New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

Follow Me

• Dark Shadows ***
• Darling Companion **1/2
• God Bless America ***
• Marvel's The Avengers ***1/2
• ReGeneration ***
• Sound of My Voice ***
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits ***1/2
• The Raven ***
• Safe **1/2
• The Lucky One 1/2*
• 4:44 Last Day on Earth **1/2
• Blue Like Jazz **
• The Cabin in the Woods ***1/2
• Damsels in Distress ***1/2
• Lockout **1/2
• The Three Stooges ***
• The Turin Horse ****
• We Have a Pope **1/2
• American Reunion **
• Goon ***
• More

• Bird of Paradise
• Maniac Cop
• Miss Representation
• Mother's Day (2012)
• Murder Obsession
• Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
• Underworld Awakening
• The Vow
• Clueless
• Haywire
• Hit!
• Men in Black
• New Year's Eve
• The Red House
• More

• Peter Lord
• Abel Ferrara
• Nicholas Sparks
• Whit Stillman
• Sean Hayes
• Terence Davies
• Peter Lord Interview
• Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
• Taika Waititi
• Will Ferrell
• Interview: Ewan McGregor [SF Examiner]
• Interview: the 'Project X' stars [SF Examiner]
• Interview: Oren Moverman
• Interview: Rachel McAdams
• Interview: Ti West
• Interview: Elizabeth Banks
• 2011: The Year's Best Films
• Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
• The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
• My Top 100 Films [Updated]
• My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
• Christmas Movies
• Essential Halloween & Horror Movies
• Cult Movies
• More Features and Interviews

• Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, by Alonso Duralde
• Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
• James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
• Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
• More Books

• Home
• Reviews A-C
• Reviews D-F
• Reviews G-J
• Reviews K-M
• Reviews N-Q
• Reviews R-T
• Reviews U-Z

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

The Rifleman (1958-1963)

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Over a Barrel

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Rifleman on DVD

This black-and-white western TV series, co-developed by Sam Peckinpah and consisting of half-hour episodes, barely registered a blip on my movie radar. But now that I've seen it, I'm as hooked as if it were currently on the air.

This amazing new four-disc box set from MPI Home Video contains 20 episodes, two of them directed by Peckinpah himself. Former Brooklyn Dodger Chuck Connors stars as the tough guy cowboy widower Lucas McCain who can fire a rifle faster than most folks can draw a pistol. He lives with his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) who helps keep things from getting too violent (nevertheless, the show was infamous for its level of TV violence). Episodes feature very young-looking guest stars like John Carradine, Buddy Hackett, Dennis Hopper and Michael Landon.

One episode in particular, "The Vaqueros," took my breath away. Martin Landau stars as a sinister-looking Mexican who steals everything, kidnaps Mark and leaves Lucas to die in the desert. It's directed by B-movie legend Joseph H. Lewis who made the mini-masterpiece "Gun Crazy" in 1949. Other episodes, like the one featuring Sammy Davis Jr., slip easily into misguided sentimentality, but the box set as a whole hits a bulls-eye.

MPI has since released the entire series in five DVD box sets.

Starring: Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, Paul Fix, Warren Oates, Jack Elam, Royal Dano, Denver Pyle, Lee Van Cleef, Robert Culp, James Coburn, John Carradine, Buddy Hackett, Dennis Hopper, Martin Landau, Michael Landon, Sammy Davis Jr.
Written by: Sam Peckinpah, Arthur Browne Jr., etc.
Directed by: Sam Peckinpah, Joseph H. Lewis, etc.
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 570 minutes
Date: March 21, 2002