Advertisement

Kenneth Turan’s DVD picks: Westerns by master directors

“Man of the West,” “My Darling Clementine” and “The Naked Spur” are Kenneth Turan’s DVD picks.

Share

While even westerns directed by limited talents can have their charms, westerns made by masterful directors are not to be missed, as a trio of new DVDs demonstrates.

“My Darling Clementine,” directed by the great John Ford, gets the full Criterion Collection treatment, with lots of extras of all sorts. Tombstone, Ariz., may look odd set in the midst of Monument Valley, but Henry Fonda is as iconic as they come as lawman Wyatt Earp.

Though he’s not always thought of as a western director, Anthony Mann has made some of the best. Both the Gary Cooper-starring “Man of the West” (from Kino Lorber) and the James Stewart-starring “The Naked Spur” (from Warner Bros.) feature the kind of brooding atmospherics that Mann specialized in.

Advertisement
Advertisement