Criterion Collection Announces Its July Of 2023 Film Restoration Calendar

This past week, the Criterion Collection announced its slate of film restorations that will be heading home during the month of July.   All four selections are 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack SKUs.

There are Westerns and then there are Westerns.   The John Ford Westerns with John Wayne (Monument Valley … The Searchers, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon), those remain special to this day.   Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch stands-alone.   Genius.  The Eastwood “Man with No Name” films.   Eastwood beyond the star and as a director has his own library of Westerns.

There was also a countless parade of B-Westerns that populated theatres from the 1930s until the post-War period … they are remembered for their stars, not so much their plots.   Silver screen legends like Rex Allen, Bob Baker, Don “Red” Barry, Rex Bell, Johnny Mack Brown, Sunset Carson, Wild Bill Elliott, Hoot Gibson, Monte Hall … the list goes on and on.   Roy Rogers, Gene Autrey, Tim Holt, Buck Jones … hundreds of B-Westerns; a whole genre onto itself.

Westerns.   A favorite action genre.  

Criterion in July has a focus on this genre.   This will in the form of a 4K salute “The Ranown Cycle.”   These were moderately budgeted Westerns that broke through and remain in the public-eye to this day.   They were a collaboration between Western star Randolph Scott and producer Harry Joe Brown (hence: Ranown), with Budd Boetticher directing.   If there is such a thing as arthouse Westerns, these are just that.

On July 18, the Criterion Collection will release all five of the Brown – Scott - Boetticher Westerns as a three-disc 4K Ultra HD set (with companion Blu-rays).  Titled The Ranown Westerns, the collection includes The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Again, Ride Lonesome and Comanche Station.

Bonus features include commentary options for The Tall T, Ride Lonesome and Comanche Station, plus archival featurettes and more.   A stunning presentation.

Rounding out the 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack selections from Criterion during the month of July are director Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (July 11), Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (July 18) and filmmaker Carl Franklin’s underappreciated One False Move (July 25).