Rock Hudson Screen Legend Collection (The Golden Blade / Has Anybody Seen My Gal? / The Last Sunset / The Spiral Road / A Very Special Favor)

First, the visual quality of these movies is top-notch-clear and strong, vibrant colors. The movies themselves are really fantastic. There is no question Mr. Hudson is a fine actor, and that, with his handsome looks and his warm screen presence make for a wonderful viewing experience. I liked 'Have You Seen My Gal" and "The Last Sunset" the best. Kirk Douglas is really, really good in the later. The story there is more compelling than many Westerns of that era. Rock Hudson is solid. The Spiral Road is very good as well--a wonderful study in human character. Didn't love A Very Special Favor, because it is similar to the movies Rock did with Doris Day and she is much better that Ms. Charon in playing a comic role. But, it was written well and the story flowed well--Miss Charon just didn't do it for me. The Golden Blade was fun, but really chessey fun to be sure. The sets and costumes left a bit to be desired, but Rock's performance was solid and his female co-star was interesting to watch. All other parts were not so great. It's a good story so it was watchable. Have you seen my Gal was special. The sets were top-notch, the filming was beautiful and each character in the movie was appealing. The acting throughout was very good. The story of rags to riches and how it affects people was handled very believably and it kept one very interested to the end. Very uplifting Americana scenes and situations. Just fantastically charming throughout. Rock doesn't get the most screen time but he is very good--the older, wealthy man is great. I bought this set for $7!!! Five very well made movies, all with great, interesting and moral-laden stories. Amazing.

PLOT SPOILERSpiral road turned out to be an excellent, thoughtful film. It was too long in obscurity. Hudson plays an ambitious doctor and top competitive athlete who feels utterly self-confident. He is not sympathetic to people who can't handle life without community or for example religion.The film has lush tropical atmosphere in color, but such a view of humanity is the core issue here.Ives is the crusty old world expert on leprosy who is too busy treating patients and coping with jungle life to publish his stack of research findings. He maintains a tough exterior but gains deep respect and affection for Hudson, that he tries to conceal.PLOT SPOILERToward the remarkable ending Hudson cracks under quite strange but believable psychological pressures. He is being outwitted and starts making dumb mistakes as any human might under such alien circumsances. If you are the sort who thinks YOU wound never ever make such mistakes, forget this film. Anyway he falls apart mentally out alone in the jungle. He has to be rescued. All that saves him is that other human beings who love him more than he loves them have come to care about him. It is implied that he comes to realize that loving human bonds are not simply weaknesses but are critical to human survival and give meaning to life.Elsewhere I read that the film is about atheism versus religious belief. The film does involve missionaries who run a leper colony, Hudson's disdain for religion, and it does end with a quote from the Bible, but the overall characterization is misleading. All these elements largely raise issues for the viewer to ponder. For example suppose Hudson's scientific arguments were correct, and the religious position was wrong. So what? -- Apparently what was really important was the love component in religion as it was presented in the film in the context of care for the lepers and the importance of personal bonds among the doctors in tough situations at the edge of survival. I don't know the book, and it is not impossible that the author originally had a different objective, and that Hudson would have found God in the end. But that was not how the film developed the story.Hudson and others did quite respectable jobs of acting. Some would say he was out of character, but I would say that the film is rather unusual in any event and any famous actor might seem out of character for some viewers. I liked the way he played the role, however. Gratefully, the actors did not overplay and trivialize the points that I just made. I liked the dialogue. There were some nice thought provoking lines.This is quite simply a thought provoking film -- it is not an action or adventure film. It is not the usual sort of drama. It is not an inspirational religious film about conversion. It is difficult to put it into the usual categories without raising misleading expectations.

I watched his movies in the 50’s when I was a teenager. Wanted to share these movies with our children and grandkids. Clean romance, clean language (no dirty words) , decent attires and most of them delivered moral lessons.

This is an awesome set of movies starring Rock Hudson released by Universal Studios. All of these movies vary between 1hr and 22min to 2hr long. There are three disks and there are no double sided disks, so it's easier to get to the right movie. Two out of the five are in Widescreen format and all movies are in color too! The quality of the movies are great and clear! Also, there a brief details about Rock Hudson and the movies in this collection when you open the binding to get the DVDs. These movies vary from early 50s to mid 60s. These movies also star: Kirk Douglas, Piper Laurie, Dorothy Malone, Joseph Cotten, Charles Coburn, Burl Ives, Charles Boyer, Leslie Caron, Neville Brand, Jack Elam, plus others! Overall this is the best Rock Hudson collection out there and a must have for any Classic Movie fan.