THE HANGING TREE (1959) (WAC Blu-ray Review)

THE HANGING TREE (1959)

Label: Warner Archive 

Region Code: Region-FREE

Rating: Unrated
Duration: 107 Minutes
Audio: English DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Delmer Daves

Cast:  Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, Karl Malden, George C. Scott, Kar, Karl Swenson, Virginia Gregg, John Dierkes, King Donovan, Ben Piazza

Director Delmer Daves (The Red House) 50's technicolor western The Hanging Tree (1959) stars late-era screen legend Gary Cooper, in his final western, as Dr. Joseph Frail, who rides into the small gold rush community of Skull Creek, Montana, setting up shop on a hill overlooking the tented village. He enlists the help of a sluice robbeer named Rune (Ben Piazza, The Candy Snatchers) whom he rescues from an angry mob, he having been shot by prospector Frenchy (Karl Malden, Cat O' Nine Tails) while attempting to steal a nugget of gold from one of the sluices at the camp. The doc more or less blackmails him into being his indentured servant, lest he turn in the would-be thief to the locals, who didn't get a good look at the culprit, and they would surely hang him from the local hanging tree for his treachery.

Dr. Frail is not too well liked by the locals himself, earning the ire of a local faith healer named Dr. Grubb, played by George C. Scott (The Changeling) in his first ever on-screen role, it's a small but venomous role. Later when Swedish immigrant named Elizabeth  (Maria Schell, Jess Franco's 99 Women) is found near the site of a stage coach robbery, the sole survivor, she is dehydrated and suffering from exposure, she's temporarily stricken blind and the doc takes her in and nurses her back to health. Down in the mining camp unsavory rumors begin to swirl about the doc and the woman, also spurring more gossip about the doc's dark past, including an incident involving his wife and brother going up in flames, casting aspersions on the doc's moral compass. 

Sure enough Gary Cooper plays the doc as a bit of a aging gambler and gunslinger, handy with a stethoscope and a six-shooter, and a guy not prone to taking guff from anyone, his rough and tumble demeanor and his earlier blackmailing of the criminal Rune feed into the character' supposed moral  ambiguity. Cooper is great in the role, coming off as a decent man with a dark past, even rebuffing the love-interest of Schnell's character, who is so irritated by his seeming disinterest in her that she forms a business alliance with Rune and the overly-lusty Frenchy out if spite, the trio's team-up pays off with a sweet glory hole of gold found beneath the roots of a fallen tree, leading up to a raucous finale, as the drunken villagers look to hang the doc for murder.

The Hanging Tree is nice slice of big sky western-Americana, the cinematography is great, capturing the mountainous wooded vistas, and the cast is top-notch, from Cooper's morally ambiguous doc Grail to Schnell's vulnerable but driven Elizabeth, add to that Karl Malden as a lecherous gold miner and George C. Scott as a venomous preacher and you have a nicely layered western I am pleased to have finally watched, this was a nice discovery for me.    
 
Audio/Video: The Hanging Tree (1959) arrives on Blu-ray from the WAC with a new 2018 remaster from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, and it looks great, lensed by cinematographer Ted McCord (The Sound of Music, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) this has wonderful outdoor photography of the rural, wooded hillside community of Skull Creek, a lot of it captured from numerous crane shots offering treetops and big sky sights that translate well to HD with nice, crisp detail and vivid imagery.  The lone audio option is an English DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 with optional English subtitles, the winner here is the dramatic western score from Max Steiner (Gone with the Wind), a clean and well-balanced track, the Marty Robbins crooned theme song is also corny fun. The only extra on the disc is a theatrical trailer for the movie. 

Special Features:

- Trailer HD 

While I do tend to steer towards the more violent and stylish Italian spaghetti westerns when left to my own devices, which are  more my speed, I must say that Warner Archive have been opening my eyes to some very cool American revisionist westerns of the 50's and 60's , this is right up there with Ride the High Country (1962), a welcome addition to by western library and a wonderful presentation from the WAC. 

HANNIE CAULDER (1971) Olive Signature Edition (Blu-ray Review)

HANNIE CAULDER (1971) 

Olive Signature Edition

Label: Olive Films
Rating: R
Region Code: A
Duration: 85 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Burt Kennedy
Cast:  Raquel Welch, Robert Culp, Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin, Jack Elam, Diana Dors

Synopsis: Revenge is a loaded gun in director Burt Kennedy’s (The Train Robbers) Hannie Caulder. Raquel Welch (One Million Years B.C., 100 Rifles, and Myra Breckinridge) smolders as Hannie, a widow sworn to avenge her own brutal rape and husband’s murder at the hands of Emmett (Ernest Borgnine, The Wild Bunch), Frank (Jack Elam, Support Your Local Sheriff), and Rufus (Strother Martin, Cool Hand Luke), three of the most despicable scoundrels to have ever roamed the prairie. Eager for revenge, but lacking the gunfighter’s know-how, Hannie soon discovers new confidence and skill when bounty hunter Thomas Luther Price (Robert Culp, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) teaches her the way of the gun. In no time, Hannie is strapping on her six shooter and setting out to put a few notches on its handle. Co-starring the legendary Christopher Lee (Horror of Dracula), playing against type as a sympathetic gunsmith who befriends her, Hannie Caulder hits its target from ten paces.

Hannie Caulder is a bit of a odd western entry, a British production filmed in Spain by the predominantly horror-driven Tigon studios, directed by an American, a western that is bloody and violent, touched with weird humor, and rooted in the arguably feminist rape-revenge sub genre. The movie stars Raquel Welch as the titular character, a woman driven to the end of her rope by the desperate acts of three despicable bank-robbers, the Clemens Brothers, played with inept villainy by a trio of familiar western character actors; Frank (Jack Elam, Once Upon a Time in the West), Rufus (Strother Martin, The Wildbunch) and the "brains" behind the trio, Emmett (Ernest Borgnine, Escape from New York). At the top f the movie the Clemens rob a bank, there's a brutal and very bloody gun fight, and this is one of the most bloody westerns I think I've ever watched, and that includes the Sergio Leone stuff, we have loads of bloodshed with massive amounts of the red-stuff pouring out of bodies. 

They make-off after the robbery looking to lay low but end up at the homestead of Hannie Caulder and her husband, the desperadoes gun him down, run a train on his poor wife (Welch) and set the house on fire, laughing maniacally as they ride off and leaving her for dead. The distraught Caulder roams the desert wilderness alone for a spell wearing only a poncho, making her way to a water well where she runs into a bespectacled and bearded bounty hunter named Thomas Price (Robert Culp, The Greatest American Hero)who steals the show as the soft-spoken gunslinger tasked with teaching Hannie how to handle a six-shooter, so she can seek revenge on the men who murdered her husband and raped her. He's reluctant to teach the woman to shoot a gun, particularly after she knocks him out cold upon their first encounter. 

Eventually he comes around and begins to train her in the way of the gun, the pair make their way to Mexico where Price enlists the help of a gunsmith named Bailey, played by horror-icon Christopher Lee (Horror of Dracula), in his only western film appearance. Bailey's home is located on the edge of the sea, we have a nice series of training montages as Hannie takes aim at target on the sea shore, later a group of Mexican bandits attack Bailey's home, the encounter enables Hannie to test her mettle and her new gun-skills, but she hesitates and nearly loses her life except for the assistance of Price, who afterward tells her she should abandon her quest for revenge, which she does not, of course, eventually tracking the bandits to a small town in Mexico.

Hannie Caulder is a fantastic watch, Welch is mesmerizing as the gorgeous revenger, which is a nice turn of the card for a Western, very few women were the focus of these films, and even fewer reaped any sort of decent revenge on the men who spoiled them, it was probably a novel idea at the time, when rape-revenge movies were a bit early in the cycle, too. Welch is not just a pretty face, she has some serious acting chops, conveying a complex array of emotions when called upon, but that she looks so damn fine in a poncho and hat, a very little else, doesn't hurt much either. The movie is a bit offbeat, combining a the feminist gunslinger angle with the ever-present male-gaze. While the rape is arguably more tastefully shot than most of the rape-revengers that would come, it happens mostly offscreen, the filmmakers cannot seem to pass up a chance to feature Welch's nicely shaped bottom framed in a pair of wet leather chaps, either, that along with the comical rapists makes for strange bedfellows. 

As much as I love Welch in the movie, and I do, it is TV actor Robert Culp however who stole the show, his bounty hunter is the epitome of dignified calm and cool, not someone who tosses off corny one-liners, he's a man with a purpose, a nice guy in a nasty line of business. As someone who grew up with Culp in the 80s on TV shows like The Greatest American Hero it was a revelation to see him in something so different, and he was awesome, I will definitely have to seek out more of his film work. 

The movie has two stories that converge, we have Hannie's story while she trains to be a gunslinger with Price, and we also follow the inept exploits of the Clemens Brothers, who are scoundrels but also a bit on the brainless side, offering some offbeat comic relief as they rob banks, at one point using way too much explosive and blowing up all the money in the safe, the teaming up of Elam, Martin and Borgnine is inspired, even if their onscreen menace is cut with an over abundance of Three Stooges type tomfoolery, which seems a strange choice for a rape-revenger.

The scenery looks real familiar, these westerns that were filmed in Spain used a lot of the same old dusty locations and sets, which I didn't mind, the arid vistas and dusty trails look great, and this is a nice looking western, perhaps not on par with some of the tastier Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci classics, but still and great looking movie with some nice panoramic lensing. This might not be an Italian spaghetti western but that is absolutely what they're aiming for, right down to the Sergio Leone esque main title credit sequence, though I wish the score by Ken Thorn was more up to the task, as it stands it has a few evocative pieces but perhaps I am just spoiled by the memory of the classic Morricone scores, by comparison this one is sort of weak. 

Audio/Video: Burt Kennedy's western rape-revenger Hannie Caulder arrives on Blu-ray from Olive Films as one of their newly launched Olive Signature editions presented in 2.35 scope aspect ratio in 1080p HD with a what is being called a new digital restoration. The source used for the digital restoration look very nice, with only the very faintest of wear and tear, the grain is nicely managed but does appear a bit thick at times, which  is not a negative in my opinion, this doesn't look like it's been put through any eyesore-degraining process, I like my westerns with some grit and grain and this Blu-ray delivers. As this was my first watch of the movie I have no basis for comparison but I found this to be a pleasant 1080p view, skin tones looked natural, the old west colors are a bit muted by design, but the oft seen swathes of blood are vivid and overall the image is nicely detailed and appropriately crisp without the aid of artificial sharpening tools. without actually knowing I think this is sourced from a print, and not the original camera negative, which might explain some of the thick grain in a few shots. 

The lone audio track on the disc is a DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 option which sounds good, everything is nicely balanced and crisp, there's no audio distortion I could detect and the Ken Thorn (Superman II, III)score comes through with some nice buoyancy, optional English subtitles are provided.  

As part of the Olive Signature Series Olive have seen fit to offer up a nice selection of extras beginning with an audio commentary from Repo Man director Alex Cox who is a spaghetti western expert, it is a good listen with loads of information about the locations, the cast and crew and how the movie stacks up against other Westerns of the era.  

There are also a handful of interviews, including a 13-min interview with film scholar Ben Sher who speaks about the rape/revenge aspect of the movie, how it fits into the sub-genre, a 21-min interview with Sir Christopher Frayling on the history of Tigon Studios who produced the movie, and how this rape-revenge western is a bit of an odd duck for them. Lastly we have film critic Kim Morgan's essay "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" in text-format on the disc and as part of the 8-page booklet which accompanies this release. As part of the Olive Signature series the disc comes in a clear Blu-ray case with a two-sided sleeve of artwork, a nice thick card stock slipcase and an 8-page booklet with movie stills and poster artwork, and of the artwork I really liked the attractive peach Melba toned scheme they chose for this release, it stands out in a good way on the shelf. 

Special Features:
- New High-Definition digital restoration
- Audio commentary by Western expert and director Alex Cox (Walker, Repo Man)
"Exploitation or Redemption?" - an examination of rape-revenge movies with film scholar Ben Sher (13 Mins)HD 
- "Win or Lose: Tigon Pictures and the Making of Hannie Caulder" - interview with Sir Christopher Frayling on the history of Tigon Studios (21 Mins) HD 
- "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" - Essay by film critic Miriam Bale

I loved watching Hannie Caulder (1971), Raquel Welch is quite good as the revenge-driven main character who looks great in a poncho and wet leathers, the movie is also bolstered by a enigmatic turn from TV actor Robert Culp as the kind-hearted bounty hunter who aids her on her journey. The new release from Olive Films looks and sounds great, has some cool extras and is a worthy addition to your collection if you have a fondness for westerns with a rape-revenge bent. 

DVD Review: THE DEAD AND THE DAMNED (2010)

THE DEAD AND THE DAMNED (2010)

LABEL: Inception Media Group
REGION CODE: Region 1 NTSC
RATING: R
DURATION: 85 mins
AUDIO: Dolby Digital 5.1
VIDEO: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)
DIRECTOR: Rene Perez
CAST: David A. Lockhart, Camille Montgomery, Rick Mora, Robert Amstler
TAGLINE: It's Clint Eastwood meets George Romero as undead, flesh-eating gun-slingers roam the Wild West.

Mortimer (David A. Lockhart, MINTY THE ASSASSIN) is a bounty hunter in the old west on the trail of a Native American named Brother Wolf (Rick Mora, TWILIGHT) who stands accused of raping a white virgin, as opposed to a virgin of non-Caucasian persuasion. Morty buys himself a would-be blonde bride by the name of Rhiannon (Camille Montgomery) from a shady entrepreneur selling "hostesses, not whores". He has no intention of marrying her but instead takes her to the highlands and stakes her to the ground in an effort to draw Wolf down from the hills, you know, by the allure of a white woman to rape, how could he possibly resist, natch. The portrayal of Brother Wolf is your stereotypically stoic, white woman raping native American, the only thing missing was perhaps for him to shed a lone tear at the site of someone littering in the town square. This is a lame plan of capture but of course it works and Morty escorts the white virgin-raper back to town.

At about the same time two local yokels mining for gold discover a meteorite embedded in the earth. The meteor emits an unearthly green glow, the two suppose there must be wealth of emeralds inside and schlep the hefty space rock back to town where a crowd of curious onlookers gather around for a look-see.  When one of the miners takes a sledgehammer to the rock  it ruptures and spews forth a cloud of green spores which infect everyone, turning them into ravenous, fast-moving zombies. The creatures head for the hills where they prove to be quite a nuisance to Morty, Brother Wolf and Rhiannon.

The zombie-western is not too shabby a premise for an indie horror film, it's an appealing genre mash-up, but the execution  lacks passion. Not helping the production is that the sets look super-flimsy, and it lacked that dusty, rustic aesthetic that sells westerns, there's just no atmosphere. It's also hamstrung by some pretty amateur acting. Star Lockhart begins strong as the silent but deadly gunslinger but as soon as the dialogue spills forth from his lips it's game over. There's a lot of CGI blood in this film, nothing takes the piss outta a zombie flick like a shitty digital headshot. Note to the effects team, bullets don't spark when they strike a tree, they splinter, just saying. The film wants to be an action-packed zombie genre mash-up but the action sequences are poorly executed with no kineticism, it's very flat, case in point a protracted shootout at the top of the film. The nail in the coffin is a very flaccid final 3rd that gets bogged down in needless back story and exposition, it was too little too late by this point and I was zoning out.

On the plus side the film has some decent cinematography, plus a few bits gratuitous nudity, the ace up the sleeve of indie horror, it didn't save the film bit it didn't hurt either. The natural setting is also attractive. Not sure where this was shot but the rolling hills, open plains and lush forests provided some gorgeous scenery. The non-period rock soundtrack features tunes ranging from Southwestern tinged rock to eerie mood pieces, great stuff but the film doesn't live up to either the score or the cinematography.

DVD: The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, no subtitles are offered. The image looks decent, it's a bit soft and lack fine detail, but well lit with some good lensing. No noticeable compression artifacts but some edge enhancement is visible throughout. The score and effects fare well in the mix but the dialogue is uneven and suffers a bit. The lone special feature is an extended theatrical trailer.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Original Extended Trailer (2:07)

VERDICT: THE DEAD AND THE DAMNED promises a zombie-western mash-up where Eastwood meets Romero but it does not deliver. Don't be fooled by the admittedly great boxart, there are no zombie gunslingers, no red-eyed zombie horses nor outlaw zombie lynchings anywhere in this film. Skip it or wait for it to air on Syfy. 1.5 outta 5    

SCREEN CAPS

DVD Review: Oblivion (1994)

OBLIVION (1994)
Full Moon Features


RATING: Unrated
RUN TIME: 94 Min.
DIRECTOR: Sam Irvin
CAST: Richard Joseph Paul (Zack Stone), Jackie Swanson (Mattie Chase), Andrew Divoff (Red Eye), Meg Foster (Stell Barr), Issac Hayes (Buster), Julie Newmar (Miss Kitty), Carrel Struyken (Gaunt), George Takei (Doc Valentine), Musetta Vander (Lash), Jimme F. Skaggs (Buteo)


SYNOPSIS: On a frontier light years from OK Corral, a bizarre gang of futuristic desperados have their sights set on turning the tumbleweed town of Oblivion into their own private playground. Their lizard-like leader REDEYE (Andrew Divoff), pumps lawman MARSHALL STONE (Michael Genovese) full of lead in a deadly shootout just outside of MISS KITTY’S (Julie Newmar) Kat House and begins terrorizing the town’s inhabitants.

Meanwhile, Stone’s long –lost pacifist son ZACK (Richard Joseph Paul) and his “native” sidekick BUTEO (Jimmy F. Skaggs) are escorted into town by the eerie undertaker GAUNT (Carrel Struycken) to pay their respects at the Marshall’s funeral. Rendered helpless by Redeye, the tough as nails Cyborg Deputy (Meg Foster) and the Marshall’s old friend DOC VALENTINE (George Takei) team up with Zack to take back the troubled town in a final unearthly showdown… (from fullmoondirect.com)

FILM: Full Moon's Sci-Fi/Western/Comedy mash-up Oblivion (1994) caught me by surprise. First the casting is nutty, check it out. Andrew Divoff (Djiin from the Wishmaster series) is the reptilian outlaw Redeye. George Takei better know as Mr. Sulu from the 60's-era run of Star Trek as the town drunk Doc Valentine. Julie Newmar who played Catwoman in the '66 Batman series is brothel madame Miss Kitty, and Meg Foster the pale-eyed Holly from John Carpenter's They Live (1988) is the cyborg deputy Stell Barr to Marshall Stone (Michael Genovese). We also get Issac Hayes (Escape from New York, South Park) and Carrel Struycken who appeared in Twin Peaks and The Witches of Eastwick (1987) as the town's eerie undertaker Gaunt.  On just a "who is that?" level I found Oblivion a fun watch.

The year is 3031 in a town called Oblivion on a distant frontier planet with a population of 459 it looks an awful lot like the American Old West only populated with gigantic stop-motion Scorps and aliens that look like extras from the Cantina scene in Star Wars. I have to believe that this was intended as a tongue-in-cheek homage to both sci-fi and western because this is so eye-rollingly campy you gotta laugh. The story is a typical western revenge flick, the dialogue is cliched but enjoyable for what it is. George Takei utters some of the worst Star Trek puns ever, just awful stuff. Divoff as the villainous outlaw Redeye looks good and I enjoyed his reptilian look but he displays none of the charm we've seen from him in the Wishmaster series, which weren't great films but fun nonetheless. A lot of that has to do with the stilted scripted dialogue. Jimmy F. Skaggs as the Zack Stone's "native" friend Buteo was painful to watch. He's stereotypically stoic and full of Yoda type nonsense. It's a very Lone Ranger-esque dynamic. Speaking of painful, the cyborg-deputy Stell Barr is an obvious attempt to mirror Star Trak: The Next Generation's Data. One character that really popped for me though was Musetta Vander's baddie Lash, RedEye's leather-clad right-hand. She looked mighty familiar to me and after some research I realized she is one of the gorgeous Siren's from the Cohen Bros. O Brother, Where Art Though? (2000), good stuff and a deliciously villainous character. The worst aspect of the film in my opinion is that Richard Joseph Paul as the empathic son (don't ask) of the deceased Marshall Zach Stone gives a thoroughly wooden performance as does Jackie Swanson as Mattie Chase. A lot of the acting in the film is campy but their performances are lifeless and they're the focus of the film. Every other character in the film is more interesting than these two.

Featured far to briefly in the film were the awesome  stop-motion creatures created by the late David Allen who also animated the puppets of the Puppet Master 1-5 and did a lot of work on the early Full Moon film, really enjoyable stuff. They play heavily into the finale of the film but I would have loved to seen more. Also enjoyable is Redeye's band of outlaws, a typical bunch of all muscle no-brainers found in westerns.

I can see how this was designed as a campy comic homage mixing genre cliches from both western and sci-fi with a healthy dose of comedy but it's a bit of a jumbled mess. The sci-fi western is a rare mash-up indeed and I can't recall too many off the top of my head. There's Westworld (1973), Back to the Future 3 (1990), The Adventures of Brisco County,  Jr. TV show starring Bruce Campbell and more recently Joss Whedon's Firefly series and the post-series Serenity film, all of which I loved. It's been done and done well, but it is not attempted often. While Oblivion is a fun and I give it points for effort it truly is a lesser entry in the sci-fi western genre.

DVD: Oblivion is advertised as being first-time ever on DVD but I recall seeing an edition online from Artisan, not sure what that's about. Regardless, this edition is less than prestigious in it's presentation. A full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio transfer with 2.0 stereo audio. The image is watchablebut marred by ghosting and artifacting. On the plus side there are quite a few vintage Full Moon trailers included: Oblivion, Oblivion 2: Blacklash, Puppet Master: Axis of Evil, Dollman, Skull Heads, Demonic Toys, Arcade, Bad Channels, Crash and Burn, Laserblast, Meridian, Netherworld, Robot Wars, Seed People, Shadowzone and Subspecies. That's a lot of trailers and it really whetted my appetite for some classic Full Moon films.


VERDICT: A fun but wildly uneven film populated by a crazy cast of characters. The story is a typical western revenge flick, the dialogue is cliched but the film is enjoyable for what it is -  pure Full Moon cheese.  ** (2 out of 5 stars)

- McBASTARD