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PrintHoliday Gift Ideas For The Western Movie Fan
If Santa wore cowboy boots, these are the presents that would fill up his sleigh this holiday season.
From western DVD collections that span more than a century of films to reproductions of famous western wardrobe attire, we've got what you need to bring the Old West home for the holidays. So light the logs, cozy up with a snuggly throw and a bowl of flavored popcorn, pop in a DVD, and get ready for a perfect stay-at-home western movie night.
• The Tom Selleck Western Collection
Tom Selleck was born for a career in westerns. Unfortunately, he was also born too late to have one. But he's embraced the opportunities that have come his way, both on the big screen (in Quigley Down Under) and in a series of well-reviewed and highly rated made-for-TV movies that aired on the TNT network. Three of these small-screen gems comprise the Tom Selleck Western Collection.
In Last Stand at Saber River (1997), Selleck plays a Civil War veteran who is harassed by a pair of Union officers played by brothers David and Keith Carradine. Based on a Louis L'Amour novel, Crossfire Trail (2001) was directed by Simon Wincer (Lonesome Dove) and features another memorable supporting cast with Wilford Brimley, Virginia Madsen, and Mark Harmon. Monte Walsh (2003), also directed by Wincer, is a remake of the 1970 classic that stands on its own merits.
John Wayne: An American Legend Greeting Cards
Bradford Museum Press, $24.50 and $70, www.bradfordmuseumpress.com
• John Wayne: An American Legend Greeting Card Boxed Set
It's never too early to start planning for next Christmas, and that includes finding just the right holiday card to send to the western fans among your friends and family. Forget clichéd winter forest scenes and smiling snowmen - how about sending season's greetings from John Wayne?
The Bradford Museum Press offers a boxed set of 25 cards, with matching foil-lined envelopes, featuring a classic image of the Duke. The cards can be customized with a choice of greeting and a personalized message. How many requests for "Merry Christmas, Pilgrim!" do you think they get every year?
• Gene Autry's Favorite Bluebird Boots
In many of his films and on many of his album covers, you'll see singing cowboy Gene Autry wearing a pair of boots with bluebirds on them. After he donated the original set to the Autry National Center of the American West, he missed them so much that he had Rocketbuster make him a new pair. The company will also custom-make a pair for the Autry fan on your list, so he or she can get back in the saddle again.
• Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Spin & Marty
Children of the 1950s will feel a nostalgic rush in revisiting The Adventures of Spin and Marty, originally presented in serial form on The Mickey Mouse Club. What's surprising is how well these 54-year-old stories hold up, and how easily the antics of Spin Evans (Tim Considine) and Marty Markham (David Stollery) at the Triple R Ranch can also captivate the Hannah Montana generation.
The DVD offers an array of wonderful special features, including Considine's first screen test and the return of Considine and Stollery to the ranch in Newhall, California, where the series was shot. As with all Walt Disney Treasures DVDs, this release has been discontinued after a limited release period, but there are plenty available, both new and used, on the secondary market.
• Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex, Volume 1
This classic DC Comics series features legendary gunslinger Jonah Hex, a renegade bounty hunter in the post-Civil War West. Debuting in 1972's All-Star Western #10, Hex became popular not only with western readers but also with fans of horror and superhero titles. The stories, by writers such as creator John Albano, Robert Kanigher, and Denny O'Neil, predate the darker, more mature tales of today's graphic novels.
Get ready for the upcoming 2010 film adaptation with this Showcase edition, which includes Hex's first comic book appearance. Hopefully the film, which stars Josh Brolin as Hex and Megan Fox as Leila, will capture some of the magic of these original tales. Five years' worth of wild western stories are collected in this huge 500-page volume.
• D.W. Griffith: Years of Discovery
For the true western cinema historian, this two-disc set features 22 of the one- and two-reel films - including the westerns - directed by D.W. Griffith that helped define the language of filmmaking.
More for the film student than the casual movie fan, this collection is easily the best primer on Griffith's innovative style yet released on DVD. Among the highlights for western fans are The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1914) and The Redman's View (1909), which simultaneously stereotyped Native Americans while offering a sympathetic portrayal that was far ahead of its time. With appearances from early screen legends Mack Sennett, Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and sisters Dorothy and Lillian Gish, as well as expert commentaries by film historian Russell Merritt, Years of Discovery is an honors-level course in silent cinema.
• Western Movie Hats
From Audrey Hepburn's black Givenchy dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's to the torn t-shirt and legwarmers worn by Jennifer Beals in Flashdance, the movies have been setting fashion trends for years. While westerns are rarely on the cutting edge of high fashion, several hat styles have been popularized by the actors who wore them.
If the Tombstone fan on your list admired the black hat worn by Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) or the kettle-curled brim on Clint Eastwood's hat in Hang 'Em High, The Last Best West can create a custom facsimile sized to order. They've also got styles inspired by Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Tom Horn, Deadwood, and Legends of the Fall, plus Indiana Jones' fedora for your strange friend who doesn't like cowboy movies.
• 100th Anniversary John Wayne Belt Buckle
Director Howard Hawks commissioned John Wayne's famous RR2 buckle as a gift for the star of Hawks' classic western Red River. The Duke wore the buckle in several of his later films, and its association with the western icon was bolstered by its appearance on the bronze statue of Wayne at the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Duke's birth, Bohlin has created a sterling-silver-and-14kt-gold trophy buckle in the famous RR2 style, limited to just 150 pieces. The buckle is 31/2 inches wide by 21/4 inches tall and fits a 11/2-inch belt. Each handcrafted buckle is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and takes 3 - 6 weeks to make and ship, so order early.
• The Professionals (Blu-ray)
Now that Blu-ray has edged out HD-DVD in the high-definition home video wars, western fans will be faced with the dreaded double-dip quandary, as films they may already own on DVD are re-released in a superior format. Among the first to market is The Professionals, featuring an outstanding cast (Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale, Woody Strode, Jack Palance, and Ralph Bellamy) under the direction of Richard Brooks and a memorable score from Maurice Jarre.
A thinking-man's western with plenty of high-octane action, The Professionals remains somewhat underrated, especially when compared with the stylistically similar The Magnificent Seven. But the film earned three Academy Award nominations and, now, a first-class Blu-ray treatment that includes three behind-the-scenes documentaries.
• 50 Years of the Television Western
Ronald Jackson and Doug Abbott have created the ultimate pictorial history of television westerns, from their 1950s heyday to such recent attempted re-vivals as The Magnificent Seven. On the history side, the book is a little light - don't expect any new revelations or insights about Gunsmoke or Have Gun Will Travel; it's the pictorial element that stands out and will delight any TV western fan.
More than 400 photos, many in color, illustrate even the most obscure entries. George Montgomery in Cimarron City? John Payne in The Restless Gun? Rory Calhoun in The Texan? They're all here, in a book that will likely whet your appetite for DVDs that may never be made.
• Bordertown Boxed Set
Remember Bordertown? Probably not, as this 1989 - 91 Family Channel series remains largely unknown, even among western fans. Thanks to a four-disc DVD release, it is now possible to return to these adventures that were set in the town of Pemmican on the U.S.-Canadian border starting in 1880. The residents soon discover that the actual national border runs through the center of town - and through the middle of the local law enforcement office.
As a result, Pemmican is patrolled by both U.S. Marshal Jack Craddock (Richard Comar) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police corporal Clive Bennett (John H. Brennan). It's a unique arrangement that might have worked out fine, except that both lawmen are attracted to Marie Dumont (Sophie Barjac), the town doctor and proprietor of the general store.
There are traces of Due South and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman in this family-friendly series that lasted 78 episodes. Shot near Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Bordertown is set amid the most beautiful Canadian scenery since Road to Avonlea. The DVD set features two episodes from the first season and the entire third season - a strange assortment but better than nothing.
• Into the Sunset Throw Blanket
You've got the featured attraction in the DVD player, and you've got the popcorn ready. What's left? On a cold winter's night, there's nothing better than wrapping yourself (and a companion, if you are so fortunate) in a warm blanket before starting the movie.
To fit the western theme, there's the Cowboy Western Throw Blanket from VisionBedding. Made from fleece and microsuede, this 50-by-60-inch blanket features a stunning image of a mounted cowboy silhouetted against a desert sunset. VisionBedding can add personalized text to the image, so the person you send it to will always remember who they can thank for that soft and warm snuggle.
