OSTERMAN WEEKEND Peckinpah's director's cut rediscovered

[mike siegel]

Again, the Director's Cut I just finished working on is Sam's Final Cut. The preview cut is a preview cut. He was dismissed
and made his changes nevertheless - but nobody ever saw his Final Cut. Until now. His editor made a negative for Sam
with all the changes after the preview and then Sam stored the negative (lost by now...). His friend Don made
a print, using his own money. The only print in the world. I have it now...

CONVOY: there are some nice moments. I do not have the time to write a lot here, I work 50 hrs a week
on Peckinpah, right until x-mas...  RETRO PREVIEW:

(JAP 15) 1:35:58    To hell with?em  (7:02)
After the dramatic dialogue beween Dirty Lyle and the Rubber Duck in the destroyed Alvarez? jail, the Duck is suddenly smiling, checking out the damage: "To hell with them if they can?t take a joke, right?". A good moment.

(JAP 16)  1:37:40    Road songs  (1:58:10)
The longest 'missing' sequence: on their way to Mexico, the truckers are singing songs. It starts with a laid-over verse from Al Martino?s song 'Spanish Eyes', then we hear and see Kristofferson singing a weird version of 'La Adelita', that famous song from the Mexican revolution! Next comes Madge Sinclair performing 'I don?t know why I love you like I do', a 1940?s classic most prominently recorded by Frank Sinatra and, later, Dean Martin. Everybody is in great spirits and Melissa takes pictures of Rubber Duck. The fourth song we hear is the famous 1939 hit 'South of the Border'. The sequence ends with everybody singing all over the place and a trucker laughing: "Oh, what an experience!". (in the final cut we only hear the 'Jesus freaks', in reality Kristofferson?s band, singing 'Shall we gather at the river'.)

[Novecento]

I see. So we have the theatrical cut, the preview cut (bad quality), and now the Peckinpah cut. So excited to see it.

That cinema retro article sounds like it will be great.

As for Convoy, I?m surprised no other editions abroad offered that as an optional extended cut. Perhaps it?s a licensing issue? I did find a copy of it for sale on a Japanese auction site. It was only 25,000 yen  (I?ll let you do the currency conversion).

[mike siegel]

The japanische war die letzte V? bisher, alle anderen sind ja schon drau?en... Au?erdem wei? das bisher ja kaum jemand...

[Novecento]

Looks great.

That 1.60:1 aspect ratio is interesting.

[mike siegel]

Sometimes I do stuff that only makes sense to me .
(this master is not fully restored yet. If this happens in the future it will be 1:1,66)

[Novecento]

Mike, you should have given us a heads up that this was released in Australia already!

[mike siegel]

I think if someone was interested, they could do have done their own homework  . It was wildly promoted... Please, don't make me
responsible for people's shopping lists  .

Not sure there was any interest here anyway.

By the way, it is already out of print. There are still online dealers
who have some left, but who knows for how long.
As for other countries releasing my Osterman package, it looks
rather bad right now (complicated rights situation, Osterman was an Indie production)

nice podcast about the release:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4KctRsnasXNeXjjcfC5VcK

[Novecento]

Yes, they have it on Amazon.com.au still. Shipping internationally can be a challenge though. I?m fortunate to have family over there.

[Novecento]

And in all those years I could not clarify why the OSTERMAN agent would shoot himself

Just watched your doc on the disc. So it?s still a mystery eh?

The directors cut was at least as good as I remember the preview cut being?and probably better (haven?t watched it in a while). Far better than the terrible theatrical cut. I still need to watch your side by side comparison of the directors versus theatrical ones.

Thanks so much for sharing this with the world!

By the way, how about suggesting to Imprint that they release the Japanese version of convoy. I?m still trying to get my hands on that and so sad I missed it. It occasionally pops up on Japanese auction sites but at unbelievably ridiculous prices.

[Novecento]

Will need to pick up a copy:

[mike siegel]

Thanks so much for sharing this with the world!

By the way, how about suggesting to Imprint that they release the Japanese version of convoy. I?m still trying to get my hands on that and so sad I missed it. It occasionally pops up on Japanese auction sites but at unbelievably ridiculous prices.

Thank you too!

Looks like we will collaborate on more Peckinpah titles.
Of course I will try... but dealing with Japan is out of the ordinary 

[Novecento]

It would be great if Imprint could release the Japanese version of Convoy and also Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. I actually emailed them about Convoy but received no response.

They seem to have knack for securing rights to things other companies haven?t released. Good idea for a niche label. I recently pre-ordered Kurosawa?s Dersu Uzala from them. Hoping for a nice transfer.

[mike siegel]

IMPRINT: more will come. But as usual I never leak details, it's up to the labels to announce releases (that's also why the almost
never answer to emails in detail - 5 minutes later it would be all over the internet...)

[Novecento]

Also something for Roland Joff? fans coming from Imprint:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ4OF53fTJc

?Fat man and little boy? is not without flaws, but still grossly underrated. The title can?t have helped. Reminds me of Friedkin?s ?Sorcerer?. The marketing departments must have been insane in both cases. ?City of Joy? has some cringeworthy moments, but is touching. ?The Mission? and ?The Killing Fields? speak for themselves.

Incidentally, Morricone scored all but ?The Killing Fields?.

[mike siegel]

my two favorite films of the 80s: OUATIA and KILLING FIELDS