Hi Chris
In general I agree with you although I must admit that I have a colourized version of Red River and have seen The Longest Day in colour which again didn't look too bad. It's interesting that in his book 'Who The Hell Was In It' in the James Stewart section author Peter Bogdanovich reveals how in the late 1980's he Stewart and Burt Lancaster travelled to Washington and lobbied the Senate to get the colourization process outlawed and apparently were partially successful.
Getting back on track I also thought that Big Jim McLaine wasn't at all a bad picture.
Regards
Arthur