Description
RENOWN PICTURES EXCLUSIVE NEW DVD RELEASE
Sam Peckinpah’s The Westerner Series on DVD
2-Disc set ALL 13 EPISODES Running Time: 325 mins.
For the first time ever on DVD, fully restored with optional subtitles.
The ground-breaking Western series created, written and produced by SAM PECKINPAH.
Made in 1962, The Westerner was created by Sam Peckinpah, who shortly afterwards achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch (1969). His film career lasted from 1954 to 1983, and included Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Villa Rides (1968), Straw Dogs, (1971), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) and Cross of Iron (1977).
THE WESTERNER is one of the most sophisticated western series for its time – or any other. Starring Brian Keith as amiable, unexceptional cowhand/drifter Dave Blassingame who travels with a dog called Brown, played by Spike, best known for his performance as Old Yeller (1957) and who also appeared in Lassie. John Dehner also features as rakish con man, Burgundy Smith.
ALL 13 EPISODES: 1: Jeff, 2: School Days, 3: Brown, 4: Mrs Kennedy, 5: Dos Pinos, 6: The Courting of Libby, 7: Treasure, 8: The Old Man, 9: Ghost of a Chance, 10: Line Camp, 11: Going Home, 12: Hand on the Gun, 13: The Painting.
Cast list: Brian Keith, John Dehner, Hank Gobble, Jimmy Lee Cook, Michael T. Mikler, Victor Izay, Marie Selland, Rudy Dolan, Malcolm Atterbury, Wayne Tucker, Irene Calvillo, Jean Allison, R.G. Armstrong, Pepe Callahan, Virginia Gregg, John Pickard, Karl Swenson, Harry Swoger, Geoffrey Toone, Robert J. Wilke, John Apone, Conlan Carter, Julio Corona, Margaret Field, Wendell Holmes, Slim Pickens, Charles Horvath, Arthur Hunnicutt, Jack Kruschen, Dee Pollock, Madlyn Rhue, John Anderson, John Brinkley, Robert Culp, Roberto Contreras, Michael Forest, Michael Greene, Hari Rhodes, Paul Richards, Paul Sorensen, Warren Tufts, Michael Ansara, Barney Brown, Richard Rust, Frank Ferguson, Warren Oates, Tom Steele, Hank Patterson, Manuel Serrano, Katy Jurado, Boyd ‘Red’ Morgan, William Tracy, Janan Hart and Michael Morgan.
The main character, Dave, is a drifter, in between jobs he mostly squanders his money in saloons. As he drifts, he stumbles into conflicts, many of which pose ethical and moral dilemmas. Some episodes are comedic, others much more serious. Peckinpah acted as producer of the series, with a hand in the writing of each episode and directing many of them. Critically praised, the show ran for only 13 episodes before cancellation, mainly due to its gritty content. The episodes ‘Jeff’ and ‘Hand on the Gun’ are extraordinary in their imaginative directing and forerunners of his later feature films. The Westerner and Peckinpah were both nominated by the Producers Guild of America for Best Filmed Series and The Westerner has
since achieved cult status.
Peckinpah also directed two hour-long episodes for The Dick Powell Theatre including ‘The Losers’, a remake of The Westerner with Lee Marvin. He mixed slow motion, fast motion and stills together to capture violence, a technique famously put to more sophisticated use in The Wild Bunch.
OUR PRICE £15 with Free UK Postage
