Koch Media DVD catalog/Western Unchained Collection

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

Some pretty big news from the Spaghetti-Western.net site that I figured was worthy of its own thread:

"Koch Media is currently planning to launch a new Spaghetti Western DVD collection, which encompasses Quentin Tarantino's favorite Spaghetti Westerns (taken from the SWDB-exclusive top 20 List) and many that he selected for the retrospective at the Venice Film Festival in 2007. The DVDs will be released on January 18th in Amaray Cases with cardboard sleeve, to coincide with the European release of Tarantino's Django Unchained, which hits German theaters on January 13."

The first ten titles to be released will be:

Last of the Badmen
Death Does Not Count the Dollars
Yankee
Sugar Colt
A Pistol for Ringo
The Return of Ringo
Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead
The Mercenary
Navajo Joe
Tepepa

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

It's also worth noting that Navajo Joe and Tepepa are getting Blu-ray releases.

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

Wow, pretty big news! LAST OF THE BADMEN and DEATH DOES NOT COUNT THE DOLLARS are particularly welcome as they've not had english friendly releases. The former is a really good one too. DEATH DOES NOT COUNT.. isn't bad either, it's Ricardo Freda's lone western I believe. Has a nice melancholy Nora Orlandi score too. Koch has already released nice dvds of the Ringo films and the others save TEPEPA and SUGAR COLT which has had a Japanese disc. That's a good one too - the film that is.

[Roderick Butthorn Find all posts View Profile Close Roderick]

Those covers are all kinds of awesome!

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

Those covers are all kinds of awesome!

I agree, hell I'll be tempted to satisfy the completist in me and get 'em all even though a couple will be triple dips.

This is exciting, I had a feeling we'd see some great spaghetti releases on the heels of the Tarantino film. I'm looking forward to more surprises in the pipeline too.

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

It's also worth noting that Navajo Joe and Tepepa are getting Blu-ray releases.

It's also worth noting that according to the link, TEPEPA BD/DVD will have a Tomas Milian commentary.

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

A whole whack of these are now in stock at Diabolik DVD for those who don't want to import.

http://www.diabolikdvd.com/search/se...rch=koch+media

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

I've got three of the DVDs, the TEPEPA Blu and the new release of SHOOT THE LIVING... is on its way to me at the moment. Nice to see Koch releasing more Italian Westerns - I'd love to see them release IL MERCENARIO on Blu.

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

I'll buy TEPEPA on blu.

Wow, pretty big news! LAST OF THE BADMEN and DEATH DOES NOT COUNT THE DOLLARS are particularly welcome as they've not had English friendly releases. The former is a really good one too. DEATH DOES NOT COUNT.. isn't bad either, it's Ricardo Freda's lone western I believe. Has a nice melancholy Nora Orlandi score too. Koch has already released nice dvds of the Ringo films and the others save TEPEPA and SUGAR COLT which has had a Japanese disc. That's a good one too - the film that is.

What's so good about LAST OF THE BADMEN and SUGAR COLT, Andrew?

I wonder if Koch plans to release more titles from QT's list, which is here:

http://www.spaghetti-western.net/ind...hetti_Westerns

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

Richard, LAST OF THE BADMEN (also known as TIME OF VULTURES) is a good solid example of the form, it's not a neglected classic but if you enjoy them it's well worth your time. Frank Wolff has a rare lead in it as a sociopathic, epileptic madman who kills because he enjoys it. George Hilton, the nominal protagonist, isn't completely likeable either as he's greedy and agrees to help Wolff commit a robbery when they both already have plenty of gold. BADMEN is a gritty and violent movie with a fast pace that never gets off the trail or throws in unwelcome comedy...right down to the downbeat ending.

SUGAR COLT is an unusual one, with a man of a thousand faces title character who goes undercover to look for some missing soldiers. Soledad Miranda has a fairly substantial role too - and gets high, haha. Hunt Powers aka Jack Betts was in many lower budget sw but this one started him out at the top. While it stays fairly lighthearted for most of the time, near the end it gets very serious and actually kind of moving (don't want to detail this to avoid spoilers). Memorable score too from Luis Bacalov.

[Horace Cordier Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Horace Cordier]

Koch Media DVD catalog/Western Unchained Collection

I just picked up the TEPEPA Blu from Diabolik.

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

There's a review up for Tepepa here with some nice looking screen caps.

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

I wonder if more titles will be released in this uniform series.

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

I wonder if more titles will be released in this uniform series.

No, Koch is releasing their next batch of spaghetti westerns via the Italowestern Enzyklopadie format, a set. Volume 1 came out today and Volume 2 is scheduled for late May I believe. Titles on the first one are:

COWARDS DON'T PRAY aka THE TASTE OF VENGEANCE
ROY COLT AND WINCHESTER JACK
...AND FOR A ROOF, A SKY FULL OF STARS
GENTLEMAN KILLER

I'll end up getting this, mainly for a nice pressed dvd of COWARDS DON'T PRAY. As I recall, the Wild East disc of GENTLEMAN KILLER was messed up regarding the aspect ratio, you had to change something on your player (been years since I watched it). Don't much care for the Bava...AND FOR A ROOF is okay (beautiful, sad opening scene then turns abruptly into a buddy comedy).

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

I didn't know this had finally come out! COWARDS DON'T PRAY would pretty much be my only reason to buy this, however, and possibly ... AND FOR A ROOF: I can live with WE's GENTLEMAN KILLER, and I have multiple versions of ROY COLT and SHAMANGO.