Search - The Bravados on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Rape & Sexual Abuse, Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1958 DVD Release: 05/24/2005 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Dual Layered,Special Collection Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 37 mins Studio: 20th Century Fox Members Wishing: 4 Genres: Western, Psychological Western

Brooding Gregory Peck arrives in a small western town to witness the hanging of the men whom he holds responsible for the murder of his wife (they've been arrested for an unrelated crime). Through the help of a duplicitous executioner, the gang escapes--taking Kathleen Gallant as hostage. The vengeful Peck hunts the fugitives down and kills them in cold blood. He is forced to ask himself if he's any better than the criminals when he discovers that the fugitives, though justly convicted of murder, had nothing to do with his wife's death. The Bravados is as grim and compelling as the earlier Henry King/Gregory Peck western The Gunfighter. And yes, that's "Curly" Joe DeRita, of Three Stooges fame, in the role of the menacing hangman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gregory Peck - Jim Douglas
Joan Collins - Josefa Velarde
Stephen Boyd - Bill Zachary
Albert Salmi - Ed Taylor
Henry Silva - Lujan
Kathleen Gallant - Emma

Henry King's The Bravados (1958) has been shown extensively on cable channels such as American Movie Classics since the late '80s, but the movie, shot in CinemaScope, never made it to laserdisc and had never been shown in widescreen on cable. This DVD, then, is the first chance most of us have ever had to see the movie in its proper aspect ratio. There is a full-screen version available on one side of the disc, but there's no question that the 2.35-to-1 presentation is the way to see the movie. With at least six protagonists and a lot of action, it's impossible to take everything in without the letterboxing. The transfer is gorgeous, with rich color and lots of detail; even the dusk shots, against deep, dark blue backgrounds, have usable picture information and are almost intoxicating. The studio has done well by this under-appreciated classic, whose violence and theme of revenge anticipated the spaghetti Westerns of the subsequent decades. Those with monitors bigger than 22 inches will love this disc; the sound is above average for crispness and volume as well. If there is a flaw in this release, it's that the movie has been given a paltry 12 chapters, which hardly do justice to the complexity of the plot or the character interactions. The only extras -- identical on both sides of the platter -- are a pair of Fox Movietone newsreel excerpts, in which Hugh O'Brian demonstrates a quick-draw technique and we see footage of the world premiere of the movie; and the original trailer, in which Gregory Peck, in costume, steps out of character to introduce the movie and explain how unusual it is. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide