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VHS : James Stewart Westerns Boxed Set (Shenandoah / Bend of the River / The Far Country)
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304016473
Format: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
ISBN: 6304016476
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: April 30, 1996
Running Time: 293 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: June 03, 1965
Sales Rank: 46278
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Shenandoah
Shenandoah, a film well-liked in its day, recalls Friendly Persuasion and foreshadows The Patriot as it tells of an American clan traumatized by war on native soil. Virginia farmer James Stewart has never owned slaves, owes allegiance to no one beyond his own kin, and adamantly disregards the North-South strife rumbling just over the hill: "This war is not mine and I take no note of it." That changes when youngest son Philip Alford (To Kill a Mockingbird's Jem) is carried off by Yankees, and the family must ride out to reclaim him. Shenandoah has several affecting moments--notably a homefront atrocity--but much of it is lit and played like a television show. Script and direction are formulaic, Stewart falls back on cozy shtick, and the supporting cast is a collection of bland studio contract players. As the closing credit says: "filmed entirely at Universal City." --Richard T. Jameson
Bend of the River
Besides being a terrific movie in its own right--and the second entry in a remarkable eight-film series teaming director Anthony Mann and star James Stewart--Bend of the River is also fascinating as a variation on one of the greatest Westerns. With or without anyone else's knowledge, screenwriter Borden Chase reworked scenes, character configurations, and much of the structure of Red River, the screenplay of which he had cowritten (from his own novel) for director Howard Hawks six years earlier. Seeing what Hawks and Mann did with some of the same scenes--a spooky night skirmish with Indians, for instance--makes for a compelling lesson in the transformative power of directorial style. Instead of Texas and the Chisholm Trail, Bend of the River is set in the Oregon river country, with a wagon train substituting for an epic cattle drive. Wagonmaster Stewart, a man with a secret past he's determined to redeem, rescues another, not-so-ex-renegade (Arthur Kennedy) from a lynching. Stewart finds Kennedy a powerful ally in a fight but ultimately has to face him as a mortal enemy--and to revert to his old savage ways in order to save his adopted community. Along the trail, they are variously companioned and/or menaced by the likes of slick gambler Rock Hudson (compare the Cherry Valance part in Red River) and hard cases Harry (then Henry) Morgan, Royal Dano, and Jack Lambert. There's knockout scenery, as usual with Mann, and fight-to-the-death action as bracing as a plunge into an icy river. --Richard T. Jameson
The Far Country
The far country of the title is Alaska, where James Stewart, a cold-hearted cattleman, and his sidekick Walter Brennan, a garrulous old codger, drive a herd of cattle to cash in on the gold rush. Stewart is the ultimate loner, a point the film takes pains to paint as he watches helpless miners murdered by a gang of thugs without lifting a finger. John McIntyre plays his nemesis, a magnetic but corrupt Roy Bean-like judge and merchant who preys off the miners passing through his town and steals Stewart's cattle in the name of justice. Stewart, after signing on to lead saloon owner Ruth Roman's wagon train to the mining camp, steals back his herd and makes himself a respectful enemy: "I'm gonna like you. I'm gonna hang you, but I'm gonna like you," grins McIntyre. The rest of the film is a battle for Stewart's soul, between resolute individualism and community activism, between bad woman Roman and good girl Corinne Calvet (one of the film's weakest elements, admittedly, as the sparks between Stewart and Roman are far more exciting than Calvet's silly kewpie doll in flannel). The Far Country is largely shot on studio sets and pulls out familiar Western tropes not usually seen in his films, but Mann brings an edge to the drama with explosions of cold-blooded violence and a brilliant final shootout that plays out on a split-level plain. --Sean Axmaker
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
Jimmy Stewart has many great films, but Shenandoah is one of his best. The struggle of the Stewart character to keep his family out of the Civil War is deeply moving. It is only when the North captures Stewart's youngest son that he is forced to take action.
The Far Country and Bend of the River are also good movies, but I would buy this again just for Shenandoah.
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Timarchy
starring: James Stewart, Rock Hudson, Ruth Roman, Arthur Kennedy, Julie Adams
directed by: Andrew V. McLaglen, Anthony Mann
The Burmese Harp
Sam Peckinpah
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304016473
Format: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
ISBN: 6304016476
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: April 30, 1996
Running Time: 293 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: June 03, 1965
Sales Rank: 46278
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