The Mercenary / A Professional Gun / Il mercenario (Sergio Corbucci, 1968)

(Asa) #261

Blu-ray has a release date of 01 May 2017, according to Amazon UK:

(Drifter) #262

I emailed 88 Films; Region B only, f.y.i.

(Søren) #263

Yep, most of 88 Films blu-ray releases are Region-locked.

(Sebastian) #264

USA BluRay arriving November 7, Amazon pre-order links are up. We appreciate using the SWDb’s Amazon links:

#265

I couldn’t resist…

I had to get this blu-ray just to hear Cox’s commentary. Assumption confirmed, he sounds sick of his life all way through :smile: I take it @stanton wasn’t available.

(Novecento) #266

I love hearing/reading Cox’s opinionated take on things.

I think I’ll be getting a copy of this too (just need to tip someone off for a nice xmas gift)

#267

I rarely agree with him but it’s strangely compelling and funny.

(Sebastian) #268

Rewatched it again tonight, after a long while. I still love it to pieces. One of my all time favorite movies. Such characters, such a script, such scenes!

(The Man With a Name) #269

It improves the more I watch it, too. I need to revise my top 20.

#270

It has to be the most Leone-ish non Leone spaghetti ever made.

#271

Or the least Corbucci, Corbucci western - I too am a big fan of this one, what’s not to like!
The one line of dialogue that kills me, is in the final showdown scene - I’m sure it’s not intended to be funny, but Franco Nero’s rich accent saying, “Hello Curley”, is so camp, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. :smile:

Wondered what the opinion is on picture quality between the Koch Media and recent 88 Films BD release? … I will have to pick this up soon.

(Sebastian) #272

so I watched the Koch Blu, not knowing the 88 Films one (but suspecting the same source?), I think it looks alright even though the quality clearly varies from scene to scene. There are moments where the image has a strong greenish tint, other scenes are visibly of inferior quality. Overall it’s a nice presentation albeit lacking detail you’d expect from a really expensive 4k restoration…

#274

Here’s a Kino vs Koch. I presume 88 is the same: http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/mercenary-the.html

#275

Thanks for that - the Koch extras are tempting, otherwise there’s very little noticeable difference between the two releases.

#276

Yeah if you’re obsessed with extras like I am, Koch wins.

But if you need an Alex Cox fix… Kino is your best bet :+1:

(Stanton) #277

Yes, to a certain extent.

The plot would have fitted Leone’s style better than Giu la testa, But directed by Leone the runtime would have been doubled. He would have played out all these amazing ideas eternally.

But then, Il mercenario is filled with so much extraordinary scenes, which are directed unlike Leone ever did, and it has fantastic big action scenes, while the big action scenes by Leone in FoD and in Giu la testa really suck.

#278

Haha, I was placing bets with myself as to when you’d respond to that comment :wink:

(Stanton) #279

Glad you won …

(Sebastian) #280

One other thing that has surely been discussed a gazillion times, but: I find the way the movie deals with the politics to be genius. One, it depicts a revolutionary as a true peon who needs a capitalist mercenary gringo to tell him what a revolution is, two, it illustrates the revolutionary war through a gun metaphor by telling a story about arms trade in the early 1900s… what are your thoughts?

#281

I’m feeling lucky, I might start buying scratchcards at this rate.