TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

RanchoTuVu After winning the most desired rifle of all time, a Winchester '73, in a shooting contest in fabled Dodge City, James Stewart promptly loses it, setting up the film's main premise, a man out to reclaim what's rightfully his and in doing so settle scores along the way. I have to say the opening hour or so seemed a bit conventional, but there's a noticeable improvement in the final 30 or so minutes, shot by ace cinematographer William Daniels under the direction of film noir icon Anthony Mann. Stephen McNally is Stewart's main opponent but Dan Duryea is in vintage form as gunslinger Waco Johnny Dean for the limited amount of time he takes up on screen. McNally is classic as well. You could see Stewart coming into form as Mann's main character in a string of following westerns, but none of them turns out to be as good as this.

AaronCapenBanner Director Anthony Mann teamed up with Jimmy Stewart in the first of many westerns they made together, and this is the best, as it tells the story of Lin McAdam(Jimmy Stewart) who wins a shooting contest where the prize is a much sought-after Winchester '73 rifle, which is stolen by evil Dutch Henry Brown(played by Stephen McNally) prompting an enraged Lin to pursue him across the west, as the rifle passes through many different hands, dooming all who possess it. Dan Duryea plays Waco Jimmy Dean, a gunfighter that Lin forces him to tell where Dutch has gone, and whom he will encounter later on. Other people he meets are a newlywed couple(played by Charles Drake & Shelley Winters) who become involved with an Indian attack that they barely survive. All will converge in a final showdown between Lin & Dutch over a rocky mountain range, in battle not only for the stolen Winchester, but an old grudge, since both men know each other from way back...First-rate western with excellent direction and a strong, career changing performance from Jimmy Stewart, who conveys the rage and frustration felt extremely well. Fascinating story and exciting finale all contribute to making this a classic western.

Robert J. Maxwell This was the first movie in which a major star eschewed any salary, settling instead for a take of the nut. It was also the first collaboration between Jimmy Stewart and Anthony Mann in Westerns, in which Mann was to draw out the rage behind Stewart's amiable presentation of self, of which heretofore there had only been prodromal symptoms.Stewart is Lin McAdam and Stephen McNally is Dutch Henry Brown in the post Civil War West. They are at odds with each other. You can tell long before the final reveal which one is the instigator because Lin McAdam is a "good" name while "Dutch Henry Brown" sounds like the color scheme of some camouflage pattern designed for use in combat that takes place in fertilizer warehouses. In case there's any doubt, McNally is dressed in sloppy clothes that don't look simply dusty but actually black with grease, as if he'd just crawled out from beneath a car. He needs a shave too.Stewart wins a prize Winchester at a shooting match in Dodge City but McNally bops him over the head and takes off with the rifle. The movie consists of watching Stewart pursue McNally's bad guy all over the Southwest, and of watching the rifle change hands multiple times.There is a foiled bank robbery in Tascosa, Texas, which is now a ghost town. (Be sure to visit the ghostly court house.) Actually it was filmed amid the crumbling adobe, the saguaro and ocotillo of Old Tucson, Arizona. The final, inevitable shoot out between Lin and Dutch Henry takes place among high, rocky crags. A ton of lead is exchanged between the two expert rifle shots. You have never seen so many bullets fly between two men. And the misses are extremely close, sometimes only an inch or two. You may wonder how this illusion is achieved. It's done by a man just out of camera range shooting what looks like a child's toy gun, loaded with pellets made of dust.The supporting cast is made up of names and faces that are now easily recognized if they weren't before. Black and white photography can be extremely expressive in the right hands, used for the right movies, but this isn't one of them. William Daniels has done good work elsewhere but this should have been in color.

joshua-jaden Winchester '73 is one of the most enduring and popular films of James Stewart's career, for several reasons; it was the first of five teamings with brilliant, underrated director Anthony Mann, who retooled Stewart's drawling, 'aw-shucks' persona into a laconic, edgier, more flawed hero; it featured a brilliant cast, including Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, John McIntyre, and, in VERY early appearances, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis; visually, it is spectacular, one of the most beautiful Black and White films ever made, with deep-focus photography highlighting rugged Arizona settings that literally leap from the screen; and, most of all, it is a terrific variation of 'Cain and Abel', told through the premise of the search for a 'one-of-a-kind' rifle Stewart wins in a competition, then loses through treachery. It's the kind of film that offers new insights each time you view it, as the actions and motivations of 'good' brother Stewart and 'bad' brother McNally become better understood.What truly makes this DVD an 'essential', though, is the bonus track...Described as an 'interview' with Stewart, it is actually an audio commentary that runs through the film, offering not only his reflections about the making of Winchester '73, but insights about his career, working with John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, and his great friends Henry Fonda and John Wayne, even a nice story about his long-time mount, Pie. Recorded several years ago for the laserdisc edition of Winchester '73, it provides a rare opportunity to hear a screen legend reminisce (and makes you wish Wayne and Fonda had lived long enough to have offered personal observations about THEIR classic films!) This is a DVD NOT to be missed!