Woodward, Morgan

The Cheyenne Social Club / Firecreek

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 08/15/2006 Run time: 228 minutes Rating: Nr

The teaming of James Stewart and Henry Fonda was a natural: not only were the two men veteran stars of their generation, but they'd actually been friends and even roommates since early in their careers. These two Westerns offer the stars in their relaxed end-of-career mode, with Stewart in the hero roles and Fonda as either villain or burr-under-the-saddle sidekick.

Firecreek is a grim 1968 Western that carries a strong residual aroma of High Noon. Stewart plays a farmer who happens to be the nominal (but rarely needed) sheriff of Firecreek, which means he must go into service when Fonda and his scurvy bunch of desperados (among them Gary Lockwood and Jack Elam) come to town looking for trouble. This slow, stripped-down picture has a philosophical undertone, with Fonda's weary, wounded outlaw trading bitter wisdom with local girl Inger Stevens. It goes on too long and Stewart is in the phase of coasting on his familiar persona, but overall it's a decent little Western fable.

The Cheyenne Social Club, from 1970, gets off to a marvelous start, with a sequence of saddle tramps Stewart and Fonda riding across half the West as Fonda maintains a fractured monologue throughout. Screenwriter James Lee Barrett was a veteran who worked frequently with Stewart (Shenandoah) and John Wayne, and some of the Western flavor is fine, but... things turn crass as soon as the pals realize Stewart has inherited a bordello in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Everybody except Fonda overacts mercilessly, and director Gene Kelly--yes, that Gene Kelly--indulges a leering style that undercuts some of the authentic laughs. Shirley Jones is around to provide comfort at the club; some predictable gunplay is mixed in with the jokes. However middling these two films might be in the filmographies of their formidable stars, it must be said that the widescreen transfer of both films to DVD is very good. --Robert Horton

The Great Locomotive Chase

Disney's Great Locomotive Chase relates a true Civil War story about the Andrews Raiders, a team of 22 Union spies. In 1862 they snatched a train out from under the normally watchful eyes of Confederate troops based near Atlanta in a daredevil attempt to wreck the track and bridges of the Western & Atlantic Railroad. It was a high-stakes operation with a huge payoff. If they succeeded, they would effectively win the war; if they were caught, they were sure to be hanged. This 1956 feature shores up the suspense of the scheme masterfully. We watch, transfixed, as the relentless Confederate train conductor, William Fuller (played by the all-business Jeffrey Hunter) roars through a bevy of Southern stations hot on the heels of his hijacked locomotive. Will James Andrews (Fess Parker), leader of the Raiders, outrun him? History buffs won't need to keep watching for long, but they'll want to anyway--the portrayal of the Raiders' gumption and against-all-odds heroics pushes the basest, most human of audience buttons. It's not that The Great Locomotive Chase is a simple but well-done film about good vs. evil. Instead, it explores both sides' motives and draws gentle conclusions about honor, and it does so at an invigoratingly high clip. In that way, it's a movie worth sharing with kids 8 and older--there's no blood and only a sprinkling of violence here, but as with all war stories, tragedy plays a prominent role. --Tammy La Gorce

After commandeering a Confederate locomotive, heroic Yankee soldiers known as the Andrews Raiders try to bring about an early end to the Civil War by crippling the Southern railroad network. But their efforts are hampered by the unrelenting bravery of a single Rebel patriot.

Cool Hand Luke

Paul Newman gives one of the defining performances of his career, and cemented his place as a beautiful-rebel screen icon playing the stubbornly tough and independent title character in Cool Hand Luke. And before he became familiar as a sidekick in 1970s disaster movies (Earthquake and the Airport movies), George Kennedy won an Oscar for playing Dragline, the brutal chain-gang boss who tries to beat loner Luke's cool out of him. It's a classic rebel-against-the-repressive-institution story in the line of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest or The Shawshank Redemption. Certain moments have become classics--particularly the hardboiled egg-eating contest, and the immortal line (drooled by Strother Martin, as a sadistic redneck prison officer), "What we have here is a failure to communicate." And don't forget, Luke is also the source of the oft-quoted driving ditty, "I don't care if it rains or freezes, long as I have my plastic Jesus, right here on the dashboard of my car..." He is cool, all right. The digital video disc is in anamorphic widescreen and digital stereo. --Jim Emerson

A defiant chain-gang prisoner suffers a "failure to communicate" in this searing drama. Paul Newman Shines in the title role, George Kennedy as his sidekick won an Oscar(R). Year: 1967 Director: Stuart Rosenberg Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Cannon

DVD Features:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

Which Way Is Up?

A california fruit picker becomes a labor hero then a womanizing corporate flunky. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Richard Pryor Marilyn Coleman Run time: 94 minutes Rating: R Director: Michael Schultz

This 1977 American variation on Lina Wertmuller's The Seduction of Mimi, the story of a stupid man's troubles in sex and politics, is a run-of-the-mill Richard Pryor vehicle. Noteworthy only for its casting of two good actresses, Lonette McKee and Margaret Avery, and Pryor's multiple roles as an orange picker, a lecherous old man, and a minister, the film is made without a lot of care or effort to rise to Wertmuller's satiric accomplishment. --Tom Keogh

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt dance their way through Girls Just Want to Have Fun, a glorious example of 1980s kitsch. Janey (Parker), the new girl at a Catholic high school in Chicago, dreams of becoming a dancer on Dance TV. With the help of new wave hipster Lynne (Hunt), Janey enters a dance contest and gets paired with Jeff (Lee Montgomery), a rebel in spandex, and the two are soon smitten with each other. Unfortunately, they've made an enemy of a snooty rich girl, who vows to take them down. Everything about Girls Just Want to Have Fun is cheap and cheesy--it doesn't even have the Cyndi Lauper version of the title song--but that doesn't make it any less goofily entertaining, particularly when a debutante ball is wrecked by a bizarre combination of punk rockers and female bodybuilders. Featuring a very young Shannen Doherty as Jeff's little sister. --Bret Fetzer

Janey (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a shy good girl. Lynne (Helen Hunt) is a cool rock chick. But when the two scheme to get Janey on television's biggest after-school dance show, they find themselves on a wild adventure filled with cute boys, hot dancing, prudish nuns, mean rich kids, parents that don't understand, and girls doing what they know best--just having fun!

Yuma

Studio: Timeless Media Group Release Date: 08/05/2008 Run time: 73 minutes Rating: Nr

Walking Tall - The Final Chapter

Battle Beyond the Stars

Twenty-first-century science fiction fans accustomed to special-effects orgies like The Matrix may snigger at the quaint, Flash Gordon-like spaceships in Battle Beyond the Stars. But executive producer Roger Corman's belated entry into the '70s sci-fi craze surpasses expectations with sharp performances and a witty script by John Sayles (his third for Corman, including 1978's Piranha). The story, lifted wholesale from Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954), finds the dictator Sador (John Saxon) threatening the planet of Akira. Its pacifist inhabitants are no match for Sador's devastating weapon, the Stellar Converter, but young Shad (Richard Thomas) decides to fight back. Borrowing the ship of notorious mercenary Zed the Corsair, he recruits a band of mercenaries, each of whom has a personal reason to join the fight. Among them are a lizard-like humanoid (Morgan Woodward), an improbable space cowboy (George Peppard), a zaftig female warrior (Sybil Danning), and brooding killer-for-hire Gelt (Robert Vaughn, reprising his Magnificent Seven role). Battle's final showdown is somewhat anticlimatic, but the surprisingly stellar cast (which includes Sam Jaffe and Darlanne Fluegel) and the indie spunk of Sayles' script, with its light meditations on death and honor, will charm newcomers and repeat audiences alike. New Concorde's digitally remastered DVD features commentary by Sayles and Terminator 2 producer Gale Anne Hurd, Battle's assistant production manager. Oh, and those spaceships? Designed by Titanic director James Cameron. Still laughing? --Paul Gaita

Seven mercenaries are recruited from throughout the galaxy to save a peaceful planet from the threat of an evil tyrant bent on dominating and enslaving the entire universe.

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp - From Ellsworth to Tombstone

The most celebrated lawman of the Old West rides again in this first-ever collection of thrilling episodes from the popular TV series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. Hugh O'Brian stars as the famed marshal whose exploits with Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, and the Clanton Gang are boldly brought to life in episodes based on actual events. With his signature "Buntline Special" in hand, Wyatt Earp held posts in a series of increasingly lawless towns and battled dangerous men in his efforts to keep the peace. Through Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City, and Tombstone, Earp's reputation as a just and formidable marshal grew, culminating in a storied gunfight that would seal his legend.

One Little Indian

Keyes deserter from the us calvary who borrows the camels while making his escape. He meets mark (clay obrien) a white boy raised by indians upon the death of his parents. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/07/2004 Starring: James Garner Clay Obrien Run time: 90 minutes Rating: G Director: Bernard Mceveety

Filmed on location in Utah, One Little Indian is a leisurely paced Western adventure for children and families. This sets it apart from many of those that preceded it in the '70s--and appear to have served as influences--like Little Big Man (1970) and Jeremiah Johnson (1972). There is less violence and, as in many Disney productions, animal sidekicks are a big part of the action; in this case, an ornery camel named Rosie and her calf, Thirsty. James Garner plays Keyes, a deserter from the U.S. Cavalry, who "borrows" the camels while making his escape. Shortly afterwards, he meets Mark (Clay O'Brien), a white boy raised by Indians upon the death of his parents. He too slipped away from the cavalry after they rounded up his adopted family for relocation. He joins Keyes for a trip to Mexico. Along the way, they encounter widow Doris McIver (Vera Miles) and daughter Martha (Jodie Foster). All the while, the cavalry is hot on their trail. Bernard McEveety directed episodes of a number of TV Westerns from the '50s through the '70s. These included Gunsmoke, which featured appearances by Miles (a favorite of John Ford) and Foster. He would later direct Garner in his best-known series, The Rockford Files, the following year. --Kathleen C. Fennessy