5-Star Westerns (3 Discs)

Titles Comprise:

Rio Bravo: On one side is an army of gunmen dead-set on springing a murderous sidekick from jail. On the other is Sheriff John T. Chance and his two deputies: one a drunk, the other a cripple. Place your bets!

John Wayne is Chance in Rio Bravo, a lean Western classic packing solid heroics around a strong emotional core. He's joined by Dean Martin as the deputy coming off a two-year drunk, Walter Brennan as the old coot whose fiery spirit outmatches his hobbled stride, Ricky Nelson as a youngster out to prove himself by joining the lawmen and Angie Dickinson as a woman with a past who hopes to rope Chance.

Director Howard Hawks already lifted the Western to new heights with Red River. With Rio Bravo, Hawkes does it again, capturing the straight-from-the-barrel Old West many grew up with - a legendary West that fits all the tall talents of Wayne and Hawkes like a Colt 44 fits a weathered holster.

The Wild Bunch: The year is 1913, just one year short of World War 1. Disguised as U.S. soldiers, a gang rides into a Texas border town. Silently, they enter and rob the railroad company, but an ambush lies in wait.

When the gang emerges, the company's hired gunmen open fire. Men, women, and children are caught in the crossfire. The gang escape to their hideout in the desert where they find that the loot for which they fought so hard is worthless. With the railroad company hard on their heels, the gang, lead by Pike, head for the apparent safety of the Mexican revolutionaries and representatives of the ruling Government. As a result of these separate meetings, Pike and his gang are forced to re-examine the principles that had, until then, ruled their lives.

The Searchers: With The Searchers, John Wayne and director John Ford forged an indelible saga of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it.

Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, an ex-Confederate who sets out to find his niece, captured by Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger, thirst, the elements or loneliness. And in his obsessive quest, Ethan finds something unexpected: his own humanity. One of the most influential movies ever made.