The Rare Breed (Blu-ray)

From Andrew V. McLaglen, the acclaimed director of Shenandoah, The Way West, The Devil’s Brigade, Chisum, Ffolkes and The Wild Geese, comes this epic western based on America’s acquisition of English Hereford cattle (which would phase out Texas longhorns). In the 1880s, Englishwoman Martha Price (Maureen O’Hara, The Quiet Man, Lisbon) and her daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills, Avanti!) come to America to sell their prize Hereford bull at an auction. When he is purchased by Bowen, a wild Scotsman (Brian Keith, Something Big), the women hire a footloose cowhand named Burnett (James Stewart, Bend of the River, Night Passage) to help them transport the animal to its new owner. So begins an adventure that tests the mettle of all involved as they battle killers, stampedes and each other. But when they reach Bowen’s ranch, even greater obstacles force them to summon up extraordinary courage, if they, and the prize bull, are to survive. This wonderful frontier comedy co-stars western legends Ben Johnson (The Wild Bunch), Jack Elam (Support Your Local Gunfighter) and Harry Carey Jr. (Man of the East).