Wow thatās a mega post there Sundance, but full of info I agree with. I also have trouble enjoying discs that are handled poorly, which is why I really wonder about S&J. To me, this was so noticeable I ended up not paying attention to the film in an effort to not pay attention to the effect, so its really a pretty big deal to me. On the other hand, I can see it not being much of a problem if youāre not used to looking for these things.
I also agree that most WE discs up until recently have been pretty poor transfers and Iāve had the same issues with many of them. I mainly singled out Long Ride From Hell because it is one that is suppose to be very good quality-wise and this weird movement is a big deal to me. Its really hard for me to not pay attention to it.
It can be more than just the PAL ā NTSC conversion. There are various other settings that can be off and produce the same kind of issues, and also depends on your systemās resources to perform a high quality encoding. Additionally, you really have to leave the computer alone to do the encoding without using it for other tasks, or it can interfere with the encoding job and result in things like dropped frames.
You have a good point about newer TVs. I personally hate watching films on a computer monitor and yes, interlaced sources look horrible on them.
And yeah, its really an overwhelming amount of information to learn regarding proper encoding/conversion of video, which is a huge reason why I stand by the idea of āchange nothing unless absolutely requiredā. Thereās not much you can do to improve video, its either done properly the first time or its not, and anything done to the video after the initial job is really just making it worse.
I guess I should probably clarify here, this is in reference only to working with existing DVDs and using the video. Of course a lot can be done in actual restoration, working with the source print.
Watched the Cultcine disc last night which didnāt look too hot on my 42" plasma TV since it was an interlaced transfer. But since there is no english friendly DVD release at the moment this will have to do. Mainly the combination of talents involved (Corbucci, Milian, George) really made want to check this movie out.
In the end i wasnāt really dissapointed but the movie played out somewhat different then i had expected. The films focuses alot on the development of the relationship between Jed & Sonny. Corbucci manages to do this quiet successful most of the time.
Milian plays a real son of a bitch in this one, cussing like a sailor and mistreating people in the worst ways possible. I really felt uncomfortable in several scenes when he verbally abuses Susan Georgeās character. I donāt know what kind of point Corbucci tried to make here, but it felt somewhat unnecessarly cruel to me. But Milianās performance made it also very believeable for me. Which is guess is a credit to his superb acting talents.
The ever so beautiful Susan George looked very innocent and vunerable in her role as Sonny, which again helped you sympathize with the character. There werenāt alot action scenes but the rich character development and interaction between S & J kept things interesting most of the time. Too bad Savalas was pretty much wasted in his role as the bad guy. Oh yeah, the typical dirty Corbucci style was also present here. Rain, snow, mud, my favorite kind of setting for any SW.
All in all i enjoyed it enough to eventually buy a legit english release should one ever be released. My only beef with the movie was the somewhat misogynistic undertone which made certain scenes somewhat hard to stomach. Oh yeah, is there an official soundtrack available? I really liked the soundtrack by Morricone.
Itās called Sonny & Jed, but only Sonny gets a song dedicated to her. Itās a shame Morricone did not do the same for Jed - like say in Once Upon a Time in the West when Harmonica, Frank, Jill and Cheyenne all have their own distinctive themes.
Having said that, maybe the song is made to make us sympathize with poor Sonny throughout via the soft cries of Sonny, Sonnyā¦
Nice review Scherps. I actually rate this one quite highly. It seems to me the relationship of S&J, though often difficult to watch, has an authenticity about it and the characters some depth missing in many other Spaghettis.
That is true. Iāve witnessed several relationships between lowlifes that were similar to this one; itās always easy to say that a woman shouldnāt like a type who treats her like a dog, but there simply are women who do (not all of them are dropouts, by the way). You find several women like Sonny (and men like Jed) in the works of Bukovski. Itās a pity that the script isnāt better; the film needed a stronger storyline and more interference of the story and the background. But it still is a unique spagh, canāt think of any other Italian director who could make a film like this.
Thanks for the review Scherp. Regarding the language, I have the French DVD as well as a TV recording with English audio. If the French subs are accurate translations of the Italian, then Iām assuming the language is as rude in Italian as it is in English.
As for Companeros, the English audio doesnāt seem particularly offensive so it must be different from the Italian one. Do you happen to have any examples of scenes/dialogues that caused particular offense in Italy?
Sonny and Jed: I had to use the French subs too to find out what Milian was saying, and murmering in Italian. They used a lot of rather uncommon French words and invectives in the subs, probably to render, more or less correctly, the strange language concoction produced by good old Tomas. It seems quite rude, yes.
As for the language in CompaƱeros: they threatened to sue him for āturpiloquioā, but he avoided the lawsuit by removing some of the language that (apparently) caused offence. I read this in the book by Giacovelli I mentioned, but Iām sure I once read an article on the subject that was more specific; the thing is, I canāt retrace the article anymore. I only recently got a copy of the movie with Italian audio (the German DVD I have, offers only English + German audio) and havenāt watched it yet.
Is that the Blue Underground disc? I have that one too but have only ever bothered to watch it in English. I might watch it Italian with subs next time then.
Does that mean that there was a problem with the initial language that was changed prior to release? So all the public ever got to hear was the toned down version?
[quote=āNovecento, post:78, topic:1978ā]Is that the Blue Underground disc? I have that one too but have only ever bothered to watch it in English. I might watch it Italian with subs next time then.[/quote]Yes, the BU disc. A lot of it occurs during Vascoās haster torture if I remember correctly.
