The Ox-Bow Incident
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Synopsis
One of Hollywood's most prolific directors, William A. Wellman was responsible for more than 80 features and a string of masterpieces including Wings, the first film to win the Best Picture Oscar, The Public Enemy, which made a star of James Cagney, screwball classic Nothing Sacred, the original A Star is Born and this marvellous noir-inflected Western, The Ox-Bow Incident.
Set in a small Nevada town where tensions are running high thanks to a spate of cattle rustling, things reach boiling point when cowboy Larry Kinkaid is murdered. With the sheriff out of town, the residents form a posse and head to Ox-Bow Canyon to find the three men they believe to be guilty – including Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn in early major roles – and enact their own form of justice. A favourite of both Clint Eastwood and star Henry Fonda, who serves as the film's moral centre, The Ox-Bow Incident is a tough, complex picture whose uncompromising starkness continues to astound to this day.
Picture 6/10
Arrow Academy presents William A. Wellman’s The Ox-Bow Incident on Blu-ray, presenting the film in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on a dual-layer disc. The new 1080p/24hz high-definition presentation comes from a new 4K scan of a duplicate negative. The disc has been locked to region B and north American viewers will require a Blu-ray player that can playback region B content.
I’m a bit thrown by this one and I’m not too sure what to make of it. The biggest surprise from this presentation is that it is fairly soft. This ends up limiting textures and depth since the fine details never really pop. I was trying to figure if it had something to do with the scan but film grain actually appears to be rendered fairly well, so I don’t think it’s that. I can only assume there is something off with the duplicate negative that was used.
Contrast also appears to be out of whack and boosted a bit. Whites can be blown out, which can be a bit overbearing in daylight scenes, while on the reverse side of things black levels are also pumped to a point where they limit shadow details and tonal shifts in the grays can be a bit muddled.
The restoration itself is otherwise very good, and other than a few minor blemishes I don’t recall anything truly worth noting. In the end the image’s contrast levels look off and it just leans a bit on the soft side of things, remaining that way throughout. Whether it be the source or something went wrong during the transfer and restoration I can’t say, though it’s no less disappointing.
(Again, this disc is region B locked and North American viewers will require a Blu-ray player that can play back region B content.)
The Ox-Bow Incident - Screen Captures
Audio 6/10
The lossless 2-channel PCM mono track is limited by age: it’s flat, lacks fidelity, and can be a bit tinny at times. There is also an audible hiss in parts of the film. But, in the end, dialogue is still easy to hear and the track doesn’t present any drops, pops, or clicks.
Extras 7/10
Arrow puts together a nice little special edition, first presenting an audio commentary featuring American West historian Dick Etulain and the director’s son, William Wellman, Jr. I’m unsure as to when they were recorded but the two participants were recorded separately. Etulain offers the more scholarly slant, whether it be comparing how the film to the novel, admiring how Wellman was able to compress so much down into the film (the 50-page opening was compressed down to a few minutes, conveying everything about the characters and the situation down to a few lines of dialogue, actions, and visuals), or how Wellman was able to make so much with his low budget, using the setbacks to his advantage, and so on. Wellman looks at the film from a more personal level, giving an extensive backstory first to how the film came to be and then sharing stories about his dad and Fonda, the two becoming good friends after the film. He also shares the wonderful story as to how his father came into the business. For a 75-minute track I was a bit surprised at a few lengthy dead spots, and Etulain maybe points out the obvious a couple of times (did you know the film “represents the dangers of vigilante justice?”) but I found it an enjoyable enough track.
Arrow also provides an introduction by author Peter Stanfield, which can be watched on its own or optionally before the beginning of the film. For 12-minutes Stanfield gives background to the film, contextualizes it to the period, and explains how it influenced a new wave of darker westerns.
Stanfield also provides select-scene commentaries over six sequences, for a total of almost 33-minutes. I could go either way on these tracks. Stanfield expands on some areas that the other track covered, focusing a bit more on sequences and how the play out and character specifics and relationships, but the best portion of it may be when he compares the opening of the film to the opening of Wellman’s Yellow Sky using a split screen. On its own I guess I’m not so sure how worthwhile it is, but as an add-on to the commentary it’s a solid addition to the release.
Arrow then carries over from the Fox DVD the episode from the A&E series Biography on Henry Fonda, aptly titled Henry Fonda: Hollywood Quiet Guy. The 45-minute feature is typical of the series, giving an overview of the actor’s life and career through various footage, interviews from friends, family (including daughter Jane, son Peter, and widow Shirlee here), and “experts,” I guess you can call them. It’s an enjoyable overview of his life and career and I’m happy to see it was carried over here.
The disc then closes with a still gallery and the film’s trailer. The included booklet (limited to first pressings as I understand it) features a solid essay on the film by Nick Pinkerton, going over Wellman’s work, the film’s backstory, structure, and performances.
Not a packed special edition but I found the supplements well rounded and engaging, everything worth going through.
Closing
I suspect the limitations to the presentation have more to do with the source materials, though that doesn’t make it any less disappointing; this was a Blu-ray release I was really looking forward to so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little let down. But Arrow still puts together a solid special edition for the film, gathering together an entertaining collection of material.
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