Owen Wister's The Virginian (Universal Western Collection)

Owen Wister's The Virginian (Universal Western Collection)
by Stuart Gilmore

Owen Wister's The Virginian (Universal Western Collection)
Our Price: $32.80
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.98 (click here)
Category: VHS Video
See more movie releases


(Click here)
Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada

VHS Tape Cover Information

Actor: Barbara Britton, Brian Donlevy, Fay Bainter, Joel McCrea, Sonny Tufts
Director: Stuart Gilmore
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 87 minutes
Release Date: 1996-05-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Universal Studios
Studio: Universal Studios

VHS Movie Reviews of Owen Wister's The Virginian (Universal Western Collection)

Movie Review: Fair Joel McCrea Remake Of A Gary Cooper Classic
Summary: 3 Stars

It had to be a thankless task to remake one of the classic Westerns of all time, one that has a special place in the heart of filmlovers because it was one of the first great talking Westerns.

Yet and still, Hollywood has never let a little thing like unenviable comparison stop from remaking a classic, which they did when they remade the classic western The Virginian, starring Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, and Richard Arlen, this time starring Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, and Sonny Tufts in the corresponding roles.

McCrea, who was a lot better than he gave himself credit, is solid as the unnamed Virginian who tries to steer (no pun intended, but if it works for you, I'm glad!) his fellow cowboy Steve away from the murderous cattle rustler Trampas, and then sets out for vengeance when tragedy ensues. Donlevy is his usual nasty, snarling villain, and Tufts makes a fine simpleton doomed to make fatal choices, but this version does pale to the Cooper version, which wasn't even the first filmed version of the story.

Things are pretty routine, and there is nothing about the acting, directing, or the script that would make this film stand out among other Westerns.

This version of The Virginian is not an unpleasant film, just a pretty unremarkable one.

Summary of Owen Wister's The Virginian (Universal Western Collection)

In latter-day interviews Joel McCrea always maintained that producers would cast him "only if they couldn't get somebody really good, like [Gary] Cooper." This very pleasant actor was self-effacing to a fault (and largely mistaken), but when it came to the 1946 remake of The Virginian, he had a point. Cooper had done The Virginian already at the dawn of the talkies, and McCrea's incarnation pales beside his, even with the benefit of postcard-pretty Technicolor.

But then, this whole movie pales--alongside not only the classic version but most any run-of-the-mill Western. The elements of the sturdy Owen Wister tale--the growing tension between the Virginian and the black-clad cattleman/rustler Trampas, the running critique of vigilante justice by the new schoolmarm from the East, the slide of the hero's feckless pal Steve into outlawry--are still discernible. But everything's been softened (and the ornate frontier dialogue of the 1929 version is gone), and it's difficult to begin to understand how Stuart Gilmore, newly promoted from the film-editing bench, managed to turn in such a flaccid job of direction. He botches even the surefire sequence of the rustlers' hanging, when the Virginian has to... well, we won't play the spoiler.

McCrea's shortfall vis-?-vis Cooper is less severe than the gulf between Brian Donlevy's stolid villainy as Trampas and Walter Huston's venomous exuberance 17 years earlier, or Sonny Tufts's Steve vs. Richard Arlen's, or--especially--Barbara Britton's Vermont violet vs. Mary Brian's spunky schoolmarm. As Trampas might bark at this point: Oh, I'm sick o' this! Buy the 1929 movie. --Richard T. Jameson

Westerns VHS Video

VHS Video Movies
Movies most talked about in Sunday Night '60s TV!
I Dream of Jeannie - Seasons 1-3 ImageI Dream of Jeannie - Seasons 1-3
DVD
Best price: $86.99
The Batman: The Complete Seasons 1-4 ImageThe Batman: The Complete Seasons 1-4
Release date: 2008-04-08; DVD
Price in other shops: $79.98
Daniel Boone - Season One ImageDaniel Boone - Season One
GOLDHIL ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2006-09-26; DVD
Best price: $9.97
Price in other shops: $49.95
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete First Season ImageRocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete First Season
Release date: 2003-08-05; DVD
Best price: $14.10
Price in other shops: $21.95
Big Valley - Season 1 ImageBig Valley - Season 1
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2006-05-16; DVD
Best price: $17.84
Price in other shops: $29.98
Gilligan's Island - The Complete First Season ImageGilligan's Island - The Complete First Season
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2004-02-03; DVD
Best price: $16.00
Price in other shops: $39.98
Owen Wister's The Virginian (Universal Western Collection) ImageOwen Wister's The Virginian (Universal Western Collection)
Universal Studios; Release date: 1996-05-14; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $33.50
THE HIGH CHAPARRAL 11X14 COLOR PHOTO ImageTHE HIGH CHAPARRAL 11X14 COLOR PHOTO
MovieStore; MovieStore; Kitchen
Best price: $11.99
Jonny Quest - The Complete First Season ImageJonny Quest - The Complete First Season
Release date: 2004-05-11; DVD
Best price: $19.54
Price in other shops: $39.98
The Wild Wild West: The Complete Series ImageThe Wild Wild West: The Complete Series
Paramount; Release date: 2008-11-04; DVD
Best price: $86.35
Price in other shops: $129.98
Similar VHS Movies
The Man Behind the Gun / Thunder Over the Plains / Riding Shotgun ImageThe Man Behind the Gun / Thunder Over the Plains / Riding Shotgun
Release date: 2006-11-07; DVD
Best price: $8.37
Price in other shops: $14.98
The Stalking Moon ImageThe Stalking Moon
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-08-26; DVD
Best price: $5.35
Price in other shops: $12.97
Fox Western Classics (Rawhide / The Gunfighter / Garden of Evil) ImageFox Western Classics (Rawhide / The Gunfighter / Garden of Evil)
Fox; Release date: 2008-05-13; DVD
Best price: $10.98
Price in other shops: $19.98
Man of the West ImageMan of the West
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-05-13; DVD
Best price: $7.52
Price in other shops: $14.98
The Gunfight at Dodge City ImageThe Gunfight at Dodge City
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-05-13; DVD
Best price: $7.29
Price in other shops: $14.98
Oklahoman ImageOklahoman
Fox Home Entertainment; Release date: 1993-02-24; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.50
Four Faces West ImageFour Faces West
Release date: 2003-07-22; DVD
Best price: $8.62
Price in other shops: $14.98
Ramrod ImageRamrod
Republic Pictures; Release date: 1998-01-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $32.63
South of St Louis ImageSouth of St Louis
Republic Pictures; Release date: 1998-01-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops: $14.98
The Virginian ImageThe Virginian
Warner Bros. Home Video; Release date: 2000-07-11; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $23.83
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners