Paramount Answers Call for John Wayne DVDs
LOS ANGELES - Noteworthy films starring the legendary John Wayne will be available on home video for the first time, thanks to a new deal between Batjac Productions and Paramount Home Entertainment.
Batjac -- a production company Wayne founded -- will introduce new DVDs of "The High and the Mighty" (1954), "Island in the Sky" (1953), "Hondo" (1953) and "McLintock!" (1962) next spring through Paramount.
Some Batjac projects not starring Wayne also will make their DVD debuts under this new agreement. Spring releases will include "Man in the Vault" (1956) with William Campbell, "Plunder of the Sun" (1953) with Glenn Ford, "Ring of Fear" (1954) with Clyde Beatty, "Seven Men From Now" (1956) with Randolph Scott and "Track of the Cat" (1954) with Robert Mitchum.
Batjac president Gretchen Wayne -- widow of John Wayne's son Michael -- says multiple studios pursued distribution deals for the Wayne titles because they had not been seen by the public since they aired on TV in the 1980s.
"What interested me in Paramount was their passion for the projects," Wayne says. "We have received many letters from fans asking when we are releasing these titles. Fans are going to be thrilled. They will be getting the very best."
"The High and the Mighty" DVD, for example, was created from a restored print and features 5.1 sound. Each Wayne DVD will include bonus features taken from Batjac's library: behind-the-scenes footage, new interviews and commentaries. The non-Wayne films also will feature extras.
Most of Wayne's other film projects were already distributed on video through Paramount, which now counts 63 Wayne projects under its purview. Other major Wayne pictures, including "The Searchers" and "Stagecoach," are available through Warner Home Video, while Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment also distributes some Wayne westerns.
September 26, 2004
September 22, 2004
Actor James Garner to Receive Lifetime Honor
LOS ANGELES - Veteran actor James Garner, whose career spans six decades and signature TV roles from "Maverick" to "The Rockford Files," was chosen on Wednesday to receive the Screen Actors Guild's highest honor.
Garner, 76, who built a career playing ruggedly charming, good-natured anti-heroes, will be presented with SAG's annual lifetime achievement award at its gala awards show on Feb. 5.
The show is carried live on the cable channel TNT. Garner, an Oklahoma native, entered show business in the 1950s after serving in the Korean War and gained fame on the TV western "Maverick." He played the wise-cracking Bret Maverick, a gambler and ladies man, who got by on his cunning rather than a six-gun and would just as soon duck a fight as face a showdown.
He left the show in 1960 in a contract dispute with producers, but brought his "Maverick"-like alter ego to a series of films, including "Thrill of It All," "Move Over, Darling," "The Great Escape" and "Support Your Local Sheriff!"
Garner said his screen persona as a guy smart enough to steer clear of a fight ran only so deep. "At times it's like me, but I used to have this temper. I used to get in a fight in a heartbeat. But that was many years ago," he told Reuters.
Garner had another prime-time hit as ex-con turned private detective Jim Rockford in "The Rockford Files," which ran from 1974 until he abruptly quit the show in 1980. He reprised Rockford for several TV movies in the late 1990s.
The role earned him an Emmy Award in 1977, his only victory in dozen TV acting nominations. He also received an Oscar nomination for his work opposite Sally Field in the 1985 feature comedy "Murphy's Romance."
Garner said his favorite role was as the cowardly American soldier who falls for Julie Andrews before being sent on a dangerous wartime mission in "The Americanization of Emily." He teamed up again with Andrews in the 1982 film "Victor/Victoria."
He returned to the big screen in 2000 in Clint Eastwood's astronaut adventure "Space Cowboys" and two years later in "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."
Last year, Garner joined the cast of the ABC sitcom "8 Simple Rules," playing a grandfather after the untimely death of series star John Ritter.
LOS ANGELES - Veteran actor James Garner, whose career spans six decades and signature TV roles from "Maverick" to "The Rockford Files," was chosen on Wednesday to receive the Screen Actors Guild's highest honor.
Garner, 76, who built a career playing ruggedly charming, good-natured anti-heroes, will be presented with SAG's annual lifetime achievement award at its gala awards show on Feb. 5.
The show is carried live on the cable channel TNT. Garner, an Oklahoma native, entered show business in the 1950s after serving in the Korean War and gained fame on the TV western "Maverick." He played the wise-cracking Bret Maverick, a gambler and ladies man, who got by on his cunning rather than a six-gun and would just as soon duck a fight as face a showdown.
He left the show in 1960 in a contract dispute with producers, but brought his "Maverick"-like alter ego to a series of films, including "Thrill of It All," "Move Over, Darling," "The Great Escape" and "Support Your Local Sheriff!"
Garner said his screen persona as a guy smart enough to steer clear of a fight ran only so deep. "At times it's like me, but I used to have this temper. I used to get in a fight in a heartbeat. But that was many years ago," he told Reuters.
Garner had another prime-time hit as ex-con turned private detective Jim Rockford in "The Rockford Files," which ran from 1974 until he abruptly quit the show in 1980. He reprised Rockford for several TV movies in the late 1990s.
The role earned him an Emmy Award in 1977, his only victory in dozen TV acting nominations. He also received an Oscar nomination for his work opposite Sally Field in the 1985 feature comedy "Murphy's Romance."
Garner said his favorite role was as the cowardly American soldier who falls for Julie Andrews before being sent on a dangerous wartime mission in "The Americanization of Emily." He teamed up again with Andrews in the 1982 film "Victor/Victoria."
He returned to the big screen in 2000 in Clint Eastwood's astronaut adventure "Space Cowboys" and two years later in "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."
Last year, Garner joined the cast of the ABC sitcom "8 Simple Rules," playing a grandfather after the untimely death of series star John Ritter.
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