WINCHESTER '73: 4K UHD/Blu-ray (Universal International, 1950) Criterion

Oft described as the first western-noir masterpiece, director, Anthony Mann’s Winchester ‘73 (1950) has long established itself in the American western genre as, if not the best western ever made, then certainly among the top twenty.  Mann, who came to the project second best after Universal rejected Fritz Lang to helm the production, had been a theater actor, talent scout and casting director. Yet, there was nothing in his résumé to suggest he might someday become one of the greatest, and most underrated directors in Hollywood. Indeed, his first stab, 1942’s Dr. Broadway, proved a mediocre effort, and seemed, over the next few years, to relegate Mann’s niche as the go-to for ‘B’ and ‘C’ grade quickies shot on a shoestring. But then came T-Men (1947) a gritty, B-budgeted noir thriller, shot by the great John Alton. And suddenly, Mann had his formula for success. Today, Anthony Mann is justly referenced among the great post-war directors, in such hallowed company alongside Nicholas Ray, Richard Brooks, and Robert Aldrich. But in 1950, he was still just ‘Tony’ Mann, a workaday cog in the studio system, churning out his art with a distinctively bleak social commentary.

Interesting, to reconsider Winchester ‘73, as it falls right in the middle of Mann’s most lucrative period as the purveyor of dark and revisionist reflections on the American dream turned asunder. It also marked a major turning point in his career, as Mann would focus almost entirely on directing westerns for the bulk of the 1950’s, finding his most enduring muse in star, James Stewart, with whom he would reteam twice more; first, in 1953’s The Naked Spur, then again in 1955’s The Man from Laramie. It, perhaps, takes a lonely man to recognize what loneliness can do to any man afflicted by its isolation. Mann spent most of his formative years separated from his parents, due to his father’s illness. When his father died in 1923, Mann became his family’s bread-winner, moonlighting as a night watchman to keep his theatrical dreams alive. But in 1937, he made an impactful decision to give up the theater for Hollywood, hired at Selznick International as a talent scout/casting director.

Involved in all of the major screen tests conducted at Selznick over the next several years, another move, to Paramount, put Mann in touch with director, Preston Sturges who took Mann under his wing. By 1942, Mann was directing on his own, though hardly with any degree of finesse or distinction. Strangers in the Night (1944), a psychological tale of murder offered up the first glimmers of his future career’s trajectory. Ironically, it did not lead to bigger and better things. Instead, Mann toiled over the next few years, honing his craft on a lucrative string of noir thrillers that steadily established him as one of the hardest-working men in the biz. 1949’s Border Incident proved a transitional piece for Mann who, impressed with the script for 1940’s Devil’s Doorway, suddenly realized he had a yen for making westerns; not as those by the likes of John Ford, to deify the ‘civilizing’ of the west as a noble cause, but rather, to supplant Ford’s vision with a powerful indictment and critique of the more contrary reminiscences that helped to shape the lore and mythologies about the American west.

At the outset, Universal had a major problem. After director Fritz Lang clashed with the suggested casting of James Stewart to helm Winchester 73, and eventually quit, Stewart suggested Mann as his replacement. A rough cut of Devil’s Doorway was screened and the deal was struck. But Universal quickly realized two things: first, Mann was endeavoring to completely reimagine the picture on his terms, and second, they were quite unwilling to pay the hefty asking price for Stewart’s services. To bridge this second chasm first, Universal offered Stewart a ‘points’ deal, whereupon he would make the movie at a reduced fee for a share of the profits. They also agreed to cast Stewart in Harvey (1950), the movie he was emphatic to make. Under Lew Wasserman’s shrewd negotiations, Stewart was afforded a 50/50 take from Winchester '73, amounting to an impressive $600,000 – far exceeding the salary he might otherwise have taken if Universal had not been so stingy.

Meanwhile, and, almost immediately, Mann sacked Robert L. Richards’ screenplay (based on a story by Stuart N. Lake), calling in his own scribe, Borden Chase for a complete rewrite. The casting of Shelley Winters as dance-hall hostess, Lola Manners left the actress cold. “You’ve got all these men running around to get their hands on this goddamn rifle,” Winters later mused, “…instead of going after the beautiful blonde. If I hadn’t been in it, would anybody have noticed?” Indeed, Winters was not the only cast member to be unsettled in her role. Will Greer, cast as Wyatt Earp, never quite warmed to the role. For luck, Mann hired Millard Mitchell as High-Spade Frankie Wilson, who had already appeared opposite Gregory Peck in The Gunfighter (1950), and would return to the western milieu for Mann in The Naked Spur. Casting was rounded out with stalwart, Jay C. Flippen as Cavalry Sergeant Wilkes, and up and coming beefcake, Rock Hudson, as a bloodthirsty Native American. Given 30 days in which to shoot his masterpiece in Arizona, Mann delivered the goods on time and under budget – well rewarded when the picture grossed an impressive $2.2 million, making it Universal’s second-highest-grossing movie of the year.

Interesting here to pause and reconsider the seismic shift Winchester ‘73 achieved for James Stewart’s post-war career. For nearly a decade, Stewart had been branded as the amiable romantic lead in light and frothy comedies like The Philadelphia Story (1940) and polite melodramas, like Wife Vs. Secretary (1936). His departure from the movies to play an integral part in WWII, and his return to Hollywood after the war, was marked by Stewart’s deliberate desire to take on more affecting and nuanced roles. But his first of these, down-on-his-luck everyman, George Bailey in the now Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) was then met with grave indifference by the public and was a box office flop. Stewart’s post-war career might have doomed him to more light-hearted fare, if not for Winchester ‘73, the first picture to showcase his more penetrating alter ego, yet still tinged with Stewart’s inimitable degree of empathy.

Stewart is Lin McAdam, along with sidekick, Frankie Wilson in search of Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally) to settle a personal vendetta. Then men encounter one another in Dodge City but cannot carry out their revenge due to the presence of Sheriff Wyatt Earp. Lin enters a shooting contest; the prize – a much-coveted Winchester 1873 rifle that Lin easily wins. Alas, later, he is ambushed by Dutch and his cohorts, who steal the rifle from him. Soon, Dutch and his boys encounter Native American trader, Joe Lamont (John McIntire), who desires the Winchester for his own. So, he artificially inflates the price of his guns and ammunition, making it impossible for Dutch to buy anything without trading the rifle for what he needs. Knowing he has been taken for a ride, Dutch attempts to win back the rifle in a poker game, but instead loses it and the three hundred he was paid by Joe initially as remuneration for the rifle. Now, Lamont takes his plunder to trade with the natives. Too bad, he has misjudged their leader, Young Bull (Rock Hudson) who robs and scalps Lamont, taking the rifle for his own.

We meet up with saloon gal, Lola Manners, recently engaged to Steve Miller (Charles Drake). The pair are under siege by Young Bull and his men. Steve hides Lola in the wilderness, racing off to alert the cavalry about the attack. Later, he finds his way back to Lola, the pair placed under the cavalry’s protection. Among the lot are Lin and Wilson, who managed to escape being pursued by the Indians. At dawn’s light, the cavalry, along with Lin and Wilson attack. Young Bull is killed and the natives are driven off. The Winchester is recovered at the scene and given to Steve. Lin and Wilson take up their original quest to hunt down Dutch. Tragically, Steve and Lola’s arrival at the homestead of Gary (Gary Jackson) and Mrs. Jameson (Virginia Mullen) is short-lived when outlaw, Waco Johnny Dean (Dan Duryea) takes refuge to avoid capture by a posse. In the ensuing showdown, the homestead is burned to the ground and Steve murdered. Dean takes the Winchester for his own. Now, Dean and his surviving men, including Dutch, attempt an armed robbery at a bank in Tascosa. Lin and Wilson intercede. Dean is gunned down by Lin and the robbery is foiled. Wilson explains to Lola that Dutch is actually Lin’s brother who, upon robbing a bank earlier, but denied protection by their father, murdered their father – inciting the blood feud between the brothers. Lin chases Dutch into the hills, calling him by his real name, ‘Matthew’ before killing him in a shoot-out, thus reclaiming the Winchester that rightfully belonged to him.

Ostensibly, the real star of the picture is the rifle, the object of everyone’s desire, so exploited in the prologue as “the gun that won the west”. In cameo we get to see a very young Tony Curtis as cavalryman, Doan (billed in the credits as Anthony Curtis) and James Best, as Crater, one of Waco’s men, but later to achieve immortality as the bumbling Roscoe P. Coltrane on television’s The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-85). But Winchester ’73 is an exhilarating western for other reasons. Although possession of the rifle takes center stage during the first and second acts, it’s the blood feud between Lin and Dutch, crystalized in the last act, that makes the picture so emblematic of the trajectory the Hollywood western would take throughout the decade and beyond, transgressing from those earlier ‘noble’ pursuits to bring civility to the American outpost, now, by reflecting on the awesome opacity of those bitter struggles that ultimately brought ‘progress’ and peace, but at a terrible price to be paid in blood and sweat. It’s fairly safe to suggest that without Winchester ’73, there would have likely never been a High Noon (1952), The Searchers (1956), The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) or Once Upon A Time in the West (1968) – westerns increasingly to test the boundaries of those ensconced precepts lionized in earlier pics from John Ford and Raoul Walsh. It’s the grit in Winchester ’73 that so completely sets it apart from all that came before it, and,  in a genre and would ultimately serve as a template for everything that came thereafter.

Winchester ’73 arrives on 4K/Blu-ray via Criterion’s collaborative alliance with Universal Home Video. And while the results are often impressive, they’re hardly perfect. Perhaps, owing to surviving elements, although this is cited as coming from a scan off an OCN, the UHD transfer here sports a softer than anticipated look, particularly in long shots (which can also appear slightly blurry), and medium shots, that seem to suffer from a slight boost in contrast, marginally to wash out fine detail. Close-ups are spectacularly nuanced, with fine detail popping and overall impressive clarity with a light smattering of film grain, looking very indigenous to its source. There are no age-related artifacts. The grayscale sports exceptional tonality. A word here about discrepancies between the 4K and the Blu. They’re imperceivable. Studying the image more closely and in freeze-frame, one is apt to conclude the 4K has an ever so slight advantage where shadow delineation and contrast are concerned. But honestly, whoever is watching movies like this is really missing the point of watching movies at all. So, it begs the question, why release a 4K?

Criterion stick to its traditional LPCM mono mix. It sounds fantastic, with zero hiss or pop and superb clarity throughout. Another word about extras. Criterion used to be known for producing comprehensive releases that included a host of goodies for collectors to revel in. This commitment began with the company’s LaserDiscs of yore and continued on through the DVD era. But somewhere along the way, Criterion began to get stingy with producing new, original content for its releases. And Winchester ’73 is the latest of these anemic-augmented features still asking a premium price. We get an archival commentary produced for Criterion eons ago, featuring James Stewart and Paul Lindenschmidt. Programmer, Adam Piron asks and answers the question ‘What Is An Indian?’ in a woke-leaning featurette, and, the 47 min. Forces of Nature: Anthony Mann at Universal is nevertheless required viewing. Finally, there is the Lux Radio version of the pic, starring Stewart and McNally. It would have been prudent of Criterion to produce a comprehensive ‘making of’ for this watershed western, and maybe a ‘then and now’ location piece to boot. But the extras here just seem skimpy at best and not really worth the almost $50 price of admission. Bottom line: Winchester ’73 is required viewing and belongs on every serious collector’s top shelf of ‘must haves’. This 4K/Blu combo is okay, but could have been a lot better. Judge and buy accordingly.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

5+

VIDEO/AUDIO

3.5

EXTRAS

2