The Ultimate Westerns Collection [DVD]

Description

Collection of nine classic westerns. In 'Rio Bravo' (1959) Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) is holding a murderous villain in his cell while waiting for a magistrate to collect him for trial. The criminal's associates are desperate to free him, and will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. Chance's only allies are his drunken deputy (Dean Martin), a wily old coot (Walter Brennan) and an eager young hothead (Rick Nelson). 'Chisum' (1970) is based on the events of New Mexico's 1878 Lincoln County War, which saw Chisum enlisting the help of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid to protect what was rightfully his. In 'Pale Rider' (1985) a community of gold mining prospectors comes under attack from a gang of marauders, who are after the prospectors' land. Young Megan Wheeler (Sydney Penny) prays for help, which consequently arrives in the form of the Preacher (Clint Eastwood), a grim, silent stranger. The Preacher takes up the community's cause, and sets out to repel the invaders. 'The Wild Bunch' (1969) is a bloody, violent western from one of the masters of the genre, Sam Peckinpah. In 1913, a gang of outlaws (William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Ryan, amongst others) ride into a Texan border town where the railroad office is their target. The robbery turns into a blood-bath so the gang flee to a desert hideout where they discover that their loot is worthless. With the railroad company's hired guns snapping at their heels, they decide to escape to the apparent safety of the Mexican revolutionaries. 'The Searchers' (1956) tells the story of Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), an ex-confederate soldier who swears revenge after his brother's family is butchered by Comanches and his niece (Natalie Wood) is kidnapped. Accompanied by Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), a young foundling raised by the family, Ethan sets out on a epic seven-year search for the missing girl. But as their quest draws to a close, Martin begins to realise the extent to which Ethan has been dehumanised by his own thirst for revenge. In 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' (1976), Clint Eastwood directs and stars as Josey Wales, a peaceful farmer at the time of the American Civil War who becomes a Confederate outlaw in order to avenge his family's death at the hands of Union guerillas. His obsession with revenge slowly lifts, however, as he picks up various outcasts in the wilderness. Wales tries to protect his new 'family' by leading them to a safe haven where they can rebuild their lives. In 'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid' (1973), the old days of the West are passing, and outlaw-turned-sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is determined to move with the times. But with his former partner Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) still at large in the territory, and the wish of the cattle barons that the rule of law be imposed with greater and greater force, Pat soon realises that his initial compromise will eventually lead him to betray everything he believes in. Finally, in 'Unforgiven' (1992), in 1880s Kansas, ageing gunslinger-turned-farmer William Munny (Eastwood) reluctantly agrees to come out of retirement to help Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) collect the bounty on a wanted murderer. The man in question cut up a prostitute in a lawless town lorded over by the corrupt Sheriff Daggett (Gene Hackman), and if Munny and Logan want to catch him they are going to have to deal with Daggett first.