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The PlainsmanRating:
Release Date: 01 June, 2004 Retail Price: $14.98 OUR Price: $13.48 You SAVE: $1.50! Cast: Complete Cast (6 total) |
The Plainsman Reviews
FAUX HISTORICAL EPIC - FLASHY BUT INACCURATE
"The Plainsman" represents the directorial prowess of Cecil B. DeMille at its most inaccurate and un-factual. It sets up parallel plots for no less stellar an entourage than Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper), Buffalo Bill Cody (James Ellison), Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur), George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln to interact, even though in reality Lincoln was already dead at the time the story takes place. Every once in a while DeMille floats dangerously close toward the truth, but just as easily veers away from it into unabashed spectacle and showmanship. The film is an attempt to buttress Custer's last stand with a heap of fiction that is only loosely based on the lives of people, who were already the product of manufactured stuffs and legends.
TRANSFER: Considering the vintage of the film, this is a moderately appealing transfer, with often clean whites and extremely solid blacks. There's a considerable amount of film grain in some scenes and an absence of it at other moments. All in all, the image quality is therefore somewhat inconsistent, but it is never all bad or all good - just a bit better than middle of the road. Age related artifacts are kept to a minimum and digital anomalies do not distract. The audio is mono but nicely balanced.
EXTRAS: Forget it. It's Universal!
BOTTOM LINE: As pseudo-history painted on celluloid, this western is compelling and fun. Just take its characters and story with a grain of salt - in some cases - a whole box seems more appropriate!
Grand Old-Fashioned Movie-Making
The Plainsman is terrific fun, grand and old-fashioned movie-making in the best sense of the word. Gary Cooper is splendid as Wild Bill Hickok. And even though the facts are bent and twisted, there is something so honest in his portrayal of Hickok, you get the idea that he has managed to reveal the real Hickok. Jean Arthur is also wonderful, as Calamity Jane. A real flaw is James Ellison as Buffalo Bill, he throws off every scene he appears in, especially when in the same frame as the iconic Cooper. It is also less than politically correct in its treatment of Native Americans.
More Customer Reviews (4 total)
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