I’m somewhat new to the world of Spaghetti Western DVDs. I have always been a fan of SWs, especially Leone’s movies, but have only recently discovered that there is a whole variety of movies available on DVD, and I have frantically been buying them up and watching them over and over.
I do have a question though, a lot of the movies that I have been buying, have been based on reviews of websites such as this one and others. But what do other people do about titles that are apparently unavailable on DVD? Titles such as The Big Gundown and Face to Face? Are these available and I’m just not finding them? Do people still collect VHS? Bootleg DVDs?
Any help would appreciated, as I am most interested in finding these movies.
Us old timers collect these films in any format we can get our hands on just to be able to watch them. Many of these films we’ve seen gray on white from 25th generation copies. You should check e-bay, i-offer and other auction sites as many of the films released on video originally have been copied over to DVD-Rs. There are also folks who have put versions together from multiple videos, DVDs etc. to get as complete a copy as possible of the film. You’ll be watching an English language copy and all of a sudden the actors are speaking German or Spanish for a few seconds and then back to English. They have added a missing scene to the English release.
Franco Cleef has put together quite a few DVD-R’s with English dialogue that were not availble to us here in the Americas. You can pick these up at Xploited Video on their Internet site. We also trade all over the world for copies not available anywhere else. I’d get myself a universal DVD player to be able to watch all these formats etc. otherwise your selection ability will be limited. You will also meet a great bunch of people this way and broaden your view of films and what is available.
[quote=“a-ron, post:1, topic:740”]But what do other people do about titles that are apparently unavailable on DVD? Titles such as The Big Gundown and Face to Face? Are these available and I’m just not finding them? Do people still collect VHS? Bootleg DVDs?
Any help would appreciated, as I am most interested in finding these movies.[/quote]
To answer yor last question first, if you can buy it, people collect it.
As for Big Gundown and Face to Face, Koch Media have put out an excellent Sergio Sollima Box set which includes these titles along with Run Man Run. I believe this is available through Amazon. Alternatively, as Tom B recommended, Exploited have probably the biggest variety of titles available.
Good Luck, and welcome to the forum.
Looking for certain Spaghetti westerns is a bit like a plot of a Spaghetti western sometimes…instead of searching for gold…you are hunting down the film(s).
But the internet and forums like this one make things alot easier than the old VHS days.
You can always try CINECITYPLANET in Holland, run by a certain René H. The guy is not cheap (I mean his DVD’s aren’t) but he delivers an excellent job. World’s biggest collection of spaghetti westerns on DVD and DVDr (says he). Never had problems with him and he ships worldwide.
The easiest thing is asking people here first if a dvd release exists. And if it doesn’t you’re better off dvd-r trading with people here than buying them from a ‘retailer’ which is bound to be more expensive.
a-ron, I’m pretty new to SW’s myself. Yeah its fustrating when these movies are not released by the big companies like Sony and MGM and thus you have to dig around a little for obscure releases. But I guess the search is part of the fun. It makes you appreciate the treasure that much more after you find it.
xploited cinema has most of what you and I are looking for and Franco Cleef does excellent work making NTSC O DVD Rs in english
I have myself got nearly every SW I was interested in on DVD-R within 1 and a half year. Over 150 now, many from TV or VHS, most of them in watchable versions concerning the picture quality. But here in Germany there was released quite a lot.
If I had really tried to get all the shitty ones too, I would have got easily much, much more.
Support the releasers of spaghetti westerns and get the official release. It’s in Koch Media’s Sergio Sollima Italo-Western Box Set along with Face to Face and Run, Man, Run. No English dub, but English subs.
I’m interested in this Koch box set, even though I already have a 2.35:1 RUN MAN RUN in English, and a 2.35:1 FACE TO FACE in French.
Can you tell me if BIG GUNDOWN is 2.35:1, and what is its running time, because this is an often-butchered film.
Is FACE TO FACE in 2.35:1, and is it English Language or English subtitled ?
[quote=“IndioBlack, post:14, topic:740”]I’m interested in this Koch box set, even though I already have a 2.35:1 RUN MAN RUN in English, and a 2.35:1 FACE TO FACE in French.
Can you tell me if BIG GUNDOWN is 2.35:1, and what is its running time, because this is an often-butchered film.
Is FACE TO FACE in 2.35:1, and is it English Language or English subtitled ?
Thank you[/quote]
All the movies in the box are 2.35:1, uncut in with optional english subs [no english audio].
… but with nice Italian dub. And they are damn fine looking (except for Run, Man Run which I believe have been badly converted from NTSC to PAL, but that won’t bother you if you’ve already got the BU release). It won’t get any better than this, Koch Media knows their job
Does anyone know if Face to Face is still available on DVD in correct aspect ratio with English subtitles? Or is it OOP now that the Sollima box is no longer available?
Also looking through the DVD guide in the SWDB I’m confused about two others. In the forum it has been mentioned that uncut widescreen DVD versions of Town Called Hell are readily available in the UK for a few pounds, but the only one listed (or that I can find on Amazon.co.uk) is 20 pounds.
Finally, has Monte Hellman’s China 9 Liberty 37 / Amore, piombo e furore ever been released on DVD unedited and in correct aspect ratio? I know it’s on many, many cheapo gray market DVDs but they all seem to be from the same heavily edited, full frame, crap quality video recordings of a television broadcast.
[quote=“Mortimer, post:17, topic:740”]Also looking through the DVD guide in the SWDB I’m confused about two others. In the forum it has been mentioned that uncut widescreen DVD versions of Town Called Hell are readily available in the UK for a few pounds, but the only one listed (or that I can find on Amazon.co.uk) is 20 pounds.[/quote]You could always pick this up cheap, when things go out of print they often get more expensive, i reckon that’s the case here.
