Tweet
Released by: Liberation Hall
Released on: May 20th, 2023.
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Jason Robards, Olivia De Havilland, Theodore Bell
Year: 1966
Purchase From Amazon
Noon Wine – Movie Reviews:
Sam Peckinpah's film Noon Wine was notoriously difficult to see until it surfaced as an extra on Twilight Time’s now long out of print Killer Elite Blu-ray edition. Liberation Hall brings the film back in print with this DVD edition.
Made for ABC's Stage 67 series in 1966 and shown once and only once on November 23rd, this made for TV film was believed lost until very recently when a second generation color master appeared in the form of a one inch tape (ABC destroyed all other vault elements in the seventies) that a private collector had been holding onto. It was shown at a UCLA screening in 2013 and with this Blu-ray release this fifty-one minute movie finally makes its much anticipated home video debut. The movie is presented fullframe, which makes sense given its origins and in standard definition with a DTS-HD Mono sound mix, sans subtitles. The transfer looks as good as it probably can taking into account the source material and it's less than perfect, but more than watchable under the circumstances. The screen caps below tell the story but expect this to look like the tape sourced transfer that it is.
As to the movie itself? Based on the novella by Katharine Anne Porter the movie begins in the Texas of the late 1800s when a fairly lazy cattle farmer named Royale Earl Thompson (Jason Robards) hires a Swedish immigrant named Helton (Per Oscarsson) to help him out around the farm. He can't pay him much but he'll feed him, he'll put a roof over his head and he'll pay him seven dollars a month. Helton agrees and quickly proves himself a hard worker. Soon, both Royale and his wife, Ellie (Olivia de Havilland), come to appreciate his efforts and his company even if he doesn't talk much and seems very reluctant to discuss his past. Of course, that past comes back to haunt him and this western drama soon turns out to be a tragedy when a stranger arrives.
Peckinpah's work is filled with bleak endings and this one fits right in nicely alongside many of his other films in that regard. With the script having been by Peckinpah and Porter herself it has an authenticity to it and feels much smarter and more thought out than you'd probably expect from a made for TV movie. The ending does feel rushed, likely due to the time constraints inherent in the format, but what leads up to it is very good stuff and ripe for examination. The director's issues with women creeps in here as Ellie, very well played by de Havilland in a rare TV role, is very much kept in line by her very masculine husband. There's a distance between them that is only occasionally breached by some moments of fleeting humor. As the truth about Helton comes to light both Robards and de Havilland are able to really craft some emotionally wrenching performances with Oscarsson only slightly beneath them in that regard. It's also interesting to see Peckinpah regulars Ben Johnson and L.Q. Jones show up in supporting roles.
This isn't as visually flashy as his theatrical stuff, it can't be, and thematically it has more in common with 'quieter' Peckinpah films like Ride The High Country and Junior Bonner but it is very well made and quite involving. Given that it was made after Major Dundee flopped and he was fired off of The Cincinnati Kid, it's maybe not much of a surprise that this is a more pensive project. It's fantastic to finally be able to see this one after it having been completely unavailable for so long and given that it was a return to form for the director and a picture that would lead to the films many would consider his masterpieces, it's an undeniably important and poignantly poetic one as well.
Noon Wine – DVD Review:
Noon Wine arrives on DVD in its original 1.33.1 broadcast aspect ratio taken from a tape master. It looks fine for what it is – don’t go into this expecting amazing video quality, it isn’t going to happen, but the picture is pretty stable with reasonably good color reproduction. It’s as soft as you’d expect a tape sourced image to look, but perfectly watchable.
The English language Dolby Digital Mono track is of similar quality, it won’t blow you away but it’s serviceable enough. Things sound fairly flat but it’s all easy enough to understand and follow and the levels are properly balanced even if there is a bit of hiss. There are no alternate language or subtitles of any kind provided.
There aren’t really any extras here but you do get the option to watch the movie as it originally aired with commercials and the ‘Stage 67’ opening segment, or in a commercial free version.
Noon Wine – The Final Word:
Noon Wine isn’t the film Peckinpah is going to be remembered for but it is an interesting, if minor, entry in his career featuring some really strong acting and exploring many of the themes he’d return to throughout his career. The DVD release from Liberation Hall doesn’t include much in the way of extra features and the presentation is limited by the available elements, but it’s watchable enough and fans who missed out on the out of print Killer Elite disc will certainly be happy to be able to add this to their collections.