Straw Dogs coming to Blu-ray?

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

TLA Video has Peckinpah's Straw Dogs up for pre-order with a street date of 9/6/11. Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else but with the remake on the way, it would make good sense for MGM to re-release the original on BD. Too bad it won't likely have any of the supplements from the Criterion release.

[Goldberg Bogan Find all posts View Profile Close Goldberg]

you know I still haven't opened my Criterion copy!

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

Get on it - it's a boss disc.

[Goldberg Bogan Find all posts View Profile Close Goldberg]

Is this the BluRay?
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...m-20/ref=nosim

[Terry C Tiger Fists Find all posts View Profile Close Terry C]

Yup. Here too:

http://www.amazon.com/Straw-Dogs-Blu...2631168&sr=1-6



Hopefully one of these will contain some sort of extras.

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

The Amazon listing says 40th Anniversay Edition so maybe there'll be more than a trailer.

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

Very nice! I was hugely disappointed when the UK Blu-Ray failed to materialise a year or two ago.

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

Press release!

EVERY MAN HAS A BREAKING POINT

Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of a Sam Peckinpah Classic, the Blu-ray Disc Arrives For The First Time Ever September 6
Theatrical Remake Premieres Everywhere September 16

Los Angeles, CA (August 11, 2011) - How far will one man go to protect his wife and his home? One of the grittiest and controversial thrillers of all-time and banned in the United Kingdom for over 18 years, STRAW DOGS debuts on Blu-ray Disc September 6 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Released in celebration of the film's 40th Anniversary and in anticipation of the upcoming theatrical remake, this violent and suspenseful tale from legendary director Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch, The Getaway) stars two-time Academy Award® winner Dustin Hoffman* (The Graduate, Little Fockers) and Susan George (Mandingo, The House Where Evil Dwells).

To escape the Vietnam-era chaos in the U.S., American mathematician David Sumner (Hoffman) moves with his British wife Amy (George) to an isolated English village. Their presence provokes antagonism among the village's men. Escalating from routine bullying to vicious brutality, David finds his pacifist self being backed into a corner and responds in the violent and gruesome manner he abhors.

The STRAW DOGS Blu-ray has been carefully restored and is presented with all-new 5.1 audio.

*1980; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Kramer vs. Kramer
1989; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Rain Man

STRAW DOGS Blu-ray Special Features
● Original Theatrical Trailer
● Three Original Television Spots

About Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is actively engaged in the worldwide production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home video, interactive media, music, and licensed merchandise. The company owns the world's largest library of modern films, comprising around 4,100 titles. Operating units include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., United Artists Films Inc., MGM Television Entertainment Inc., MGM Networks Inc., MGM Distribution Co., MGM International Television Distribution Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC, MGM ON STAGE, MGM Music, MGM Consumer Products and MGM Interactive. In addition, MGM has ownership interests in domestic and international TV channels reaching over 130 countries. For more information, visit www.mgm.com .


About Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC (TCFHE) is a recognized global industry leader and a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a News Corporation company. Representing 75 years of innovative and award-winning filmmaking from Twentieth Century Fox, TCFHE is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming, acquisitions and original productions on DVD, Blu-ray Disc Digital Copy, Video On Demand and Digital Download. The company also releases all products globally for MGM Home Entertainment. Each year TCFHE introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to retail outlets from mass merchants and warehouse clubs to specialty stores and e-commerce throughout the world.

STRAW DOGS Blu-ray (Catalogue # M125141)
Street Date: September 6, 2011
Screen Format: Widescreen
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English, French & Spanish
U.S. Rating: R
Total Run Time: 118 minutes
Closed Captioned: Yes

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

So of course now that some of us bothered with the MGM Blu-ray, Freemantle steps up to the plate:

From their press release:

----------------SAM PECKINPAH'S MASTERPIECE RESTORED AND REMASTERED FOR BLU-RAY TO COINCIDE WITH 40TH ANNIVERSARY AND THEATRICAL RELEASE OF REMAKE.

Coinciding with its 40th anniversary and with the forthcoming theatrical release (on 4th November 2011) of the remake directed by Rod Lurie and starring James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgard and James Woods, director Sam Peckinpah's notorious thriller Straw Dogs has been carefully restored and remastered for release on two-disc DVD and for the first time ever as a features-packed Special Edition Blu-ray on 24th October 2011.

Based on Gordon M. Williams's novel The Siege Of Trencher's Farm, and starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George, Straw Dogs marked Peckinpah's first directorial step outside the Western genre and into a contemporary (and uniquely British) setting. The result is an unflinching and uncompromising study of primal, barbaric brutality that is generally regarded as one of the strongest statements about violence ever put on screen.

Quiet American mathematician David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) and his British-born wife Amy (Susan George) relocate to Amy's rural English hometown in an attempt to flee the violent social unrest brewing in the US. When David hires some locals, including a former boyfriend of Amy's, to repair his barn, the couple find themselves being subtly harassed and bullied by the workmen. The more the pacifist David ignores the problem, the more the harassment intensifies, leading to terrifying consequences as he ultimately finds himself forced to defend his home and his life, discovering a frighteningly vicious side to himself as events escalate towards a bloody climax.

Boasting outstanding performances from the two leads (particularly Hoffman), a brilliant support cast, and Jerry Fielding's superb Oscar-nominated score, Straw Dogs, in the 40 years since its original release, has lost none of its intense, visceral power to thrill and shock in equal measure. Undisputedly a director ahead of his time, Sam Peckinpah's uncompromising approach often saw him being reviled and vilified in some quarters while being hailed in others. Nonetheless, in Straw Dogs he displays a cinematic artistry very few filmmakers have touched upon before or since.

Straw Dogs (cert. 18) will be released on Blu-ray (£17.99) and two-disc DVD (£15.99) by FremantleMedia Enterprises on 24th October 2011.
Special Features include: audio commentary by Katy Haber (Dialogue Director and Peckinpah's associate, close friend and PA); audio commentary by Peckinpah biographers Garner Simmons, David Weddle and Paul Seydor; isolated Oscar nominated score by Jerry Fielding; 2.0 Stereo audio; optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired interviews with actress Susan George, producer Dan Melnick and Garner Simmons (author of “Peckinpah: A Portrait In Montage); stills galleries; original US theatrical trailer; TV and radio spots; 1971 on location documentary; Before and After restoration comparisons; Straw Dogs and the Censors; The Peckinpah-Pinter Letters; Sam and Dan correspondence; Why Call The Film Straw Dogs?; The Dan Melnick-BBFC Letters; the Times review and critic outrage; New York Times articles; 1972 BBFC defence against local authority banning; 1999 BBFC Home Video Statement; 2002 BBFC Home Video Statement; 2001 Uncut magazine feature; Consider This A Bad Review; the deleted Pub Scene; film facts and trivia.

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

[Mike T Guest Find all posts View Profile Close Mike T]

So of course now that some of us bothered with the MGM Blu-ray, Freemantle steps up to the plate...

I knew about this, as Amazon UK put up a listing over a month ago...then pulled it within a week or so. But I wasn't going to say anything until I had confirmation on specs, however that's now come to pass before I actually got a response so...huzzah! Glad I sat tight until the UK version eventually sorted itself out (just like In the Realm of the Senses, which was also pulled -- only to reappear in the last couple of weeks after the BBFC passed the new HD version completely uncut for the first time ever in Britain). ;)

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

I won't be preordering the Freemantle unless it comes to pass that it's got a better transfer than the MGM release (which I thought looked great). I can live with standard definition extras and it doesn't look like they've added anything new to the package (which was very extensive to begin with).

[Mike T Guest Find all posts View Profile Close Mike T]

Fremantle were supposed to have released the thing two years ago or so but, for whatever reason, never came through. Maybe they'll be using the MGM HD master, like Odeon and Witchfinder General? But anyway...still no revised listing on Amazon UK (only the DVD). But then, they're not listing the SE BD of Candyman either, and other UK retailers are.

[Mike T Guest Find all posts View Profile Close Mike T]

The guttermouths have posted image comparison shots between the old Fremantle disc and the restoration (am guessing these are SD-DVD captures):

http://www.cult-labs.com/blog/2011/0...on-comparison/

And I must say, although there's increased clarity there, they don't look the best. If the captures are anything to go by, the contrasts have been boosted way too high... :(

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

I really hope those are SD screen caps. Otherwise, yuck. The MGM looked pretty damn good to my eyes.