another year!

Did anyone else see the copy of Ride the High Country they showed on TCM last night? Looked fantastic, the obligatory "appears the film was made yesterday" type of print. Superb film, first time seeing it, I am a Peckinpah whore though.

I caught it as well, and I agree it looked stunning. Here's hoping the other film will be up to the same standard.

According to "k lodge" on DVDtalk...

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Taken From this morning's USA Today:

Devotees of the late director Sam Peckinpah will revel in the upcoming "Sam Peckinpah Legendary Westerns Collection" (from Warner Bros $59.92, out January 10th). Most coveted rarities in the box set: two disc special editions of The Wild Bunch, enhanced for widescreen TVs for the first time, and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid with a version restored to the late director's original intention. The other two films are Ride the High Country (Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea) and The Ballard of Cable Hogue (Jason Robards and Stella Stevens).

Also stated that several documentaries will be included.

Regarding Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid:

The new cut debuted at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and was supervised by Peckinpah scholars Nick Redman and Paul Seydor (based on Peckinpah's notes). According to this post:


Nick Redman has posted some additional information:

Wow, simply, wow. With the wide home video release for the closer cut of Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, I feel like I'm seeing cinema history being healed. This set is easily one of the most exciting releases I look forward to in 2006.

The official press release detailing full specs is here.

My god, what a mind-blowing set.

This sounds amazing. It's been a giddy 6 months for Peckinpah fans! At first, I thought the Major Dundee restoration was a hoax, but no! And now we get definitive editions of four masterpieces?

I was expecting to see Passion And Poetry: The Ballad Of Sam Peckinpah somewhere on this set, but Warner have provided Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade which is excellent. But as I have not seen Passion And Poetry (only the clips from Major Dundee) I was hoping that it would be included in the Warner set. One wonders where Passion And Poetry will now appear on DVD. As a stand-alone disc?

Great work from Warner, though!

Is Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade the documentary that played on Starz! Westerns channel?

Yup. I've caught the last hour or so a few times, but I've never seen the whole thing through yet.

As it is not part of this box set, can anyone recommend a R1 (or RO NTSC) release for Peckinpah's first feature The Deadly Companions?

Covers:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=58825

Just a question: does someone who's not into westerns that much (apart from the ocasional Leone) will like these films? As I understand, Peckinpah's vision of the Wild West is very different from the likes of Huston or others, so how do the films fare (a little background would be nice if it's not asking too much...)?

There's this Japanese edition from late 2004, that has a gorgeous anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer, apparently: www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=DABA-82

$33 plus, what... $10 for postage, is it? Very, very expensive. I love his films and I'd love to finally see this film in its OAR, but I cannot justify paying more than $25 for this disc.

I love the Pat Garrett cover. Coburn lives forever!

I think it varies by film. Ride the High Country is a classical western through and through, even though it comes at the end of that cycle. That's actually my favorite of the set, but if you don't like westerns, it might not be very appealing. The Wild Bunch is kind of an anti-western, so that one might be a good starting place. Peckinpah's films, even his period westerns, are of the era in which they were made, and there are varying degrees of allegorical tones to the events and social atmosphere of the sixties in all of these films.

I am not a fan of the westerns, but I love the Peckinpah westerns, even "Ride the high country", and definitely The Wild Bunch". You will miss something if you avoid them because of your aversion to the genre.

Gordon: Thanks for the info. on the Japanese pressing, but I'll probably wait for someone, sometime, to do a less-expensive OAR U.S. release.

The current cheapo R1 of the Deadly Companions goes for $0.69 on DVDPacific, and is a watchable crappy fullscreen DVD, buyt in my opinion, the film really doesn`t deserve much better. I literally barely made it through the whole thing.

Release Jan 10:

The Wild Bunch 2-Disc Special Edition
By any standard, director Sam Peckinpah's film The Wild Bunch, a powerful tale of hangdog desperados bound by a code of honor, rates as one of the all-time greatest Westerns. In 1994 it was restored to a complete, pristine condition unseen since its July 1969 theatrical debut - and this digitally remastered anamorphic transfer showcases it to renewed blood-and-thunder effect. William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien and Ben Johnson star.

Special Features Disc 1:
* Commentary by Peckinpah biographers/documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
* New digital transfer (16x9 2.35:1)
* Peckinpah trailer gallery
* Languages: English and French
* Subtitles: English, French and Spanish

Special Features Disc 2:
* Never-before-seen The Wild Bunch outtakes
* Additional scenes
* 3 documentaries
o Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade-
A feature-length biography of the legendary director, featuring rare film clips, interviews with family and colleagues, and narration by Kris Kristofferson.
o 1996 Oscar" Nominee The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage
o A Simple Adventure Story: Sam Peckinpah, Mexico and The Wild Bunch

Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid Two Disc Special Edition
They are fast friends and worse foes. One is Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson), a law unto himself. The other is the law: Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn), who once rode with Billy. Set to a bristling score by Bob Dylan (who also plays Billy's sidekick Alias) and with a 'Who's Who' of iconic Western players, Sam Peckinpah's saga of one of the West's great legends is now restored to its intended glory. For the first time since it left the cutting room, the film has the balance of action and character development Peckinpah wanted, a mix of fury and elegy based on the director's notes and the insights of colleagues.

Special Features Disc 1: 2005 Special Edition: (115 Mins.)
* Commentary by Special Edition Producer Nick Redman, Supervising Editor Paul Seydor and fellow Peckinpah biographers/documentarians Garner Simmons and David Weddle
* Peckinpah trailer gallery
* Languages: English and French
* Subtitles: English, French and Spanish (Feature Films Only)

Special Features Disc 2: 1988 Turner Preview Version: (122 Mins.)
* Commentary by Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
* 2 new featurettes:
o One Foot in the Groove: Remembering Sam Peckinpah and Other Things
o Deconstructing Pat and Billy
* One for the Money: Sam's Song
* Languages: English and French
* Subtitles: English, French and Spanish (Feature Films Only)

The Ballad of Cable Hogue:
After the violence of The Wild Bunch, director Sam Peckinpah shifted moods with this memorable fable -- less a tale of revenge than it is a lyrical, touching tribute to the last days of the West's pioneering spirit. Jason Robards, Stella Stevens and David Warner lead an excellent supporting cast that also includes L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin as Hogue's old enemies.
Special Features:
* Commentary by Peckinpah biographers/documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
* New featurette: The Ladiest Damn'd Lady with Stella Stevens
* Peckinpah Trailer Gallery
* Languages: English and Spanish
* Subtitles: English, French and Spanish

Ride The High Country:
Cowboy icons Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea find roles to match their leathery Western personas, playing aging lawmen hired to guard a gold shipment. They don't have much: a horse each, a couple of dollars. And they have everything: their independence. But the frontier is disappearing - and so is space wide open enough for independent men. With luck, the two will find space enough for this ride and one last payday. Mariette Hartley and Warren Oates are featured.

Special Features:
* Commentary by Peckinpah documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
* New documentary: A Justified Life: Sam Peckinpah and the Hogue Country
* Peckinpah trailer gallery
* Languages: English and French
* Subtitles: English, French and Spanish

Artwork here:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=58825

Huston made like two Westerns. He didn't have a vision of the Wild West. But yes, a lot of people don't like westerns like Peckinpah.

I don't care for the covers at all. For instance, the cover of THE WILD BUNCH wouldn't be too bad if there weren't those smaller boxes with the photos of the stars. Same with THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE.

Too bad since I love THE WILD BUNCH and RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY. THE WILD BUNCH was one of those movies a good friend got me to watch even though I didn't care for westerns. It changed my view of the whole genre.

SPOILERS



I thought Peckinpah's cut had just the "ooh ooh" chorus over the death scene, not the lyrics... the lyrics are what make it, uh, not good.

I just picked up the Platinum release and the picture and sound is superb for a $7.95 budget release.

I am ecstatic about this release. I have waited years to see a good version of Pat Garrett. I cannot wait until January!