Classic Western Round-Up: Volume 1

The word “classic” is hyperbole, as not one of the four horse operas compiled on this extra-less two-disc set comes close to deserving that accolade. But none are stinkers, and the two earliest films are above average. King Vidor's Oscar-nominated The Texas Rangers (1936), which narrowly misses being a great Western, stars Fred MacMurray, Jack Oakie, and Lloyd Nolan as post-Civil War bandits, two of whom join the Rangers to get information for future heists but have a change of heart once they earn the trust of their comrades. Second best is Jacques Tourneur's Oscar-nominated Canyon Passage (1946)—presented in shimmering Technicolor—starring Dana Andrews as a pack-train owner who escorts bewitching Susan Hayward to a remote Oregon town. Directed by Ray Enright, the routine Kansas Raiders (1950) is the weakest film in the quartet, starring Audie Murphy as Jesse James, and featuring an all-star supporting cast that includes Brian Donlevy, Richard Arlen, Tony Curtis, and Richard Egan. Lastly, The Lawless Breed (1952), directed by Raoul Walsh, stars Rock Hudson (top-billed for the first time in his career) as reformed outlaw John Wesley Hardin. Recommended, overall. (E. Hulse)