Over a brief five-year span, director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart collaborated on a whopping eight movies. For the first of these, we go to 1950’s Winchester ’73.

Frontiersman Lin McAdam (James Stewart) arrives in Dodge City on Independence Day 1876. While there, he wins a marksmanship competition and captures the big prize: a limited edition Winchester 1873 rifle.

McAdam doesn’t get much time to savor his victory, as runner-up Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally) knocks Lin unconscious and steals the weapon. Not one to accept defeat without a fight, McAdam embarks on a long and obsessive journey to recover his new gun.

1950 marked a year in which Mann made a few Westerns, a departure from the noir thrillers that dominated his filmography previously. He would return to that genre before too long, but three of his four 1950 efforts fell under the Western umbrella.

Winchester marked a different kind of Western than the sort that dominated the domain in prior years, however. Rather than focus on basic heroics, it comes with a more emotionally complex tale of obsession.

Though not quite the one I expected based on the plot synopsis. I figured Winchester would concentrate on Lin’s relentless quest to re-obtain the titular rifle.

To be sure, that theme permeates the movie. However, it doesn’t dominate in the manner I anticipated.

Honestly, for large chunks of the film, Lin almost feels like an afterthought. After Dutch steals the ’73, the film spends more time with its journey than it does Lin’s.

Which works fine, as the ’73 becomes something of a character unto itself. I figured it would essentially exist as a MacGuffin there to trigger action, and that does feel true to a degree.

However, the ’73 ends up almost feeling like a cursed object. As it makes its way from one “owner” to another, bad results occur.

That creates an interesting theme, one I like more than the “obsessed man on a relentless quest” I anticipated. While it does sideline Lin a good amount of the time, it nonetheless creates a dark and compelling journey as we see the fates of those who possess the rifle.

As a result, Winchester becomes more episodic and less plot-driven than I expected. The film handles its shifts among characters well, though, so the narrative proceeds smoothly.

Winchester marked an era in which Stewart started to shift from his nice guy persona into something a bit darker. I wouldn’t call Lin an anti-hero, but he comes without the usual chipper positivity we previously expected from Stewart’s roles.

Stewart handles this change well. He gives Lin a good sense of personality and doesn’t ask the audience to love him like many actors would’ve done.

A nice supporting cast rounds out the film, and I especially like Millard Mitchell as Lin’s sidekick “High Spade” Frankie Wilson. The role exists essentially as comic relief, but the movie uses him in a subtle manner that doesn’t pursue wacky laughs.

Unfortunately, we also find the embarrassing sight of Rock Hudson as a Native American. Yes, Hollywood commonly cast white actors in those roles back then, but it still creates a distraction, especially since this particular Caucasian dude subsequently became a huge star. His presence inevitably takes the viewer out of the movie for a moment.

Despite that brief blip, Winchester ‘73 creates a solid Western. It lacks the depth I thought it might offer but it nonetheless delivers an engaging series of adventure scenes bracketed with a theme of obsession.

Winchester ‘73 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Very few issues materialized in this satisfying transfer.

For the most part, sharpness seemed positive. I noticed slight softness in a few shots, as some elements appeared slightly ill-defined. Those instances were exceptions, though, as the majority of the flick was pretty tight and nicely delineated.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering marred the presentation. Edge haloes failed to appear, and the film came with a nice layer of grain.

Source flaws were totally absent. This became a clean image.

Contrast succeeded, blacks were dark and firm, and shadows seemed good. I felt pleased with this appealing image.

We got a perfectly adequate LPCM monaural soundtrack for Winchester. Like most films of the era, speech sounded somewhat metallic, but the lines always remained easily intelligible, and they lacked notable edginess.

Effects were also thin and without much range, but they seemed fairly concise and didn’t suffer from significant distortion. The score fit in with the rest of the audio, as the music felt reasonably lively. This turned into a more than acceptable mix for a 75-year-old movie.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Criterion Blu-ray? Both came with identical audio.

As for visuals, the UHD offered stronger blacks and contrast as well as improved sharpness, though this also meant soft shots became more apparent. I preferred the 4K by a slim margin, as without HDR, it didn't find a lot of room to upgrade the Blu-ray.

When we move to extras, we get an audio commentary from actor James Stewart and film historian Paul Lindenschmidt. Recorded for a1989 laserdisc, both sit together for a running, screen-specific discussion of Stewart’s life and career as well as memories of the Winchester shoot.

Though Lindenschmidt occasionally adds notes, he mainly acts as an interviewer/moderator here. That works fine, as he helps keep Stewart chatty.

I wish I could report that Stewart delivered a slew of good remarks, but instead this becomes a somewhat mediocre chat. I love the existence of the track, as few full-length commentaries from members of Hollywood’s “Golden Age” exist.

And to be sure, Stewart presents enough interesting stories to make the piece worth a listen. Just don’t expect a really fascinating piece.

The remaining extras appear on the included Blu-ray copy. New to the Criterion release, we get an Interview with Sundance Film Programmer Adam Piron that lasts 17 minutes, 50 seconds.

Director of the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program, Piron looks at the depiction of Native Americans in Westerns. Piron covers this subject in a positive manner.

Forces of Nature goes for 47 minutes, seven seconds. It provides notes from film historians Rob Word, Alan K. Rode, C. Courtney Joyner, Michael Schlesinger, and script supervisor Michael Preece.

This documentary covers the life and career of filmmaker Anthony Mann, with an emphasis on his time at Universal Studios and his collaborations with Stewart. This becomes a reasonably interesting overview, even if it occasionally feels like an annotated collection of movie clips.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find a 1951 Lux Radio Theatre radio adaptation of Winchester. It fills one hour, 39 seconds and brings back Stewart as the lead role as well as Stephen McNally as Dutch Henry Brown.

Julia Adams takes over as Lola and becomes our narrator, which acts as one of the changes made for the radio version since the film includes no such narration. That said, the Lux edition loses less content from the flick than usual since the movie offers relatively little dialogue and can be re-enacted efficiently within the audio-only format.

Of course, this means the radio Winchester sacrifices much of the cinematic edition’s appeal because the latter uses visuals so effectively. Still, it becomes an interesting alternate way to experience the story.

By the way, Lindenschmidt asks Stewart about this radio broadcast during the 1989 commentary. At the time, Lindenschmidt couldn’t find confirmation that the show existed and thought it didn’t because the Lux producers felt the movie lacked enough dialogue to sustain the chatty audio-only format.

Stewart “confirms” this belief, though obviously incorrectly. Oh well – given how much work Stewart did across his long career, I can’t blame him for his inability to remember a one-off radio show he did 37 years earlier.

The set concludes with a booklet that contains credits, art and an essay from critic Imogen Sara Smith. While not one of Criterion’s strongest booklets, it still adds value to the package.

Though nominally a tale of one man’s obsession, Winchester ‘73 instead seems more like a look at how possessions can curse those who hold them. Whatever the case, the film lacks a terribly concise plot but it mixes action and drama well enough to succeed. The 4K UHD comes with solid visuals, appropriate audio and a reasonable mix of bonus materials. This winds up as a winning Western.

To rate this film, visit the BD review of WINCHESTER '73