New Releases for December 31 2024

SEARCHERS, THE (1956) (WARNER ARCHIVE)

John Wayne and John Ford made The Searchers a landmark Western with an indelible image of the frontier and the people who challenged it. Although not nominated for any awards at the time of its release, the film has since been widely acknowledged as one of the supreme triumphs of the genre. The Searchers was placed on the National Film Registry in 1989 and ranked number 12 on the American Film Institute's 2008 list of "100 Greatest American Films of all time."

Wayne plays an ex-Confederate soldier searching for his niece (Natalie Wood), captured by the Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger, thirst, the elements or loneliness. And in his five-year search, he encounters something unexpected: his own humanity. Beautifully shot by Winton C. Hoch (four-time Academy Award winner), thrillingly scored by Max Steiner (21 Academy Award nominations, 3 wins) and memorably acted by a wonderful ensemble including Jeffrey Hunter (King of Kings, The Longest Day), Vera Miles (The Wrong Man, Psycho), Natalie Wood (Rebel Without a Cause, Gypsy, West Side Story) and frequent Ford cast member Ward Bond (My Darling Clementine, The Quiet Man), The Searchers endures as "a great film of enormous scope and breathtaking physical beauty." (Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic). (BLU-RAY + 4KULTRAHD)

VOCES AMERICAN HISTORIA: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF LATINOS (2024) 

In 2018, acclaimed Broadway and film actor John Leguizamo embarked on an exploration of Latino history with his Tony-nominated play, Latin History for Morons. Inspired by his quest to uncover Latino and Latina heroes and their contributions, the new three-part series VOCES American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos brings Leguizamo's passion from the stage to the screen. (DVD)

A NIGHT FULL OF RAIN (1977) (WARNER ARCHIVE)

Lizzy (Candice Bergen), a liberated American photographer, falls for narrow-minded journalist Paolo (Giancarlo Giannini). Then finds she can't live with him or without him. Bergen (Murphy Brown) and Giannini (Seven Beauties) take both comic and fierce battle stations in this colorful excursion into the male/female combat zone. So what if the world, as we learn from the TV in Lizzy and Paolo's luxurious apartment, is crashing around their ears; this is WAR! Writer/director Lina Wertmuller relied on spontaneity and improvisation in making... A Night Full of Rain, her first film in English. Giannini, star of Wertmuller's groundbreaking Swept Away and Seven Beauties, was familiar with the technique, Bergen wasn't. But it worked splendidly. Bergen gives one of the warmest and most characterful performances of her career, the Los Angeles Times hailed. When it rains, this film's two stars pour it on! (BLU-RAY)