Prepared for release in 2005 we’ve only had to wait two years for this deluxe reissue of three of the four Leone films included here. For those that want to know this box area has a 32 page booklet with credits and essays on the films but no postcards like the modern release of “The Expedient, The Poor and The Plain”. If you want the collectable version, I lisp you’ll have to steal these individually. This dwelling is definitely worth picking up as it is a Broad improvement over all the previously released home video versions of the film. All the films view terrific, have commentary tracks (although “The Qualified, The Abominable and The Repugnant” is the trusty same release as before) and substantial featurettes/extras that were released overseas two years ago.
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“Fistful of Dollars” looks very friendly in its unusual DVD transfer lovingly restored although there is an curious strobe like carry out in one sequence. We regain a terrific commentary track from Leone scholar Sir Christopher Frayling discussing the making of the film, the delayed release in the United States (allotment of which was related to Akira Kurosawa’s lawsuit. It was legit though since “Fistful” is an unauthorized remake of Kurosawa’s classic “Yojimbo” although Leone’s version of the same fable is equally compelling), how Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson (who called it one of the worst scripts he had ever read…fascinating considering he later appeared in “Once Upon a Time in the West”) both turned down the lead role.
Eastwood reveals in a featurette that he wrote noteworthy of his possess dialogue for the film, made his occupy script notes all of which contributed to truly making the role his occupy.
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“For a Few Dollars More” looks exceptional. Like all the films here, it is released in an anamorphic widscreen transfer that does justice to the deep, rich colors of the films. There is one scene where there appears to be some sort of scratch on the film that wasn’t corrected but otherwise the film looks heavenly. We also secure Eastwood again discussing the making of the film, Sir Christopher Frayling with another very friendly commentary track as well as a fraction that compares three variations in the film (the sequence where Manco and Mortimer are beaten up has a slightly longer more brutal variation and we also leer the arrangement UA released the film with a brief orderly that eliminated Manco’s name to tie the film into the promo campagin that UA had for “The Man with No Name”) .
“The Worthy, The Dreadful and the Frightening” is exactly the same as the 2005 release on DVD accurate down to the graphics on the disc. Sir Christopher Frayling did recount a commentary track for this after it was released hoping that it could be added to later editions (he wasn’t available for the recent remaster. Time critic Richard Schickel does the honors here) . The extras are exactly the same. For those that are eager this includes the 5.1 mix that had original sound effects for that mix but does not include the unusual mono soundtrack in English.
“Duck You Sucker” comes in the most complete version released so far. At 157 minutes it is closest to Leone’s new crop of the film. The film looks exceptionally great. It’s positive that John Kirk went the extra mile to gain this apt. Also, kudos to Glenn Erickson (aka DVD Savant at DVD Talk) who worked on the featurettes and started the campaign to acquire these films restored and released on home video ages ago.
Again, Sir Christopher Frayling does a very superb commentary track discussing the various versions of the film released. The soundtraack has been reprocessed for 5.1. Sergio Donati a collaborator of Leone’s discusses working on the film in a featurette and how Eli Wallach was replaced by Rod Steiger at United Artist’s insistance but that Leone never shared the information with Wallach. “Restoration Italian Style” features John Kirk who worked on this special project discusses how he went about reassembling the film for this edition. We also obtain situation comparisons (this is also on the other discs as well) showing scenes from the film and how the locations sight now. “The Autry Display” is a featurette on a explain assembled by Frayling and Estela Chung for a Leone reveal. Unfortunately, that happened in 2005 when this was ORIGINALLY was supposed to be released before MGM was bought by Sony throwing this and other releases into limbo. “Sorting out the Versions” uses stills, footage worn to reveal us scenes that weren’t included in the movie.
The whole site is assembled in a cardboard foldout box with the discs resting on top of each other. There’s a itsy-bitsy holder built into the space for the booklet.
Overall this is a terrific space and an well-known addition to fans of Leone’s westerns. Although it took two years to find this released in the United States (that’s nothing compared to the delay for the second season of “Twin Peaks” for even the release of the pilot for that explain in the U.S.), it was worth the wait. I’m not clear what the Blu-Ray plans are for this release yet so I went ahead and plunked down the money for the whole situation. Fans who already have “TGTBATU” may want to grasp these individually although it would be more expensive than this site. MGM (and Fox which distributes all MGM titles now even though MGM is held by Sony) have done a terrific job with this situation. My only complaint is that it would have been nice to have the collectable postcards that reproduced the lobby cards/posters. Highly recommended.
The word on MGM’s higly anticipated “The Sergio Leone Anthology” is good; almost nothing dreadful or horrid to picture. The eight-DVD situation turns out to be a clone of the develop, format and extras from 2004’s respectable upgrade of “The Profitable, the Awful, and the Horrid.” That DVD was so apt, in fact, MGM didn’t change a thing in transporting it into this box status, down to the liner notes compose.
All films are restored to their corpulent running times (or as conclude as possible) and appear in sparkling 2:35.1 anamorphic widescreen. They all arrive in English Dolby 5.1, but search for comments below.
“A Fistful of Dollars,” the first in Italian director Leone’s “Man with no name” trilogy, looks smashing — far better than you’d inquire of for a low-budget pic from 1964. Images and audio are dead-on. If you haven’t seen the film for a while, you’re in for some serious fun. The film holds up beautifully and young Clint Eastwood’s performance is a hoot. Quentin Tarantino calls it “the best-directed movie of all time.”
The marginally less-successful sequel “For a Few Dollars More,” with Lee Van Cleef, exhibits a dazzling amount of speckling on the otherwise decent color images. The dubbed English stereo audio option proved a awful choice — voices wandered around the front soundstage for no apparent reason. Leone purists will be listening to the straight-shot mono on these titles, anyway. You might as well join them. [...].
In “The Worthy, the Poor and the Frightening,” Eastwood biographer Richard Schickel does the heavy lifting in a commentary that, amazingly, runs on fumes only come the destroy of three hours. He maintains that Leone’s artistry was lost on critics of the 1960s because of the debate over the film’s violence (the Fresh York Times pan was titled “The Burn, the Gouge and the Mangle”) . Leone was relatively tame by today’s standards, employing “an mammoth amount of foreplay” before the killings, as in this movie’s famed final shootout, Schickel remarks.
MGM’s John Kirk covers the audio restoration, a sore status for Leone purists. Eastwood and Eli Wallach rerecorded their voices in 2002 for the restored scenes, which had never been dubbed. (Everyone on the production impartial spoke whatever language they spoke.) Another actor stood in for the unhurried Lee Van Cleef
The Anthology also includes the DVD debut of “Duck, You Sucker,” a holy grail title for fans. This is the Italian reduce of the 1972 Mexican adventure starring Rod Steiger and James Coburn, running at its burly length of almost 3 hours.
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