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Once Upon A Time In The West / DVD is EXCELLENT!

« on: October 08, 2003, 11:30:04 AM »

Got it today,and it's great.The restoration is very good with fine picture and sound quality.Haven't watched all the filn yet but heard some of the commentary,although a bit 'patchwork'it is full of interesting facts and observations.The documentaries are great too,i especially liked the old interviews with Sergio and Henry Fonda.In many ways a better DVD than the OUATIA DVD,and far better than the shoddy FOD realease,I would say this is the best realease on DVD of a Leone film yet.ENJOY!!!

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Other Films / El mariachi (1992), Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

« on: August 26, 2003, 09:22:57 AM »

Has anyone else seen these two films directed by Robert Rodriguez,they are SO Leone-influenced but extremely cool in their own right.El Mariachi was made on the smallest budget ever but looks 10 times that amount.Desperado is both a sequel and a remake,it's such fun that I can forgive blatant steals from Leone's films and other spaghetti westerns[i.e.match lighting on face[FAFDM],guitar case with gun[Django].There is a third film,Once Upon A Time In Mexico[this could have been a good title for A Fistful Of DYnamite!]out soon.

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Once Upon A Time In America / JUST WATCHED DVD!!!

« on: June 10, 2003, 03:51:08 PM »

Well guys,it arrived this morning,luckily the wife was going out this evening so I was able to watch it the same day!

First of all the picture quality is SUPERB!It's like seeing the film properly for the first time.You can see even more of the incredible detail in the sets!

As for the sound,well,I watched the film mostly with the commentary but I did check out a few scenes.It sounded great,although I don't have surround sound or anything like that so maybe I'm not the best person to comment on that.

What you've probably really been waiting for is ,is it uncut?It is.All the sometimes censored bits i.e. the rape,the 'breast fondling by gun',etc.are there,and so is the final flashback.YES!!!!!

The commentary by Richard Schickel is OK,thouhg not great.He didn't really tell me much about the movie I did not already know,and sometimes jusy describes what is happening on screen.It's still a pleasant listen though,and he does offer some interesting comments on characters,particularly that of Noodles.

Did not time to watch the documentary,but yes it is just a cut-down version of the 'Once Upon A Time' documentary covering the bits about OUATIA.A shame,as I have not seen the documentary in it's full version at all.

I still think the definative DVD release of OUATIA,in terms of extras,is still to come.I for one still want to see the 45 mins. or so of footage that was initially cut-it does exist,acording to Christopher Frayling.

Nevertheless,in terms of a presentation of the actual movie,this DVD is terrific.Get ready to be happy!

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Once Upon A Time In America / Missing scene in OUATIA DVD

« on: February 26, 2003, 08:34:42 AM »

Has anyone else noticed that the DVD currently available of OUATIA is missing a scene!Near the end of the film when Max is trying to get Noodles to shoot him,in my VHS version there is a brief montage of flashbacks showing the two when they were younger,accompanied by the main theme.However,the DVD removes that bit.iI hope the forthcoming Warner release includes that scene as I think the film is better for it!It adds more emotion and breaks up the lengthy dialogue sequence between Max and Noodles which otherwise I think goes on a bit too long.