Search - Chisum on DVD

MPAA Rating: G Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1970 DVD Release: 06/03/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Japanese, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 52 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Members Wishing: 3 Genres: Western, Biopic [feature], Traditional Western See Also: Chisum [Commemorative Packaging]

John Wayne toplines this biography of the cattle owner John Simpson Chisum, a controversial figure who was the most powerful man in New Mexico during the Wild West era. A founder and prominent citizen in the town of Lincoln, Chisum is slow to act when ruthless land baron Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker) moves in on several local businesses and takes them over. By the time Chisum and his ally, fellow rancher Henry Tunstall (Patrick Knowles), decide to go to the law, Murphy's already bought and paid for influence there, as well. The only recourse left to the cattlemen is to take Murphy on in all-out range war that embroils everyone in the county, including Tunstall's hand Billy the Kid Bonney (Geoffrey Deuel) and his comrade Pat Garrett (Glenn Corbett). Screenwriter and producer Andrew J. Fenady based the script for Chisum (1970) on his own short story, a very loosely fact-based account of Chisum, Billy the Kid and their involvement in the Lincoln County wars. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

John Wayne - John Chisum
Forrest Tucker - Lawrence Murphy
Christopher George - Dan Nodeen
Ben Johnson - James Pepper
Glenn Corbett - Pat Garrett

Andrew V. McLagalen's Chisum (1970), starring John Wayne (who also produced), was released on laserdisc in the late 1980's in a decent looking letterboxed edition; but it reappears on DVD with a significantly improved image and also with a couple of major bonus features. The first and most important of the latter is a full-length commentary track by the director, Andrew V. McLaglen, who goes into myriad aspects of the production, starting from Andrew J. Fenady's original story, based on years of research into the Lincoln County War that was the background for the story. He's not very specific about the filming of various scenes, such as the shootout by the river, choosing instead to give analysis of the character motivations at such moments. He has fond memories of Wayne, and one wishes that Wayne's estate would get him for a commentary track on McLintock! -- as it is, he ranges freely across memories of working with Wayne on five major films, and compares the way the actor handled certain kinds of scenes with certain kinds of actors. In the course of describing the production, he attributes a genuine interest in history to his own fascination with the story, while Wayne was more interested in simply making an exciting picture. He goes into the decision behind the casting of almost every major role in the movie, though McLaglen doesn't say enough about Geoffrey Deuel, who plays perhaps the most important supporting role in the movie, that of William Bonney aka Billy The Kid. On a purely personal note, he doesn't tell much about the relationship between his father and Wayne, but he does vaguely recall some of his early work on Wayne's movies by way of John Ford, without saying anything about Ford -- and he expresses a genuine distaste for the "New Wave" westerns embodied by Sam Peckinpah, and remembers crossing paths with Peckinpah in Durango, Mexico when both were shooting down there. And he also relates the somewhat amusing tale of his almost accidental specialization in westerns, which came about because of one movie that he'd done with James Arness. The movie looks far better here than it did on the laserdisc, with deeper, richer color and a gorgeous image overall. The letterboxing (2.35-to-1) is essential to appreciating this movie, for McLaglen uses almost every corner of the screen, and keeps the action moving forward constantly. The sound is also very sharp and rich, and one wishes that McLaglen had more to say about Dominic Frontiere's music. The 112 minute movie has been given 30 chapters that are well named and placed, and is supplemented with the featurette "John Wayne And Chisum," and the original trailer. The disc opens automatically to a multi-layered menu that includes selections for English captions and French, Spanish, and Japanese subtitles, and a French audio track. The whole disc production should set a standard for how Wayne's movies ought to be treated, not just by Warner Bros. but every distributor, and one sorely wishes that the company had done this kind of a job on its earlier release of Stagecoach, a much more important movie. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide