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  1. RobHam

    Criterion Press Release: Red River (Dual Format)

    Ok, so this thread is about Red River - one of John Wayne's better better films/acting roles, and its been side-tracked. This will be my last post on this thread as I can see it's a contentious issue for some. Comparing Rio Bravo to El Dorado and their respective value as movies hinges (for me...
  2. RobHam

    Criterion Press Release: Red River (Dual Format)

    The legacy of John Wayne has always been caught up in his right wing politics - these slipped out in a one of the more embarrassing monologues from The Alamo (it was actually scripted as a dialogue, but Wayne's delivery turned it into a monologue), and even worse in the Green Berets. My aging...
  3. RobHam

    Criterion Press Release: Red River (Dual Format)

    Having those two in "Ride the High Country" I think is what made it such a valid comment on aging ("I don't sleep so good no more").as well as one of the great Westerns. For me, a much undervalued Western, also with Randolph Scott, is Boetticher's "7 Men from Now" - this has it all in less than...
  4. RobHam

    Criterion Press Release: Red River (Dual Format)

    The easiest way to think of this is to compare the changing acting styles of John Wayne and Burt Lancaster. When you watch Lancaster in Vera Cruz (1954), what is clearly lacking in acting technique is made up for in toothy grins. and posturing for the camera. Twelve years later in The...
  5. RobHam

    Criterion Press Release: Red River (Dual Format)

    John Wayne made a few fine Westerns in his long career, but I’ve always felt that he just coasted through many of his films – only really Ford, Hawks and to a lesser extent Hathaway forced him to earn his crust. The Wild Bunch has warm memories for me, as my dad took me to see this when I was...
  6. RobHam

    Criterion Press Release: Red River (Dual Format)

    If you add Shane and High Noon to that then you probably have the top 5. The order they're in could cause much debate. I love The Searchers, and consider it Wayne's best performance by some margin. For me it is slightly diminished because Ford gave too much to his ensemble supporting cast and...
  7. RobHam

    Criterion Press Release: Red River (Dual Format)

    Oh Mr Mulder - the best Western ever made. Wayne is rather good in this but the ending is just plain sully. Just about every great western has its faults, and I have a tough time with the supporting cast of The Searchers (excepting Hank Worden), but there are still so many that better or equal...
  8. RobHam

    International LONELY ARE THE BRAVE (1962) at Amazon Germany

    This is a superb modern western - allegedly Kirk Douglas's favourite film. I'll wait a few months to see if there is any sign of a UK release - if not, this one will do me
  9. RobHam

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Nicholas and Alexandra -- in Blu-ray

    So I finally got this. The low figures on the TT release convinced me that this film will never see any other BD release in regions B or C - time to purchase now or forever hold my piece. It's a superb transfer - in many ways reminiscent of Doctor Zhivago. Something odd appeared in the audio...
  10. RobHam

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Khartoum & Zulu -- in Blu-ray

    At last, someone actually dares criticise Larry's lack of cinematic craft. He was just off a theatrical run of Othello - but for a performance of similar excellence see Fisher Stevens in "Short Circuit". Anyone with any doubts about acting prowess in front of a camera should compare Ghassan...
  11. RobHam

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Khartoum & Zulu -- in Blu-ray

    I (finally) received Khartoum today and watched it this evening. My own thoughts: I was pleased with the quality, with a single caveat – second unit location shots had flicker across the entire film. This is something I’ve become more sensitive to as I get older and I found some scenes...
  12. RobHam

    TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT OR TITUS

    Bruce - no criticism towards yourself was inferred in previous comments. Quite the opposite actually - apologies if its been taken the wrong way. What this thread shows, beyond the bletherings of the pro and anti Twilight Time cliques, is the need for communication from Twilight Time at the...
  13. RobHam

    TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT OR TITUS

    (ignoring the cease and desist order above, as this stuff, although stale, does still throw out interesting morsels). Bruce's "sneak peak" threads appear to be partially fulfilling the pre-preorder info on behalf of TT - I pre-ordered Khartoum on the basis of that initial positive nod from...
  14. RobHam

    TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT OR TITUS

    Bruce - maybe its my age and my brain is fuddled, but I seem to recall some sort of online blood-feud going on with yourself and Nick Redman many months ago. What happened on the metaphorical road to Damascus that turned you into one of Twilight Times' biggest champions? Not being critical...
  15. RobHam

    TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT OR TITUS

    Agree that it's getting old, but it keeps coming back, and the release of Titus seems to have provoked the most hostile response yet to the TT model. I think Twilight Time may be victims of their own success. With a string of critical and commercial successes released over the past 12...
  16. RobHam

    TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT OR TITUS

    Y'know, I removed myself from this board voluntarily because a small faction here (apparently) didn't understand or want opinions contrary to their own and had them removed. That hasn't changed, and I still do not wish to be a regular part of this site while a small faction can hold the...
  17. RobHam

    A Few Words About While we wait for A few words about...™ Cloud Atlas -- in Blu-ray

    I'm late the party with this one. Cloud Atlas was given a very limited cinema release in the UK, and I didn't get to see it. The BD was finally released on Monday and I watched it earlier today. If ever there was a movie-buff's film, then this is it - it references loads of different films...
  18. RobHam

    Olive Films Blu-ray Release and Discussion Thread

    Reuben, Reuben. I bought this from Olive as a DVD as the BD had not (and still has not) been established as Region free capability. The movie, filmed in 1983, documents the exploits of a philandering alcoholic Scottish poet on tour Eastern Seaboard USA, and has a gentle but barbed sense of...
  19. RobHam

    film grain

    There's a guy that follows me around with a piano playing the same tune over and over. It makes me frightened
  20. RobHam

    film grain

    This one issue I think is why Blu Ray never took off as a populist medium the way it should have several years back - there are conflicting demands on what people want to see from the Blu Ray format. For many grain is the evil that should be removed at all cost, but for others grain is the one...
  21. RobHam

    You voted and the results are in!

    Oh Dear. This question could run and run till I grow hair on the top of my head again. I grew up with a father who was a huge John Wayne fan and have seen just about everything he appeared in (possibly excluding some of the Republic Studios stuff that he churned out in the 1940's) . The...
  22. RobHam

    Olive Films Blu-ray Release and Discussion Thread

    Part of the attraction of this site for me is that the moderation of the board is done with a light touch. It allows some good, sometimes heated, debate to happen without interruption. I've read through the last few posts that seem to have caused offence and can't see anything for anyone to be...
  23. RobHam

    Spaghetti Western classic The Big Gundown in October from Grindhouse Releasing!

    This is a movie that I've never actually seen - I can't recall it ever being shown on UK TV despite periodic bursts of spaghetti western seasons over the years. I'm hoping the trailer above doesn't accurately represent the movie as it reminded me of Sabata - a film I don't like. For me, the...
  24. RobHam

    Coming Soon From Olive Films

    Reuben, Reuben is released on BD next week via Olive having never had a DVD release anywhere. I suspect many will never have heard of this forgotten gem from the 1980's - Tom Conti gave the performance of his career as a drunken Scottish poet on tour in the US, and was rewarded with an Oscar...
  25. RobHam

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Django Unchained -- in Blu-ray

    My wife hates Westerns and the movies of Quentin Tarantino so it was a done deal that I was never going to see this movie in the cinema on first release. It finally came out this week on BD in the UK, so I got to watch it tonight at home. Before launching into this, I have all of QT's movies...
  26. RobHam

    Shane Blu-ray... in 1:66?

    ...and therein lies the problem. Being handed a shitty stick that has had so much care in the presentation and arrangement is still a shitty stick. If both AR's are offered, I think I'd watch the 1.66 out of curiosity - but not out of preference.
  27. RobHam

    Shane Blu-ray... in 1:66?

    I must admit my first reaction on reading the alleged Wells/Polanski correspondence was to laugh. More worrying is the fact that I'm actually aligning myself with this same person when it comes to the expected aspect ratio of Shane on BD. If the original 1.37 ratio isn't released as part of...
  28. RobHam

    Aspect Ratio Documentation

    This is one of HTF's BIG threads and I've read this one since close to the beginning - sometimes with amusement at how angry people get with what is the "original aspect ratio". However, Shane is a movie I have loved from the age of six onwards, and at no time have I ever seen it at anything...
  29. RobHam

    William Friedkin's Sorcerer is finally headed to Blu-ray!

    I have this in the US released pan & scan 4:3 DVD. I reckon it was unfairly machine-gunned by critics when compared to Wages of Fear. Yes, WoF is the better film, but this one also has its merits - not the least of which is the Tangerine Dream soundtrack. Once given favourable reviews for...
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