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Realizing they needed a voice over actor to provide the narration for a new show in development called Arrested Development, producer Ron Howard looked around the empty recording studio, finding no voice over actor in sight. So this Oscar winning former child star stepped in to provide a temporary voice track, you know just as a filler until they could find a better voice, of course. But a better voice never came because Ron Howard’s comforting and gentle tone mixed with a dry yet kinda goofy speech pattern was the perfect fit for the sense of humor of this show. But this was not the only time Ron Howard stepped up and became an unexpected perfect fit, he’s been doing that all his life – from being in front of the camera in classic TV shows and behind the camera for a hefty handful of wonderful motion pictures… and more!

No director in Hollywood has a weirder résumé than Alan Smithee. Between 1969 and 2015, his credits included the Richard Widmark western "Death of a Gunfighter"; the horror comedies "Student Bodies" and "Ghost Fever"; the Jodie Foster thriller "Catchfire"; the franchise sequels "The Birds II: Land's End" and "Hellraiser: Bloodline"; episodes of hit TV series like "MacGyver" and "Tiny Toon Adventures"; and music videos for artists like Metallica, Destiny's Child, Wu-Tang Clan, Whitney Houston, and Jennifer Lopez.

But there's a reason for that: "Alan Smithee" is not a real person. It's a pseudonym invented by the Director's Guild of America for filmmakers to use when they no longer want to be credited for their work. This usually happens when they're replaced on a project, or believe that studio interference has altered the film so much that it no longer reflects their vision. That's why you'll sometimes see "Alan Smithee" credited on TV...

Richard Widmark reportedly used his clout to amp up this revisionist western, but the result seems forced at best, and hampered by Universal’s TV-grade production values. The sober screenplay brings in good ideas but the execution can’t quite hold its own with the more progressive westerns of the genre-changing years 1968-’69. A cast of familiar faces makes much of it look fresh: Carroll O’Connor’s venal saloon keeper steals the show, while interesting casting gives us Lena Horne as Widmark’s romantic partner.

Death of a Gunfighter

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 94 min. / working title Patch / Street Date February 27, 2023 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring: Richard Widmark, Lena Horne, Carroll O’Connor, David Opatashu, Kent Smith, Jacqueline Scott, Morgan Woodward, Larry Gates, Dub Taylor, John Saxon, Darleen Carr, Michael McGreevey, Royal Dano, James (Jimmy) Lydon, Kathleen Freeman, Harry Carey Jr., Walter Sande, Victor French.

Cinematography:...

One notable thing about the new trailer for "After Earth" (June 7), starring look-alike father-son duo Jaden and Will Smith, is the absence of director M. Night Shyamalan's name. Following the disastrously reviewed, 3-D retrofitted "The Last Airbender," not to mention "The Lady in the Water" and "The Happening," Sony is choosing not to remind audiences of Shyamalan's involvement in the movie. Does this mean that Shyamalan is an actual negative as a selling tool? On some level, Sony might as well make "After Earth" an Alan Smithee film. Alan Smithee is the official pseudonym used by filmmakers who wish to disown a project. The term came about in 1968, when actor Richard Widmark enlisted director Don Siegel to complete the film "Death of a Gunfighter," after vocalizing his discontent with current director Robert Totten. Siegel's logged days on the film were less than half of Totten's, and he contended after...

It’s been said that Westerns are to America what Shakespeare is to England. The Western genre has been an important and iconic part of our heritage, whether in film, TV or in print. And one of the most popular and prolific Western authors was Louis L’Amour.

L’Amour had a long career writing Western fiction, which he liked to call “Frontier Stories”. L’Amour wrote 89 books from 1930 to the late 1980s. Many of his stories were made into movies and all his books are still in print. He was a favorite author of Western film superstar John Wayne. “The Louis L’Amour Western Collection” brings three film adaptations of L’Amour novels to DVD for the first time.

The first of these L’Amour adaptations is The Sackets, a two-part made-for-tv retelling of two of L’Amour’s novels (The Daybreakers and Sackett) from “The Sacketts” series. The...