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Winchester '73



Noirish shadows spread across the frontier in this landmark western, the first of the celebrated collaborations between director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart that redefined the genre with their moral and psychological intensity. Beginning his midcareer transition into increasingly edgy roles, Stewart portrays an avenging sharpshooter whose stolen rifle becomes a harbinger of death as it is passed from one doomed hand to the next. Featuring a stellar cast that includes a touching Shelley Winters, a sensationally sleazy Dan Duryea, and a pre-stardom Rock Hudson, this elemental tale of violence begetting violence broke new ground with its evocation of the West as a no-man's-land of antiheroes and villains.

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, undertaken by Universal Pictures in collaboration with The Film Foundation, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Audio commentary featuring actor James Stewart and film historian Paul Lindenschmidt
• New interview with film programmer Adam Piron on the portrayal of Native Americans in the western genre
• Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1951
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith

This has to be one of the longest fruition journeys to release in the label’s history (at least of those that actually came out). And after well over a decade of waiting, what do we get in the way of new supplements for one of the best, most entertaining, and most important westerns ever made? One new piece seemingly not even specific to the film. It’s beyond parody now

dreaming of Arrow getting this in the UK but there's next to no chance of that, I'm sure this edition will be ported over. what I'd give to have an Imogen Sara Smith commentary here!

How did they get Jimmy Stewart on the commentary? Did he live into the laserdisc era? Or are they interview comments spliced in?

It’s originally from the 1987 laserdisc, so yep, he was still with us then



This track also appeared on the Universal DVD

onedimension wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2024 5:46 pm How did they get Jimmy Stewart on the commentary? Did he live into the laserdisc era? Or are they interview comments spliced in?

Technically he made it to the DVD era, as he died on 2nd July 1997, the day after Robert Mitchum.

I wonder who the oldest person/person born the earliest to ever do a feature commentary is...

whoever it'd be, it's all the more depressing Orson Welles didn't make it to do one. and you know he would've been all in on the format too, especially given Filming Othello and Filming the Trial are basically proto-commentaries. even F for Fake kinda is!

Vincent Sherman was recording commentary tracks well into his late 90s

She's younger, but Gloria Stewart did a track for The Old Dark House, this must be the oldest film with a commentary track with one of it's actors.

pistolwink wrote:I wonder who the oldest person/person born the earliest to ever do a feature commentary is...

Gloria Stuart was 89 when she recorded her commentary for the old Kino DVD of James Whale’s The Old Dark House. [edit: shakes fist at Saturnome]

Not an actor, but veteran script supervisor Angela Allen is 95 and has a commentary (with Ian Christie) on the new Studiocanal edition of The African Queen.

Not sure when exactly it was recorded, but Charles Bennett must have been past 90 when he recorded his commentary on the Criterion Blackmail laserdisc.

Saturnome wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2024 6:36 pm She's younger, but Gloria Stewart did a track for The Old Dark House, this must be the oldest film with a commentary track with one of it's actors.

James Cameron cast Gloria Stuart in Titanic because of her commentary on Kino's DVD of The Old Dark House. A rare case where something widely considered as thankless promo work paid off more for the actor than anyone else associated with the film in question, boutique label included.

New special feature added:
Forces of Nature: Anthony Mann at Universal, a program on a key chapter in the director’s career (MifuneFan thinks it is possibly this.)

That is already on Arrow’s release of the Far Country, I don’t think that’s it

Huh, wonder what it is then. If it were newly produced it'd say "a new program" instead of "a program".

The Blu-ray.com review from You know who is up and it turns out that Forces of Nature: Anthony Mann at Universal is a 48 minute doc from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures. Still have no idea if it is new to this or if it is from some other release.

Someone asked him about this on Twitter, and he responded with this:

Oh, so it is both old and new.

Has anyone else experienced skipping problems with their 4K discs, starting around the 22-ish minute mark? I'm reading other reports of the same issue I'm experiencing, but didn't know if it's a 'known' issue. The disc itself is spotless.

therewillbeblus wrote: Sat Mar 22, 2025 3:39 am Has anyone else experienced skipping problems with their 4K discs, starting around the 22-ish minute mark? I'm reading other reports of the same issue I'm experiencing, but didn't know if it's a 'known' issue. The disc itself is spotless.

I’ve watched the film this week in 4K and had no playback issues on my Panasonic UB824. My disc also has no scratches. It might be another player issue for some, such as with The Princess Bride.

therewillbeblus wrote: Sat Mar 22, 2025 3:39 am Has anyone else experienced skipping problems with their 4K discs, starting around the 22-ish minute mark? I'm reading other reports of the same issue I'm experiencing, but didn't know if it's a 'known' issue. The disc itself is spotless.

I also had skipping issue; a persistent snag at around 29 minutes, when Lamont shuffles the cards as he, Dutch, and the gang begin to play poker.

I have a Sony X700, and my disc is also spotless.

I sent them an email, we'll see what comes

My disc skips in Chapter 12 around the 50 to 52 min mark. Sony X800M2. Will email Criterion tomorrow.