Fort Courageous (1965)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C
Made
around the same time as Convict Stage
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) and with some of the same people, Don “Red”
Barry made director Lesley Selander’s Fort
Courageous (1965) as Fred Beir plays a wrongly court marshaled Calvary
sergeant who has to fight to get his reputation back in this mixed Revenge
Western that is not as good as Stage,
but has some good moments. Too bad there
are not enough in this short 72 minutes.
Simply
put, Richard Landau’s screenplay cannot get by its conventions, melodrama and
even formula. The actors give it their
best and the fight scenes are not bad, but ultimately, you can see why films
like this made F-Troop
possible. No matter how ambitious, this
kind of Western was heading into the sunset.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image looks better than the 1.33 X 1 full
frame version, though that has more picture information since cinematographer
Gordon Avil shot this one in soft mate too.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is a little better than the 2.0 Mono with
another serviceable score by Richard LaSalle.
Extras include the original theatrical trailer, two stills sections and
the pressbook with the ability to click onto text sections and read them in
large form.
- Nicholas Sheffo
