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Rating: 
Summary: Fair, Good, Great and near-Great
Review: I received this set as a Christmas gift. I am pleased to now own a DVD version of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" which is my favorite Western and "True Grit" which previously held that personal title. I was also happy to own "The Shootist" which ranks as a near-great Wayne movie. I will enjoy "The Sons of Katie Elder" a time or two again but I am disappointed that "El Dorado" couldn't have been replaced by the better movie it copied; "Rio Bravo". This is, of course, the problem with movie "sets". I'm not sure whether the person or persons who put these collections together include lesser movies in order to market them better or whether they really think that they're in the same class as the others. What would have been hard to top would have been "Red River" replacing "The Sons of Katie Elder" along with the aforementioned switch to "Rio Bravo". Oh well, at least it didn't include "Rio Lobo".
Rating:
Summary: Fair, Good, Great and near-Great
Review: I received this set as a Christmas gift. I am pleased to now own a DVD version of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" which is my favorite Western and "True Grit" which previously held that personal title. I was also happy to own "The Shootist" which ranks as a near-great Wayne movie. I will enjoy "The Sons of Katie Elder" a time or two again but I am disappointed that "El Dorado" couldn't have been replaced by the better movie it copied; "Rio Bravo". This is, of course, the problem with movie "sets". I'm not sure whether the person or persons who put these collections together include lesser movies in order to market them better or whether they really think that they're in the same class as the others. What would have been hard to top would have been "Red River" replacing "The Sons of Katie Elder" along with the aforementioned switch to "Rio Bravo". Oh well, at least it didn't include "Rio Lobo".
Rating: 
Summary: You can't go wrong with THIS package!
Review: Individually, these five movies range from three stars to five stars, but as a package, I give it FIVE STARS. Watch them in chronological order and you see the Duke evolve from 50's Hollywood "tough guy" to legendary leading man in his final film. The man truly had more depth as an actor than the medium of the 50's allowed him to show. In 1976 he was finally given a vehicle to give us everything he had, even though he truly was dying of cancer.
Rating:
Summary: You can't go wrong with THIS package!
Review: Individually, these five movies range from three stars to five stars, but as a package, I give it FIVE STARS. Watch them in chronological order and you see the Duke evolve from 50's Hollywood "tough guy" to legendary leading man in his final film. The man truly had more depth as an actor than the medium of the 50's allowed him to show. In 1976 he was finally given a vehicle to give us everything he had, even though he truly was dying of cancer.
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars But....
Review: Maybe some reviews haven't been of help because you haven't SEEN all of the movies on this DVD (and others not on it) as some reviewers have; maybe I can help. "El Dorado" (1967) is nothing more than a remake of Wayne's 1959 classic "Rio Bravo" with James Caan as a more inept gunman (if a better actor) than Ricky Nelson's character in the original, Robert Mitchum is in the Dean Martin role and Arthur Hunnicut replaces Walter Brennan as the crusty oldtimer. "Rio Lobo" in 1970 (the least of them all) was also a remake of "Rio Bravo", trust me. (When you got a winner, stick to it). By now you know the plot of "True Grit" taken from a novel. Glen Campbell joked (?) that the Duke looked so good and won an Oscar because he (Campbell) was so bad but Wayne matched the performances of formidable actors Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper and Strother Martin. Also giving good performances in their smaller roles were Jeremy Slate and Tennessee Jack Pickard. Myron Healey (the orignal Doc Holliday on TV's "Wyatt Earp") has a cameo as a deputy early in the picture. Not to be forgotten is Kim Darby (at least 21 and not 14 like the character) whose character spoke the most overenunciated English I've ever heard for a character from Arkansas. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", director John Ford's classic work on the power of fame, even if unearned, also has a lot of faces familiar to those who love Westerns. Vera Miles is beautiful here and a talented actress in a slightly subdued part as the love interest of both Wayne and Jimmy Stewart which adds to the poignancy of the plot. Stewart is a given (still looking young in his 50s) but the movie also showcases familiar Western actors John Carradine, Woody Strode, Andy Devine (a Ford favorite) and others with a nasty Lee Marvin as the cowardly bully, Liberty Valance, and a typically weasely Strother Martin (again) and classic badman actor Lee Van Cleef ("High Noon", two Eastwood spaghetti Westerns, etc.) as Liberty's henchmen. You have to respect "Katie Elder"; at the time of her death in the movie, her oldest son (Wayne) was 58 and the youngest (Michael Anderson, Jr.) was 22 in real life. John Wayne was not well when the movie was made but you can't tell it. Earl Holliman and Dean Martin (again) provide strong support in gaining back what was stolen from Katie and her husband. "The Shootist", the Duke's last picture, was actually underrated but was his most poignant as he ended up as did his character with terminal cancer. His dying gunfighter is the prominent character given strong co-star support which included Jimmy Stewart (again) in a smaller role, Ron Howard, Lauren Bacall, Richard Boone, TV's "Wyatt Earp", Hugh O'Brian, classic dancehall-type Sheree North and (with an over-the-top performance) Harry Morgan (TV's "Mash" and many others). It was an appropriate farewell for the much beloved icon Wayne who was in the movie for 50 years (40 as a star). This is a very good DVD to be in your collection.
Rating:
Summary: THE DUKE IS THE GREATEST EVER!
Review: There never has been and never will be again a movie star like John Wayne. Miles above everyone else. These are five of his greatest films, including his Oscar-winning role as "Rooster Cogburn" in "True Grit", and his last film "The Shootist", for which he should have won an Oscar and which Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly calls "The best western I've ever seen." Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: THE DUKE IS THE GREATEST EVER!
Review: There never has been and never will be again a movie star like John Wayne. Miles above everyone else. These are five of his greatest films, including his Oscar-winning role as "Rooster Cogburn" in "True Grit", and his last film "The Shootist", for which he should have won an Oscar and which Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly calls "The best western I've ever seen." Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: THE DUKE IS THE GREATEST EVER!
Review: There never has been and never will be again a movie star like John Wayne. Miles above everyone else. These are five of his greatest films, including his Oscar-winning role as "Rooster Cogburn" in "True Grit", and his last film "The Shootist", for which he should have won an Oscar and which Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly calls "The best western I've ever seen." Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: You can't go wrong with THIS package!
Review: This splendid collection of John Wayne's Westerns is a must-have for any fan or would-be fan of John Wayne (if you don't have these films already, that is). It contains some of the Duke's best movies, at an affordable price and in an attractive packaging. All of these movies are great:THE SHOOTIST was the Duke's last film, and is truly a door-closing sort of movie. It is a fitting end to a very long and very great career. Wayne plays an old, dying gunfighter who is ready to hang up his guns but just cannot be left alone to die in peace. THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER: Wayne stars as John Elder, the eldest son of a woman named Katie who has just died. John and his three younger brothers (one of them played by Dean Martin) return to their hometown to mourn their mother and to set things right with the people who wronged her. TRUE GRIT: Old, fat, and ornery. That describes Rooster Cogburn (played by Wayne) as well as anything. Duke one an Oscar for his performance in this film. Truly, this is a unique character for Wayne, and a good film. EL DORADO: This is one of my favorite of Duke's movies. He plays a gunfighter-turned-deputy, and fights to aid his alchoholic friend (the sheriff) of a gang of outlaws infesting the town. Features James Caan in a great performance as 'Mississippi.' THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALLANCE: Wayne stars opposite James Stewart in this John Ford classic. Wayne's character (Tom Doniphan) is a rancher/gunman whose noble spirit saves the life of a young lawyer (Stewart) come to bring 'order' to the small territorial town of Shinbone. These are five great films by the Duke, three of them (Liberty Vallance, the Shootist, El Dorado) among the Duke's best (in my opinion), and all of them very enjoyable. This box set makes a great addition to any home DVD library.
Rating:
Summary: A great collection of John Wayne's Westerns
Review: This splendid collection of John Wayne's Westerns is a must-have for any fan or would-be fan of John Wayne (if you don't have these films already, that is). It contains some of the Duke's best movies, at an affordable price and in an attractive packaging. All of these movies are great: THE SHOOTIST was the Duke's last film, and is truly a door-closing sort of movie. It is a fitting end to a very long and very great career. Wayne plays an old, dying gunfighter who is ready to hang up his guns but just cannot be left alone to die in peace. THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER: Wayne stars as John Elder, the eldest son of a woman named Katie who has just died. John and his three younger brothers (one of them played by Dean Martin) return to their hometown to mourn their mother and to set things right with the people who wronged her. TRUE GRIT: Old, fat, and ornery. That describes Rooster Cogburn (played by Wayne) as well as anything. Duke one an Oscar for his performance in this film. Truly, this is a unique character for Wayne, and a good film. EL DORADO: This is one of my favorite of Duke's movies. He plays a gunfighter-turned-deputy, and fights to aid his alchoholic friend (the sheriff) of a gang of outlaws infesting the town. Features James Caan in a great performance as 'Mississippi.' THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALLANCE: Wayne stars opposite James Stewart in this John Ford classic. Wayne's character (Tom Doniphan) is a rancher/gunman whose noble spirit saves the life of a young lawyer (Stewart) come to bring 'order' to the small territorial town of Shinbone. These are five great films by the Duke, three of them (Liberty Vallance, the Shootist, El Dorado) among the Duke's best (in my opinion), and all of them very enjoyable. This box set makes a great addition to any home DVD library.
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