Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Gregory Peck Fights with a Gun or Something idk I Haven't Seen the Movie

I hadn't even heard of the 1950 film The Gunfighter until I learnt about its upcoming Criterion Collection release on October 20th, but my interest has certainly been piqued. Directed by Henry King, it's basically a brooding black-and-white Western starring Gregory Peck, who I know mostly from his excellent work 12 years later in To Kill a Mockingbird. The Criterion website describes it as such:
A key forerunner of the new breed of dark, brooding westerns that would cast a shadow over America’s frontier folklore, this subversive psychological saga sounds a death knell for the myth of the outlaw hero. In one of his most morally complex roles, Gregory Peck stars as Jimmy Ringo, an infamous gunslinger looking to hang up his holsters and start a new life, but whose reputation draws him inexorably into a cycle of violence and revenge from which he cannot escape. Directed with taut efficiency by the versatile studio-era craftsman Henry King, and shot in striking deep-focus style by master cinematographer Arthur C. Miller, The Gunfighter forgoes rough-and-tumble action in favor of an elegiac exploration of guilt and regret that speaks to the anxious soul of postwar America.
Henry King sounded familiar, so I Googled him. Unfortunately, my search for 'henry king' gave me results about Henry III who, while he was indeed a King of France from 1574 to 1589, was not the director of 1950's The Gunfighter starring Gregory Peck. I refined my search term and learnt that, while I'd vaguely heard of a couple of his other films, Gunfighter was his most famous and therefore I had no idea where the familiarity I had with him came from. He must just have one of those names, I guess. 

Anyway, it sounds like an interesting film. The Criterion Blu-Ray's special features don't sound amazing (good, but not enough to convince me to fork over the extra $30 or whatever). However, I failed to find a physical media alternative so I decided to have a trawl around on Just Watch looking for a streaming option. No such luck. I even looked on Amazon to see if there were any Blu-Rays from different regions that I could buy (I have a region-free player). Nope. 

So I guess it's Criterion or nothing. Or piracy, but we don't condone that sort of barbaric behaviour on Beyond the Popcorn, do we?


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