Duke quintuple play
Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 08/04/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"THE JOHN WAYNE ADVENTURE COLLECTION is five of Duke's better 1950s and '60s productions. Each widescreen transfer in this currently out-of-print box is on its own disc; extras are minimal.
SYNOPSES--
DONOVAN'S REEF reunites "Liberty Valance" vets Duke, Lee Marvin and director John Ford. Filmed in Hawaii and with a Xmas subtext, the two former navymen meet once a year on their mutual birthday for drinks and fisticuffs.
HATARI! features Hank Mancini's famous "Baby Elephant Walk." It's the story of a group of African hunters that collect animals for zoos and the lady photographer who disrupts their little circle, especially with her penchant for adopting infant pachyderms.
In THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, engine trouble on a commercial trans-oceanic flight unnerves the pilot, so his back-up, Dan Roman (Wayne) slaps some courage into him. A loss of fuel from an errant bullet that hits but doesn't explode (?) a gas tank means they may not make it to shore. Co-pilot Roman however refuses to give up.
Otto Preminger's IN HARM'S WAY is a WWII epic with soap opera undertones. Here, Duke is a heavy cruiser commander who's relieved of duty after issuing some questionable orders while at sea during and just after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. He's given a desk job for some months but eventually gets a second chance at command in the South Pacific campaign.
ISLAND IN THE SKY is a story of survival under harsh winter conditions. Duke's transport plane crashes in an uninhabited area of Labrador and it's his responsibility as pilot to keep everyone from freezing to death until they can be rescued.
Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll ratings.
(6.6) Donovan's Reef (1963) - John Wayne/Lee Marvin/Elizabeth Allen/Cesar Romero/Dorothy Lamour/Mike Mazurki/Edgar Buchanan
(7.2) Hatari! (1962) - John Wayne/Hardy Krüger/Elsa Martinelli/Red Buttons/Bruce Cabot
(6.9) The High and the Mighty (1954) - John Wayne/Claire Trevor/Laraine Day/Robert Stack/Jan Sterling/Phil Harris/Robert Newton/Sidney Blackmer/Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez
(7.1) In Harm's Way - John Wayne/Kirk Douglas/Patricia Neal/Brandon De Wilde/Jill Haworth/Dana Andrews/Stanley Holloway/Burgess Meredith/Franchot Tone/Patrick O'Neal/Carroll O'Connor/Slim Pickens
(6.9) Island in the Sky (1953) - John Wayne/Lloyd Nolan/Walter Abel/James Arness/Andy Devine/Jimmy Lydon/Allyn Joslyn/Harry Carey Jr./Gordon Jones"