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Seven Men from Now (1956);
Decision at Sundown (1957)

Seven Men from Now (1956)
July 13, 2012 - 7:30 pm

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive. Funded by The Film Foundation and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Seven Men from Now (1956)

Directed by Budd Boetticher

A masterpiece on its own, Boetticher’s first film starring Randolph Scott with a script by Burt Kennedy set the template for the Ranown cycle to follow. A man stricken by grief, thirsting for revenge, hunts his wife’s killers through a rugged landscape that grows increasingly barren until his quest culminates in a rock-hewn arena of death. André Bazin called it an “exemplary western” and Sergio Leone must have memorized every shot of its ferocious finale.

Warner Bros. Producer: Andrew V. McLaglen, Robert E. Morrison. Screenwriter: Burt Kennedy. Based on a story by Burt Kennedy. Cinematographer: William H. Clothier. Editor: Everett Sutherland. Cast: Randolph Scott, Gail Russell, Lee Marvin, Walter Reed, John Larch.

35mm, color, 78 min.

Watch a before and after restoration clip, below:

Decision at Sundown (1957)

Directed by Budd Boetticher

The Ranown Westerns scripted by Burt Kennedy tend to center on the journey. Charles Lang’s contributions to the cycle begin at the terminus. Bent on revenge, Bart Allison (Scott) rides into Sundown on the wedding day of the man he’s been hunting. Not inclined to stand on ceremony (although he shaves first), Allison disrupts the service triggering a stand-off that draws the entire town into the conflict.

Colombia Pictures Corp. Producer: Harry Joe Brown. Screenwriter: Charles Lang. Based on the novel by Vernon L. Fluharty. Cinematographer: Burnett Guffey. Editor: Al Clark. Cast: Randolph Scott, John Carroll, Karen Steele, Valerie French, Noah Beery Jr.

35mm, color, 77 min.