Alvarez Kelly
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.97 You Save: $7.98 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.00 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Alvarez Kelly
Movie Review: An Entertaining Civil War Film
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a good American Civil War adventure film full of bravado and action. William Holden and an one-eyed Richard Widmark turn in credible performances as reluctant partners in a raid for Union cattle. It also features Janice Rule, a foppish Patrick O'Neal and a bawdy Victoria Shaw. There are some good skirmish sequences and a plot containing some witty dialogue. Some of the plantation sequence is a little reminiscent of John Ford's "The Horse Soldiers" also with Holden. It contains an adequate score composed by Johnny Green of "Raintree County" distinction and beautiful photography by Joseph MacDonald. The stalwart Edward Dmytryk leisurely directed it for pure cinematic enjoyment. The DVD widescreen images are as crisp as ever.Movie Review: mature western
Summary: 5 Stars
Wonderful adult adventure story with a story that reaches beyond its genre, mixed with subtle humor,an anti-war and anti-hero message, with just enough violence to make it real without making you sick, but no gratuitous sex to help keep the focus of the average 3 1/2-minute attention span. All with a cast that doesn't remind you of your Grade 13 High School class.Movie Review: One great western in my DVD library
Summary: 5 Stars
I am William Holden fan and love him in the Wild Bunch, but Alvarez Kelly is more light hearted and entertaining in my watching it over and over. It is more for the family to enjoy than not.Movie Review: Alvarez Kelly, revisited
Summary: 4 Stars
Its funny how (to me) lines from movies sometimes bubble to the surface of consciousness from out of nowhere. I hadn't thought about "Alvarez Kelly" in years. Recently, in my minds's eye, I recalled the image of an eye-patched Confederate leader named Col.Tom Rossiter,(Richard Widmark) silently and solemnly inquire "Did you please her.....Kelly"? That simple line was so fraught with innuendo and suggestion that it always stuck with me. So on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I popped a widescreen version of "Alvarez Kelly" into my DVD and sat back to review and enjoy this 1966 Civil War oater (or should I say "beefer")? It was a decent ride. Alvarez Kelly (William Holden) enjoys pursuing the finer things in life, his earthly habits subsidized in part by trading as a cattle speculator or war profiteer depending upon your point of view. In this capacity, he has no particular loyalty to the North or the South. However, and as the opening credits point out, all armies in all times require food as well as armaments to prevail. As the Yankees and the Confederates fight for control over Kelly's 2500 head of cattle, he is unwillingly forced to provide his services to the boys in Gray. This fact in no way serves to curb his rather prodigious libido, and he continues the shameless pursuit of any woman who has the slightest physical beauty. Released in the mid-Sixties, Bond mania was in full swing and I would argue that this film was influenced by and shared some obvious similarities in attitude and tone with agent 007. Anyway, enter Liz Pickering (Janice Rule), the shapely but long suffering intended of Rossiter, a physically diminished yet gallant and honorable leader of the Southern cause. Liz is instantly drawn to Kelly's virility and earthly ways and inevitably, favors are shared. Her rather brief on screen appearance only serves to provide a convienient source of personal friction between Rossiter and Kelly. Inevitably though, the war intrudes and a battle for control of the cattle looms. Kelly, awarded with a battlefield commission takes charge of a desperate situation in his own unique way. The cinematography of this film is crisp. The strong performances by Holden and Widmark really play off each other well. All in all, this Western is elevated a notch or two above the average because of Edward Dmytryk's solid direction, an acceptable musical score although they could have lost the hokey song at the beginning, decent photography, good character actors, an interesting premise and manages to deliver all this in under two hours. Given contemporary standards, I can't help but wonder how Hollywood would handle a randy character like Kelly today.Movie Review: Alvarez Kelly was Mexican?
Summary: 4 Stars
I was sleepy when I started watching this movie thinking I was going to fall asleep, but after 15 or 20 minutes I was caught in the story and I remained fully awake during the whole movie. I agree with everybody's reviews posted here. It is a good movie with a good story well told. Based on the true event known as "the Hampton's Cattle Raid" or "The Beefsteak Raid". I am giving the movie 4 stars because fictitious Alvarez Kelly was supposed to be Mexican-Irish and he did not look or sound either Mexican or Irish. Hollywood legend William Holden was too "John Wayne" like. But this is what was working at the time, not exactly OSCAR material, but it sold, this is what characterized the 60's movies. Putting that aside, the movie is enjoyable. My respects to the real cattlemen during the filming of this movie. Thats a lot of cows! The DVD has both full and wide screen, which I always appreciate.
More Movie Reviews:
1 2
1 2