A Few Words About A few words about...™ Havana -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

I'm a huge Sydney Pollack fan. Always have been. No matter what his function on a film, he was a class act.

Initially, he was acting on TV - beginning in 1956 - Tales of Wells Fargo, Have Gun - Will Travel, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents...

In 1961, he directed episodes of Shotgun Slide, a series of which I have no memory. Acting and directing more TV into the '00s.

For motion pictures, he began directing in 1965, with The Slender Thread, and continued (along with occasional acting appearances, and exec producing) until his final work in 2008.

But most cinephiles will know him for his directorial work - from 1965 until 2005, with The Interpreter - by my count, 18 films.

The major titles:

Castle Keep
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Jeremiah Johnson
The Way We Were
Three Days of the Condor
Absence of Malice
Tootsie
Out of Africa
The Firm

And the subject of these words, Havana (1990), for which Kino, via their license with Universal is releasing a gorgeous new Blu-ray.

And strangely, it's another Richard Farnsworth appearance.

Gorgeously photographed by Owen Roizman, the new Blu has a magnificent palette, with the Dominican Republic standing in for 1958 Cuba.

This appears to be a recent image harvest, as color, grain, black levels, and stabilization are all where they should be.

The film was not a critical success, but I love it. Which may have a great deal to do with atmosphere.

I'm also a huge fan of films that don't telegraphy the plot, and almost ten minutes it, one will still be trying to figure out where the pieces fit. The main title sequence which is beautiful, doesn't arrive until six or seven minutes in.

My advice on this one is to grab a copy, and let reviews fall by the wayside.

Robert Redford is wonderful in the film, but one would surmise that director and star would have meaningful rapport - The Way We Were, Jeremiah Johnson, Three Days of the Condor, The Electric Horseman, Out of Africa - going back to This Property is Condemned in 1966 - Mr. Pollack's second directorial effort.

Image – 5

Audio – 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Upgrade from DVD - Absolutely!

Recommended.

RAH

 

[Brian Husar]

I have been waiting for this. Is the sound 5.1? Because I know for the 70mm screenings they had said all the surrounds were active so you could feel as if you were in Cuba.

 

[titch]

Thirty years ago, I saw this in 70 mm very soon after the restored Lawerence Of Arabia was shown on the same magnificent screen and cinema in Oslo, the Colosseum. It barely ran for one week. Poor Havana didn't stand a chance then. It had many things against it, apart from being compared, very unfavourably, with Casablanca. Havana stirred none of my emotions as Sydney Pollack's previous film, Out Of Africa, had done. Neither did the gorgeous Lena Olin, who I had a major crush on, after The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, a couple of years before. I especially missed a John Barry soundtrack! However, I'm now as old and world-weary as Robert Redford was when he made the film, so I definitely need to give this a reappraisal.

 

[CC95]

Thirty years ago, I saw this in 70 mm very soon after the restored Lawerence Of Arabia was shown on the same magnificent screen and cinema in Oslo, the Colosseum. It barely ran for one week. Poor Havana didn't stand a chance then. It had many things against it, apart from being compared, very unfavourably, with Casablanca. Havana stirred none of my emotions as Sydney Pollack's previous film, Out Of Africa, had done. Neither did the gorgeous Lena Olin, who I had a major crush on, after The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, a couple of years before. I especially missed a John Barry soundtrack! However, I'm now as old and world-weary as Robert Redford was when he made the film, so I definitely need to give this a reappraisal.

Lena Olin stole my heart in ROMEO IS BLEEDING.....

 

[Fred Sliman]

Thanks; I’m so glad to hear this praise for the disc and glad I hadn’t imported another version yet. If it’s not quite one of my very favorite Redford films it is one of my very favorite Redford performances.