Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Great Western, Incredibly Poor DVD Transfer
It's a real shame how badly this film was transferred to DVD. Much of the DVD is fine; some sections of it look better than I've ever seen in any other format, displaying the excellence of the black-and-white photography. But other sections are grainy and marred by distracting visual noise, and that isn't the worst of it: In several places during the film, the DVD "jumps" from one scene to another because obviously the source material was so poor! It's like watching a worn-out, popping film in a run-down theater! This is something I can't ever recall on a DVD transfer of a film as exciting and important as "Winchester '73."The interview with Jimmy Stewart as he watches the film with the interviewer is interesting, but the "Winchester" DVD overall ranks as a *MAJOR* disappointment.
Rating:  - Added Bonus
As usual, some of these big studio DVD releases don't adequately advertise what they have. Hey, they could only sell more. I guess they have something against that.Winchester '73 is one of my favorite westerns, and I rushed out the first day to buy the DVD. Universal has done a great job -- good restoration, very reasonably priced. But there is one gem that isn't apparent until after you buy it. Not mentioned on the front cover, on the back cover an extra is advertised in small print -- "interview with James Stewart". I was thinking it would just be a few minute interview. Instead, it turns out to be a full-fledged audio commentary -- really insightful. I have no idea when it was recorded -- perhaps for a Laserdisc release? -- but this is something that should be advertised prominently. Although it doesn't appear that the other great Anthony Mann-Jimmy Stewart westerns released concurrently -- "Bend of the River" and "The Far Country" -- have such bonuses, I look forward to buying them as well. At least they are much less priced than the Mann-Stewart "Man from Laramie," a very good film that is very highly priced by -- Columbia, is it? Now we just need "The Naked Spur," a true masterpiece, to come out in a restored version. Enjoy "Winchester '73"!
Rating: - It really IS a Wonderful Life
So James Stewart came to be known as the American Everyman as Mr. Smith, and his role in It's a Wonderful Life. Hansom, charming, and plain. Blah.In Winchester '73, Stewart struts his formidable stuff. Raw, angry, and vengeful, he turns what may have been an OK western into a wrenching, painful character study. Not only is it a great film, but it helped resurect a near dead genre. Hell, I did an entire 15 page paper on this film when I was in High School. Good Stuff
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