Movies 4 You: Timeless Westerns on Blu-ray from Timeless Media (1 Viewer)

[Mark-P]

How is it that there has been no discussion of this release? It came out on July 30th and was missed on the roundup. The 2-disc set includes four classic Westerns:
Rio Conchos
Take a Hard Ride
Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
and
The Last Hard Men

http://www.amazon.com/Movies-You-Timeless-Westerns-Blu-ray/dp/B00C81AW8E

There is a review up on another site that praises the picture quality and (mono) sound.
And at $14.99 that's only $3.75 per movie. What Western fan can pass that up? I've always wanted Rio Conchos and B & S The Early Days on Blu. I don't really care about the other two but I'll take 'em as part of the package.

 

[John Hermes]

I have it. The video quality is quite nice on all the films, especially on the highlight of the set, Rio Conchos. Quite a bargain (four BD films for $15) and recommended.

 

[Richard--W]

I do wish Timeless had found a sturdier title than Take A Hard Ride to round out the set. Take A Hard Ride is strictly low-grade fare and hardly up to the standard of the other films included. The highlight is Gordon Douglas RIO CONCHOS, a ground-breaking western from 1964. Andrew V. McLaglen's THE LAST HARD MEN (1976) has much to recommend it. Richard Lester's BUTCH AND SUNDANCE: THE EARLY DAYS (1979) was generally dismissed as a misfire when it was released, relying too much on slapstick, but a lot of money was spent on the film and it's extremely well-made. The transfers are all fine and at $14.99 the blu-ray is a real bargain.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

I assume most of these titles are FOX titles, I know they license out their films, but is this a first release from Fox via Timeless Media?

 

[David_B_K]

Thanks for starting this tpoic. I didn't know about this release. Sounds worthwhile for Rio Conchos alone.

 

[Richard--W]

I have no idea if Timeless has released other Fox titles.

RIO CONCHOS is worth $14.99 all by itself. I guess this means it will never get a solo blu-ray release. There is so much to say about it, it demands a commentary. For that matter, THE LAST HARD MEN merits a solo blu-ray release as well. 1978-79 was the year Richard Lester stumbled, what with CUBA and BUTCH AND SUNDANCE, after a long succession of creative innovations and box-office hits. Coming back to America was not good for him. He had too many political grievances which he let sour his storytelling.

 

[Twilight Time]

Just as an fyi, Timeless Media is a subsidiary of Shout! Factory, so in a sense SF is merely sub-licensing to itself!

 

[Richard--W]

Just as an fyi, Timeless Media is a subsidiary of Shout! Factory, so in a sense SF is merely sub-licensing to itself!

A shame Twilight Time couldn't release RIO CONCHOS on blu-ray. Any chance of Twilight Time upgrading the STAGECOACH (1966) DVD to blu-ray? I had a great time watching it recently. A much better western than I realized. The matte of the cliffside and mountain in the rain doesn't transfer well, does it.

Any chance you can get PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID?
.

 

[Twilight Time]

Hi Richard--we will most likely consider a release of STAGECOACH on blu-ray down the line...it is a very nice transfer. As for PG & BTK, we'd love it of course but no chance...hopefully WB will revisit it as they are with The Wild Bunch for 2014...

 

[John Hermes]

A shame Twilight Time couldn't release RIO CONCHOS on blu-ray. Any chance of Twilight Time upgrading the STAGECOACH (1966) DVD to blu-ray? I had a great time watching it recently. A much better western than I realized. The matte of the cliffside and mountain in the rain doesn't transfer well, does it.

Any chance you can get PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID?
.

Richard, if you have a region-free player, there is a very nice French BD of Stagecoach (1966), which looks like it was made from the same fine master as the TT DVD.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

Thanks for the heads up on this one. This may give me hope that something like "Timeless Epics" will be on the horizon with, say, STORY OF RUTH, DAVID AND BATHSHEBA, SOLOMON AND SHEBA and KINGS OF THE SUN, a possibility since Fox Home Video released the latter two MGM titles in standard DVD.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

Hi Richard--we will most likely consider a release of STAGECOACH on blu-ray down the line...it is a very nice transfer. As for PG & BTK, we'd love it of course but no chance...hopefully WB will revisit it as they are with The Wild Bunch for 2014...

Great News for The Wild Bunch in 2014 from WB because this film needs a HD DTS audio track for sure. Thanks for the info!

 

[Richard--W]

Hi Richard--we will most likely consider a release of STAGECOACH on blu-ray down the line...it is a very nice transfer. As for PG & BTK, we'd love it of course but no chance...hopefully WB will revisit it as they are with The Wild Bunch for 2014...

Well, if Warner Brothers revisits PG & BTK I hope you'll use your influence with George Feltenstein to do right by Peckinpah's workprint. The way he turned his back on that is infuriating. But he turns his back on a lot of things. Paul Seydor assures us that his efforts to restore it and reinstate the missing scene were ignored by Feltenstein. I believe Seydor, but he gets blamed in the public's perception anyhow.

That's good news about THE WILD BUNCH.

I hope Twilight Time will find some other westerns to release on blu-ray. Raoul Walsh's GUN FURY 3-D (1953) would be a good title for Twilight Time. All these other films you're releasing are fine and welcome but if they're not westerns, they're not westerns are they.

 

[John Doe]

TT, how about The Ox-Bow Incident and My Darling Clementine? Any chance of blu-rays?

 

[Alan Tully]

I'm surprised to see a superior western like Rio Conchos in a bargain box, it's a big favourite of mine & has a great Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack. And it looks like it'll be region A locked. Oh well, Koch Media released the DVD in Germany, so there's a good chance they'll release it on Blu-ray....& great news about The Wild Bunch.

 

[Simon Lewis]

And it looks like it'll be region A locked.

I've played both discs in this set on my region B player

 

[JColl]

Well, if Warner Brothers revisits PG & BTK I hope you'll use your influence with George Feltenstein to do right by Peckinpah's workprint. The way he turned his back on that is infuriating..

Could you elaborate on this? Thank you

 

[Alan Tully]

I've played both discs in this set on my region B player

Thanks for that, I'll be buying this then, just for Rio Conchos. I haven't seen it in 'scope since I first saw it at the cinema, I bought a Spanish DVD years ago, but it zoomed into 16:9 after the titles, as does the TCM transfer.

 

[Lromero1396]

Hi Richard--we will most likely consider a release of STAGECOACH on blu-ray down the line...it is a very nice transfer. As for PG & BTK, we'd love it of course but no chance...hopefully WB will revisit it as they are with The Wild Bunch for 2014...

This is the first I've heard of The Wild Bunch getting revisited. Since it's coming from you, Mr. Redman, I know it to be true. Thank you very much for the information. I look forward to that release.

 

[Paul Rossen]

Hi Richard--we will most likely consider a release of STAGECOACH on blu-ray down the line...it is a very nice transfer. As for PG & BTK, we'd love it of course but no chance...hopefully WB will revisit it as they are with The Wild Bunch for 2014...

Though I have THE WILD BUNCH on blu ray I'm very excited about WB revisiting and upgrading this fine film. As being an expert on everything Pechinpah I'm hoping that they would utilize your resources to come up with the definitive version.

I know that TWB played roadshow in the UK during it's initial run while the US had the cut version. Was the film ever shown with an Overture and played with an Intermission?