The Spaghetti Western thread

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Why is the cover art for Italian westerns in English on German blu-rays?

Why the Tarantino tie-in? is he that popular over there?

Do you see a resemblance between THE BIG GUNDOWN (1966) and PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID (1973), Paul? I do. Sometimes scene by scene. I haven't compared them in a disciplined way yet, but I might go so far as to say that PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID seems like a scene-by-scene revision of the former film. No wonder I like THE BIG GUNDOWN so much.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Why is the cover art for Italian westerns in English on German blu-rays?

Why the Tarantino tie-in? is he that popular over there?

I'm not wholly sure, but I think Koch kicked the Rainbow Collection into the bin because of slumping sales, and I'd guess that this 'Western Unchained' series is being produced to capitalise on the new Tarantino film; there are quite a few repackaged of previous Koch titles in the 'Western Unchained' series (IL MERCENARIO; PISTOL FOR RINGO; RETURN OF RINGO) and some lovely new titles. NAVAJO JOE has also been released on Blu as part of the series; I considered buying it, but I'm not a huge fan of the film and so passed it by. (However, I love the possibly apocryphal story that Burt Reynolds was onset during the shooting of DJANGO and watched the ear-hacking scene being filmed.)

Do you see a resemblance between THE BIG GUNDOWN (1966) and PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID (1973), Paul? I do. Sometimes scene by scene. I haven't compared them in a disciplined way yet, but I might go so far as to say that PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID seems like a scene-by-scene revision of the former film. No wonder I like THE BIG GUNDOWN so much.

I think there are similarities between the two films, Richard. The picaresque structure is similar too. I think there are also strong similarities between PAT GARRETT and Sollima's FACCIA A FACCIA. It's such a shame that Sollima's RUN, MAN, RUN was so weak - at least in comparison with LA RESA DEI CONTI and FACCIA A FACCIA.

[Scyther Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Scyther]

Thanks for the info, Scyther. Sounds like SOME DOLLARS FOR DJANGO is uncut. I may get this for SARTANA KILLS THEM ALL, I have a fan made version.

No problem, man. I'd say it's worth it. I'm assuming that some of these films are just taken from PAL discs with English options and transferred over.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Did you notice any weird ghosting or anything on that transfer, Scyther?

[Scyther Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Scyther]

Did you notice any weird ghosting or anything on that transfer, Scyther?

For Some Dollars? Not really; to me it looked pretty good, but I admittedly skimmed it in a rush, because I was on my way out the door.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Fair enough, and thanks.

According to Blu-ray.com, there's UK Blu-ray release of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly slated for 6/3/13.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=213224

No cover art or any other details at this point in time but it might be worth keeping an eye open.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

I just placed a whopper of an order from Amazon.de for some of those new Koch discs. I knew these were coming but had kinda put it on the back burner until Paul had to bring them up! Thanks a lot, haha.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I just placed a whopper of an order from Amazon.de for some of those new Koch discs. I knew these were coming but had kinda put it on the back burner until Paul had to bring them up! Thanks a lot, haha.

Which ones did you buy, Andrew? I didn't buy any of the reissues, but received a package on Saturday containing the TEPEPA Blu, THE LAST OF THE BADMEN, DEATH DOES NOT COUNT THE DOLLARS and SUGAR COLT.

The new release of SHOOT THE LIVING... PRAY FOR THE DEAD is in the correct aspect ratio, apparently, rather than the compromised AR of the previous German disc; and my copy of that is in an order with the forthcoming German Blu of FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (due out next month). I'm on the fence about whether to buy NAVAJO JOE on Blu or not: I've got the US DVD, and as I'm not a huge fan of the film I don't know whether to upgrade or not.

Now, my only problem is deciding which one to watch first

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Watch TEPEPA first, please so that you can report back to us on the condition of the quality.

I'm hopeful that the German blu FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE will be right the way the Italian blu A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS is right, but I'm going to wait for reports and / or screen caps before I take the risk.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Which ones did you buy, Andrew? I didn't buy any of the reissues, but received a package on Saturday containing the TEPEPA Blu, THE LAST OF THE BADMEN, DEATH DOES NOT COUNT THE DOLLARS and SUGAR COLT.

I got the same as you, along with the BD of NAVAJO JOE. I passed on the reissues too, as I have all those previous ones from Koch. I may get SHOOT THE LIVING...at some point although I'm not a huge fan of it. I'm really looking forward to seeing LAST OF THE BADMEN and DEATH DOES NOT COUNT THE DOLLARS on dvd, I have dvd-rs of them - the latter only fullscreen - BADMEN in particular is a good picture. It's really exciting to me to have this plethora of spaghetti releases in the wake of DJANGO UNCHAINED, if nothing else it served a good purpose in that respect.

[Scyther Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Scyther]

Fair enough, and thanks.

I looked again, Ian and didn't notice any ghosting issues. It looks as if it were taken from a foreign DVD. Echo Bridge is usually pretty decent with quality compared to some other companies, and I think this one's worth the cheap asking price.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Watch TEPEPA first, please so that you can report back to us on the condition of the quality.

I've skimmed through it, Richard. It looks very good and makes me wish more Techniscope Euro-Westerns were available on BD. (If you're listening, Koch, can we have a Blu of IL MERCENARIO, please?) There are English subtitles for the portions of the film for which English audio was never recorded. Sadly, the extra features are without English subtitles - there's a deleted scene, a 30 minute interview with Petroni, and an alternate credit sequence as well as two trailers (German and Italian). It's a nice package, and competitively priced (mine was 13 Euros).

I'll give more detailed feedback when I've watched the film properly.

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Many thanks. I'm sold on it.

What would a list of the Top 20 Spaghetti Westerns and the runners-up look like if voted by the membership of Rock! Shop! Pop!? The same as QT's and the Spaghetti Western Forum or different? I might be able to think of 10, with some runners up, but Andrew and Paul have seen more spags than I have.

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Anyone seen these amazon exclusives:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mercenary-...bxgy_mov_img_y

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Rides-Ho...bxgy_mov_img_y

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Many thanks. I'm sold on it.

What would a list of the Top 20 Spaghetti Westerns and the runners-up look like if voted by the membership of Rock! Shop! Pop!? The same as QT's and the Spaghetti Western Forum or different? I might be able to think of 10, with some runners up, but Andrew and Paul have seen more spags than I have.

Nice idea, Richard. I'll have a serious think about this when I get home from work today.