Press Release Paramount Presents! Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) (4k UHD) (2 Viewers)

[Nick*Z]

This was the western that reformed my moot opinion as a teen that all westerns were just a bunch of bunk about guys riding horses. Powerful performances, riveting score and Claudia Cardinale looking mint. Yeow! What a babe. And Fonda's turn as the baddie is truly bone-chilling.

Since then, I have my absolute favs in that genre, including The Big Country, The Searchers, Red River and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. But Once Upon A Time in the West, for me, blows even that stellar group out of the water. Can't wait for this!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This was the western that reformed my moot opinion as a teen that all westerns were just a bunch of bunk about guys riding horses. Powerful performances, riveting score and Claudia Cardinale looking mint. Yeow! What a babe. And Fonda's turn as the baddie is truly bone-chilling.

Since then, I have my absolute favs in that genre, including The Big Country, The Searchers, Red River and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. But Once Upon A Time in the West, for me, blows even that stellar group out of the water. Can't wait for this!

I used to hate Westerns. Was bored by them.

I think it was OUATITW was the film that changed my perspective. I mean, the film's opening scene at the railroad station is one of the most iconic moments in film history. From there, the film plays out like a western opera. I have watched this film countless times over and never gotten tired of it. I can't wait to see it in 4k.

Getting back to hating westerns...

I have to give credit to Robert Crawford. I have known him for over 20 years and his love for the genre enticed me to watch as many westerns as he could recommend. I went from not knowing a single John Wayne film in my 40s to becoming a huge fan of his now in my 60s. I also deeply admire John Ford for being the influential director that he was (though he did not direct this film).

OUATITW is at the very top of its game for the genre. It's a masterpiece.

 

[Konstantinos]

Just for the cinematography in the 4K/UHD format struck from the OCN, alone, you will find my own personal answer to be a resounding YES. Additionally, the Marricone score will also find its new and audibly expansive breath of life, as well. What’s not to like at 40 bucks, for those who marvel at this masterpiece?

Unless Paramount strikes again, and we get an encoding like the Trading places 4k fiasco!

 

[PMF]

Unless Paramount strikes again, and we get an encoding like the Trading places 4k fiasco!

Until proven otherwise, we can only hope for the best and that Paramount has been learning from past critiques of cinephiles; as well as the collective writings of our esteemed on-line reviewers of physical media. Fortunately for us, Paramount does know fully well exactly how to achieve greatness; and I am thrilled by the anticipations of this upcoming release.

 

[OliverK]

Unless Paramount strikes again, and we get an encoding like the Trading places 4k fiasco!

I just saw what they have done to the film grain in Trading Places that had a perfectly fine Blu-ray release. It sadly shows that Paramount is the least predictable of all studios and that some people who work on their UHDs will go out of their way to use degraining even when that wasn't done on the Blu-ray from the same master. Trading Places was a very nice surprise when it was released on Blu-ray so I am staying with that one but for Once Upon a Time in the West we do not have a very good Blu-ray so here's hoping that "the other guys" worked on it.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Unless Paramount strikes again, and we get an encoding like the Trading places 4k fiasco!

I just saw what they have done to the film grain in Trading Places that had a perfectly fine Blu-ray release. It sadly shows that Paramount is the least predictable of all studios and that some people who work on their UHDs will go out of their way to use degraining even when that wasn't done on the Blu-ray from the same master. Trading Places was a very nice surprise when it was released on Blu-ray so I am staying with that one but for Once Upon a Time in the West we do not have a very good Blu-ray so here's hoping that "the other guys" worked on it.

Well, that's a real bummer.

RAH wasn't too crazy about that previous BD release either though...

I was hoping the 4K disc might actually improve on the BD -- and bought it a few weeks ago. Well, at least it also includes the BD... and both have got to be much better than the really old, awful original BD anyhow...

Whoever are in charge at Paramount just can't seem to get out of their own way w/ so very many of their releases (both past and present)...

_Man_

 

[jayembee]

From there, the film plays out like a western opera.

That's why Westerns are referred to as "horse operas".

 

[PMF]

May this horse arrive to its 4K/UHD stable justified.

 

[OliverK]

May this horse arrive to its 4K/UHD stable jutified.

That'll be the day!

And just in case we're keeping an eye on you, Paramount:

 

[cineMANIAC]

This was the western that reformed my moot opinion as a teen that all westerns were just a bunch of bunk about guys riding horses. Powerful performances, riveting score and Claudia Cardinale looking mint. Yeow! What a babe. And Fonda's turn as the baddie is truly bone-chilling.

Since then, I have my absolute favs in that genre, including The Big Country, The Searchers, Red River and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. But Once Upon A Time in the West, for me, blows even that stellar group out of the water. Can't wait for this!

My image of Westerns as a young 'un was dudes in outfits that looked like rentals from Central Casting riding around dusty towns in old B&W movies that felt more like TV shows lol. That I got from my dad's viewing habits. Then I graduated to Little House On the Prairie reruns, which was the closest I ever got to a color Western on my own until I discovered Spaghetti Westerns on DVD in the late 90's. I did see Unforgiven theatrically but it was the second feature in a double bill so I never paid much mind to it in 1992.

 

[samkydd]

My friend says this is the same version as the Italian LEONE FILM one which mentions also Scorsese. He said it looks very good. If it is it will have the Harmonica rising scene.

 

[Kilgore]

Please explain the problem with Techniscope. I’ve never found one.

In essence, isn't Techniscope really just a non-anamorphic version of the Cinemascope Technicolor process? I can see how there would be a difference, but I'm with you, I've never had a problem with it.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Some THEN and NOW photos of film locales from Once Upon A Time In The West
Click on photos for larger images

 

[Grubert]

My main question is which version they will release this time.

Will they now bring for the first time the original theatrical version on disc? The one that was released in Italy, Germany, France and even in the USA (for a few weeks before Paramount began to replace it by shorter versions), the one I watched countless times theatrical, the one which so far was not released in any country on disc.
Or will it again be the slightly different Paramount master with that terrible Harmonica rising scene ...

 

[cineMANIAC]

I went with the UK "tat" edition. I felt a film like this needs something better than a regular Amaray decorated with a flimsy lopsided piece of cardboard. If it were up to me I'd come up with a nice Laserdisc-style gatefold with nothing but the title on the cover embossed in gold lettering. You know, classy.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Here are the audio specs for this release. You can find all the other special features listed in the top post of this thread


4K BLU-RAY
Audio: English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround, French – Parisian, German, Japanese, Spanish Castilian 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital Surround, English 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital Restored
Subtitles: English, English captions, French – Parisian, German, Japanese, Spanish – Castilian

BLU-RAY
Audio: English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround, French – Parisian, German, Japanese, Spanish Castilian 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital Surround, English 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital Restored
Subtitles: English, English SDH†, French – Parisian, German, Japanese, Spanish – Castilian

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Initial observations from Bill Hunt per his Facebook page:


"So, I’ve just started looking at @ParamountMovies’ ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST #4K #UltraHD disc, and I can tell right away that it’s likely to be divisive. (If you’ve seen the film in 4K Digital on Vudu, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about—it’s been available there since mid-2022.)

I believe the most recent work was done in 2018 by Paramount’s remastering team, working with L’Immagine Ritrovata and The Film Foundation. The 4K disc includes the 165-minute extended edition of the film, reportedly sourced from the original 35m Techniscope camera negative, and its supposedly been graded to honor “the 2007 Film Foundation photochemical restoration overseen by legendary director Martin Scorsese by matching its build and color palette.” But this 4K HDR grade (in both Dolby Vision and HDR10) looks a bit warmer to me than the 2011 Blu-ray sourced from that work. Highlights are more natural here and shadows are deeper, as you’d expect from HDR, and colors are more nuanced. But some noise reduction has obviously been employed to reduce grain. The 4K image is much “cleaner” in its appearance, and to some novice cinephiles that will automatically mean better. But this is a film that should look a little gritty and it doesn’t. That said, there’s still abundant fine detail visible here, and it’s both much more refined and less noisy than it appears on the previous Blu-ray. (Note that the new Blu-ray included in this package is based on the 4K remaster—it’s not the same disc as before.) Some additional notes: The 4K disc is a UHD-66, with video data rates around 35-40Mbps. Audio options are 5.1 DTS-HD MA and original mono in lossy Dolby Digital.

Personally, I would love to see what Paramount’s 2018 raw scan looks like. As it is, if you’re on the fence I would suggest spending $14.99 on the 4K Digital version first, to see if you’re okay with the image enough to spend $40 on the disc. This is a very good looking 4K disc, but it’s also very different looking than the previous Blu-ray and it will take a bit of getting used to before I feel comfortable rendering a final judgment.

I’ll share my full review of this title on @TheDigitalBits website in the next day or two."

 

[Walter Kittel]

Interesting observations by Mr. Hunt. I will be curious to perform my own comparison between the forthcoming release and the earlier BD. I do wonder how much 'very different looking' will translate for me. It doesn't sound like the color palette is markedly different which is usually the kiss of death for me when it comes to revised versions of films that I have viewed over the years.

Thanks for the post, Ron.

- Walter.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I think we reached a point in which just about any classic film released on 4K/UHD will be somewhat controversial especially those films in color.

Several HTF members bought the Vudu 4K/Dolby Vision digital a few years ago and thought it looked beautiful on our displays. I suspect that some people will disagree with our opinion. It is what it is.

 

[OliverK]

[/QUOTE]

Initial observations from Bill Hunt per his Facebook page:


"So, I’ve just started looking at @ParamountMovies’ ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST #4K #UltraHD disc, and I can tell right away that it’s likely to be divisive. (If you’ve seen the film in 4K Digital on Vudu, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about—it’s been available there since mid-2022.)

I believe the most recent work was done in 2018 by Paramount’s remastering team, working with L’Immagine Ritrovata and The Film Foundation. The 4K disc includes the 165-minute extended edition of the film, reportedly sourced from the original 35m Techniscope camera negative, and its supposedly been graded to honor “the 2007 Film Foundation photochemical restoration overseen by legendary director Martin Scorsese by matching its build and color palette.” But this 4K HDR grade (in both Dolby Vision and HDR10) looks a bit warmer to me than the 2011 Blu-ray sourced from that work. Highlights are more natural here and shadows are deeper, as you’d expect from HDR, and colors are more nuanced. But some noise reduction has obviously been employed to reduce grain. The 4K image is much “cleaner” in its appearance, and to some novice cinephiles that will automatically mean better. But this is a film that should look a little gritty and it doesn’t. That said, there’s still abundant fine detail visible here, and it’s both much more refined and less noisy than it appears on the previous Blu-ray. (Note that the new Blu-ray included in this package is based on the 4K remaster—it’s not the same disc as before.) Some additional notes: The 4K disc is a UHD-66, with video data rates around 35-40Mbps. Audio options are 5.1 DTS-HD MA and original mono in lossy Dolby Digital.

Personally, I would love to see what Paramount’s 2018 raw scan looks like. As it is, if you’re on the fence I would suggest spending $14.99 on the 4K Digital version first, to see if you’re okay with the image enough to spend $40 on the disc. This is a very good looking 4K disc, but it’s also very different looking than the previous Blu-ray and it will take a bit of getting used to before I feel comfortable rendering a final judgment.

I’ll share my full review of this title on @TheDigitalBits website in the next day or two."

With that caveat from Bill Hunt of all people I am now really curious to see if other releases elsewhere will look less "clean".