Sam Peckinpah Westerns Collection is Here, But! See Post #81 (1 Viewer)

[RonWilson]

I went to HMV, Sunrise records and Sam the record Man in Downtown Toronto last night and NONE of these stores had any of the new Peckinpah releases. I don't know if it's a two week delay but there is definitely a delay of some kind.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

A Best Buy employee told me last night that the films were scheduled to arrive later that night, and would be on the shelves today (Wednesday). After hearing this I promptly drove across the street to a Borders Books & Music and found precisely one copy of Pat Garrett. Wild Bunch and the boxed set were nowhere to be found.

Elijah said, about the older "director's cut" of Pat:After watching about half of the new cut last night, I completely agree with you. If this new version better reflects Peckinpah's vision, well...I guess I prefer the vision of whoever did the '88 cut.

Trimming seven minutes out of this film hardly gives it any additional narrative oomph, but instead loses some of the exhausted melancholy that suffuses the '88 cut. Plus some dialogue is lost, and I simply cannot accept that--this film has some of the best dialogue ever written for the screen. I also prefer the longer credit sequence from the '88 cut, with its characteristic Peckinpah credit freeze-frames.

Plus, we miss one of my favorite (if admittedly unrealistic) touches from the older cut--the card game that Billy and his buddies play while their hideout is being raided.

The 2005 cut is even a bit censored, it seems. The scuzzy character who gets thrown in jail by Slim Pickens' wife (can't recall his name) now says "What the hell!" when he's bumped by Garrett's horse, versus "Now what the fuck!?"

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Andrew Bunk]

On a somewhat related note, the local shop I go to told me there have been alot of layoffs at WB's distribution division, and that a lot of there WB orders (which include a lot of New Line, BBC and HBO stuff) are coming in later than usual. This was true of both the westerns and Red Dwarf VII this week.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Jefferson Morris, wrote:

That's stupid. What's the point of dubbing over "fuck" in a super-violent film like this?


Damn, I'm glad you pointing this out, Jeff, as I was going to watch the 2005 cut first; now I won't. I expected scenes to be trimmed, not cut out and dialogue altered and the credits modernised or whatever the rationale was. Grrr. Now I see why Warner included both versions and I'm glad they did. Other studios would not have. The Major Dundee additions are all worthwhile and elevate the film about two notches, I feel and I don't care about not having the old cut, but this - Pat Garrett - is a different scenario.

 

[dpippel]

I lucked out at my local Best Buy today - they had *one* copy of the Peckinpah Collection on the shelf. It is now M-I-N-E! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Seriously though, I was surprised (and lucky) to find it. Not a bad deal at $42.99 either. Tomorrow is Peckinpah Day at my place.

 

[JackSL]

RE: Jefferson Morris on "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid"

You are exactly right...the old 'Director's Cut' is much better because it includes some great dialogue(especially from Chill Wills) that is removed from the 2005 cut. Besides the lines already mentioned, Wills gives a hilarious speech on the female sex organ that has been removed. Also, there is a great scene involving those superb character actors Elisha Cook Jr. and Dub Taylor(a Peckinpah stock company member) that is Completely Removed from the 2005 cut, meaning that Cook & Taylor are no longer listed in the credits! The beginning and end freeze-frame sequences have also been altered. The saving grace to the 2005 cut is the restoration of the long-discussed and needed scene between Garrett and his wife. Ultimately, we should be grateful that Seydor and the Bunch took the care to do the 2005 cut to give us another look, but, as for it being the True Director's Cut...No way...Not as long as it removes whole scenes(and actors) and destroys some of Peckinpah and Rudy Wurlitzer's great dialogue. The languid movement and incredbly colorful dialogue of the 122 minute version is much more like Peckinpah. It should always be the definitive version.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I got my set at Boite Noir on Laurier.

I believe they also received stock at their St-Denis locartion as well. There were only about 6-7 sets on shelf yesterday evening though so I'd suggest either calling and placing one on reserve, or making your way down there as soon as possible.

I believe they stay open every night until about 11:30-12am, btw.


As for Metro Video, I didn't even bother passing by because it took their sales rep about 15 minutes over the telephone just to get the name right... peck-a-what? pecking pom? the pecker paul collection? sam peck or paul collection?

They generally don't have a clue about their DVDs nor films in general so I didn't bother taking a chance and making the trip for nothing. Laurier's in the complete opposite direction anyway. But... when I did call and finally got the maroon on the telephone to write the title down properly and punch it into his system, he confirmed that they received a certain number of shipments. I mentioned that I was surprised because I'd heard that the set was delayed in Canada and he assured me that his system indicated that they had received "x" ammount of shipments, however they all indicated "Version Francais".

Feeling optomistic, I passed by BN who are usually a lot better with new release dates than any other retailer in Mtl when it comes to these sort of films (classics, westerns, noir, arthouse, foreign, etc) and sure enough there they were as soon as I walked in the doors. I double parked, grabbed a box from the new release shelf and was out in 3 minutes. Mission accomplished.

I'd suggest calling first, they're pretty friendly and helpful. I'm sure they'd be glad to put a box aside for you... that's how I managed to snag my OOP Hitchcock Criterion box last summer - last leftover package collecting dust in overstock!

Good luck!

 

[eric tengren]

I have to agree with the others about the 88 turner cut being the better cut of PGABTK.This film is not meant to be tightly cut,The looser longer scenes feel more right to me and Dylan 's soundtrack has that loose feel to it, almost reflecting it.If Pat Garrett was a song it would be a ballad.And what about the dialogue that was cut? seems almost for censorship reasons. R.G. Armstrong has a line of dialogue "I'll take you for a walk across hell on a spiderweb." that is one of my favorite lines in any Peckinpah film. I am very grateful that WB gave us both cuts. I have always wanted to see the scene between Garrett and his wife, that was pretty interesting.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

Me too. At this point I would consider the '05 cut to be an interesting supplement to the '88 cut, rather than the other way around.

Regarding the credits, Gordon, I don't know why they were altered. The '05 version credits are a pastiche of somewhat blurred stills from the film, panned over as if in a documentary while the music plays.

These might have been the same credits from the original butchered '73 theatrical version (which, IIRC, omitted the framing scenes of Garrett's death and eliminated the first conversation b/w Pat and the Kid altogether, opening with the raid on the Kid's hideout). Does anyone remember the '73 version (which still occasionally airs on TV) well enough to confirm?

--Jefferson Morris

P.S. "You know what she always said about cowboys? She said she wished they had a pair 'a loose boots. Said she'd like to strap 'em with her little tight p**sy and give 'em a warm place to shit for two dollars. You know something, you can't beat that, can ya?"

No, you can't.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I have a question for those who watched the new disc of RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY already...

Did anyone experience an abrupt drop out in audio during the final shootout scene at the farmhouse when Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott are exchanging gunshots from the ditch?

It seemed as if the audio suddenly redirected itself to the centre channel only and the volume level dropped significantly. It was most akward because of the sudden contrast in the otherwise loud and directional gunshot effects ringing back and forth. It almost had the effect of a bad video dub, where the audio recording suddenly "pops" out for a brief second and than kind of fades back in.

IT was pretty distracting and I just want to make sure that I don't have a deffective disc. Did anyone else notice this, and if so, do you suppose it's a mastering error or an issue with the source material?

Also, anyone been having issues with freeze-ups on the layer changes with this set? My Pioneer 59-AVi is admittedly not the most adept at handling these but it's rare that it takes issue. So far on both THE WILD BUNCH and RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY my screen froze up for a short second during viewing, I assume during the layer changes which were not the most masterfully placed.

Oh well...

 

[Jing_B]

Thanks for the info Marco. I will go to Boite Noir tomoro.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Anyone?

I know I'm not the only person on HTF who's had a chance to watch RTHC yet...

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Audio anyone?


I'd like to know if I purchased a defective disc...

 

[Brent Avery]

MarcoBiscotti - I just bought the boxset so I will try and watch Ride The High Country tonight on the big screen - hope the transfer will look good - and report on the audio dropout, if any. Anyone out here on the West Coast that is looking for this set you can PM or email me and I will give you the name of the place I bought it from. They still had 5 or so left - as well they sell online. I was glad to get it sooner than later!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have no issues with the Ride the High Country dvd.







Crawdaddy

 

[Brent Avery]

Audio sounded fine with no issues to report - did not hear any dropouts - mind you I see it is Mono so I'm wondering if one tries listening in a surround mode if that would affect the audio track diffently as opposed to just using standard left and right front?

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Thanks, I guess it's just my disc than...


The rest of the movie sounded great, just this one scene as they're exchanging gunshots in the ditch, it suddenly gets muddled and drops out for about 1-2 seconds.

Btw Brent, how would I have attempted to listen in surround if the track is ecoded in mono? It just plays automatically, no? I never adjust my speakers/amps when I watch DVD's. I simply select the track option on the on-screen menu and the channels are selected accordingly. Is there more to it?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Do you have a lot of problems with discs and audio dropouts?





Crawdaddy

 

[Brent Avery]

Marco - I was thinking of situations where a Mono signal is present but one's receiver or processor is set to a surround mode - in my case the audio usually comes out mostly from the center speaker - it was just an area that might be causing some quirk if used. There was a point in the film shortly after they were in the ditch where the sound suddenly stops for just a moment - but that was between shooting - it almost seemed too sudden but was not an actual dropout involving what you described. By the way, overall the image quality was very good, occassional softness - I found the Wild Bunch had other issues and as a whole faired somewhat worse. The down side to watching on a 100" + screen unfortunately. Audio on The Wild Bunch was great, especially the soundtrack in 5.1.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Thanks Brent, I'm running an Arcam AV8 FMJ pre-amp processor and P7 multichannel power amp and usually leave the receiver set to surround so that when I watch a film in mono, the audio just redirects itself to the center channels. To be honest, I haven't really spent much time at all with my audio components since I bought and had them professionally installed and calibrated. Perhaps I should take more time to read through thye manuals and get better aqquainted.



Never experienced it before Robert. This was the first time.