Product Description
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Soar Into Skies on a Thrilling Airborne Adventure in This
Meticulously Restored John Wayne Film Classic. In One of His Most
Memorable Screen Roles, Wayne Plays Dan Roman, a Veteran Pilot
Haunted By a Tragic Past. Now Relegated to Second-In-Command
Cockpit Assignments, He Finds Himself Scheduled on a Routine
Honolulu-To-San Francisco Flight - One That Takes a Terrifying,
Suspense-Building Turn When Disaster Strikes High Above the
Pacific Ocean at the Point of No Return. A 'Who's Who' of
Hollywood Greats - Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Robert Stack, Jan
Sterling, Phil Harris and Robert Newton, Among Others - Are
Aboard for This Celebrated Drama Bursting with Conflict and
Excitement. Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, Including Best
Director (William a. Wellman) and Two Best Supporting Actress
Nods (Trevor and Sterling), the Film Nabbed the O for Dimitri
Tiomkin's Unforgettable Musical Score.
Set Contains:
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Batjac is a strong, legendary-sounding name--the corporate logo
for the last among several production companies John Wayne
established, and the evocative catch-all label to designate the
producer-star's late-career legacy apart from his milestone work
with the likes of John Ford and Howard Hawks. The name seems to
summon up associations with flying and Native American culture
and maybe a lean jungle cat... but it was a made-up word that had
been applied to an East Indian trading company in Wayne's
little-remembered 1948 production Wake of the Red Witch. The
actor took it for his own company, the one he formed after
breaking with his Island in the Sky and The High and the Mighty
partner in Wayne-Fellows Productions (Robert Fellows). He chose
it because he remembered he'd enjoyed pronouncing it while making
Red Witch. It was Batjack back then, with a k, and it was
supposed to be Batjack again--only the first order of stationery
came back with the name misspelled, and rather than spring
several hundred bucks for a new batch, Wayne let "Batjac" stand.
That droll tidbit is characteristic of the inside reminiscences
shared in "The Batjac Story," one of eight featurettes
accompanying the DVD release of The High and the Mighty. From it
we also learn that a Wayne unit "from sunup to sundown";
that the Duke was the egalitarian boss of a tight-knit company
wherein relatives, co-workers, and the relatives of co-workers
earned advancement by merit; and that the star was shrewd enough
and powerful enough to retain full possession of copyright on
Batjac films. A short on the career and personality of director
"Wild Bill" Wellman includes the revelation that a lot of major
stars declined roles in the ensemble movie (probably to their
eventual regret), and that Spencer Tracy--originally cast as
"Whistlin' Dan" Roman--"ankled" at the last moment ...
necessitating Wayne's reluctantly taking on the part that became
one of his best-remembered, indeed iconic, roles (the H&M theme
music accompanied his final public appearance, at the spring 1979
Os). An especially entertaining profile of composer Dimitri
Tiomkin notes that he collected the only O among the film's
many nominations--for music score, not (as is widely believed)
best song. The theme song, a huge popular hit that helped make
the movie such a pervasive Event of the '50s, wasn't even in the
film as most people saw it; it had been cut in the effort to get
the length down, but was cut back in for a week's run in Los
Angeles to qualify for an Academy nomination. Nor was it the tune
Whistlin' Dan actually whistled during filming; that was George
M. Cohan's "Mary"!
Anchored by pop film historian Leonard Maltin, and backed almost
nonstop by musical themes recycled from the H&M soundtrack, the
featurettes occasionally resemble weekend sports highlight reels
designed to keep armchair fans revved up till the main event. The
overall tone is nostalgic/reverential, ceremonially befitting the
re-emergence of a long-"lost" treasure. Only British film
historian and heroic restoration spet Kevin Brownlow
quietly supplies some authoritative critical perspective: The
High and the Mighty is not now and never was a great motion
picture, but it was an understandably and deservedly beloved
movie with "a mystique" unique in its power and endurance. That's
well worth celebrating. --Richard T. Jameson