James Stewart: The Western Collection

In many of Stewart’s Westerns of the 1950s, especially those with director Anthony Mann, there’s a moment—let’s call it the psychological money shot—when our troubled hero, who’s fast with a gun and has a nasty past he’s trying to leave behind, is pushed too far. As the camera comes in close, you see the crazy in Stewart’s eyes. Serious crazy. Somebody’s gonna get it, and get it good. It’s there in the classic Winchester ’73, the solid Bend of the River, the underappreciated The Far Country and the so-so Night Passage (it’s there in non-Westerns too; check out his face in Vertigo).

In four of the six films collected here (the exceptions are the lighter Destry Rides Again and The Rare Breed), Stewart the American everyman reveals dark obsessions, roiling familial tensions (in two of these films he’s chasing a brother gone bad) and an embodiment of the struggle between rugged individualism and community values. All of these films are already on DVD, and the only extra, annoyingly, is an audio interview with Stewart done as a commentary on Winchester ’73. The transfer is good, though some scenes in several of the films look as if the print colors have bled a little. Somebody ought to have done a little restoration. But if you don’t own any of these and are thinking of buying any (they’re being sold individually, too), put down the little bit extra and get the whole set. You can watch for that crazy face and prepare for the shooting to commence.