Robert Mitchum: The Signature Collection arrives this January

From: Warner Home Video

Burbank, Calif. October 16, 2006 — On January 23, Warner Home Video celebrates the career of a classic Hollywood anti-hero with the Robert Mitchum: The Signature Collection featuring six new to DVD titles including Angel Face, Macao, Home from the Hill, The Sundowners, The Good Guys & the Bad Guys and The Yakuza. The Collection includes never-before-seen bonus footage, vintage featurettes and commentaries and includes such co-stars as Jane Russell, Jean Simmons, Deborah Kerr and David Carradine in films directed by Sydney Pollack, Fred Zinnemann and Vincente Minnelli among others. Robert Mitchum: The Signature Collection giftset will be available in superslim packaging for $59.92 SRP and the individual titles will be available for $19.97 SRP. Orders for all are due December 12.

Mitchum was one of Hollywood’s most durable leading men, with a career that spanned more than 50 years and over 120 films. “His laconic, heavy-lidded manner was deceptively casual, disguising a potent screen presence.” (appbio.net) An icon of Film Noir, his career peaked from the late ‘40s through the early ‘60s and his versatility showed equally well in westerns and romantic dramas. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on August 6, 1917, Mitchum was frequently in trouble as a youth and left home in his teens. He first worked at various jobs including coal miner, ditch digger, professional boxer, among others, before discovering acting at the Long Beach Theater Guild in 1942. Soon after, he debuted in films as an extra. He found superstar success in his roles of macho heroes and villains who talked tough and lived rough, with appeal to both men and women who loved his physical presence, deep resonant voice and sexy bad boy demeanor.

In addition to those in the Collection, Mitchum’s most notable films included Out of the Past, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, Night of the Hunter, Friends of Eddie Coyle, Farewell My Lovely and The Big Sleep (as Philip Marlowe), Mr. North, Cape Fear and Dead Man. His notable television appearances included the mini-series The Winds of War and its sequel, War and Remembrance.

Angel Face (1952)
Otto Preminger, who showed how to mix a beautiful woman with murder in the landmark Laura, directs this tale of a passion gone haywire. Frank’s (Robert Mitchum) a regular guy with a steady girl and a dream of owning his own garage when he crosses paths with Diane (Jean Simmons). She wants him. Or does she want a fall guy to blame when Diane’s stepmother plunges off a high cliff and leaves her fortune to Diane? Alibis, betrayals, courtroom thrills and the fire of a woman too dangerous to trust and too alluring to resist make Angel Face a film-noir classic. His pairing with Simmons was the first of three.

DVD Special Features:
* Commentary by author and historian Eddie Muller
* Subtitles: English (feature film only)
* Languages: English, Français

Macao (1952)
Robert Mitchum’s the cool male — broad shoulders, hooded eyes and laconic wit. Jane Russell’s the incendiary female — voluptuous curves, lushly lipsticked mouth and sardonic comebacks. Together they’re two dead-on talented and drop-dead gorgeous stars who brought out the best in each other in His Kind of Woman and Macao, the two gutsy film noirs they made together. In Macao, directed by the legendary Josef Von Sternberg, audiences know they’re in for a dynamite ride from the moment he saves her from a lecherous goon — and she picks his pocket. The story, set in the exotic East Asian port, involves stolen diamonds, undercover New York cops, mistaken identities, double crosses and murder.

DVD Special Features:
* Commentary by author and historian Eddie Muller, screenwriter Stanley Rubin and actress Jane Russell
* TCM Private Screenings with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell, hosted by Robert Osborne
* Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Home from the Hill (1960)
Wade Hunnicutt is a big man who casts a big shadow, one that looms over the Texas backwoodsmen who work his land”¦over the beautiful, embittered he wife cheats on”¦and over the sons — one from marriage and one illegitimate — who strive for their fathe’s respect. Robert Mitchum “gives one of his greatest performances” (Michael Barson, The Illustrated Who’s Who of Hollywood Directors) as Wade, and Vincente Minnelli directs this sprawling, emotionally volatile tale of an epic clash between generations. In early-career roles, George Peppard and George Hamilton costar as Wade’s sons, determined to be their own men, yet in danger of repeating their fathe’s life-crippling legacy of lust and violence.

DVD Special Features:
* Theatrical trailer
* Languages: English & Français
* Subtitles: English, Français & Español (feature film only)

The Sundowners (1960)
Four-time Academy Award® winner Fred Zinnemann directs this warm-hearted tale of 1920 Australia. Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr play Paddy and Ida, a devoted couple suddenly at odds. Ida and her son, Sean (Michael Anderson Jr.) want a farm of their own. But settling down is more than Paddy’s untethered spirit can bear. The Sundowners earned five Oscar® nominations including Best Picture, won Kerr the New York Film Critics Best Actress Award and made Mitchum the National Board of Review Best Actor choice for this and Home from the Hill.

DVD Special Features
* Vintage featurette On Location with The Sundowners
* Theatrical trailer
* Languages: English & Français
* Subtitles: English (feature film only)

The Good Guys & the Bad Guys (1969)
Robert Mitchum and George Kennedy ease into their roles like long-time saddle pals in this western comedy directed by Burt Kennedy (Support Your Local Sheriff). One (Mitchum) is dedicated to the law, the other (Kennedy) to lawbreaking. Each has seen better days. And each gets to relive them when they team to stop ice-blooded Waco (David Carradine) and his gang of gold thieves.

DVD Special Features:
* First-Time Widescreen video release [16×9 2.4:1]
* Vintage featurette The Good Guy from Chama
* Theatrical trailer
* Languages: English & Français
* Subtitles: English (feature film only)

The Yakuza (1975)
Robert Mitchum is Kilmer in this haunting East-meets-West head-on thriller powered by a team of heavy Hollywood hitters: writers Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) and Robert Towne (Chinatown) and director Sydney Pollack (The Interpreter). Co-starring Japan’s Takakura Ken and veteran character actor Brian Keith, The Yakuza is a modern film noir in which honor and loyalty become issues of life and death. Violence erupts with the speed of a Tokyo-bound bullet train. And the last thing to die is tradition.

DVD Special Features:
* Commentary by director Sydney Pollack
* Vintage featurette Promises to Keep
* Languages: English & Français
* Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Robert Mitchum: The Signature Collection
Street Date: January 23, 2007
Order Due Date: December 12, 2006
Catalog #: 11394
Pricing for Collection: $59.92 SRP; Individual Titles: $19.97 SRP
All Titles Not Rated

Angel Face
Run Time: 92 Minutes
Catalog #: T7781
B&W

Macao
Run Time: 81 Minutes
Catalog #: T7782
B&W

Home from the Hill
Run Time: 150 Minutes
Catalog #: 79539
Color 2.0 Stereo Audio
16×9 anamorphic 2.40

The Sundowners
Run Time: 133 Minutes
Catalog #: 111348
Color
16×9 anamorphic 1.77

The Good Guys & the Bad Guys
Run Time: 90 Minutes
Catalog #: 111347
Color
16×9 anamorphic 2.40

The Yakuza
Run Time: 112 Minutes
Catalog #: 75315
Color 16×9 anamorphic 1.77

With operations in 90 international territories, Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video’s film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.