DVD Review HTF Review: The Great Escape - Special Edition (Highly Recommended!) (1 Viewer)

[Andrea W]

Isn't the release date for this May 25th?

 

[Jason Perez]

Although several retailers were listing May 25th as release date, others had it pegged for May 18th. Further, both of the press releases I received stated it would be released yesterday (May 18th), so I went with that date, hoping not to be let down.

By the way, I did see it in a couple of stores (FYE and Suncoast) yesterday.

Regards,

Jason

 

[Haggai]

Got it at Best Buy yesterday, it's in my DVD player right now.

On another note, I'm following the DVD Savant's advice from his DVDTalk review regarding the extra features on disc 1. Namely, have the subtitle trivia track on at the same time while you're listening to the commentary. It's working nicely (I'm about halfway through), so I recommend that as a good way to utilize those features.

 

[Felix Martinez]

I agree, and I also found the video quality to be problematic - although this is the best it's looked on home video. Fans of the film should still be thrilled!

Cheers,

 

[JeremySt]

Artwork? All the criterion has is a photo from the movie. Cool, but not what I want the DVD to look like. I vote for the original theatrical poster, as I do for 99% of DVDs.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Got this. One of the discoveries on the AFI list.

 

[Matt Butler]

I spent the last couple days with GB&U so I havent watched GE yet but I was wondering if the 24 min "Return to the Graet Escape" is the same one as on the old DVD.

Could someone chime in?

Thanks

 

[Dave Farley]

I have the same question as Matt Butler above. Is the 24-minute 'making of' from the first DVD on the new SE?

 

[Ray_R]

I'm definitely gonna buy this, which I was already going to. But this is more of a credence for me to buy it. Nice to finally have this in my collection. Only $19.99 over at Circuit City. I'm going to buy this in conjunction with the 2-Disc of Wyatt Earp. One of my favorite Steve McQueen films.
Now, if only Warner's will produce a Two-Disc Special Edition for Bullitt. One can only dream.
Jason, excellent review for one of my most beloved films. Thanks, I appreciate it!

 

[Paul McElligott]

All of extras narrated by Burt Reynolds make me wonder if they're recycling the History vs. Hollywood episode about this movie.

 

[Chris*W]

Despite my post on a previous thread where I said that I would only give this a rental, I bought it yesterday. I take every thing back that I previously said. There is really nothing wrong with this transfer; it suits the film fine. As for the film itself, it is now one of my favorite movies. The extras on the DVD are very nice.

 

[Nelson Au]

Ray R- A new transfer and 2 disc SE of Bullitt would be very cool! A Steve McQueen favorite of mine and maybe his quintessential film.

Although I do feel that the extra film that's on the DVD, "Steve McQueen; Commitment to Reality", about the making of the film wasn't too bad. It's actually pretty cool as it's got actual interviews and footage on the sets at the Architectual studio and hospital and shows how they did the car chase.

I just finally broke open my Sunset Blvd DVD and I really liked the extra in there of the map of Hollywood with all the sites in the movie. Now if an extra on a Bullitt DVD had that for the chase, for the location of Bullitt's apartment, the hotel where Johnny Ross is shot, and the hospital, etc. Also, Peter Yates, Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Vaughn and others are still here to give their thoughts for today. (I live near SF, so I've seen many of the sites and drove my 1967 Mustang along part of the chase route)

A piece on the mysterious whereabouts of the 1968 Highland Green Mustang GT would be cool too. Apparently in the early 70's McQueen tried to buy it back from the guy who ended up with it, but he refused and it's supposedly in a barn in New York or New Jersey rotting away.

Sorry for the digression. I am definitely enjoying this new Great Escape, the new Burt Reynolds narrated pieces on the film are pretty good and I learned a few new things about the actual escape verses past versions like the Criterion LD that focused on the production of the film. The audio commentary was cool too because it's by a fan of the film and he had good insights I felt. I was amazed the audio clips by James Garner, James Coburn, John Sturges, Donald Pleasence and the others sound new to me. I've heard the audio commentaries on the Criterion LD several times and saw the extra on the old GE DVD, and those don't sound like they were used here on the new DVD. I've still to see the "Untold Story" and Virgil Hilts docs.

Nelson

 

[Mark Zimmer]

The Return to the Great Escape doc is the same 1993 one running 24m:09s as on the old DVD. The "collectible booklet" is also the identical one in the prior release, so there's absolutely no reason to hang onto the old one.

 

[Ray_R]

Nelson Au - The extras you listed and little inserts you mentioned, I'd be all over a 2-Disc for Bullitt in a heartbeat. Maybe even a tribute to Steve himself?
Man, the only thing that's holding me off on buying Bullitt is because I heartily believe this film should deserve the 2-Disc Special Edition treatment.
Good call, Nel.

 

[EdgarNazaretyan]

Well, to answer your question there Ray_R, a few months back when Warner had a chat, I asked about Bullitt if there would be a chance to do a 2 Disc Special Edition, and they responded with, "they're working on it now" and when i asked when it was to be released, they said like 1-2 years. so hope your happy, altough it will be a year or two before you have it in your hand. i am a big fan of mcqueen and his and movies also. Have you seen The Getaway?

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Ray! And thanks to Edgar for that Warner chat info, that's great news. Can't wait till the Bullitt SE is in our hands!

 

[Paul_Scott]

i'm a big McQueen fan too.
i actually think the current transfer of Bullitt looks pretty good.

i think Getaway could benefit more from an new transfer and a newly authored/encoded disc.
i would love to see that film again, but i'm leary of the current disc as i seem to recall a lot of artifiacting on it- visible even on a 32" set.
watching it on an FP would most likely be really pushing it.

i wish Paramount would get around to releasing Love With The Proper Stranger.
i've been bringing it up for 2 yrs now, and still nothing.
by far the one McQueen film i most want at this point.

for anyone that hasn't seen it, and is craving another long, epic-paced film, i would recommend Sand Pebbles.

good, inexpensive disc from Fox.

 

[Maggi Magg]

Have to say i´m little disapointed about this transfer.
I´ve had the original R2 release and special edition R2 dvd(which is identical to this "new" release).
This transfer is from the same source as the R2 special edition and lacks detail in certain scenes.
Most obvious is the 4'th of july celebrations and discovering of Tom.
Well this is my third dip of this title so this is as "good" as it gets,they obviosly don´t have a better print so even HD-DVD can´t rescue this great film.
You get at least the original mono sound on this release which was not present on the R2 special edition and an extra featurette -----well it was on the original edition on both sides of the atlantic.

 

[Enrique B Chamorro]

Hello,

Shameless self promotion!

A comparison is just posted at DVDBeaver here;

www.compare.dvdbeaver.com

 

[Gary Tooze]

Taken from this scene in the New SE (Region 1)



Are these not edge enhancement halos?




I am willing to accept that they are not, and certainly don't fault Jason as I really zoomed in to catch them (if they are in fact EE halos)...

Thanks,