Winchester '73 remake

I never realized that the classic James Stewart western Winchester '73 had been remade as a TV movie. But it turns out that precisely this happened, in 1967. I haven't seen the TV movie, so I can't really judge it. But for those of you who have the premium channels, you've got a chance to catch it on Encore Westerns twice in the next 24 hours, this afternoon at 12:20 PM and then overnight at 12:30 AM.

The cast looks interesting enough. Tom Tryon, whom you might recall as the groom in I Married a Monster From Outer Space, takes on the James Stewart role, of the man who wins the gun, only to have it stolen. Taking the gun from him is his cousin, played by John Saxon, who had a long career although never really became a star. One of his more interesting roles is as the student who harasses Esther Williams in the decidedly non-swim movie The Unguarded Hour. Interestingly, he and Tryon had both appeared in The Cardinal a few years earlier. Dan Duryea, who had appeared in the original, plays Saxon's father. Paul Fix, whom you might have seen in The Rifleman if you watch the nostalgia TV channels, shows up as Tryon's father; Joan Blondell shows up too.

It's also in color, but being a TV movie, it's not in widescreen.