Official Synopsis:
The Gunfighter
With its "resounding authenticity [and] great performances" (Los Angeles Times), The Gunfighter is a "terrific, hard-hitting [and] suspenseful" (Variety) western drama featuring a stirring portrayal from the legendary Gregory Peck as Jimmy Ringo! Though he was a notorious killer and the deadliest shot in the Old West, Ringo's appetite for bloodletting has waned. But he is forced to stay on the run by young gunners determined to shoot him down. Escaping his vengeful adversaries to the town of Cayenne, he hopes to convince his estranged wife (Helen Westcott) to resume their life together - and lay his past to rest for good.

Rawhide
This riveting thriller filled "with gripping action" (Daily Variety) stars the legendary Tyrone Power and Oscar Winner Susan Hayward! With a band of outlaws on the loose, stationmaster Sam Todd (Edgar Buchanan) and his tenderfoot underling Tom (Tyrone Power) force bombshell Vinnie Holt (Hayward) and her infant niece off a coach and into the safety of the station until law can be restored. But when the, murderous bunch arrives to take control of the station, it will be up to the mild-mannered Owens to outsmart the outlaws before they can execute their deadly plans.

Garden Of Evil
An extraordinary cast, headed by Gary Cooper, Susan Hayward, Richard Widmark and Cameron Mitchell, star in this suspenseful action-thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until its riveting climax! When a ship carrying three American fortune hunters strands them in Mexico, fate deals them a great hand - from the bottom of the deck. In exchange for a fat payday, they must journey into the heart of evil to rescue a trapped miner. With death surrounding them and murderous Apache warriors at their heels, it will take all their cunning, ingenuity and bravery to escape with their payday - and their lives!
  
Our Take:
Fox Western Classics is an excellent Western box set that packages two lesser-known and underrated oaters with one of the genre’s staple favorites.  The genre favorite is The Gunfighter, which is a 1950 revisionist Western that is much in line with the recently critically lauded The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.  The Gunfighter goes against the expectations one would derive from the film’s title and is instead a well written character study about a man simply trying to change and re-enter society.  The idea of a professional gunfighter retiring is one that has been explored in the many of revisionist Westerns to follow but few, if any, could boast of containing such an excellent lead performance as the one given here by Gregory Peck.

While Gregory Peck may steal the spotlight of this set, the true star (co-starring in and upstaging all others in Rawhide and Garden of Evil) is the magnificent Susan Hayward.  In both films, each directed by Western veteran director Henry Hathaway, Hayward plays a tough as nails frontierswoman.  Most startlingly so in Rawhide, which is a Western thriller with film noir propensities, Hayard steals the film playing the feisty hostage to Tyrone Power’s rich son learning the family business.  After seeing so much of Tyrone Power as either the swashbuckling hero or ruthless gunslinger, it was a welcomed change to see him shift gears and show some more range.  In Garden of Evil, a The Treasure of the Sierra Madre-like tale of greed, Hayward leads a rough band of men recently shipwrecked on the island to save her husband who is trapped in a well.  This band of men includes a favorite of mine, the late, great Richard Widmark, as well as Gary Cooper playing the stoic good guy.  Widmark displays some of the sly morally vague qualities that had made him so good in film noir.  But again, it’s Susan Hayward that steers the picture just as she leads the men to her husband.  This is subversive in its take on male-female relationships as well as painting a less than flattering portrait of Hayward’s character, who uses her sexuality just as well as her male counterparts use their pistols.  I am still undecided on which was more dangerous.

Fox Western Classics has been released as part of Fox’s ongoing Cinema Classics Collection, and like the other films released under this banner, there is no shortage of bonus material:

The Gunfighter
* Arthur Miller: Painter With Light Featurette
* The Western Grows Up Featurette
* Restoration Comparison
* Original Theatrical Trailer
* Advertising Gallery
* Still Gallery

Rawhide
* Susan Hayward: Hollywood's Straight Shooter Featurette
* Shoot It In Lone Pine! Featurette
* Restoration Comparison
* Original Theatrical Trailer
* Interactive Pressbook
* Advertising Gallery
* Still Gallery

Garden Of Evil
* Audio Commentary by Film and Music Historians John Morgan, Nick Redman, Steven Smith and William Stromberg
* Isolated Score Track
* Travels of a Gunslinger: The Making of Garden of Evil Featurette
* Henry Hathaway: When the Going Gets Tough... Featurette
* Restoration Comparison
* Original Theatrical Trailer
* Interactive Pressbook
* Advertising Gallery
* Still Gallery

Fox Western Classics is an easy no-brainer for fans of the Western genre as all three of these films had been previously unavailable on DVD.  With a bargain price, even more casual Western fans should pick up this excellent Western release from Fox.

RECOMMENDED!

Overall Picture:
Movies (on average): B

DVD: B+
 
- Matthew Orlando
Staff Writer