This book will delight film buffs and collectors whose main interest lies in Westerns. Sub-titled "Classic Pictures, Must-See Movies and ‘B’ Films", this book is a classic in itself. It features nice color covers, with Roy Rogers on the front, and Gene Autry on the back. Inside is a great selection of lobby card reproductions.

A massive 201 films are reviewed in alphabetical order. Aces and Eights and Annie Oakley start the reviews which show dates of production and release dates in the USA and Australia; technical staff; actors, production company; running time and length; alternative titles where applicable; copyright details and a synopsis. In this new edition, John Howard Reid has also listed those films available on DVD and the releasing company – a great help to those who collect in this medium.

All the westerns are also reviewed and commented upon by John Howard Reid in his inimitable way. Although many are well-known movies, many are little known, and a few are not familiar titles at all. Some tongue-in-cheek entries give an entertaining touch to the reviews, such as Bugs Bunny in Buckaroo Bugs, Abbott and Costello in Comin’ Round the Mountain, The Marx Brothers in Go West, Arthur Askey in Ramsbottom Rides Again, Boris Karloff in Voodoo Island, and last but not least the 1936 New Adventures of Tarzan.

Of course no book on Westerns would be complete without the inclusion of movies made by Bill Boyd, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Ken Maynard and John Wayne. They are well represented here, but so are many almost equally famous stars, plus some that are remembered today only by really keen Western fans.

all movie western fans.

the helpful review by Ross Adams, the editor of "Dress Circle" magazine, published in the Winter 2007 issue. That review is reproduced above in full.

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Created Nov 16, 2008 at 12:46am • Submit your own review...