Just restating the obvious: If youâre thinking of getting the UK Indicator release of The Big Gundown, and Amazon is where youâd consider ordering it, please use the SWDbâs link: https://amzn.to/3gr6NUw
This movieâs page in the SWDb has been upgraded to the new âSWDb 3.0â format. Please have a look and let us know if thereâs something you can add (information, trivia, links, pictures, etc.).
Just received my press preview copies of this. Will inspect and verify all the specs in the database shortly. Will work on a review then.
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Nice! What is your first impression of the box?
I do not have the box, I received an advance pressing, which in many cases (including this case) are just the BD-Rs ⌠so canât say anything about that I am afraid. But I also placed a regular order, so I can get back to you on that once I receive it from Amazon UK which may be never or shortly after the street date :))
Excellent video essay/intro by @Austin_Fisher on that disc!
Oh ok, thatâs unfortunate that you still have to buy the box. I pre-ordered as well, but I was just curious.
Spending the late afternoon listening to both audio commentaries⌠as I finish my review (ready by the end of the week). BluRays have in part already reached customers, other orders are yet waiting to be fulfilledâŚ
In the meantime, maybe @MadIccy could post pictures of the booklet and packaging as he has done on Facebook
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Very Impressed with this, Itâs a great package, the booklet and poster are both made from decent, heavy paper and the booklet is 75 pages thick. The only thing I possibly gripe about is why the numbered part is just a wraparound piece of card and the box itself isnât numbered (Iâm not going to lose any sleep over it though).
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Very nice. Thanks for posting pictures of booklet and poster as they hadnât shown them on amazon, or anywhere else I could find.
As @Phil_H said, its still saying Feb 13th for me.
Also, @MadIccy is the poster reversible?
Yep I was expecting the 13th also but it arrived this morning.
The Poster is reversible and has the Red LVC box image on the flip
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Ok, nice. Cheers!
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damn, was hoping for the original Italian art
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With the UK Indicator disk out, thought you might be interested in what happened to TBG with the UK censors, BBFC, on its original UK theatrical release in 1969. Firstly, the 90m International Cut was submitted in 1968 and given an X rating (under 16s not admitted) after several cuts. The distributor then requested an A rating (under 16s admitted if accompanied by an adult over 16) which was what the Bond movies all got. The BBFC requested a massive 6m of cuts for this rating which were all made and the UK release ran a mere 84m. This cut version was then re rated AA in 1970 when the rating system changed.
Here are the cuts:
THE BIG GUNDOWN (1966)
The 90m âInternational Versionâ was classified âXâ for theatrical release in 1968 after the following cuts:
DR2 - Shorten the fight between two men at the ranch; and especially remove the close shot of manâs gashed face.
DR3 - Reduce to a minimum the whole incident in which Cuchillo, who is tied up with ropes, is whipped.
DR6 - Drastically reduce the scene in which Rosita is beaten-up by two men.
The film does not appear to have been released as an âXâ. Instead, the distributor asked for an âAâ the following year and it was classified âAâ in 1969 after the following cuts (c.6m):
DR1 - Remove close shot of a hanging man.
Remove âSheâs been raped, no moreân twelve years oldâ.
DR2 - Remove ârapeâ from account of why the Mexican was wanted.
Considerably shorten the fight between the two men at the ranch. Also remove the close shot of the gashed face of one of them (also âX cut).
DR3 - Remove the whole scene in the bedroom between Cuchillo and a woman.
Very considerably shorten the whipping of Cuchillo(also âXâ cut).
Remove the whole scene in which men hold Cuchilloâsface down in the mud and he describes to them what Corbett is doing with the woman in the house.
Remove âYou wouldnât be satisfied with just one man. You enjoy being queen bee too muchâ.
In the discussion between Corbett and a policeman remove the references to the attack on the twelve year old girl.
Remove âRositaâs worked in a bordello since she was just fifteenâ.
DR4 - Remove âBut a little girl of twelve, her you couldâ.
DR5 - Remove the shots of Rosita undressing and lying down on a bed. Remove the references to a rapist when Corbett is talking to Rosita.
Considerably shorten the fight in the cantina.
Remove the sequences in which Cuchillo is seen with prostitutes.
Remove the shots of police hitting a man in the face.
DR6 - Remove the attack on Rosita by two men (heavily cut for âXâ) and their being knifed by Cuchillo.
Remove âYou got drunk and raped and killed that little girlâ.
Remove Brocksonâs talk about hunting animals and a man.
Cut âAâ version re-classified âAAâ in 1970.
The sequel, Run, Man, Run does not seem to have ever had a UK theatrical release.
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No UK-specific cut/version is available on any digital (!) home video format however, as I understand it. One can either watch the âinternationalâ (i.e. US) cut, the extended US cut or the original Italian version.
Btw my review of the Indicator disc is up, but I want to do some peer-review before I promote the text all over the net 
Hereâs my review of the latest release:
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Having received the beautiful BD boxset of âTBGâ, I had intended last night to watch the full version (110 mins approx) in glorious high-def.
Instead, I opted to watch the original, - and shortest known version, which was released in the USA and UK at a mere running time of 89 mins.
Bearing in mind that, as a cinema-goer back then in 1967 or so, I wouldnât have known anything about the correct running time, cuts to the film, or how much had been butchered by the censors, I wanted to get a feel for how a viewer at the time may have reacted to what we rightfully call a âClassicâ of the genre.
Bearing in mind that most European audiences only knew about Sergio Leoneâs âDollars Trilogyâ, it must have been exciting to see another of these weird, yet wonderful hybrids - and this one had the bonus of starring Lee Van Cleef.
It shows you just how good âThe Big Gundownâ intrinsically is, that - with so many cuts made to the original print - it still made a huge impact on Western audiences of the time, who lapped up Van Cleef, and the amazing Ennio Morricone music score.
In hindsight, itâs hard not to look back and shake your head at how much of value was stripped away of the original film. However, even with the cuts, and the interference of âall-knowingâ censors, âThe Big Gundownâ proved a hit with the publicâŚ
If only they could have seen then, what we can now - Sergio Sollimaâs masterpiece in all of its full and restored glory.
Bottom line: Even in its severely cut version, âTBGâ must have been a revelation on the big screen to 1967 audiences, who must surely have recognised the power and genius behind what they were seeingâŚeven if some people may have left the cinema slightly perplexed by some of the obvious jump-cutsâŚ
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3357 is my spine number, received mine just now⌠and I donât think I will ever watch any of the shorter cuts though, not even as curiosity 
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There are a few old reviews in the booklet, and one of them hilariously says: âMusic, not memorable, by the specialist Morriconeâ
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Yea, I read that âso-calledâ reviewâŚthe reviewer was deaf in both ears, obviously.
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