BY LEE PFEIFFER
Andrew V. McLaglen was almost predestined to be a movie director. The
son of the legendary character actor Victor McLaglen, Andrew came of age
on movie sets. His father often appeared in John Ford Westerns and
Andrew developed a passion for the genre. He ultimately gained a
foothold in the television industry during the late 1950s and early
1960s when TV Westerns were all the rage. He proved himself to be a
capable and reliable director and eventually moved on to feature films.
McLaglen scored a major hit with the rollicking Western comedy
"McLintock!" starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in 1963. Two years
later, he teamed with James Stewart for the poignant Civil War drama
"Shenandoah". The film was a big success with both critics and at the
boxoffice. Thus, Universal, the studio that released "Shenandoah", hoped
to capitalize on the film's success and re-teamed McLaglen and Stewart
for a Western, "The Rare Breed".
Adding to the reunion aspect of the
production, it co-starred Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith. O'Hara had
co-starred with Stewart in the 1962 comedy "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation"
and Keith was O'Hara's leading man in the Disney classic "The Parent
Trap". Got all that? The script by Ric Hardman takes an unusual aspect
of the Old West for its central plot line. Martha Price (O'Hara) and her
daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills) have arrived in Texas from their home in
England. They are bringing with them their prized Hereford bull, a
breed not known in America. Their hope is to sell the animal at auction
so that cross breeding American cows will eventually result in superior
stock. The prim and proper upper-crust British ladies have endured a
tragedy that isn't depicted on screen: the death of Martha's husband on
the ship en route to America, although they seem fairly unperturbed, as
they only fleetingly reference the dearly departed in the course of what
follows. The Hereford is mocked by the cattle barons because it lacks
the signature horns of traditional Texas steers. In a convoluted plot
device, a smarmy rich man (David Brian) with an obsession for seducing
Martha, bids on the Hereford to impress her. When his awkward attempts
to bed her fail, somehow another unseen buyer steps forward and the
beast must be transported to him via the efforts of a wrangler named
Burnett (James Stewart). At this point, the story becomes difficult to
follow. Suffice it to say that Burnett agrees to escort Martha, Hilary
and their prized bull to the far-off destination to conclude the deal.
Along the way, they are ambushed by Simons (Jack Elam), a greedy crook
who causes a stampede of another cattle herd being escorted by Burnett's
friend Jamie (Don Galloway.) In the resulting chaos, Simons intends to
steal the Hereford as well as the money Martha has been paid to deliver
the bull. If all of this sounds confusing, watching it unfurl on screen
makes the plot even more fragmented when Martha accuses Burnett of also
trying to swindle her. Ultimately, they all wind up at the outpost of
the new owner, Bowen (Brian Keith), a Scottish eccentric who runs his
own cattle empire and sees the possibility of crossbreeding the Hereford
with his own herd.
"The Rare Breed" may have an offbeat premise for a Western but it's
predictable in every other way. Any time a grumpy leading man meets an
elegant leading lady, they start off griping with one another but you
know they will ultimately begin to fall in love. The problem is that
Bowen is also smitten by Martha and he makes his play to steal her away
from Burnett. There is no suspense because the only antagonist in the
film is killed off early and any remain tension is relegated to whether
the Hereford will successfully crossbreed and who Martha will choose to
settle down with. There's not much to keep the viewer on the edge of
their seat unless you have a burning interest in the mating habits of
cattle. Stewart plays his usual "aw, shucks" nice guy, O'Hara is her
usual feisty, independent woman and Brian Keith gets to steal every
scene he's in playing a bearded, shaggy haired character who looks like
the crossbreeding product of Snuffy Smith and Yosemite Sam. The script
tosses in a perfunctory love story between Mills and Galloway, who plays
the role in a far too contemporary vein, as though he was in a Frankie
and Annette beach movie. Andrew V. McLaglen's direction is competent but
uninspired. It's as though everyone was slumming to pick up a quick,
fat pay check. Not helping matters is the cheesy look of the production
with a matte painting used to represent Bowen's outpost and an abundance
of poorly-lit studio sets that gives the latter half of the film all of
the sweep and grandeur of an episode of "Bonanza!". There is a lively
score by John Williams (billed here as "Johnny Williams") and the one
action highlight of the film- the stampede- is very well-staged and
quite exciting. (The stunt women in a wagon were almost killed in the
action but escaped with minor injuries. McLaglen wisely decided to leave
it all in the final cut.) "The Rare Breed" isn't a bad film, in fact,
it's a pleasant time-killer but falls far short of its potential, given
the estimable talent involved.
The Kino Lorber Blu-ray features an absolutely pristine transfer that is so impressive that it almost compensates for the weaknesses in the film. There is also a commentary track by film historian Simon Abrams, who gets high marks for extensively researching the film as well as Stewart and O'Hara's careers. Abrams spends most of his time reading long excerpts from biographies of the stars, sometimes at the expense of what is transpiring on screen. We do get to learn some interesting facts, such as John Ford having caused a strain in the working relationship between O'Hara and Stewart on their previous collaboration, "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation", despite the fact that Ford had nothing to do with the production. We also learn that O'Hara came to like Stewart personally, but considered him an "ungenerous" actor who would find ways to hog every scene. The weakness in Abrams' approach of largely reading by rote is that he glosses over key aspects of the film, namely its interesting cast. Great character actors such as Jack Elam, Harry Carey, Jr., David Brian and Ben Johnson are only briefly mentioned, if they are mentioned at all. Bizarrely, Abrams all but ignores the presence of Brian Keith, despite the fact that he was a major star playing an over-the-top character. Still, you can learn a lot from his commentary, even if it does meander at points with extended discussions relating to Ronald Reagan and Hereford cows.The Blu-ray also contains the original trailer and a substantial gallery of other trailers relating to films of James Stewart and Andrew V. McLaglen.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON