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

Robert Harris

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Arthur Penn's1976 The Missouri Breaks, with a very interesting lead actor pairing of Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, has arrived on Blu-ray from MGM via Kino Lobber.

With color and densities looking reasonable, and with rather active second generation grain, the image works on Blu-ray.  This is an interesting film, in part because of the odd performance from Mr. Brando, which seems out of tune with the film.  In ways, rather like his sissified Fletcher Christian in the 1962 Mutiny on the Bounty.

On Blu-ray, the film has a slightly sharpened appearance, which is never really troublesome.  Color and densities appear to work nicely for the Montana countryside.

​As noted, this is an interesting and good film, but unfortunately, never a great one.

Image - 4

Audio - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

RAH

 

Matt Hough

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I only saw it once in the theater upon first release (where the theater was practically empty), and I found it weird and unfocused. I wouldn't mind giving it another chance sometime.
 

Powell&Pressburger

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Never since I've read how odd the film is it honestly makes me want to see it so much more. Maybe I should think of it as a Midnite Movie
 

Dick

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Well, yes, it's odd all right. But it's also just not very good. I personally consider John William's score for this to be nearly his absolute worst. The directing is sloppy. The acting is often ridiculous (Brando was entering into his full-blown, over-the-top eccentric mode), and not until the final five minutes did the film engage me. But, as is so often said here (as an appendage to a negative comment about a film around), I'm glad the Blu-ray is available for those who like the film.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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The oddest thing in the film really is Brando who seems to be fully invested in creating a very strange character. With Nicholson as the other lead and a crew of excellent character actors filling out the cast --Harry Dean Stanton, Frederic Forrest, Randy Quaid, RIchard Bradford, and Kathleen Lloyd holding her own with these guys-- the film is always interesting to watch and entertaining. I've always found Brando's wacky turn in this to be a lot of fun and something I would expect to be right at home in say...a Coen Brothers film.

I have the disc and hope to give it a watch over the weekend.
 

Richard V

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I was totally underwhelmed and enormously disappointed when I initially saw the film. Can't see any reason now to pick up a movie for which I had such high anticipations.
 

Konstantinos

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I don't know if you have noticed, but the music score is by the legend John Williams (Star Wars, Jaws, Jurassic park, E.T., Indiana Jones, Schindler's List etc.).
It's quite different from the ones anyone is used to...
 

davidmatychuk

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Reggie W said:
The oddest thing in the film really is Brando who seems to be fully invested in creating a very strange character. With Nicholson as the other lead and a crew of excellent character actors filling out the cast --Harry Dean Stanton, Frederic Forrest, Randy Quaid, RIchard Bradford, and Kathleen Lloyd holding her own with these guys-- the film is always interesting to watch and entertaining. I've always found Brando's wacky turn in this to be a lot of fun and something I would expect to be right at home in say...a Coen Brothers film.

I have the disc and hope to give it a watch over the weekend.
I agree, and I think that with its genre subversion and deadpan tone "The Missouri Breaks" is a lot like a Coen brothers film.
 

theonemacduff

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Well, call me crazy, but I saw it in the theatres, mostly because of the director, not the actors, and I liked it, that is, I had read reviews the dissed it, but the actual experience of seeing it was more than merely pleasant, it was fun. Yeah, okay, Brando was doing his best to screw up certain scenes, but the work between him and Nicholson struck me as phenomenally good, and I loved the ending: the right touch of brutality, I thought, to add a bit of sharpness to the comedy of the a lot of the rest of it. And Kathleen Lloyd I thought was fantastic, a breath of fresh air in a genre that takes male honour usually far too seriously. Interesting too, that New Yorker Arthur Penn, should have ended up making, in the end, three, count 'em, three westerns. His fondness for method actors and acting sometimes worked against him, or rather, didn't always suit the material (viz, Targets), but all his stuff is interesting, Missouri Breaks included. A definite purchase to go with my collection of westerns (did I mention I am a genre fan?).
 

Powell&Pressburger

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Finally watched this film today from the KINO sale.

I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It is odd but at the same time it was ahead of if time with the tone shifts of the film. I enjoyed Brando in the film, I felt he made the movie better. i liked the cast of the film that included John Ryan and Frederick Forrest. It was a nice Sunday Afterboon lazy day movie. the fans trailer is interesting and certainly doesn't hide the movie under an false pretenses. if u like the trailer the movie isn't much different.
 

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