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$11.49 - Warlock
Product DescriptionIn this Classic Western, Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn clean up a lawless town, only to discover there's even more unfinished business. Warlock is a fascinating yet frustrating CinemaScope Western, almost unique in the genre for being based on a literarily respectable novel--Oakley Hall's 1958 recasting of the Wyatt-Earp-in-Tombstone legend. As adapted by TV dramatist Robert Alan Aurthur, the tale focuses on three men: the elegant gambler/gunfighter/lawman-for-hire Blaisdell (Henry Fonda in the Earp part); his lethal partner and creepily possessive best friend Morgan (Anthony Quinn as a variation on Doc Holliday); and Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark), a ranch cowboy more burdened with scruples than his fellow rowdies, who have made the silver-mining town of Warlock their violent playground. To reclaim their community, the townsfolk strike a bargain with the devil they don't know--Blaisdell--in hopes of being delivered from the devil they do, the cowboys and their cold-blooded boss McQuown (former MGM juve Tom Drake in the Ike Clanton role). Fonda's and Widmark's characters evolve intriguingly; Blaisdell affords Western aficionados early hints of Fonda's badman Frank in Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, while Widmark's Gannon reforms, becomes town deputy, and has to go up against not only his old cronies but the hired marshal. Sad to say, despite its three strong leads and a script full of shootings, sadism, and no end of betrayals, the movie keeps bogging down from too much undigested backstory, too much talk, and Edward Dmytryk's flatfooted direction. Even the redoubtable cinematographer Joe MacDonald, who so stunningly shot John Ford's Earp-in-Tombstone classic My Darling Clementine 13 years earlier, disappoints with bland, featureless lighting better suited to a TV show. Speaking of which, future Star Trekker DeForest Kelley plays the only other McQuown rider with a conscience. --Richard T. Jameson
Most Recent Customer ReviewsDate : 2009-12-23 Summary : worst customer service on the web I chose to buy the dvd from them because they are a NC based company and they guaranteed delivery withing a week. the product took over two weeks to arrive and when it did the package literally had tire marks on it. obviously at some point it was run over by a vehicle. the case was broken, the dvd scratched.
i sent an e-mail and received an auto response. i called the company and they only have voice mail. I called during one of the three house a day their website claims they are open and they were in fact not.
returning the dvd was not easy and the company took zero responsibility.
its over a month, have never gotten a reply from the that was not a pre-generated bit of spam or a phone call, let alone any human contact.
still have no dvd, paid for it and fully expect to never have anything like justification from them.
Date : 2009-12-12 Summary : Warlock DVD Review Warlock is an intelligent Western with a fine cast. The widescreen DVD is of good quality.
Date : 2009-10-03 Summary : WARLOCK - WESTERN ANTHONY QUINN, HENRY FONDA, RICHARD WIDMARK AND DOROTHY MALONE WERE GREAT IN THIS 1959 WESTERN. ONE OF THE GREAT WESTERNS OF THE FIFTIES.
Date : 2009-07-09 Summary : Warlock=Tombstone Check Oakley Hall's Warlock Warlock is not only a masterpiece western, it is a fantastic creation of an even greater masterpiece of the novelist's art: Oakley Hall's Warlock, called by Thomas Pynchon the greatest American novel. It is certainly a candidate. Warlock is a supurb mythologizing of Tombstone circa. 1881. The novel, as is usually the case, is about three times as big as the movie, and the encapsulation of that time in US history in the novel is nothing short of a work of genius. Oakley Hall himself said that his history is not a report what happened, but the way it should have happened, or something much more profound to that effect. Changes have been made to make Henry Fonda's character closer, but not that much closer, to the legendary American iconic gunfighter mythos, than to the real Wyatt Earp, who he represents. Other changes to the historical action were created to make the film suitable to 1959 tastes, particularly making Sadie Marcus into a saintly schoolmar'm and making Doc Holliday's attachment to Wyatt Earp less--uh, emotionally correct. When I first saw the film, I recognized that "Billy" was mythically Billy Clanton, and said to myself, "My God! This is the gunfight at the OK corral. It was years until I even discovered the existence of Oakley Hall's Warlock, but when I did, I found it stunning. I recommend watching the film and reading the novel highly. Study the historic Earp clan (aka the Fighting Pimps of Tombstone) and see that these men really were, as the song says, "Brave, Courageous and Bold." Do not pass this experience up.
CL
Date : 2009-04-15 Summary : Not as good as I remembered, but a good, tough, mean Western Saw this as a kid, and was a bit disappointed when I watched the DVD tonight. Edward Dmytryk's direction is a bit slow at times, although the three lead actors bring great authority to their roles, and Quinn in particular has a great time as the creepy (and possibly gay-fixated) right hand to Fonda. The script has lots of shooting and killing, but it seems to be over at least 30 minutes before it actually is, and the many shootouts become repetitious. The female leads bring little to the film; Dorothy Malone pouts and postures, and Dolores Michaels was a fairly colorless ingenue.
Still, the film has its place as a more adult Western than many others, and can be recommended. The quality of the DVD is variable. The widescreen Cinemascope process is well captured, but the colors are often pale and washed out. And speaking of pale, why would Fox show a trailer of the Technicolor DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK in black and white?

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