DVD Review: Celebrate Father’s Day with The Duke

There is no studio that times their releases more perfectly than Warner Bros. Around the end-of-year holidays there will be gift sets for films like “Elf” and “Willy Wonka.” Near Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, you can expect gift-appropriate releases. And, of course, they always bring out the war movies and Westerns for Father’s Day in June. This year’s gift idea is a beauty, a massive 40-film, career-spanning set of films starring the legendary John Wayne. From 1932’s “Big Stampede” to 1976’s “The Shootist,” there’s a bit of everything for Wayne fans in here, but more for those who like war movies and Westerns.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

We don’t need to go through them all but highlights include “Rio Bravo,” “El Dorado,” “The Searchers,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “True Grit,” “How the West Was Won,” “Fort Apache,” “Donovan’s Reef,” and “Hatari!” Some Wayne classics are missing but that’s often because rights to them are owned by another studio. This is basically what Warner Bros. owns…and has already released. Yes, this is essentially a repackaging. Nothing here is new in terms of on-disc material or remastered transfers. It’s a way to take what a company has already released and release it again with new collectibles and packaging. To that end, it’s a bit disappointing, especially because SO few of these films are on Blu-ray. I’d love half the films, but all in HD.

The John Wayne Epic Collection was released on DVD on May 27, 2014
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

As for special bells and whistles, there’s a 20-page book about the films and 17 artifacts of memorable including correspondence, script pages, and more. Duke purists will love it. Maybe your dad is one of ‘em.

Movies included:
1932 - Big Stampede / Ride Him, Cowboy / Haunted Gold 1933 - The Telegraph Trail / Somewhere in Sonora / The Man From Monterey 1939 - Allegheny Uprising 1942 - Reunion in France 1944 - Tall in the Saddle 1945 - Back to Bataan 1945 - They Were Expendable 1946 - Without Reservations 1947 - Tycoon 1948 - Fort Apache 1948 - 3 Godfathers 1949 - She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1951 - Operation Pacific 1951 - Flying Leathernecks 1952 - Big Jim McLain 1953 - Trouble Along the Way 1955 - The Sea Chase 1955 - Blood Alley 1956 - The Searchers 1957 - The Wings of Eagles 1959 - Rio Bravo 1962 - Hatari! 1962 - How the West Was Won: PART 1 1962 - How the West Was Won: PART 2 1962 - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1963 - Donovan’s Reef 1965 - In Harm’s Way 1965 - The Sons of Katie Elder 1966 - El Dorado 1968 - The Green Berets 1969 - True Grit 1970 - Chisum 1972 - The Cowboys 1973 - The Train Robbers 1973 - Cahill: United States Marshal 1974 - McQ 1976 - The Shootist - Bonus disc

[7]	By BRIAN TALLERICO [8] Contributor HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com [7]