Stars: William Holden, Victoria Shaw, Janice Rule, Richard Widmark, Patrick O'Neal, Roger C. Carmel

Director: Edward Dmytryk

Summary: A civil-war Western in which two men are at odds with each other over rustling cattle for the Confederates.

William Holden (NETWORK, SUNSET BOULEVARD) stars in this rugged Western--based on an actual incident--as a Mexican-Irish rancher who sells his herd to the Union army during the Civil War. An eye-patch-wearing Confederate colonel (Richard Widmark) tries to buy the cattle, but apolitical Kelly doesn't sell to him solely because he doesn't think Confederate money will ever be worth anything. However, the determined colonel kidnaps Kelly and forces him to steal the cattle back and drive them south to his hungry troops down in Virginia. Director Edward Dmytryk (THE CAINE MUTINY) provides the requisite roping, shooting, and punching; Johnny Mercer songs set the mood. There's also some romantic double-crossing as mansion owner Charity Warwick (Victoria Shaw) helps the colonel trap Kelly, who later repays the favor by wooing the colonel's frustrated sweetheart (Janice Rule). Holden is fairly laconic as Kelly, but Widmark brings furious energy to his role as the colonel. Weather-beaten regulars such as Arthur Franz, Patrick O'Neal, and Roger Carmel round out the cast. It's uneven but enjoyable fare, with the highlight a spectacular cattle stampede.

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

Alvarez Kelly(1966) doesn't really justify the description of "Western Classic" which Columbia Tristar attach to it, but it's a pleasant enough Western directed by Edward Dmytryk. The rather convoluted plot (adventurer plays one side off against the other on a cattle drive from Mexico during the Civil War) relies heavily on the charm of the two stars, William Holden and Richard Widmark, but the two prove as reliable as ever. There are some so-so action scenes, but it's the battle of wits between the two principals that supplies all the fireworks. By contrast Janice Rule is just adequate as the love interest.

On the DVD:It's a good-looking DVD transfer, with a 1:2.35 aspect ratio and Dolby Digital sound. Subtitles are available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch and Polish with dubbing into French, German, Italian and Spanish. For extras there are trailers and some filmographies, so partial as to be not much use. --Ed Buscombe

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical, Filmographies - 1. Cast & Crew
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Year:	1966
Release Date:	October 1, 2001
Runtime:	105 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C D R 10090
Keywords:	Alvarez, Kelly, Westerns
Genre:	Westerns