UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Once Upon a Time in the West -- in 4k UHD (2 Viewers)

[titch]

Did you check this article from one who also watched it countless times in 1969:

That's a great, comprehensive article. I miss Video Watchdog. Fortunately, Tim Lucas is still active and his commentaries on blu-rays are well worth a listen.

 

[cda1143]

Thanks for informing us of Video Watchdog. Not easy to find that on the archives. Any idea which year or month it’s from?

 

[TravisR]

Thanks for informing us of Video Watchdog. Not easy to find that on the archives. Any idea which year or month it’s from?

Video Watchdog 110 from August 2004. There's a few of them on eBay for under $10.

 

[JoshZ]

This reminds me that I've got a huge collection of Video Watchdog issues (including #110) that I haven't looked at in ages and could use to move out and clear some space, if anyone in the Boston area wants an instant collection. Too heavy to ship them all, unfortunately.

 

[haineshisway]

Still off topic and peripheral, but what is it with those shaggy dog titles? I was always fascinated by "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad" with Rosalind Russell, Robert Morse and Jonathan Winters (if memory serves) after seeing it on TV as a youngster. I would love to see that again in some form or another!

I was lucky enough to see Oh Dad on stage here in LA with Hermione Gingold and Sam Waterston, directed by Jerome Robbins - hilarious, weird, and a great production. The movie, if you love the play, is a travesty - all the Jonathan Winters stuff was added after a disastrous sneak preview. I issued the soundtrack a few years ago.

Did you check this article from one who also watched it countless times in 1969:

You want me to read something, provide it in a form that actually works. I get black screens when I'm taken to wherever this is housed. I may have this issue here, but in a box somewhere.

 

[Kyle_D]

You want me to read something, provide it in a form that actually works. I get black screens when I'm taken to wherever this is housed. I may have this issue here, but in a box somewhere.

Try copying the link that comes up when you click "share" into your browser. I also had a similar problem reading the article, but the "share" link fixed it for me.

 

[johnmcmasters]

I first saw a longer version of "Once Upon a Time in the West" at college when the film society rented a 16mm print from the Film Source Catalog (an approximation as I no longer remember the exact name of the catalog). I believe it was 165 minutes. Is my memory correct about this?

Correction: The catalog was titled "Films Incorporated".

 

[Randy Korstick]

Great news on this looking so good as its in my top 3 films of all time.

 

[haineshisway]

I wonder why Grubert wanted me to read that article? There's not a single thing in it that contradicts a single thing I said, which wasn't about content but was about dates. The only thing he's wrong about is playing the bottom half of double bills, at least in its July (the 23rd in LA, not August) first-run engagements in major cities. As I said, in LA the bottom of the bill was El Dorado. He IS right about it not playing first-run venues, at least in LA - in fact, it played neighborhood theaters only and not many of 'em. Again, the running time is listed as 135-minutes in the Kevin Thomas review. He IS right about the final music cue - because originally there was two and a half minutes of exit music playing over black after the Paramount logo - I remember thinking that was the first time I'd ever seen that much music over black for a non-roadshow picture.

Interestingly, it opened in San Francisco in several theaters on that same double bill with El Dorado on June 18. But I'm pretty sure even though it was double-billed it was the long version, as that's what the show times tell me. Philadelphia played the long version with no second feature, also in June. In Akron, Ohio, also on a double bill but full length. Spokane, WA also had it on a double bill but the start times are very clear that it's the long version. I suspect that there were more prints of the long version than we suspected. I'm attaching the LA ad and the Spokane ad - in the latter you'll see clearly that West had two showings - one at five, followed by The Assassination Bureau at eight, which will tell you that West was the long version.

 

[bujaki]

The long version was also shown in Puerto Rico. I saw it on a double bill.

 

[reel-to-reel]

A double bill is just too long to sit in a 70's theater seat!!

 

[Robert Crawford]

A double bill is just too long to sit in a 70's theater seat!!

We didn't know any better back in those days and our bladder control was much better than it is today.

 

[sbjork]

We didn't know any better back in those days and our bladder control was much better than it is today.

To say nothing of our bums.

 

[Robert Crawford]

To say nothing of our bums.

Less wear and tear on them.

 

[Grubert]

I wonder why Grubert wanted me to read that article? There's not a single thing in it that contradicts a single thing I said, which wasn't about content but was about dates.

Not to correct you, but you both saw the film several times on its release, and I only thought it might be interesting for you to compare your memories.

It is interesting that there were probably also 135 min versions, and at the same time also still some uncut versions. The Wild Bunch was also shortened manually by cutting out scenes from every release print, and there it also happened that by accident differently cut versions were shown.

It's funny that it was paired with El Dorado, a traditional western which also breaks a few rules, but looked extremely conventional in comparison.

Another idea is that the way they shortened it was pretty dumb.
They destroyed the film's rhythm anyway, so they should have instead shortened the film by taking out many small parts, but it was idiotic to cut the long tavern scene completely out.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I remember seeing OUATITW that 1969 summer, but it must have been the shorten version. It was the first "spaghetti" western that I really enjoyed the first time I saw it. At that time in my early teen years, I was strictly a traditional Hollywood western fan. Since then, I've expanded my western preferences.

 

[Robert Harris]

Not to correct you, but you both saw the film several times on its release, and I only thought it might be interesting for you to compare your memories.

It is interesting that there were probably also 135 versions ,and at the same time also still some uncut versions. The Wild Bunch was also shortened manually by cutting out scenes from every release print, and there it also happened that by accident differently cut versions were shown.

It's funny that it was paired with El Dorado, a traditional western which also breaks a few rules, but looked extremely conventional in comparison.

Another idea is that the way they shortened it was pretty dumb.
They destroyed the film's rhythm anyway, so they should have instead shortened the film by taking out many small parts, but it was idiotic to cut the long tavern scene completely out.

Very difficult to modify a running time by making physical cuts in the print.

Mr. Soundtrack, and his native off-set keeps getting in the way.

 

[haineshisway]

Very difficult to modify a running time by making physical cuts in the print.

Mr. Soundtrack, and his native off-set keeps getting in the way.

As you know, that's exactly what happened with The Shining and to a larger extent The Exorcist II. With The Shining, they simply excised the final scene in the hospital and that resulted in a nasty splice in those initial prints - and a nice audio bump into the photo at the end. For The Heretic they got all the prints back to Warners and cuts were made into the prints - I was on the lot when it was happening.

 

[Bartman]

Please skip this comment if you don't like negative film reviews. I enjoyed the Dollars trilogy, TGTB&TU & westerns in general. I bought the DVD of OUTITW when it was released & watched it once (my first time seeing OUTITW), I was disappointed. It's an exercise in style over substance. It has the slimmest of stories (with a sudden big reveal right at the end) punctuated by gratuitous violence & death, misogyny, stereotypes & tons of filler all set to a whimsical score. Its saving grace being the production values & locations.
This morning I streamed from Prime in HD (supposedly the Martin Scorcese / Film Foundation transfer), my opinion of the film has not changed & the transfer is many shades of brown & some blue throughout, perhaps the UHD is better?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Please skip this comment if you don't like negative film reviews. I enjoyed the Dollars trilogy, TGTB&TU & westerns in general. I bought the DVD of OUTITW when it was released & watched it once (my first time seeing OUTITW), I was disappointed. It's an exercise in style over substance. It has the slimmest of stories (with a sudden big reveal right at the end) punctuated by gratuitous violence & death, misogyny, stereotypes & tons of filler all set to a whimsical score. Its saving grace being the production values & locations.
This morning I streamed from Prime in HD (supposedly the Martin Scorcese / Film Foundation transfer), my opinion of the film has not changed & the transfer is many shades of brown & some blue throughout, perhaps the UHD is better?

Frankly, I still enjoy OUTITW more than any of the three Dollars trilogy films. I'm looking forward to watching my 4K/UHD disc. Furthermore, Amazon Prime is my least favorite streaming service because I think Apple/iTunes, Disney+ and Vudu offer a superior streaming experience.