The Rare Breed Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Rare Breed Blu-ray Movie Review

Where's the beef?

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 30, 2024

A lesser-known Western late in the career of Jimmy Stewart, Andrew V. McLaglen's The Rare Breed proves that even Hollywood's biggest stars can get upstaged by cute animals. Here it's "Vindicator", an adorable hornless Hereford bull owned by British widow Martha Evans (Maureen O'Hara) and her lovely young daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills); they want to bring the breed to the American West per her late husband's wishes but need an experienced wrangler to help with the transport. Enter Sam "Bulldog" Burnett (Stewart), who agrees to the job while hiding his own selfish motives on the long journey to a Texas ranch owned by retired Scottish military officer Alexander Bowen (Brian Keith). Battling the harsh elements, a cattle stampede, and even each other, this one's about the journey and its destination.

The Rare Breed moves along at a decent clip during the bulk of its running time, letting the triangle of its three lead characters marinate while introducing new faces and places along the way, including a rival wrangler Deke Simons (Jack Elam) who works for rancher John Taylor (Alan Caillou) and always seems to be one step behind our weary travelers. But perhaps the most notable is handsome Jamie Bowen (Don Galloway), the son of Alexander who's leading a herd of Longhorn cattle back to the ranch when a fierce stampede leaves him critically injured. Young Hilary helps to nurse him back to health along the way and once they arrive at Bowen's ranch, which naturally leads to bit of puppy love. All the while, their brusque new Scottish host -- who sports an unruly red beard that soon gets shaved off -- takes a liking to Martha, and its not long before something of a love triangle develops after Sam's heart begins to soften.

But yeah, cattle, right? Though lovable Vindicator takes a temporary backseat to The Rare Breed's human melodrama, they nonetheless try to do the job they came to do while battling a harsh winter and more outside forces. It all adds up to a somewhat uneven but watchable production that, for various reasons, ends ep feeling like a cross between more serious dramatics (the stampede, which almost accidentally killed a pair of stuntwomen, is truly something to behold) and a Disney family film from that particular era... which perhaps isn't surprising, given Brian Keith's role in The Parent Trap earlier that decade alongside Juliet Mills' sister Hayley. And speaking of Keith, he just can't help but feel somewhat out of place here, with his fiery beard and unkempt eyebrows calling way too much attention to what should have been a more reserved and unobtrusive role. (Somewhere in the middle is O'Hara and Stewart's romance, which doesn't feel all that genuine given their infamous on-set friction but it does bolster their earlier bickering.) The end result may not be seamless or even great, but general casting quibbles aside there's obviously some merit here.

Perhaps The Rare Breed's most noticeable strengths -- besides for its ultra-wide cinematography, which really is quite striking at times -- are that it certainly means well and attempts to offer a little something for everyone, which makes it entertaining enough during long and languorous stretches to recommend to any fans of the cast and admittedly original subject matter. Luckily, Kino's welcome Blu-ray offers a decent amount of support for the main feature including very good A/V merits and couple of bonus features including a recent feature-length audio commentary.

The Rare Breed Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This 1080p transfer represents a solid upgrade over Universal's respectable 2005 DVD edition, an anamorphic disc that did a decent job of showing off the film's attractive ultra-wide visuals. Not surprisingly given its time period and subject matter, earth tones are prominent and often alternate between dusty browns and lush greenery, with occasional bursts of vivid hues (such as the opening festival) and cooler tones like a few wintry scenes later in the film. So while there isn't non-stop variety, The Rare Breed has a solid amount of visual interest and it's well-maintained on this stable and watchable presentation. Some damage remains -- especially during the opening titles -- but dust, dirt, and other debris isn't really intrusive at any other times although it is present on occasion. Fine detail is generally crisp, whether it's a scene filmed on location or on an unconvincing sound stage, and depth follows suit. (One particular scene, which was clearly shot using blue screen against a static background, has always looked quite suspect but this is a source material issue.) No major encoding issues are present, as The Rare Breed has plenty of room to breathe on this dual-layered disc. While there's a bit of room for improvement, die-hard fans should be happy with Kino's transfer.

The Rare Breed Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix follows suit with a clean, stable presentation of the film's original sound track that doesn't suffer from much in the way of age-related wear-and-tear. Dialogue remains generally crisp and well-balanced, with only Alexander Bowen's thick Scottish brogue requiring the potential use of this disc's optional English subtitles. Otherwise it's fairly smooth sailing with well-defined background effects, a decent dynamic range, and plenty of room left over for the original score by a young John Williams. Again, no real complaints to be found here.

The Rare Breed Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with handsome poster-themed cover artwork. The bonus features are predictably small in number and led by a brand-new feature-length audio commentary.

• Audio Commentary - This new and exclusive track features film critic Simon Abrams and is relatively dense with information about the stars of The Rare Breed -- just not so much about the actual film. It's nonetheless a decently-researched piece, heavy on quotes from several books including co-star Maureen O'Hara's biography, as Abrams also talks about on-set friction between O'Hara and Jimmy Stewart and other parts of their careers. John Williams' original score is also discussed, as are the Longhorn and Hereford cattle breeds. It's not exactly the most essential audio commentary around, but worth a listen for fans of the key cast members.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:09) - This vintage promotional piece can also be seen here.

The Rare Breed Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Andrew McLaglen's The Rare Breed is an entertaining but not exceptional Western featuring James Stewart, as the story is fairly lightweight and several parts of its narrative don't connect very well. That said, the cinematography is gorgeous and the subject matter is nothing if not unique, even if portions of it get bogged down with romantic subplots that don't feel all that necessary. Kino's Blu-ray supports the film with solid A/V merits and the extras add a small amount of value. This isn't the strongest blind buy, but it's worth a look for fans of Stewart and O'Hara.