Wild Bunch, The (HD DVD)
Original Director's Cut
APPROX. 145 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1969 - MPA RATING: R
" There's a sad, elegiac quality about The Wild Bunch, appropriate for the death of an era.
There's a sad, elegiac quality about "The Wild Bunch," appropriate for the death of an era. The old West was no more, replaced by what the film sees as a much more unfeeling modern world, which is why, perhaps, Peckinpah makes the closing carnage seem almost like the finale of a ballet. Gone are the days when Bishop would know that danger awaits him around every corner, and he could say with a cavalier tone, "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Video:
Warner Bros. made their 1080-resolution, VC-1 transfer from the 1994 restoration of the complete Director's Cut, digitally remastered in a widescreen that measures its original 2.40:1 Panavision aspect ratio. The Technicolor is rich and solid, although it is never bright or flashy, just realistic in a dusty, gritty way. Facial hues are a tad dark, especially when photographed in natural light, but it is only a small issue, as is some minor haloing. Close-ups are well detailed, as are most long shots, and the Mexican locations never looked better.
Audio:
The sonics are still more than a little frustrating. The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio, with its added clarity and dynamics, only serves to point up the deficiencies in the soundtrack. The stereo spread is extremely wide, with a good, if subtle, musical ambience in the surrounds; and the frequency range is well extended, with plenty of deep bass at the right moments. But there remains an odd, pinched nasality that is more evident than ever in the midrange, particularly affecting voices. I guess you just live with it because that's the way it is.
Extras:
The HD DVD contains the 145-minute film, plus a goodly assortment of extras. The bonuses begin with an audio commentary by Peckinpah biographers/documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and David Weddle; and a Peckinpah trailer gallery. You can't fault the commentary; these guys know Peckinpah inside out and provide a continuous flow of backstage information about every facet of the moviemaking.
Next comes a trio of documentaries on Peckinpah and his films, all in standard-def. The first item is a 1996 doc, "The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage," thirty-three minutes on location with the cast and crew, film excerpts, and recreations. It's a frank and revealing look behind the scenes, maybe the best I've ever seen, made by Paul Seydor and Nick Redman. After that is an eighty-two-minute documentary, "Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade." It covers the director's life and work through movie clips and comments from fellow filmmakers, critics, authors, relatives, and friends. And after that is a twenty-three-minute excerpt from the documentary "A Simple Adventure Story: Sam Peckinpah, Mexico, and The Wild Bunch" by Nick Redman. In addition, you'll find about eight minutes of outtakes and a Sam Peckinpah trailer gallery with trailers for "The Wild Bunch," "Ride the High Country," "The Ballad of Cable Hogue," "The Getaway," and "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid."
Things conclude with forty-six scene selections but no chapter insert; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired. As always with their HD DVDs, WB also provide pop-up menus, bookmarks, a guide to elapsed time, a zoom-and-pan feature, and an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Thoughts:
The cinema has produced any number of great Westerns over the years--"Stagecoach," "Red River," "High Noon," "Shane," "The Searchers," "The Magnificent Seven," "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "The Outlaw Josey Wales," "Unforgiven," "Tombstone"--to name but a few. Certainly, "The Wild Bunch" can take its place among them. It is a landmark Western and a good, thoughtful, rousing adventure besides. Now that it looks better than ever in its new HD format, it's hard to pass up.
Video:
Warner Bros. made their 1080-resolution, VC-1 transfer from the 1994 restoration of the complete Director's Cut, digitally remastered in a widescreen that measures its original 2.40:1 Panavision aspect ratio. The Technicolor is rich and solid, although it is never bright or flashy, just realistic in a dusty, gritty way. Facial hues are a tad dark, especially when photographed in natural light, but it is only a small issue, as is some minor haloing. Close-ups are well detailed, as are most long shots, and the Mexican locations never looked better.
Audio:
The sonics are still more than a little frustrating. The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio, with its added clarity and dynamics, only serves to point up the deficiencies in the soundtrack. The stereo spread is extremely wide, with a good, if subtle, musical ambience in the surrounds; and the frequency range is well extended, with plenty of deep bass at the right moments. But there remains an odd, pinched nasality that is more evident than ever in the midrange, particularly affecting voices. I guess you just live with it because that's the way it is.
Extras:
The HD DVD contains the 145-minute film, plus a goodly assortment of extras. The bonuses begin with an audio commentary by Peckinpah biographers/documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and David Weddle; and a Peckinpah trailer gallery. You can't fault the commentary; these guys know Peckinpah inside out and provide a continuous flow of backstage information about every facet of the moviemaking.
Next comes a trio of documentaries on Peckinpah and his films, all in standard-def. The first item is a 1996 doc, "The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage," thirty-three minutes on location with the cast and crew, film excerpts, and recreations. It's a frank and revealing look behind the scenes, maybe the best I've ever seen, made by Paul Seydor and Nick Redman. After that is an eighty-two-minute documentary, "Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade." It covers the director's life and work through movie clips and comments from fellow filmmakers, critics, authors, relatives, and friends. And after that is a twenty-three-minute excerpt from the documentary "A Simple Adventure Story: Sam Peckinpah, Mexico, and The Wild Bunch" by Nick Redman. In addition, you'll find about eight minutes of outtakes and a Sam Peckinpah trailer gallery with trailers for "The Wild Bunch," "Ride the High Country," "The Ballad of Cable Hogue," "The Getaway," and "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid."
Things conclude with forty-six scene selections but no chapter insert; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired. As always with their HD DVDs, WB also provide pop-up menus, bookmarks, a guide to elapsed time, a zoom-and-pan feature, and an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Thoughts:
The cinema has produced any number of great Westerns over the years--"Stagecoach," "Red River," "High Noon," "Shane," "The Searchers," "The Magnificent Seven," "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "The Outlaw Josey Wales," "Unforgiven," "Tombstone"--to name but a few. Certainly, "The Wild Bunch" can take its place among them. It is a landmark Western and a good, thoughtful, rousing adventure besides. Now that it looks better than ever in its new HD format, it's hard to pass up.
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