Just wanted to keep things sensible. Many reviews are basically saying all the Boetticher films look amazing. Whereas TT’s Nick Redman said only Ride Lonesome will look good and suggested all the others would be badly dated and not considered good enough for release stateside... Truth is somewhere in between.

[Florinaldo]

It's nice to have so many new extras, both digital and printed, that feature the actual words of BB. He is not one of those directors, like Welles, Ford, Renoir or Hitchcock, that pop up very frequently in interviews. The bump in image quality for the movies is also welcome, as well as contributions from people you might not spontaneously think of as experts in the Western genre like Frayling and Newman. The booklet is also excellent (I have read only one of the articles but the rest looks equally worthy).

The list of new extras is so long that at first I did not realise that the documentary A Man Can do That by Dave Kher was not ported from the previous DVD boxset. Too bad because I remember is as being very interesting and it now means that the decision to part with the previous release is not as easy as anticipated at first. Unless one makes a digital copy of the feature and saves it in a few places, just to make sure it does not get lost because of future computer replacements.

Does anyone know why this doc was not included in this edition? Was it deemed redundant or was it a question of rights and clearance?

[MichaelB]

Does anyone know why this doc was not included in this edition? Was it deemed redundant or was it a question of rights and clearance?

Unlike the other DVD extras, Sony didn't own it, and the rights couldn't be cleared independently.

[Florinaldo]

Does anyone know why this doc was not included in this edition? Was it deemed redundant or was it a question of rights and clearance?

Unlike the other DVD extras, Sony didn't own it, and the rights couldn't be cleared independently.

Thanks for the info. It's unfortunate for the people who will miss out on it if they own only the new BD release. But things like that happen when intellectual property rights are involved. It's also a reason why our video shelves hold so many releases of the same titles which only differ by one bonus feature or two.

[M Sanderson]

I hope this encourages other rights holders to release such Boetticher titles as 7 Men from Now, Bullfighter & the Lady (didn’t the US B-R cobble together different sources, very noticeably?), and Rise & Fall of Legs Diamond. What is the status of Arruza, in terms of rights and suitable materials?

[Drucker]

In the eight or so years I've been posting to this forum and collection / watching films, I've never had the opportunity to get through an entire boxset in one weekend/sitting. But with my wife (and dog!) away, I was able to get through this fantastic set this weekend. I'd peg the films as mostly good to great. There's a lot of interesting commentary in this thread and the western project thread to look back on, and I probably have only scratched the surface/seen the classics of the genre. That said, while these aren't my new favorite westerns, I'd definitely rank them higher than some of the others I've seen, (such as the Delmar Daves pictures),

I wrote that I found The Tall T to be slightly ordinary and I don't think I take it back after seeing all of the films in this set. What it absolutely has going for it is one of the best villains I've ever seen in a western. I don't think believability is the most important thing for a film to have, but this guy has it, and for a clear contrast, look no further than the villains in the subsequent two films in this set. When the film takes its first turn, it really is brutal as well. I had to do a double take to realize just what they meant by "they're in the well." The brutality of killing a little boy like that, right at the outset of the film, is incredibly effective. I also love how the film ends the way it began, with roles reversed and Scott's character waiting in hiding.

I actually really loved Decision At Sundown and I think the somewhat uneven logic behind the film is part of the point. If Scott's plan is half-baked, well, it's because his entire understanding of his relationship to his wife is as well. While the townsfolk aren't really well-sketched (do we ever really understand why the antagonist has a need to buy everyone off in town and just how that "changed the town"?), their humor and caricature are enough to get me to like them. Of all the ways these films try to upend expectations, this one is clearly the most effective with an absolutely amazing ending. The film does an effective enough job of showing the parallels between Scott and the townsfolk that I can overlook some of the duller plot points and missed opportunities (the film starts off superbly, but drags a bit in the middle, for sure). Interestingly enough, in the extras, Boetticher calls this out as his least favorite of the bunch, with a story he didn't get much input for. He seems to really love the idea of Scott as kind of a "pure" character, and I love the way that's upended here. Sorry, Budd.

Buchanan Rides Alone is the weakest transfer in this set and probably the weakest film. I don't have much to say about it. It's still an above-average film, but maybe my problem is that the villains are just kind of dull? The corrupt judge and sheriff never seem invested in their corruption. Scott sure comes off nobly, but it's kind of bizarre that he intervenes in the first place with all of the drama. Ride Lonesome on the other hand I find to be the clear stand-out transfer and film. Incredibly economical. For most of the film, I was impressed that we weren't given a clear antagonist to latch onto (certainly not in the same way the preceding films are), and yet the film keeps you engaged with every character. Once we find out that Van Cleef's character in fact will stand in as an antagonist, the film does feel like it has earned it. Scott's quietness and sternness all add up when we find out he's a singular man with a singular goal. Having the film end on a happy, upbeat note is just the cherry on top for a beautiful, effective film. It's also great how the film doesn't call attention at all to the details that make it great, such as having a woman come right out as a great shot. It's accepted as face value and the characters don't dwell on it (they never have time to dwell on much in these films!)

By the time you get to Comanche Station the film has a bit of a been there, done that feel. Nevertheless, it's still strong. Despite a few obvious retreads of the previous films ("keep shooting and don't stop"), there are some effective twists along the way, especially with the two illiterate hangers-on. Scott is good as usual, the settings and Cinemascope are great as well.

[M Sanderson]

Decision and Buchanan suffered considerable ringing in the transfers. Decision is a bit of an ordeal, scrappily put together, but worth sticking with to see the thorough deconstruction of the Scott character. I don’t see this as the radical masterpiece, but rather a good and necessary variation on the theme of Scott’s laconic revenge wanderer...

I love Tall T and Comanche Station. Yes, the kid in the well was a very good touch. Implied, not shown. And at first you think, they really left him there...! The film is almost subtle to a fault - almost! I love the clean and precise and minimalistic filmmaking that Tall T represents. As understated as you can get. Yet I understand too understated for some. (I vastly prefer this to 7 Men from Now, from a different production company & therefore not included in the set. 7 Men hadn’t reached this calm precision and I felt suffered a little from repetition, despite being marvellous). Good transfers, both films.

Ride Lonesome is simply wonderful. Especially Scott allowing Parnell Roberts to believe, that they will have a showdown. There was something hopeful and invigorating in this ending. Also, everyone showed a human side. Even cold blooded killer Van Cleef, can barely even recall the atrocity he committed in the past, demonstrating concern for his brother. This feels like a “late masterpiece”, Scott in no hurry, even wanting the bad guys to catch up with him, Boetticher and Kennedy capturing the steady passage of time, the transience of life. Highest level video transfer, this one.

[I Heart Budd]

There have been some (I think erroneous) reports that the Five Tall Tales Indicator set includes the very fine 90 min doc “A Man Can Do That” which was included as something of an Easter egg on the earlier Sony/collectors choice collection, “The Films Of Budd Boetticher”.

I recently got the Five Tall Tales collection and could not find that documentary anywhere, either listed in print inside the case or on any of the disks.

If someone has been able to locate that documentary on this new collection, I would appreciate your letting me know, but for now I will be holding onto both sets!

[Florinaldo]

There have been some (I think erroneous) reports that the Five Tall Tales Indicator set includes the very fine 90 min doc “A Man Can Do That” which was included as something of an Easter egg on the earlier Sony/collectors choice collection, “The Films Of Budd Boetticher”.

I recently got the Five Tall Tales collection and could not find that documentary anywhere, either listed in print inside the case or on any of the disks.

If someone has been able to locate that documentary on this new collection, I would appreciate your letting me know, but for now I will be holding onto both sets!

If you scroll up a few posts, you will find an exchange on this very subject from June 2018. It is not included on the Indicator set, for reasons of rights. I do not recall it being an "Easter egg" on the Sony set, but rather a regular extra listed in the corresponding disc menu. I kept my copy of the Sony disc in question because it is a very interesting documentary.

[I Heart Budd]

Thanks for that information. That was a wrong memory on my part ... it is indeed listed as an extra on the Sony set!

From time to time, I also enjoy watching his earlier film, Bullfighter And The Lady, partly in recognition of his interest in bullfighting, but mostly because it’s really nice to see Robert Stack who I remember well from when he played Elliot Ness in The Untouchables; also starring in Lubitsch’s To Be Or Not To Be (1942) ... he was 21 when he made that!

[Orlac]

I'm showing my age but the main thing I remember Stack from is Transformers!

[hearthesilence]

I was surprised when I found out he was a film actor.

EDIT: And now I'm surprised to hear that Matthew McConaughey had one of his earliest roles in one of the re-enactments, in an episode that I remember seeing specifically for his death scene! (If memory serves, it was heartbreaking because the guy he portrayed in real life was trying to protect his mother, and even after getting shot - and needing immediate and critical help - he still put himself in harm's way to protect her and ultimately lost his life in the process. McConaughey was wrong though, the guy was arrested a little over two months later, not 11 days, but it was in Panama City which tells you something about the show's reach.)

[MichaelB]

Five Tall Tales is now on Powerhouse's "low stock alert" list.

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

Five Tall Tales is now sold out. I resisted because I only really enjoy The Tall T and Decision at Sundown and couldn't justify buying it for just those two. Apologies if this information is already somewhere upthread, but any chance these will be released individually by Powerhouse?

EDIT: It says, "SOME OF THE FILMS WILL BE AVAILABLE AS STANDARD EDITIONS LATER THIS YEAR" on the product page. So, disregard my question.

[rapta]

Five Tall Tales is now sold out. I resisted because I only really enjoy The Tall T and Decision at Sundown and couldn't justify buying it for just those two. Apologies if this information is already somewhere upthread, but any chance these will be released individually by Powerhouse?

EDIT: It says, "SOME OF THE FILMS WILL BE AVAILABLE AS STANDARD EDITIONS LATER THIS YEAR" on the product page. So, disregard my question.

I think a couple of the films couldn't be reissued for contractual reasons, but I imagine at least The Tall T will be one of the ones that does become available.

[Ribs]

The Tall T and Comanche Station are not to be reissued.

[TMDaines]

Maybe the answer to this is obvious, but why were other Boetticher and Scott movies not included in this set? Different studio and therefore current rights-holders?