Eureka Entertainment is to release STRAIGHT SHOOTING & HELL BENT: TWO FILMS BY JOHN FORD, two early (and thought to be lost – Ed) films from the greatest Western director of all time, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK as part of The Masters of Cinema Series from 19 April 2021. Both features presented on Blu-ray from 4K restorations with a Limited-Edition O-Card Slipcase (First Print Run of 2,000 copies) and reversible sleeve artwork.
The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present two early features from John Ford (credited on both films as Jack Ford) in their UK debuts on home video, fully restored in 4K.
Straight Shooting is landmark in the history of the Western. The first feature directed by Ford, it revived the career of Harry Carey who gives a rough and tumble performance here as a hired gun who turns on his employers to defend an innocent farmer and his family.
In Hell Bent, ‘Cheyenne Harry’ flees the law after a poker game shootout, and arrives in the town of Rawhide, where he becomes friendly with local cowboy Cimarron Bill and dance hall girl Bess Thurston. When gang leader Beau Ross kidnaps Bess, Harry goes to desperate lengths travelling across the deadly desert in order to free Bess from the hard-bitten Ross.
SPECIAL TWO-DISC BLU-RAY EDITION CONTAINS
- Limited Edition O-Card slipcase and reversible sleeve artwork
- Both features presented in 1080p on Blu-ray from 4K restorations undertaken by Universal Pictures, available for the first time ever on home video in the UK
- Straight Shooting – Score by Michael Gatt
- Hell Bent – Score by Zachary Marsh
- Straight Shooting – Audio commentary by film historian Joseph McBride, author of Searching for John Ford: A Life
- Hell Bent – Audio commentary by film historian Joseph McBride
- Brand new interview with film critic and author Kim Newman
- Bull Scores a Touchdown – Video essay by Tag Gallagher
- A Horse or a Mary? – Video essay by Tag Gallagher
- Archival audio interview from 1970 with John Ford by Joseph McBride
- A short fragment of the lost film Hitchin’ Posts (dir. John Ford, 1920) preserved by the Library of Congress
- Straight Shooting: the Czech version* – inclusion TBC
- PLUS: A collector’s booklet featuring writing by Richard Combs, Phil Hoad, and Tag Gallagher
