I put this movie in the other day, and just for the hell of it, checked special features. The only special feature was an interview with James Stewart, so I chose it. Surprisingly, that "interview" turned out to be a full length commentary by Stewart himself. I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it. DThis is the first time I've ever seen one of my real favorite actors doing a commentary. Does anyone know if Jimmy did commentary on any other of his movies for DVD?
shareI don't have the DVD of Winchester '73 (though I wish I did because it's a fabulous western). In the trivia section, it mentions this was the only movie that Stewart did commentary about the making of one of his films.
"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."
I just listened to his commentary. Some great insights to this film and his career in general. And not just film but stage and radio. Stewart seemed to really enjoy working in radio. Another interesting note was his partnership with his horse, "Pie." The owner of the horse, a woman named Stevie Myers, would never let Stewart purchase "Pie" but that didn't stop him from using the horse for nearly 20 years. They made 17 films together, the last being "Firecreek" (1968).
http://www.wildwestweb.net/pie.html
The commentary for Winchester 73 was done for the Laserdisc version in the 80's and reused for the DVD.
It was a fascinating commentary,and it's sad that Stewert died right before the coming of the DVD and he had a chance to commentaries for his other films. I would love to have heard him on "Vertigo".
I agree this is a fine film and an excellent western. The only reason I have not purchased it for my DVD library is that "Winchester 73" is not availible in widescreen
shareThe only reason I have not purchased it for my DVD library is that "Winchester 73" is not availible in widescreen
At times it is more general interview than commentary. Stewart has to constantly be prodded to speak or comment. But his Hollywood memories, about this film, and others in his career, are very interesting. For his glimpse into how things were, and worked, as he came along, and in regard to certain scenes in this film - when he actually talks about the film - I think anyone would be missing something important not to listen to him all the way through.
For anyone interesting in film, when they actually knew how to make movies, etc - it's a very interesting running interview, and sometimes commentary.
First off, this DVD does a piss-poor job of explaining that the Stewart "interview" is more or less a full feature commentary. The only reason I ever clicked on it was because it came up automatically after the credits.
That said, it is AWESOME. This commentary was done when Stewart was in his 80s, so I cut him a little slack for his needing to be "prodded", as someone stated. The guy is tremendously articulate and sheds alot of light on things. And at the time it was recorded, the idea of a feature commentary was quite nouveau, so it's undersandable the way it isn't exactly in line with what we've grown accustomed to in the DVD-era.
I haven't heard the full commentary yet. I just put it on to hear a couple minutes out of interest, and found the interviewer's tone really annoying. However, I can't wait to hear the rest of it, because I'm sure Stewart himself is going to be fascinating to listen to.
- - - - - - - -
www.davidlrattigan.blogspot.com
www.dictionaryofhammer.com
Do you know if it's on all the DVD versions? Sadly no info on it on amazon, but I'd sure love to hear it.
http://idrinkyourmilkshake08.blogspot.com/
I could be wrong. But is this one of the few or only commentaries by an actor from the golden age of Hollywood? At any rate it is terrific, and in a way, more enjoyable than the film itself. The interviewer (sorry don't have the name) is excellent as well and gives Stewart lots of room to tell his marvelous stories of being part of the studio era.