WARNER, COLUMBIA & MGM an open plea for more Classic Peckinpah films (1 Viewer)

[Jim_K]

As far as great American Directors, Sam Peckinpah's catalog seems to be the most neglected on the DVD format. Thankfully we have at least a few of his great films (Wild Bunch, The Getaway, Straw Dogs) even if the former 2 were early generation releases.


Warner

Ride the High Country - Peckinpah's first great Western.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue - One of Jason Robards finest performances.

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid - Peckinpah's last great Western.

MGM

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - Peckinpah's last great (& often misunderstood) film before his tragic spiral of self destruction.

Columbia

Major Dundee (152 min Directors Cut) - Only the fully restored Directors cut please. The 122 min cut is one of the most tragic butcherings of American cinema. :frowning:



So is there anyone else around here who'd be interested in more Peckinpah films on DVD?

 

[Tim_Prasuhn]

I'd jump all over any new releases, or remastered releases (Ahem, Wild Bunch).

 

[Dick]

Totally in agreement. Would also add an OAR release of CROSS OF IRON, so far available only as a pan-and-scan edition.

 

[Jay E]

I would buy all 5 films if they came out on DVD.

 

[Darren Gross]

Unfortunately there is no definitive continuity or workprint or trims and outs of the 152 min cut which was screened for Peckinpah with the producer.

The studio has lots of raw footage and audio from the film but without proper documentation or reference footage, there's no way to piece together that version.

Scenes and sequences could be assembled and re-edited but it would in no way be Peckinpah's cut- it'd be much more of a hodgepodge and assemblage of guesswork than the TOUCH OF EVIL restoration was. There, they at least had an enormous, detailed memo to work from...Here there only exists a short memo detailing how Peckinpah would like to make slight alterations to the 152min cut, not any real detail on what those little bits were...

Back when the Wild Bunch was restored, the Academy worked with Columbia in an attempt to achieve a director's cut but had to call it off when a definitive reference print and records could not be found.

That said, I've recently recovered two english language prints of the 134 min cut which repairs much damage visible in the 122 min cut...Hopefully when it's time to do a DVD Columbia will choose to make use of this version...

Peckinpah was apoplectic upon finding that his 152min cut had been cut down to 134mins. One can only imagine how enraged he would have been if he'd been aware that 12 mins more had been hacked out.

 

[Ryan FB]

Regarding The Ballad of Cable Hogue...
Apparently, an OAR Hi-Def transfer exists and it was shown on HDnet. There's an old LD release and a VHS release, but both are P&S. After seeing Robards' excellent performance in Once Upon a Time in the West, it left me really wanting to see this film but no OAR options exist on home video. :frowning: