Westerns 10 Movie Pack

Here's another budget release from Mill Creek Entertainment, this time it's the Western 10 Movie Pack released back in 2005. This set features ten movies on three discs, six of them being spaghetti westerns.

The Cover Art

This three disc set comes packaged in a one of those double wide keep cases which features a cover image of Lee Van Cleef looking mean. The reverse gives a synopsis for each film and the runtime (which is not always accurate). No indication is given if the movies are widescreen or not.

The Discs

The Westerns 10 Movie Pack includes three single sided dual layer discs. Discs 1 and 2 each feature three movies, with the third disc holds four titles. The same image of Lee Van Cleef appears on the disc art along with titles included on it.

The Menus

The menus are very basic, to say the least. There's not much to write about them, so I'll just let the screenshots speak for themselves.

 

The Movies

This set contains ten movies, three or four per disc. They are not all spaghetti westerns, but this time, at least, they aren't being advertised as such. Again, the plot summaries will be taken from the back cover while the reviews are from Spaghetti Westerns: The Good, the Bad and the Violent by Thomas Weisser.

 

Disc One
Dead Aim (1971)
Original Title:  Arde baby, arde

Starring:  Glen Lee
Directed by:  José Antonio Bolaños
Music by:  Luchi De Jesus
Original Aspect Ratio:  2.35:1
DVD Aspect Ratio:  1.33:1
Original Runtime:  98 minutes
DVD Runtime:  87 minutes

Synopsis: Raised in a quiet, yet grim lifestyle of his guardian, things get complicated for our hero when he starts to spend time with a married woman. Throw in a some stage robbers, bounty hunters and an African-American cavalryman into the mix and you have a western full of excitement and action.

 
Review: There's lots of "desert wilderness" stock footage crammed inside this witless (but bloody) Italian/Mexican production, shot in Mexico. Johnny is a notorious gunfighter, raised by an undertaker who falls in love with a beautiful woman who happens to have a very jealous outlaw husband. Obvious and predictable.

 
Notes:  There doesn't appear to be many releases of this film on DVD. The only others I was able to find also appear to be this same version. The one in this set is a VHS transfer.

-----

  

It Can Be Done... Amigo (1972)
Original Title: Si può fare... amigo
Starring: Jack Palance, Bud Spencer
Directed by: Maurizio Lucidi
Music by: Luis Bacalov
Original Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Original Runtime: 109 minutes
DVD Runtime: 98 minutes

Synopsis: Sonny is one very unhappy gunslinger. Coburn has seduced the gunman's sister, and now Sonny is insistent that the young punk marry her to escape the shame and stigma of their behavior.
  
Review: Director Maurizio Lucidi constructs an enjoyable parody with this film. He recreates the flavor and style of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy, but substitutes slapstick for violence. Some of it works. Unlike many Spencer-tailored roles, this one allows him to be something besides a brutish clown.
 
Notes: An anamorphic widescreen disc, which clocks in at 103 minutes, has been released by Wild East as Volume 33 of their Spaghetti Western Collection.

-----

The Grand Duel (1972)

Original Title: Il grande duello

Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Horst Frank

Directed by: Giancarlo Santi

Music by: Luis Bacalov

Original Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Original Runtime: 98 minutes

DVD Runtime: 89 minutes

Synopsis: In one of a long series of spaghetti westerns, Lee Van Cleef stars as a hard-as-nails gunman who is pitted against an equally tough opponent.

Review: The story is an engaging whodunit. Good direction from Giancalo Santi, the initial director for Duck You Sucker before stars Rod Steiger and James Coburn demanded Sergio Leone's personal attention (is that really true?). This film features another stirring score from Django composer Luis Bacalov.

Notes: Wild East released an anamorphic widescreen version which runs 90 minutes as Volume 10 of their Spaghetti Western Collection, which is long out of print.  This was the best version available for the longest time until Mill Creek released a 94 minute version, which restores the original titles, on blu-ray as the second release in the Spaghetti Western Double Feature lineup.

-----

Disc Two
Gunfight At Red Sands (1963)
Original Title:  Duello nel Texas
Starring:  Richard Harrison
Directed by:  Ricardo Blasco
Music by:  Ennio Morricone
Original Aspect Ratio:  1.66:1
DVD Aspect Ratio:  1.33:1
Original Runtime:  94 minutes
DVD Runtime:  94 minutes

Synopsis:  A Civil War fighter engages in bloody combat with the enemy, and wages a personal vendetta against his despised foster father.

 
Review:  A pre-Leone spaghetti western starring Richard Harrison with music by Ennio Morricone and written by Albert Band (who co-directed his own western with Sergio Corbucci that same year, Massacre At Grand Canyon). The plot is simple, and in actuality, a predecessor of countless similar themes spanning the next ten years.

Notes: Widescreen versions have been released in Italy, Germany and Japan. All have been uncut, including the one here. This release is a VHS dub (complete with tape rolls) from a badly damaged print.

-----

  

China 9, Liberty 37 (1978)
Original Title:  Amore, piombo e furore
Starring:  Fabio Testi, Jenny Agutter, Warren Oates & Sam Peckinpah
Directed by:  Monte Hellman
Music by:  Pino Donaggio
Original Aspect Ratio:  2.35:1
DVD Aspect Ratio:  1.33:1
Original Runtime:  98 minutes
DVD Runtime: 92 minutes

  

Synopsis:  When a condemned gunfighter is reprieved by an unscrupulous railroad company, the trade off is the assassination of an unsuspecting rancher.

 
Review:  This Italian-Spanish co-production is directed by US filmmaker Monte Hellman, who, after this film, didn't make another movie for ten years. Co-star Jenny Agutter is the beauty from Logan's Run (remember the nude scene in the lake?).

 
Notes:  I couldn't find any commercially released uncut, widescreen versions of this movie. The above mentioned nude scene by the lake has been excised from this release.

----

  

White Commanche (1968)
Original Title: Comanche blanco
Starring: William Shatner, Joseph Cotten
Directed by: José Briz Méndez
Music by: Jean Ledrut
Original Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Original Runtime: 94 minutes
DVD Runtime: 94 minutes

Synopsis: Twin brothers battle with each other and their identity crises as they come to grips with what it means to be the children of a white father and an Indian mother. This film is notable for the early co-star role of William Shatner.

Review: This film is William Shatner's only contribution to the spaghetti western genre.

Notes: Yet another budget collection that includes White Commanche.

-----

Disc Three includes the remaining four films of the collection. None of them are spaghetti westerns and are of little interest to me.  For those that are curious, they are Kentucky Rifle starring Chill Wills from 1956, Gone With The West starring James Caan and Sammy Davis Jr. from 1975, Mohawk starring Neville Brand from 1956 and The Hanged Man starring Steve Forest from 1974.

Special Features

Like most budget collections, there are no special features.

The Bottom Line

It's safe to pass on this collection, but you can pick up brand new copies from the Amazon Marketplace for $2 if you want to add this gem your collection. 

   

Quantum Leap: Independence

Quantum Leap: Independence by John Peel

Published by Boulevard Books in August 1996

Dr. Samuel Beckett finds himself leaping into Samuel Beckett, and into trouble, on the eve of the Revolutionary War. The plot revolves around Sam and Al trying to figure out what they need to put right without changing the outcome of the revolution. This normally wouldn't be so hard, but the Sam Beckett from 1776 isn't cooperating for fear of a British trap, and to top it off, access to him has also been restricted for fear of contaminating the timeline.

 

Sam finds himself being forced to join the Committee of Safety, which is basically a group of overzealous patriots who bully Tories that they have a personal grudge against. From the minute Sam begins his mission, he is in trouble as several members of the Committee are out to frame him as a traitor; which is made easy when he saves the life of a man the Committee has decided to run out of town, quits the Committee with his friend Isaiah, and is seen meeting with a known British spy - it just happens that he's actually a double agent for the patriot cause.

With a little trial and error, it is determined that Sam is here to save Isaiah's live during the Battle of Brooklyn. The task would normally be challenging, but it's made even harder when he's captured and beaten by the Committee while his wife, Hannah, is shot trying to help him. Some derring-do, and a little help from Al, sees Sam escape, get Samuel Beckett's wife and son to safety and rescue Isaiah. To confound matters a little more, Sam is strongly attracted to Hannah and he has the moral obligation to not act on it.  It later turns out that she is the spitting image of his own wife, who he can't remember with his swiss-cheesed mind.

While this is the first Quantum Leap book that I've read, I'm no stranger to the series; and I think that a knowledge of the show is a requirement for the enjoyment of the book. Some story points and characters are not explained very well and relies on the assumption that if you're reading this book then you already know all about the story points from the television show. While I quite enjoy the show and the time period, it goes without saying that I enjoyed this book. I found the feeling of the show is captured quite well within the pages of the book. Quantum Leap: Independence delivers a fun adventure story with a few added touches from the series that enhances the human drama - the loneliness of being "trapped in the past, leaping from life to life, putting things right that once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home."
     

Summer Criterion Collection Sale

Barnes & Noble has once again priced all of their Criterion Collection DVDs and Blu-rays at 50% off.  It looks like the sale runs July 10th through the 30th.

 

Barnes & Noble 50% Off Criterion Sale

 

Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear

Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear by Gabriel Hunt

Published by Leisure Books in 2009

This is the second of six books in the adventures of Gabriel Hunt series. Each book was written by a different author using the name of the main character of the series. From the cover image alone, you know you're in for a pulp hero type of adventure along the lines of Indiana Jones; and that's just what I was looking for. Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear was written by Charles Ardai, the same man who came up with the idea for the Hard Case Crime series.

Gabriel Hunt is the oldest son of two famous authors who mysteriously vanished in the Mediterranean. Using the Hunt's substantial fortune, Michael, the younger son, runs the Hunt Foundation which bankrolls archaeological expeditions for legendary artifacts.

 

Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear begins with Gabriel Hunt rescuing a lovely damsel in distress named Sheba from the clutches of our villain Lajos DeGroet, a very wealthy Hungarian antiquities collector and Olympic fencing medalist. He brings her back to New York, but before they can determine why DeGroet is interested in her, she is kidnapped once again. After a car chase through the streets of New York, Gabriel manages to sneak on board the villain's plane by hiding in a crate. The plane lands in Egypt and they are taken to the Sphinx where DeGroet opens a hidden chamber in the Sphinx's left paw. Since Sheba is an authority on ancient linguistics, she has been brought in to decipher the inscriptions hidden within the chamber.

  

Dressing in the traditional Arab desert gear, Gabriel manages to disguise himself as one of the diggers and follows them into the Sphinx. After witnessing a deadly booby trap, which is quite reminiscent of the Breath of God from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Gabriel is chosen to try to go in next, and is found out. With Sheba's help he is able to work out the way through the trap and makes it into the inner sanctum where he discovers an ancient coin and a map showing the way to Greece.

After a brief fight, Gabriel Hunt and Sheba escape DeGroet and his thugs and it's off to Greece where our heroes get into (and out of) several fights and meet an old bard who is a direct descendant of Homer. More importantly, the bard tells them of the Greek influence on the Egyptian Sphinx, the ancient legends of the Sphinxs and he shows them an ancient temple which holds another coin and a second map pointing the way to the Cradle of Fear in Sri Lanka. It turns out one of these legends tells of some terrible weapon that freezes it's victims with fear.

Next, it's off to Sri Lanka, by way of Istanbul where Hunt meets up with his long, lost sister who just so happens to be an ace computer hacker. She rigs up some kind of tracking device that homes in on DeGroet's cell phone and the race is on to the Cradle of Fear. Hunt and Sheba arrive in Sri Lanka shorty before DeGroet and are captured once again. Another secret chamber and a few booby traps later, Gabriel Hunt has thwarted DeGroet's plans and came face to face with the last living sphinx whose riddle he must solve to save mankind from annihilation.

All in all, this series seems to be shaping up nicely; it's a shame there didn't seem to be enough interest to keep the series going (although I've only read the first two books - so far). While not quite as good as some of the better Indiana Jones novels, Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear is a solid, action-packed pulp adventure - some fun summer reading.

  

Never Get Out of the Boat

Happy Independence Day!

The Deer Hunter by E.M. Corder

Published by Jove in March 1979 (2nd printing)

He was a young steelworker from a sad little hill town in Pennsylvania. Nothing had prepared him for war in the jungles of Asia... nothing except the hellish heat of the blast furnaces... gut-searing boilermakers... the trailer life... and the strength of his passion for hunting the great deer of the Alleghenies.

The deer hunter was young, but he had steady nerves, the grace of a cat, and the high mountain passes in his heart. He would need all of them to survive.

The Deer Hunter

A deeply moving story of courage and friendship set against the terrifying odds of war.

---

Rambo: First Blood Part II by David Morrell

Published by Jove in May 1985

First Blood.

Second Chance.

John Rambo. Vietnam vet. American. First Blood unleashed the fury of his rage. Now in prison for his bloody one-man war against a small-town sheriff.

Colonel Trautman. Green Beret. Rambo's former commanding officer. With a signed release form - if Rambo will take on what would be a suicide mission for most men.

One:  Penetrate the remembered jungles of Hell, and find the missing Americans who are still being tortured there.

Two:  Don't rescue them. Only bring back photos. Don't engage the enemy. Don't get revenge.

For Rambo, the first part is tough.

The second, impossible...

---

Platoon by Dale A. Dye

Published by Charter Books in December 1986

They were the men of Bravo Company. Officers and grunts. Black and white. All of them Americans. It was war that brought them together - and it was war that would tear them apart. This is their war - a war of camaraderie forged in violence and of brutality born of madness. This is their story - gritty, unflinching and real.

You'll never forget the men of Platoon.

A novel by Dale A. Dye, a Vietnam veteran who served 21 years in the Marine Corps and was technical advisor for the film.

Based on a screenplay by Oliver Stone, a decorated infantryman who spent 15 months in Vietnam. A screenwriter with Midnight Express, Scarface and Salvador to his credits. Stone was one of the men of Platoon - and he still is.

---

Hamburger Hill by William Pelfrey

Published by Avon Books in 1987

In ten days, they lived a hundred lifetimes...

On 10 May 1969 troops of the 101st Airborne Division encountered the enemy at the base of Hill 937.

Ten days and 11 bloody assaults later, the men who fought there called it...

 Hamburger Hill

A brutal testing ground of courage, sacrifice, and the kind of brotherhood where a buddy's life meant as much as your own... and sometimes more.