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Criterion

Noirish shadows spread across the frontier in this landmark western, the first of the celebrated collaborations between director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart that redefined the genre with their moral and psychological intensity. Beginning his midcareer transition into increasingly edgy roles, Stewart portrays an avenging sharpshooter whose stolen rifle becomes a harbinger of death as it is passed from one doomed hand to the next. Featuring a stellar cast that includes a touching Shelley Winters, a sensationally sleazy Dan Duryea, and a pre-stardom Rock Hudson, this elemental tale of violence begetting violence broke new ground with its evocation of the West as a no-man’s-land of antiheroes and villains.To learn more or order, visit Criterion.com.

theriverjordan4.0

“Winchester ‘73” revitalised Jimmy Stewart’s career with the shattering reverberation of a rifle’s blast. Released in the same year as “The Furies,” director Anthony Mann assured his transition from noir workhorse to Western maestro with “Winchester.” He shared his mid-career swerve with Stewart, whom Mann emboldened to take on more morally grey roles. Stewart was no more just a country boy made good. He finally had a director that encouraged him to look for the shadows in his own reflection. The first of Stewart’s more cynical characters came in “Winchester,” which follows the possession of a rare rifle from one cursed owner to the next. The weapon becomes emblematic of the capacity and wonder over the idealization of violence in the West. “Winchester,” which saw experts from the title gun’s actual company on set to consult, has some of the best rifle-play of any Western around. There are impressive trick shots, and every slam of a bullet into a surface rattles with a blast of echos through the Arizona emptiness. Perhaps there is no moment more harrowing in the entire runtime of the film than former all-American boy Stewart slamming the finger lever of his repeater back again and again as sonic booms from his adversary whiplash around him. The incorruptible moral paragon of American cinema was forever left in the dust of the desert frontier. From West to East(wood): Westerns Ranked

Will Sloan5.0

Anthony Mann doesn’t play any music during the final shootout, even when the villain is killed. One of the best westerns ever made.