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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Comancheros (1961)

The Comancheros (1961)

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Released 13-May-2003

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Western Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 1961
Running Time 102:58
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (64:28) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Michael Curtiz
John Wayne
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring John Wayne
Stuart Whitman
Ina Balin
Nehemiah Persoff
Lee Marvin
Michael Ansara
Patrick Wayne
Bruce Cabot
Joan O'Brien
Jack Elam
Edgar Buchanan
Case ?
RPI Box Music Elmer Bernstein


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 4.0 L-C-R-S (448Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles Dutch
English for the Hearing Impaired
French
German
Italian
Spanish
French Titling
German Titling
Italian Titling
Spanish Titling
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    The Comancheros is the story of a Texas Ranger, Captain "Big Jake" Cutter (John Wayne), and one of his prisoners, Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman), who eventually become friends and team up to undertake a dangerous mission for the Rangers.

    At the start of the film, Paul is on the run from the law, as the result of his killing of a man in a duel. It's a fair fight, but the dead party turns out to be the son of a judge, and so Paul begins gambling and womanizing his way towards Texas (for some reason not bothering to change his name!). Jake catches up with him on a riverboat right after Paul has met the woman of his dreams (Ina Balin), and hauls him off the boat to take him to trial and eventual hanging.

    On the way, Paul escapes, and when he arrives home without his prisoner Jake is given another assignment involving making contact with a band of renegades that are trading with and stirring up trouble amongst the Comanche Indians. This he goes about by masquerading as an arms dealer with a wagonload of stolen rifles. During the course of this mission he meets up with Paul, and takes him prisoner yet again. Through a series of events Sam comes to trust Paul, and they ultimately continue the assignment together.

    As a child, my Father introduced me to the world of John Wayne Westerns, and this was always one of my favourites. It was interesting to see it again after so many years, and although I found the conclusion a little abrupt and not as satisfying as some, I still got a lot of enjoyment out of this film. The Duke hams his way through this movie in the lovable way that only someone with his great screen presence could actually pull off, and Stuart Whitman plays the perfect Paul Regret character, being somewhat slimy yet also managing to convey an element of innocence and likeability.

    This really is one of the original buddy movies, long before they were a genre in and of themselves, and hence the film hinges largely on the chemistry between the two leads. In my opinion this aspect works to a tee, and is mainly responsible for the enjoyment in watching this classic. It's also nice to see some good old-fashioned stunt work in this day of CGI-drenched imagery, with many scenes featuring obvious stunt doubles falling off real horses, rolling real wagons, and "dying" dramatically.

    Be aware that this is a Western from the 1960s, and hence if you're concerned about modern ideas of political correctness you might find some of the portrayals of the characters to be offensive. Personally, I find Kevin Costner doing a self-indulgent 3-hour "epic" Western to be offensive, but then it takes all types.

    I don't think there would be many people out there that don't already have some idea of what a John Wayne Western is like, so if you're looking for something in that vein then this is one of his better ones.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    There are a lot of good things about this transfer, considering the age of the source material, and it's by far the best I've ever seen this movie look, but it isn't a perfect restoration.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is 16x9 enhanced. I wasn't able to ascertain the theatrical aspect ratio, but since the film was shot in Cinemascope after 1957 then I would assume that it was this 2.35:1 ratio.

    The transfer is pleasantly sharp in general, but there are a number of scenes that contain quite grainy/hazy images. To name a few, see; 3:58, 7:19, 14:10 and 65:42. I'm not sure if this was because they just couldn't get a good source for the entire film, or if there were some scenes that weren't restored so well, but either way these shots are noticeable. There is also the occasional soft-focus shot during close-ups of female actors, such as at 53:47, but this was standard practice with films of this era. There weren't many dark scenes in the movie, but those that were usually exhibited the bad grain mentioned above, so shadow detail wasn't especially good.

    This movie was filmed in "Deluxe Color", and it has all the rich redness that goes along with this colouring format. I was concerned about bleeding initially, since the red credits starting at the 3:00 minute mark displayed signs of it. However, from that point until the credits at the end of the movie (102:52) I didn't notice any other examples of this problem. In fact, there are some great examples of beautiful rich red coloured props that are completely separated from the surrounding colours; for instance the red curtains on the riverboat at 4:08. Despite colours not being completely realistic (which is what you'd expect from such a film), they are rich and vibrant with crisp, genuinely black blacks that display no low-level noise (see the black jacket at 60:35 and the overcoat at 76:04).

    I didn't notice any MPEG artefacts, and there is also an absence of aliasing and noticeable edge enhancement. There are a few examples of moire on some of the checked shirts that the characters wore (such as at 58:40), but it isn't a serious problem. Film artefacts are present, but are surprisingly few considering the age of the film. There's obviously been a decent effort to clean up the source.

    There are 10 subtitle streams present, and I sampled the only English one; English for the Hearing Impaired. It was suitably accurate to the spoken word.

    This is a dual layered disc, and the layer change is at 64:28 just as the two main characters are getting onto a wagon. It wasn't overly disruptive, but it could have been better placed rather than being in the middle of a scene.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The 4-channel remix of the original soundtrack has been done quite well, and although it's not going to test your sound system by any means, it's the best this movie has ever sounded.

    There are 5 tracks on this DVD; English Dolby Digital 4.0, French Dolby Digital 2.0, German Dolby Digital 2.0, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0, and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0. I listened to the English Dolby Digital 4.0 track, which is an LCRS track (Left, Centre, Right and Surround channels).

    Dialogue is clear and at an appropriate volume to not be overshadowed by the action during the gunfighting scenes. There are no visible audio sync problems either.

    The musical score by Elmer Bernstein is up to his usual standard, and one of his classic Western scores. It really adds to the atmosphere and confirms that you're watching a genuine Western from that era.

    Surrounds are used sparingly, and due to the nature of a mono surround channel being sent to both speakers, it's not possible to use them for directional sound from the rear. They are, however, effectively used for a lot of music, which nicely surrounds you (such as 17:15 and 87:14), as well as the occasional engulfing sound effect, like the rainfall at 18:59.

    The subwoofer is not used at all by this soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menu

    Menus are static and 16x9 enhanced.

Trailer - 2:40

    This original trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is 16x9 enhanced. I love these old trailers that were created for an era when people could actually concentrate for more than two minutes without being bombarded by dramatic, tightly edited, loud flashes. It contains words such as "tremendous" and "exciting adventure" emblazoned across the screen in large letters. It's nice to have it included in its widescreen 16x9 enhanced form.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

    According to some Region 1 reviews of this disc, the MovieTone News feature is a genuine newsreel from the time, with awards being received for the movie's title music. So it doesn't sound like we're missing out on much. If you're getting this disc as part of the boxset, I certainly wouldn't be worrying about importing another copy for this one little extra.

Summary

    This is a classic John Wayne Western that doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it is. Good performances by the supporting actors (including a great small part for Lee Marvin) help make it well worth multiple viewings, assuming this is your style of film.

    The video quality is good, considering the age of the film, and is the best this movie has ever looked.

    The 4-channel track is more than adequate, although some purists might lament the lack of its original stereo track.

    There aren't any extras to speak of, although the original trailer is of novelty interest and is presented well.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© David L (Only my Mum would have any interest in my bio)
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Review Equipment
DVDOmni 3600, using RGB output
DisplaySony 1252QM CRT Projector, 250cm custom built 16x9 matte screen. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-DS797- THX Select
SpeakersAccusound ES-55 Speaker set, Welling WS12 Subwoofer

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