1968

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) - IMDb

Something similar happened with the early John Wayne movie "Stagecoach". Even though it won 2 Oscars, when it came time to commercialize it years later, they initially came up empty on any original film prints.

Back in the days of early Hollywood, all the big actors had movie screening rooms in their mansions, since that was the only way to watch a movie outside a theater. The big actors were given free prints of their movies. They contacted Wayne directly, and found that he had a pristine print of that film. He had never screened it at home.

There are actually a *lot* of early movies, even good ones, that have simply disappeared.

That was true but--the owner has yet to see a high enough figure-to get him to budge. Michael (when he was alive) and Ethan Wayne have been trying to make a deal with the owner for many years. The owner knows he has a gold mine with that movie. Several other Duke movies that were lost to public domain-and such-like McLintock--are now owned by the Wayne family and their copy-is the only restored copy for sale. McLintock is no longer public domain-though many dvd "puppy" mills are still publishing the movie-unrestored of course.

He was also a Navy Corpsman in: Away All Boats (though I aint spotted him yet-scenes were probably edited out) and was a Knight in: Lady Godiva. I forget the name of an early career Western buy-he was also a Cavalry trooper in it.

That reminds me of Gregory Peck in: The Boys From Brazil--as a nazi criminal. I hate the movie since it was extremely against Peck's norm.

Peck really was miscast in that one. But l like that movie for Laurence Olivier. It shows the amazing range of that late great actor: playing the aging Jewish Nazi hunter in that one, and the evil Nazi dentist, the very opposite role, in "Marathon Man" two years earlier.

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I saw it once when it came out years ago and didn't remember it, so looked it up on Netflix and we watched it last night. Well, the wife watched it to the end. Now I recall why it was a blank spot in my spaghetti western memory bank. Has to be the slowest moving western ever made. To me, EVERY scene was too long. I fell asleep.

That he was. [I] also compare both he and Peck w/ Richard Basehart. That guy could out act anyone he (Basehart) appeared with. I just saw him btw--in a season 4 episode of Rawhide--as a Sheepman.

Love "Hondo". A real gem, like "Monte Walsh" and "Will Penny".

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Vintage S&W DA Revolver Fan.

That fly deserved a "best supporting actor (actress?)" nomination ....

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My dad was a much bigger western fan than I was (Hopalong Cassidy and other B Westerns were his faves), but boy I loved El Dorado as a kid. I dug the relationship between Wayne and Mitchum in it. Another favorite of mine is Silverado, along with Tombstone.