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Released by: Shout! Factory
Released on: 6/21/2011
Director: Gordon Douglas/Antonio Margheriti
Cast: Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman/Jim Brown, Lee Van Cleef, Fred Williamson
Year: 1964/1975
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The Movies:
Shout! Factory pairs up two westerns from the Fox catalogue for a pretty nifty double feature!
Rio Conchos:
Directed by Gordon Douglas in 1964, Rio Conchos follows Major James Lassiter (Richard Boone), formerly of the Confederate army, as he sets about on his mission to shoot and kill as many Apache Indians as he possibly can, an act of vengeance against the tribe that murdered his wife and child - until he catches up with Chief Bloodshirt (Rodolfo Acosta) who was the man responsible for the murders.
Current army men Captain Haven (Stuart Whitman) and Sergeant Franklyn (Jim Brown) take notice of Lassiter not for what he's doing but for what he's doing it with - his rifle is identical to those that were in a massive shipment of guns stolen from their brigade. The two men take Lassiter in under arrest but make a deal with him: if he'll lead them into Mexico where they're certain the stolen guns are being sold illegally to the Apaches by Colonel Theron "Gray Fox" Pardee (Edmond O'Brien) then they will spare his life. Lassiter agrees on the condition that he can bring his friend Juan Luis Martinez (Tony Franciosa) with him to make sure the Yankee's don't pull any funny stuff, and off they go, south into Mexico to get back the guns.
Not too far removed from The Comancheros, made a few years earlier and also starring Whitman and written by Rio Concho's writer, Clair Huffaker, this film holds up very well. The picture has a welcome grittiness to it that helps keep it exciting and a rough and tumble attitude that keeps the action coming at a pretty brisk pace. Boone's character is the most interesting of the batch and he's fleshed out with enough of a back story that, even if he is basically on a murder spree with a stolen gun, at least we can understand why he'd want to choose such a path. Whitman is his typically gruff but entertaining self here, and his camaraderie with Jim Brown works well here. Edmond O'Brien steals the show, however, as his character takes on a really interesting anti-establishment tone in the latter half of the film that makes him more than just a pissed off former Confederate soldier and more like a dangerous and subversive militia man capable of leading an uprising with his small band of loyal troops.
Nicely shot and briskly paced, Rio Conchos is surprisingly dark and violent for a film made before westerns really started to go down that path (read that as post-Leone/Peckinpah if you like), but never to the point where it feels out of place or out of context in the story being told. The end result is a nicely assembled picture that makes good use of its cast and tells a fairly gripping story with a decent amount of style.
Take A Hard Ride:
The second feature was directed by the late, great Antonio Margheriti under his Anthony Dawson pseudonym in 1975. When the film begins, a cowboy named Morgan (Dana Andrews) comes into a sizeable chunk of money, enough that he plans to head to Mexico with his assistant, Pike (Jim Brown), to live the good life. Before they can get to the border, however, Morgan is shot dead, his dying wish that Pike take the money and bring his wife to Mexico. He obliges but soon word gets around that Pike is cruising around with all of this money, which of course just serves to pull all the lowlifes out of the woodwork.
Chief amongst the thieves and killers who want a piece of Pike's loot is a mysterious killer named Kiefer (Lee Van Cleef), who follows from a safe distance intent on getting the money for himself. Thankfully for Pike he picks up a few allies along the way in the form of a gambler named Tyree (Fred Williamson), a beautiful prostitute named Catherine (Catherine Spaak) and mute half-Indian martial arts master named Kashtok (Jim Kelly). Aside from Keifer, however, our group also has to watch out for Sheriff Kane (Barry Sullivan), a tough son of a bitch who wants Pike's head.
Made for the sole purpose of reuniting the three male leads from Three The Hard Way, this follow up film isn't nearly as interesting, as exciting or as fun. It has its moments here and there, particularly when Kelly is zipping around the desert jumping off of big rocks and kicking bad guys in the face, but the plot really meanders a lot before picking up in the last twenty minutes or so. It's a shame, when you consider just how great the cast is here and how much potential a movie like this had, but ultimately Take A Hard Ride is slow and occasionally even dull. Van Cleef, basically playing the same character he played in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly in this movie, adds some welcome menace to the proceedings in that way that only he can but it's not quite enough. Williamson is as likeable as always here but Jim Brown lacks enthusiasm and while you won't have to stretch to much to imagine the two hanging out as they do in the picture, but things just never really shape up to be as exciting as you'd probably hope for them to be.
Margheriti's direction is generally good in that he moves things along as quickly as was probably possible and he gets decent performances out of his cast and manages to craft a few memorable set pieces - but the script hurts this one. It just doesn't give us enough action or adventure to hold out attention and it bogs things down to the point where they crawl.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Rio Conchos is presented in its original 2.35.1 widescreen aspect ratio with Take A Hard Ride in its original aspect ratio of 1.85.1, both films enhanced for anamorphic sets and looking very good. Expect some minor print damage and the occasional blemish here and there but generally both movies are clean looking and show very good color reproduction and detail.
Both films are given the English language Dolby Digital Mono treatment, no alternate language options or subtitles are provided. While some scenes sound a little bit flat, overall there are no problems here, the scores sound pretty decent especially in Take A Hard Ride and there are no problems with any hiss or distortion to note.
The first extra of note is an interview with Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson (16:20), cigar placed firmly between his teeth, who speaks quite affectionately about making this movie and about his love of westerns. Coming across as a pretty friendly and down to earth guy, Williamson has nothing but good things to say about his co-stars and about his experiences on this film. Also interviewed on this disc is Jim Kelly (10:02) who talks about his experiences on the film, about what makes his character interesting and what it was like working with his co-stars. Aside from the two interviews, the disc also includes theatrical trailers for both movies, menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
While Take A Hard Ride never lives up to its amazing potential, it's worth seeing for blaxploitation fans while Rio Conchos turns out to be just a really solid western in pretty much every way you'd want it to be. Shout! Factory's DVD looks and sounds very nice and contains a couple of interesting bonus interviews to add some value to the package. A very nice release overall, well worth it for western fans, so long as you don't mind the fact that Take A Hard Ride is slow.
