Tequila Sunrise: Last 20 Minutes in SD? (1 Viewer)

[Tom Logan]

(Some spoilers may follow.)


Watching the BD of Tequila Sunrise for the first time, I noticed that at the 1:36:40 mark (Russell & J.T. Walsh in the harbor office) the picture goes noticeably softer, almost out-of-focus blurry. (It may be that the problem starts in the previous scene--with Gibson and Pfeiffer on his boat--but that scene is truly so dark it's hard to tell.)


Since the next 20 minutes or so take place at night, I thought/hoped the continued softness/blurriness might just be low-light graininess.


But then the final scene (sunlight) and the credits were still noticeably non-HD blurry. It looked SD, or maybe slightly worse.


As an A/B check, I looked at Amazon's HD of the film at the same scenes: Amazon's did NOT have the same softness, but looked consistently HD through the final 20 minutes, even through the credits, where the Amazon HD's improvement over the BD was very noticeable.


(FYI viewing a JVC RS-1 at 122")


Anyone else confirm?

 

[Michel_Hafner]

I noticed also that one reel seemed to be shot "out of focus".

See also http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/326364-whv-announcement-tequila-sunrise-1988-blu-ray/

 

[Tom Logan]

Thanks for that that link. (I had done a search before I started this thread, but didn't find that one.) Good to see someone noticing the same problem.


Just to be clear: If this is an error (and I think it is), it's a problem with the authorship of the blu-ray disc, not with the original source, because the Amazon HD of this film doesn't evidence this blurriness.


And I think we can all agree that young Mel Gibson and young Michelle Pfeiffer should NEVER be blurry.

 

[andySu]

Watched this on itv back when film was shown on tv must have been early/mid 1990's in NICAM Dolby Stereo and image picture looked okay.

Oscar for Best Cinematography
Conrad L. Hall

Just chill out and have a...

 

[Mark-P]

I guess this is just one of those movies that no one cares when a gaffe like this happens. HTF never reviewed the Blu-ray and the very few official online reviews I was able to dig up don't mention it. There was a smattering of complaints on a few forums when the movie came out, but it's never been addressed by the studio. I had a similar experience with another movie no one cared about: Last Holiday. The Blu-ray on that title is missing the credits at the beginning of the film. All other media releases have credits superimposed over the beginning of the film but the Blu-ray has the scenes without credits. Nobody noticed or cared.

 

[Tom Logan]

I think that's right that it's a release that doesn't draw much interest now; I remember Pauline Kael was a big booster of the film when it came out. But all things fade...


Anyway, I looked today again at the BD and at Amazon's HD, and the BD is most definitely in error. I guess I'm glad the movie is available elsewhere (Amazon) in its more-or-less proper form.

 

[Michel_Hafner]

Since WB now treats catalogue with more respect maybe we have a chance if we mail their customer support politely and ask for a remaster.

 

[andySu]

Since WB now treats catalogue with more respect maybe we have a chance if we mail their customer support politely and ask for a remaster.

They only care of conning the public to grab your money so do what you lot always do. Sue them. Demand your money back times ever second for the shame of it. Wow that would be a lot of money.


Then maybe they'll learn not to do this again. I bet they'll pull the same fast one, on this 4k baloney with upscale bluray discs.

 

[Nick*Z]

There were a few WB discs coming down the pipeline in this batch that had issues: Tequila Sunrise is just one of them. Two others that come to mind were The Bonfire of the Vanities (weird strobe effect during the photocopier scene) and Driving Miss Daisy (color timing, in spots, most noticeable in the scene were Ms. Daisy and Hoke park by the side of the road for lunch on their trip to Mobile). It would be prudent of WB to go back and remaster all of these, but realistically I really can't see it happening; not because they don't care, but because there is so much as yet unearthed from their vaults.

 

[Robert Harris]

They only care of conning the public to grab your money so do what you lot always do. Sue them. Demand your money back times ever second for the shame of it. Wow that would be a lot of money.

Then maybe they'll learn not to do this again. I bet they'll pull the same fast one, on this 4k baloney with upscale bluray discs.

This is totally untrue regarding the people now in place!

RAH

 

[Tony Bensley]

The review for TEQUILA SUNRISE at Blu-ray.com levels it's biggest criticism toward this 115 minute Film being squeezed onto a BD-25: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Tequila-Sunrise-Blu-ray/43869/


CHEERS!

 

[Hank E]

I guess this is just one of those movies that no one cares when a gaffe like this happens. HTF never reviewed the Blu-ray and the very few official online reviews I was able to dig up don't mention it. There was a smattering of complaints on a few forums when the movie came out, but it's never been addressed by the studio. I had a similar experience with another movie no one cared about: Last Holiday. The Blu-ray on that title is missing the credits at the beginning of the film. All other media releases have credits superimposed over the beginning of the film but the Blu-ray has the scenes without credits. Nobody noticed or cared.

If you check I'll bet some of those complaints were mine. I got this movie when it came out and I could not believe that no one seemed to care about this error. I posted in forums, I sent emails to Warner Brothers, I emailed the major blu-ray sites, I even emailed Amazon trying to get them to pull the disc.... nothing.


It's funny to look at the recent controversy surrounding Criterion's Dressed To Kill release, because the error on this disc is just as bad a problem.

 

[Tom Logan]

It's funny to look at the recent controversy surrounding Criterion's Dressed To Kill release, because the error on this disc is just as bad a problem.

Or worse, I'd argue. With the framing error throughout Dressed to Kill, I imagine one gets used to it (or doesn't even notice it, if a casual viewer) and then forgets about it as you get drawn into the movie. (No excuse for getting it wrong, of course.)


With the Tequila Sunrise error, as the movie reaches its climax, the image suddenly becomes much blurrier. So you're yanked out of the movie, noticing how soft and non-HD everything is, just as the story climaxes.


I appreciate the confirmations of this error. Sorry there are so few, for I agree it means it's unlikely to be fixed.