Duvall in 'Long Riders' creates a frontier gem

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Veteran action auteur Walter Hill, late of the frontier gems "The Long Riders" (1980) and "Wild Bill" (1995), returns to the celluloid saddle with the riveting miniseries Broken Trail, out this week in a double-disc set via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment ($28.98). It's our ...

DVD pick of the week

Playing a self-confessed variation on his "Lonesome Dove" and "Open Range" characters, Robert Duvall effortlessly commands the screen as Print Ritter, a crusty old cowhand who convinces his laconic nephew Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church, of "Sideways" fame) to join him on an arduous horse drive.

That mission grows more complicated when Print and Tom assume responsibility for five Chinese girls abandoned by prairie pimp Billy Fender (James Russo).

Director Hill and screenwriter Alan Geoffrion successfully blend old-school Western entertainment with a bit of revisionist "Deadwood"-style grit while steering this four-legged road trip across its 184-minute running time.

In addition to Messrs. Duvall and Church, Greta Scacchi turns in fine work as Nola, a former prostitute with a hankering for Print, while Chris Mulkey impresses as Big Ears, a bad guy determined to make life miserable for our protagonists.

Extras are slight beyond a well-executed behind-the-scenes featurette; a filmmakers' audio commentary would have been welcome. Still, this widescreen Western is well worth the rental price for quality-starved couchside sagebrush buffs.

Tele-video

In the dramatic TV on DVD arena, Koch Vision imports the family-friendly British miniseries Anne of Avonlea (two-disc, $29.98); Buena Vista Home Entertainment extends the saga of faux U.S. President Geena Davis in Commander in Chief: Inaugural Edition Part 2 (two-disc, $29.99); Sony Pictures unearths the 1970s series Family: The Complete First and Second Seasons (six-disc, $49.95); and HBO Video presents the acclaimed prison-set Oz: The Complete Sixth Season (three-disc, $64.98), armed with cast and creator audio commentaries, deleted scenes and more.

In the comedy field, Koch Vision brings back one of our favorite 1950s series, the low-budget but high-energy Abbott & Costello Show: Season 1 (three-disc, $39.98). Elsewhere, 20th Century Fox revisits the 1970s with The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete Fourth Season (three-disc, $29.99), while Lionsgate Home Entertainment journeys to the 1980s with ALF: Season 4 (four-disc, $39.98).