Criterion Random Speculation Vol.4

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Nadsat · #51 Post by **Nadsat** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:09 pm

Is there any chance for Criterion to release "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"? I think this film really deserve a good DVD-release.

arsonfilms · #52 Post by **arsonfilms** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:13 pm

Soothsayer wrote:I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere, but in the Nikolai Burlyaev interview on the Ivan's Childhood disc, you can clearly see lots of Andrei Rublyov's work behind him, and there is *no* mention of his work in Tarkovsky's film on Rublyov...

To me, that points to a possible supplement for an upcoming Andrei Rublyov re-release

This was aknowledged by Criterion about a year ago as needing an upgrade, but the most recent word on the matter was that it isn't on the production schedule yet. I don't know if anyone has heard anything new about this, but it'll definitely be re-released at some point, and the potential supplement you mentioned would certainly make sense.

#53 Post by **domino harvey** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:26 pm

Nadsat wrote:Is there any chance for Criterion to release "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"? I think this film really deserve a good DVD-release.

Man, I wish.

Soothsayer · #54 Post by **Soothsayer** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:33 pm

This was aknowledged by Criterion about a year ago as needing an upgrade, but the most recent word on the matter was that it isn't on the production schedule yet. I don't know if anyone has heard anything new about this, but it'll definitely be re-released at some point, and the potential supplement you mentioned would certainly make sense.

hehe, I know all that, guess I was just getting my hopes up about further speculation for extras.

keeproductions · #55 Post by **keeproductions** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:11 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Nadsat wrote:Is there any chance for Criterion to release "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"? I think this film really deserve a good DVD-release.
Man, I wish.

Bringing this up prompted me to pull out my old laser to see who "owns" this. Turns out its a Fox property, so...maybe?

I have the limited edition signed by Sidney Pollack (1066/2500) that I picked up for a song in the late 90's. The special features are pretty good, and could be a great jumping off point for a CC DVD:

Commentary by Sydney Pollack
Combo commentary by Jane Fonda, Irwin Winkler, Martin Baum, Bonnie Bedelia, Michael Sarrazin, Red Buttons, and Sydney Guilaroff
Original Making Of Featurette
Archival Stills gallery
Composer John Green's continuity notes
Notes, pictures, and diagrams from Sydney Pollack's shooting script

Hmmmm....I may have to dust off the LD Player this weekend...

#56 Post by **domino harvey** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:00 pm

keeproductions wrote:
domino harvey wrote:
Nadsat wrote:Is there any chance for Criterion to release "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"? I think this film really deserve a good DVD-release.
Man, I wish.
Bringing this up prompted me to pull out my old laser to see who "owns" this. Turns out its a Fox property, so...maybe?

I have the limited edition signed by Sidney Pollack (1066/2500) that I picked up for a song in the late 90's. The special features are pretty good, and could be a great jumping off point for a CC DVD:

Commentary by Sydney Pollack
Combo commentary by Jane Fonda, Irwin Winkler, Martin Baum, Bonnie Bedelia, Michael Sarrazin, Red Buttons, and Sydney Guilaroff
Original Making Of Featurette
Archival Stills gallery
Composer John Green's continuity notes
Notes, pictures, and diagrams from Sydney Pollack's shooting script

Hmmmm....I may have to dust off the LD Player this weekend...

Holy smokes, those extras sound amazing. After I was the only one who voted for this in the 60s poll, I thought no one else here was a fan!

tavernier · #57 Post by **tavernier** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:12 pm

And if they want to get anything new out of Pollack, they'd better move fast, because the word is that his cancer is terminal.

kaujot · #58 Post by **kaujot** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:14 pm

I had no idea Pollack has cancer. :\

keeproductions · #59 Post by **keeproductions** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:20 pm

Holy smokes, those extras sound amazing. After I was the only one who voted for this in the 60s poll, I thought no one else here was a fan!

Well, I've never taken part in the polls, but if I had, it would have definitely had a second vote.

As Letterman used to say: "Out of a 100 people polled...and we all know how painful THAT can be...."

I was only 5 when this movie came out, but for some reason I have strong memories of watching it a few times on TV. Since it was made by ABC Films I can only guess that it hit the ABC Movie of the Week a few times in the early/mid 70s (And don't get me started on the nostalgia of hearing Ernie Anderson's voice on that!). I'm sure I didn't understand hardly any of the movie at that age, but I loved it because it affected me so much in ways I couldn't understand. The only other movie at the time that did this to me was Bonnie and Clyde. Whenever either of these were on my Mom understood that my 9pm bedtime was not going to happen.

When I rediscovered the movie 10 years ago via the laser disc it was hard to separate the tone of the movie from my nostalgia, but I was just taken aback at how sad the whole thing was. Just amazing.

Wow, all of the sudden, the Criterion Collection seems very incomplete to me without this movie. Dammit!

Buttery Jeb · #60 Post by **Buttery Jeb** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:51 pm

I thought the rights to "They Shoot Horses, Don't They" was tied up with ABC Pictures (which would explain the prior releases from Anchor Bay and MGM). If Criterion has no plans to re-release "Straw Dogs" and the Selznik/Hitchcock titles anytime soon, then this one might be out of reach as well. Which is a shame, but there you go.

If anything, I'm hoping that the impending merger of Image Entertainment and BTP Acquisition (the parent company of thinkFilm) would lend itself to a Criterion release of "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead." But that's just wishful thinking on my part.

-BJ

#61 Post by **Jeff** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 5:25 pm

Buttery Jeb wrote:I thought the rights to "They Shoot Horses, Don't They" was tied up with ABC Pictures (which would explain the prior releases from Anchor Bay and MGM). If Criterion has no plans to re-release "Straw Dogs" and the Selznik/Hitchcock titles anytime soon, then this one might be out of reach as well. Which is a shame, but there you go.

Jeb is correct. Horses is part of the ABC library. The rights to it are now wholly owned by The Walt Disney Company, but they have a licensing agreement for the ABC library with MGM. Fox licensed the ABC library in the '90s (before Disney bought ABC). Jeb is also correct that Criterion's opportunity to license it has come and gone. If anyone (MGM) wants to release a version with the laserdisc supplements, they would have to license or, more likely, buy those separately from Fox.

fdm · #62 Post by **fdm** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 6:24 am

keeproductions wrote:Bringing this up prompted me to pull out my old laser to see who "owns" this. Turns out its a Fox property, so...maybe?

I have the limited edition signed by Sidney Pollack (1066/2500) that I picked up for a song in the late 90's. The special features are pretty good, and could be a great jumping off point for a CC DVD:

Commentary by Sydney Pollack
Combo commentary by Jane Fonda, Irwin Winkler, Martin Baum, Bonnie Bedelia, Michael Sarrazin, Red Buttons, and Sydney Guilaroff
Original Making Of Featurette
Archival Stills gallery
Composer John Green's continuity notes
Notes, pictures, and diagrams from Sydney Pollack's shooting script

Hmmmm....I may have to dust off the LD Player this weekend...

I'm a fan too, though haven't seen it but maybe once on TV since it first came out. I think it was the first film I sat thru a couple times in a row upon learning they really didn't care all that much that I wasn't quite 16 yet (and they didn't make you buy another ticket either). Recall doing same with M*A*S*H, Carnal Knowledge, Catch 22 and Woodstock even. Oh well, maybe I'll break down and watch the DVD... Those features sound fascinating, sigh.

bjeggert82 · #63 Post by **bjeggert82** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:47 am

On Amazon.com, they're listing The Darjeeling Limited for release on 2/26. Does this mean there won't be a Criterion edition, or just that this is a bare-bones edition and Criterion's will come later. Perhaps in conjunction with Bottle Rocket.

Click HERE to see what I mean.

Shrew · #64 Post by **Shrew** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:38 am

Well, if it's got a list price of 29.98, then it likely isn't barebones. I'm assuming Amazon's early listings are generally correct on price.

I recall the only thing said to point toward a Criterion edition was that someone said Jason Schwartzman confirmed it to him during a photograb. If the story's true, I imagine Schwartzman thought he was just talking about the DVD in general, or about Bottle Rocket. Criterion themselves earlier said they weren't working on one.

If one is coming I'd imagine it will be with the upcoming March releases.

PfR73 · #65 Post by **PfR73** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:55 am

I was the one who posted about Jason Schwartzman telling me Criterion was working on it. Like you said, either he was confused & was talking about this release, talking about Bottle Rocket, or Criterion will re-release it at some point. Was there a time gap between the barebones release of Rushmore & the Criterion release? Maybe we're looking at a situation like that. All I know is I asked if it would be Criterion & he said yes.

#66 Post by **cdnchris** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:26 am

I remember it was something like a 6 month gap between the two versions of Rushmore. Disney released it in the summer and then Criterion released it the following January.

justeleblanc · #67 Post by **justeleblanc** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 7:05 am

I wonder if the Ken Russell essay may be a sign that they'll eventually be releasing MAHLER, which Janus does own the rights to.

Lino · #68 Post by **Lino** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 7:26 am

Could someone possessing that most elusive of emails (the one that gets answered!) go and ask Criterion about the possibilities of more Russell in the future, be it from Eclipse or Criterion?

Narshty · #69 Post by **Narshty** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:25 pm

Since they're diving to the bottom of Paramount's vaults and bringing up all sorts of lost treasures, I hope they can retrieve Jonathan Demme's Handle with Care too.

Adam · #70 Post by **Adam** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:31 pm

zedz wrote:OK, I agree with you. There's no need to shout.

Lots of great African cinema (don't forget Tunisia and Arabia), and it's definitely one of Criterion's several blind spots, but these arguments have been hashed and rehashed several times before and we haven't seen any action.

The films of Jean Marie Teno from Cameroon are good, particularly Afrique, I Will Fleece You (Lord, I'm forgetting the correct French title). I think it be akin to bring out Greaves' Symbio... (which no one seems to mention, but is a truly risky release of a real experimental live-action film).
The Teno film is more along the lines of Ivens' L'HISTOIRE DU VENT - a doc of sorts but using multiple approaches around the topic.

Morbii · #71 Post by **Morbii** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:24 pm

Ebert confirms "Mishima" in his answer man column:

[quote="Roger Ebert"]A DVD of â€œMishima,â€

Cronenfly · #72 Post by **Cronenfly** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:06 pm

[quote="Morbii"]Ebert confirms "Mishima" in his answer man column:

[quote="Roger Ebert"]A DVD of â€œMishima,â€

LightBulbFilm · #73 Post by **LightBulbFilm** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:01 pm

Errr... Ummm... The Pumpkin Eater anyone?

Cinephrenic · #74 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:33 pm

Now if only Criterion will hurry up and officially announce it!

Criterion has already announced this a few months back guys. Jeez.... #-o

Cronenfly · #75 Post by **Cronenfly** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:22 am

Cinephrenic wrote:
Now if only Criterion will hurry up and officially announce it!
Criterion has already announced this a few months back guys. Jeez...

I meant a release date/specs. These last few posts about Mishima belong more in its thread, I suppose, but I don't see anything wrong with discussing it further here. It may not be new news, but it's far from irrelevant.

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Criterion Random Speculation Vol.4