I must have at least 7 home video releases of John Sturges’ classic, starting from VHS, but they’ve come up with a good reason to return: a 4K transfer with color and contrast grading that to me better represents the movie. The thrilling, not-too-violent escapades of Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, David McCallum, James Coburn, Charles Bronson & James Donald are no longer timed so that everything looks like a washed-out high noon: both the 4th of July and much of the mad-dash escape scramble are meant to take place near the crack of dawn. In this case ‘Much darker’ is much richer; faces don’t get blown out. And I do see more detail in the enhanced image. So here we go again, happily.
The Great Escape 4K
4K Ultra HD
Kl Studio Classics
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 172 min. / Street Date January 11, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner,...
The Great Escape 4K
4K Ultra HD
Kl Studio Classics
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 172 min. / Street Date January 11, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner,...
- 12/27/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Images from this picture were burned into our Boomer childhood brains … we actually sat still for almost three hours to watch it. John Sturges’ epic show is like a fine-tuned watch — its unbreakable story is populated by ideal characters that become instant heroes, just for acting like normal men that want free of confinement. It’s really about freedom — after two hours in the Pow compound, the fugitives set loose in the wide, green beauty of Germany might as well be escaping into a wonderland of light and space. In its own way this show made our parents’ wartime experience come alive — it’s The picture to interest kids in events of the past.
The Great Escape
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1027
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 172 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 12, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer,...
The Great Escape
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1027
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 172 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 12, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer,...
- 5/2/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Todd Garbarini
Film historian Douglas Dunning has informed Cinema Retro that Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 and Ahrya Fine Arts will be presenting the 50th anniversary screening of Sam Peckinpah’s influential 1969 film The Wild Bunch and special guests are scheduled to appear at both locations. The film stars William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmund O’Brien, Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones, Jaime Sanchez, Bo Hopkins, Strother Martin, Albert Decker, Emilio Fernandez, and Alfonso Arau and runs 145 minutes.
Please Note:
Screening #1 is on February 26th at the Playhouse 7 at 7:00 pm, and at press time W.K. Stratton, the author of a new book, The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film, will participate in a discussion after the screening. He will also sign copies of his book at the theater.
Screening #2 is at the Ahrya Fine Arts on March 2nd at 7:30 pm.
Film historian Douglas Dunning has informed Cinema Retro that Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 and Ahrya Fine Arts will be presenting the 50th anniversary screening of Sam Peckinpah’s influential 1969 film The Wild Bunch and special guests are scheduled to appear at both locations. The film stars William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmund O’Brien, Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones, Jaime Sanchez, Bo Hopkins, Strother Martin, Albert Decker, Emilio Fernandez, and Alfonso Arau and runs 145 minutes.
Please Note:
Screening #1 is on February 26th at the Playhouse 7 at 7:00 pm, and at press time W.K. Stratton, the author of a new book, The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film, will participate in a discussion after the screening. He will also sign copies of his book at the theater.
Screening #2 is at the Ahrya Fine Arts on March 2nd at 7:30 pm.
- 2/14/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Tony Sokol Sep 24, 2018
Warner Bros is putting Mel Gibson in Sam Peckinpah's saddle for a Wild Bunch remake.
"We all dream of being a child again, even the worst of us," Don Jose said in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. "Perhaps the worst most of all." The director then took the most graphic violence and realistic gunshots to turn the wild south west into a beautifully tortured regression in time. Warner Bros. is handing the film over to Mel Gibson, who will co-write, executive produce, and direct a remake of the influential 1969 American epic Western movie, according to Deadline.
The Wild Bunch is about a gang of aging outlaws on the Mexico–United States border in 1913 led by William Holden. Lee Marvin was originally cast as the lead, but backed out to do the Western genre musical Paint Your Wagon. Veteran actor Holden was at the beginning of a major comeback.
Warner Bros is putting Mel Gibson in Sam Peckinpah's saddle for a Wild Bunch remake.
"We all dream of being a child again, even the worst of us," Don Jose said in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. "Perhaps the worst most of all." The director then took the most graphic violence and realistic gunshots to turn the wild south west into a beautifully tortured regression in time. Warner Bros. is handing the film over to Mel Gibson, who will co-write, executive produce, and direct a remake of the influential 1969 American epic Western movie, according to Deadline.
The Wild Bunch is about a gang of aging outlaws on the Mexico–United States border in 1913 led by William Holden. Lee Marvin was originally cast as the lead, but backed out to do the Western genre musical Paint Your Wagon. Veteran actor Holden was at the beginning of a major comeback.
- 9/24/2018
- Den of Geek
Will Smith: The Wild Bunch remake (photo: Will Smith in After Earth) Will Smith has been mentioned in connection with Focus, the caper tale that was to have starred Ben Affleck and Kristen Stewart, and is to star in Edward Zwick’s Hurricane Katrina drama The American Can. But that’s not all. His producing company is working on a remake of the Broadway musical Annie — which got a less-than-satisfactory screen version back in 1982 — and apparently he wants to revive The Wild Bunch as well. Set during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, Sam Peckinpah’s ultra-violent 1969 classic Western features William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Edmond O’Brien, and other movie veterans as a group of outlaws fleeing from Robert Ryan while out to do one last job in war-torn northern Mexico. The Will Smith The Wild Bunch reboot, however, is to be set in the present, though the perilous...
- 5/15/2013
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Curiously, with all the bold, ambitious, fresh talent storming into Hollywood in the 1960s/1970s – directors who’d cut their teeth in TV like Sidney Lumet and John Frankenheimer; imports like Roman Polanski and Peter Yates; the first wave of film school “film brats” like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese — one of the most popular genres during the period was one of Old Hollywood’s most traditional: the Western. But the Western often wrought at the hands of that new generation of moviemakers was rarely traditional.
During the Old Hollywood era, Westerns typically had been B-caliber productions, most of them favoring gunfights and barroom brawls over dramatic substance, and nearly all adhering to Western tropes which ran back to the pre-cinema days of dime novelist Ned Buntline. With the 1960s, however, the genre began to change; or, more accurately, expand, twist, and even invert.
To be sure, there would...
During the Old Hollywood era, Westerns typically had been B-caliber productions, most of them favoring gunfights and barroom brawls over dramatic substance, and nearly all adhering to Western tropes which ran back to the pre-cinema days of dime novelist Ned Buntline. With the 1960s, however, the genre began to change; or, more accurately, expand, twist, and even invert.
To be sure, there would...
- 1/4/2013
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Let's get the good news out of the way first. It's a big announcement day for the Scott brothers, with the more frenetic Tony Scott's publicists dropping word that he's still working to make Hell's Angels. Specifically, he wants Jeff Bridges to play iconic Hell's Angels leader Sonny Barger. That's great casting. I'm not going to say what I think about Sonny Barger here, because the last time I did that I heard from his attorney. Suffice to say that he's led a colorful, controversial life and -- even directed by Tony Scott -- Jeff Bridges would be fantastic as Barger on-screen. That might take some time to get underway, however, if it happens at all. See, not long ago, everyone suddenly remembered that Jeff Bridges is great, and his dance card is pretty full at the moment. So while Tony Scott waits for Hell's Angels to come together...
- 8/18/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.