Forty Guns Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Forty Guns Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 23, 2018

Sam Fuller's "Forty Guns" (1957) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include a vintage trailer for the film; archival recorded Q&A session with Sam Fuller; and video interview with film historian and western expert Jean-Louis Leutrat. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Stephane Joudet, an extract from Sam Fuller's autobiography, and rare archival imagery. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Sam Fuller’s Forty Guns is a lot like Sam Peckinpah’s The Killer Elite -- it’s got a heck of an energy, some top-notch panoramic visuals, and stars that are doing their best to impress. You feel that it ought to be a special film. But the more time you spend with it, the more you begin to realize that it is just rehashing a lot of old clichés. And just like James Caan’s pro looked like a fish out of water amongst the ninjas in Peckinpah’s film, Barbara Stanwyck’s tough rancher sticks out like a sore thumb while leading her all-male posse.

The action begins deep into the heart of Arizona where Federal marshal Griff Bonnell (Barry Sullivan) and his two brothers, Wes (Gene Barry) and Chico (Robert Dix), have their first encounter with "the woman with a whip" (Stanwyck) and her hired guns. The three outsiders are tracking down a man named Howard Swain, who has robbed the stagecoach mail and must be tried in court. Soon after, the brothers arrive in Tombstone and Griff is asked to help the nearly-blind sheriff John Chisum (Hak Worden) because he has gotten in trouble with Jessica’s dim-witted brother, Brockie (John Ericson). At first Griff refuses and declares that he is here only to get his man, but when shots are fired and the sheriff collapses in front of the local saloon, he confronts Brockie. Then he arrests the stunned troublemaker and, while his pals are watching him, makes sure that he is placed behind bars.

The news about Brockie’s arrest quickly reaches his sister and she arrives in town to get him out of jail. And she does without any resistance from the local defenders of the law.

Meanwhile, a beautiful girl (Eve Brent) steals Wes’ heart and he decides to marry her. The young man also reveals his intention to become the town’s new marshal. Inspired by Wes’ announcements, Chico also declares that he would like to be a lawman, but only angers Griff and he scolds him in a public speech. Eventually, Griff crosses paths with Swan, but trouble ensues when Brockie and a few of Jessica’s men decide to spoil Wes’ wedding.

The stylization, most of which is shaped up by some quite obvious noirish overtones, and good energy are what make Forty Guns worth seeing. However, instead of unloading his version of the harsh truth like he does in so many of his great crime thrillers, in this film Fuller frequently assumes the role of a sympathetic matchmaker who is on a mission to please his clients. It is an odd role for him that makes his missteps quite obvious and allows for a very unFuller-esque type of romantic sentimentality to become a permanent element of the narrative. It is the reason why the big character transformations, and specifically that of the feisty rancher during the second half, look seriously suspicious.

Once the main conflicts are identified some important characters veer off in new directions and the film creates the impression that the narrative will be significantly expanded. However, the interesting subthemes that begin to emerge alongside them -- like the odd dynamic of the relationship between the rancher and her violent brother -- are ignored in favor of straightforward action and cliched romance. This is unfortunate because it is arguably the one good option that Fuller had to make his film look more nuanced, and possibly even mature, as at times it seems he intended.

Forty Guns Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Sam Fuller's Forty Guns arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

I decided to take a quick look at this release to see how it compares to the one that Criterion recently produced for the U.S. market. There are a couple of obvious discrepancies. First, the older remaster is sightly softer and in certain areas the visuals also become flatter. I think that some light digital work was done to rebalance the visuals, but there are some small undesirable effects that were introduced with it. So, on the 4K remaster that Criterion used grain is better exposed, distributed, and resolved. Additionally, the older remaster is more aggressively graded and this actually tends to exacerbate some of the softness and flatness. In darker footage, in particular, shadow definition isn't optimal, and this is something that is easy to see even without referencing the new 4K remaster. Image stability on the old remaster is very good. There are no large damage marks, cuts, or torn frames, but a few tiny dirt spots occasionally pop up here and there. On the new 4K remaster these spots have been eliminated. All in all, I think that on a large screen the difference between the two remasters becomes rather significant because depth and entire ranges of nuances become a lot more convincing on the new remaster. I see a difference in the fluidity as well because occasionally when the camera zooms on the old remaster the flatness makes its presence felt. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Forty Guns Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The lossless track is very strong. In fact, while performing different comparisons with the lossless track from Criterion's new release of Forty Guns the only spot where I actually noticed a bit of extremely light buzz in the upper register was during the song that is sung around the 01:17:14 mark. However, I do not think that this is something that folks viewing the release at home will notice. Overall, I think that the lossless track serves the film very well. My score is 4.75/5.00.

Forty Guns Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Forty Guns. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Jean-Louis Leutrat - in this vintage interview, French film historian and western expert Jean-Louis Leutrat highlights the four westerns that Sam Fuller directed and their placement in his body of work, and explains what makes Forty Guns unusual. In French, with optional English subtitles. (17 min).

• Fuller at the NFT - presented here is an archival recorded Q&A session with director Sam Fuller that took place at the National Film Theatre in London, in 1969. A wide range of topics are discussed, from the role that violence has in his films, his directing skills and how they were acquired (without preliminary training), some of the director's lensing and cutting preferences, the ways in which Hollywood treated writers, etc. Audio only. (78 min).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Stephane Joudet, an extract from Sam Fuller's autobiography, and rare archival imagery.

Forty Guns Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I decided to take a quick look at Eureka Entertainment's Blu-ray release of Forty Guns, which was the first high-definition release of Sam Fuller's western, and see how it compares to the recent release that Criterion produced for the U.S. market, which is sourced from a new 4K remaster. Rather predictably, the new remaster is superior and in some pretty obvious ways that folks with larger screens will quite easily identity. So, if this is a film that you enjoy a lot, consider picking up the U.S. release, but keep in mind that you need to be able to play Region-A "locked" discs.