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While he's best known for his work in film noir, Robert Mitchum starred in over 30 movies in the Western genre as well. Called the "soul of film noir" by Roger Ebert, Mitchum is famous for his iconic villain roles in the '50s and the '60s. His work in noir as the classic anti-hero laid the foundation for many of the famous modern antagonistic characters of the genre. However, Mitchum's superior range as an actor helped him smoothly transition from the suave and stylized villainous roles in film noir to more rough-around-the-edges and dramatized roles.

As is seen in Western flicks like El Dorado, which is one of the actor's most famous films ever, and The Tombstones, where Mitchum serves as a narrator off-screen. Mitchum appears beside John Wayne in El Dorado, the latter having replaced the former in an older film after Mitchum was fired from Blood Alley.

Out of all the late John Waynes movies, Blood Alley is one of the least discussed in his filmography, barring some titles that are known as lost Wayne movies and his Dirty Harry "rip-offs." However, Blood Alley differs from many of these films, as it is not one of the many acclaimed Western movies Wayne starred in. Set during the Cold War, the movie depicts a voyage from Chiku Shan to Hong Kong via the Formosa Strait. Wayne was cast to play Captain Tom Wilder, but another actor was meant to star in the lead role.

Robert Mitchum was supposed to play Captain Tom Wilder in Blood Alley before he was fired from the movie at the request of director William A. Wellman. Before Mitchum's firing, he had a fallout with Wellman, but the key reason for his dismissal mainly involved the producers. Because Mitchum was released from the production,...

As 2021 mercifully winds down, the Criterion Channel have a (November) lineup that marks one of their most diverse selections in some time—films by the new masters Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Garrett Bradley, Dan Sallitt’s Fourteen (one of 2020’s best films) couched in a fantastic retrospective, and Criterion editions of old favorites.

Fourteen is featured in “Between Us Girls: Bonds Between Women,” which also includes Céline and Julie, The Virgin Suicides, and Yvonne Rainer’s Privilege. Of equal note are Criterion editions for Ghost World, Night of the Hunter, and (just in time for del Toro’s spin) Nightmare Alley—all stacked releases in their own right.

See the full list of October titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.

300 Nassau, Marina Lameiro, 2015

5 Card Stud, Henry Hathaway, 1968

Alone, Garrett Bradley, 2017

Álvaro, Daniel Wilson, Elizabeth Warren, Alexandra Lazarowich, and Chloe Zimmerman, 2015

America, Garrett Bradley, 2019

Angel Face, Otto Preminger, 1953

Angels Wear White,...

Wow! Fritz Lang's second western is a marvel -- a combo of matinee innocence and that old Germanic edict that character equals fate. It has a master's sense of color and design. Robert Young is an odd fit but Randolph Scott is nothing less than terrific. You'd think Lang was born on the Pecos. Western Union Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1941 / Color /1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 8, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Randolph Scott, Robert Young, Virginia Gilmore, Dean Jagger, John Carradine, Chill Wills, Slim Summerville, Barton MacLane, Victor Kilian, George Chandler, Chief John Big Tree, Iron Eyes Cody, Jay Silverheels. Cinematography Edward Cronjager, Allen M. Davey Original Music David Buttolph Written by Robert Carson from the novel by Zane Grey Produced by Harry Joe Brown (associate) Directed by Fritz Lang

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Darryl Zanuck of 20th Fox treated most writers well, was good for John Ford...

This week on Off The Shelf, Ryan is joined by Brian Saur to take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the week of September 29th, 2015, and chat about some follow-up and home video news.

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Episode Links & Notes Follow-up Shirts Iron Giant Blu-ray Thunderbean’s Willie Whopper up for sale on Amazon News Agfa’s Something Weird Kickstarter Arrow Release Date Changes Hannibal Season 3 on December 8th Twilight Time October titles Up for Preorder Panic in the Year Zero (Kl Studio Classics) Dangerous Men (Drafthouse Films) X-Files Blu-ray Warner Archive’s October titles: Atom Ant, Wind Across The Everglades New Releases The Bear Black Coal, Thin Ice Christine The Connection Cinco De Mayo [Blu-ray] The Duke Of Burgundy Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films Five Films by Patricio Guzman Forbidden Zone Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid The Honeymoon Killers...

First-time director Richard Wilson's B&W '50s western is different. Robert Mitchum is on-task as a town tamer with believable problems, both in exterminating gunslingers Claude Akins and Leo Gordon, and with making peace with his estranged wife, Jan Sterling. That's not to mention Mitchum's attraction for pacifist Karen Sharpe, and ditzy showgirl Barbara Lawrence. And don't forget an incredibly young Angie Dickinson. Man with the Gun Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 83 min. / Deadly Peacemaker / Street Date September 25, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Mitchum, Jan Sterling, Karen Sharpe, Henry Hull, Emile Meyer, John Lupton, Barbara Lawrence, Ted de Corsia, Leo Gordon, James Westerfield, Jay Adler, Claude Akins, Joe Barry, Norma Calderón, Angie Dickinson, Mara McAfee, Maidie Norman, Robert Osterloh, Maudie Prickett, Stafford Repp. Cinematography Lee Garmes Film Editor Gene Milford Original Music Alex North Written by N.B. Stone Jr., Richard Wilson Produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr....

Let's hear it for the great westerns -- not the Ford and Hawks classics, but the fascinating marginal gems that see The West in a different way. Do you like Sam Peckinpah? Robert Parrish's evocation of Texas and Mexico in the 1880s will be pleasantly familiar -- a testing ground of personal codes and shifting loyalties in a treacherous land. The Wonderful Country Savant Blu-ray Review Kl Studio Classics 1959 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date September 29, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95  Starring Robert Mitchum, Julie London, Pedro Armendariz, Gary Merrill, Jack Oakie, Albert Dekker, Charles McGraw, Leroy "Satchel" Paige. Cinematography Floyd Crosby Film Editor Michael Luciano Production Design Harry Horner Original Music Alex North Written by Robert Ardrey from the book by Tom Lea Produced by Chester Erskine Directed by Robert Parrish

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

This gem is as individual a western as any made in the 1950s, and a...