The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) (50th Anniversary Edition)

[Johnysurfin]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

That's precisely what it looks like. It does not appear to have been a really intricate or extensive tweaking either -- more like someone went into your TV and just turned the color from one setting to a cooler one, then dropped the overall saturation level on top of it. It looks pretty "blah" to my eyes.

Have you increased the saturation on the kino copy ?
I tried decreasing the saturation on the MGM but never found it to help much.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by Johnysurfin

Have you increased the saturation on the kino copy ?
I tried decreasing the saturation on the MGM but never found it to help much.

Yeah, I doubt it would do much, I already have my TV (Samsung KS8000) set to a bit higher color saturation than most people list on their calibration settings to begin with, which is why it looking "drained" is surprising/disappointing to me.

Mind you, it is not terrible...it just looks a little blah for my liking. Certainly don't see much advantage to this over the 2014 transfer unless you really can't stand the yellowish tint (and need the proper, mono American audio track).

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by KCota15

With his help, TGTBTU will be a cold, murky grey mess.

In that case, maybe they actually did consult him.

[Johnysurfin]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

Yeah, I doubt it would do much, I already have my TV (Samsung KS8000) set to a bit higher color saturation than most people list on their calibration settings to begin with, which is why it looking "drained" is surprising/disappointing to me.

Mind you, it is not terrible...it just looks a little blah for my liking. Certainly don't see much advantage to this over the 2014 transfer unless you really can't stand the yellowish tint (and need the proper, mono American audio track).

Ok,Thanks.

[murch13]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

Just from doing a quick look at the copy I received, and bouncing back to the 2014 MGM disc, the thing that sticks out is that the Kino isn't just "cooler", but the color overall looks drained by comparison. Could be just my TV, but I prefer the look of the MGM disc because it seems a lot warmer, in general, from scene to scene. I fully admit its color might be "inaccurate" but it also seems "healthier" than the Kino transfer, which frankly, looks kind of anemic in that regard.

Great extras at least but this is really going to divide people, as it has here already seemingly...in all though, I kind of prefer the MGM disc even with its shortcomings.

Any chance you can confirm which version of this scene below the new shorter Kino "theatrical cut" follows?

https://vimeo.com/221519241

[Geoff D]

Heh. I think I'll stick with viewing the 2014 disc with my TV's colour temp switched to Cool, it does a great job of dialling down the greeny tint.

[The Fallen Deity]

It's great that Kino have toned down the yellow but they should've toned down the green and teal as well.

[The Great Owl]

I just want the same The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that I watched on television during my youth, with the pan-and-scan aspect ratio, antenna television reception, commercials advertising psychic hotlines, commercials advertising title pawn loan stores, commercials advertising life insurance for those between the ages of 50 and 80, and loud-as-hell commercials for local car dealerships.

C'mon, studios. Make it happen!

[The_Donster]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just want the same The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that I watched on television during my youth, with the pan-and-scan aspect ratio, antenna television reception, commercials advertising psychic hotlines, commercials advertising title pawn loan stores, commercials advertising life insurance for those between the ages of 50 and 80, and loud-as-hell commercials for local car dealerships.

C'mon, studios. Make it happen!

Right, what's the problem in that

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by murch13

Any chance you can confirm which version of this scene below the new shorter Kino "theatrical cut" follows?

The '98 MGM DVD (bottom left corner of your video)

[horroru]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just want the same The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that I watched on television during my youth, with the pan-and-scan aspect ratio, antenna television reception, commercials advertising psychic hotlines, commercials advertising title pawn loan stores, commercials advertising life insurance for those between the ages of 50 and 80, and loud-as-hell commercials for local car dealerships.

C'mon, studios. Make it happen!

That will be on the bonus disc for the Arrow Limited edtion

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just want the same The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that I watched on television during my youth, with the pan-and-scan aspect ratio, antenna television reception, commercials advertising psychic hotlines, commercials advertising title pawn loan stores, commercials advertising life insurance for those between the ages of 50 and 80, and loud-as-hell commercials for local car dealerships.

C'mon, studios. Make it happen!

It's possible that one had close to proper color timing so that might have actually been a decent point of reference for Kino for this release instead of this one lol.

[jimqk]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just want the same The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that I watched on television during my youth, with the pan-and-scan aspect ratio, antenna television reception, commercials advertising psychic hotlines, commercials advertising title pawn loan stores, commercials advertising life insurance for those between the ages of 50 and 80, and loud-as-hell commercials for local car dealerships.

C'mon, studios. Make it happen!

The first time I watched this movie was on WNEW Channel 5 out of New York during the early 1980s. They cut almost the entire first 30 minutes out. After the opening credits, the first scene was Blonde dragging a tied up Tuco to the Sheriff's office.

I remember being confused because the early scenes where the picture freezes for Tuco and Angel Eyes to tell us that they are, respectfully, the Ugly and the Bad, were gone. Only the early scene for Blonde telling us that he is the Good remained. It wasn't until about a year or so later that I saw a more complete version on television, and was shocked at how much was omitted from that first viewing.

[pEgLeG]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just want the same The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that I watched on television during my youth, with the pan-and-scan aspect ratio, antenna television reception, commercials advertising psychic hotlines, commercials advertising title pawn loan stores, commercials advertising life insurance for those between the ages of 50 and 80, and loud-as-hell commercials for local car dealerships.

C'mon, studios. Make it happen!

If you want a car or truck, go see Cal.

[murch13]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

The '98 MGM DVD (bottom left corner of your video)

Wow, thank you very much for taking the time to take a look. Confirms my fears, despite being warned that it wasn't a good reference to recreate the 1967 theatrical cut, Kino just cut down the extended to match the 98 dvd which adds random shots from the longer Italian cut in many places, and even cuts some shots meant to be in the theatrical. Especially troublesome is Tuco's men approaching blondies room, where the whole scene was recut and re-ordered by someone in the home video division for some unknown reason. Well at least I can just copy/paste the list of numerous differences between the 98 dvd and the 1967 theatrical and apply them to the Kino.

Bottom line, they are falsely advertising this as the "original theatrical version". It's not.

[KCota15]

Originally Posted by murch13

Wow, thank you very much for taking the time to take a look. Confirms my fears, despite being warned that it wasn't a good reference to recreate the 1967 theatrical cut, Kino just cut down the extended to match the 98 dvd which adds random shots from the longer Italian cut in many places, and even cuts some shots meant to be in the theatrical. Especially troublesome is Tuco's men approaching blondies room, where the whole scene was recut and re-ordered by someone in the home video division for some unknown reason. Well at least I can just copy/paste the list of numerous differences between the 98 dvd and the 1967 theatrical and apply them to the Kino.

Bottom line, they are falsely advertising this as the "original theatrical version". It's not.

Curious, what would it have taken for them to get the cut to be like the original theatrical? Would that involve different footage, or just rearranging/cutting?

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

That's the problem with looking at one or two screenshots. They won't tell the entire story. The MGM transfer is not very close to the original print at all.

2014 MGM disc top vs 35mm Print bottom

Honestly I think that's closer than most are giving MGM credit for. Yes it's a bit more yellow/green in some shots, but it's not wildly inaccurate IMO. Also we've learned recently that some of this stuff is due to converting to 8 bit color and less dynamic range, as UHD releases seem to have less blanket color issues like that. For example The Fifth Element is super yellow on BD, much less so on UHD.

Like with Aliens, this looks to me like it's closer to the negative than people think, but also a bit exaggerated, perhaps due to technology limitations. I think I'll stick with the 2014 MGM for now, see what happens later.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Honestly I think that's closer than most are giving MGM credit for. Yes it's a bit more yellow/green in some shots, but it's not wildly inaccurate IMO. Also we've learned recently that some of this stuff is due to converting to 8 bit color and less dynamic range, as UHD releases seem to have less blanket color issues like that. For example The Fifth Element is super yellow on BD, much less so on UHD.

Like with Aliens, this looks to me like it's closer to the negative than people think, but also a bit exaggerated, perhaps due to technology limitations. I think I'll stick with the 2014 MGM for now, see what happens later.

ALL shots. It's a blanket tint. C'mon. It's wildly off, it's not close AT ALL. Yellows are off, blues are green, whites are yellow, and blacks are crushed.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by murch13

Wow, thank you very much for taking the time to take a look.

You're welcome. I had my cell phone playing the Vimeo, and the Kino Blu seemed to match up exactly with the '98 DVD all the way through it. If there's anything else you need me to check I would be happy to.

[JohnCarpenterFan]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Honestly I think that's closer than most are giving MGM credit for. Yes it's a bit more yellow/green in some shots, but it's not wildly inaccurate IMO. Also we've learned recently that some of this stuff is due to converting to 8 bit color and less dynamic range, as UHD releases seem to have less blanket color issues like that. For example The Fifth Element is super yellow on BD, much less so on UHD.

Like with Aliens, this looks to me like it's closer to the negative than people think, but also a bit exaggerated, perhaps due to technology limitations. I think I'll stick with the 2014 MGM for now, see what happens later.

If you projected a 35mm IB Tech print then afterwards projected the remastered MGM Blu-ray, I'd find it hard to believe you wouldn't notice a large difference. There is a massive difference, and it's not just some shots as no part of the remaster matches with the IB Tech prints, even the animated credits sequence at the beginning.

I haven't heard of these issues being caused by 8 bit conversion. It's usually a stylistic and conscious choice by whoever is working on the color. As for The Fifth Element, it had a very noticeable yellow/gold global push theatrically, as did Leon. That isn't a technical limitation, that is a stylistic choice. I've seen several UHDs that look more life-like, which people mistake as being more accurate, yet the accompanying Blu-ray is much more true to the original prints upon direct comparison.

Also, no Blu-ray should look like the film's negative as negatives aren't color corrected. They should look like the answer print or a director/cinematographer approved archival print.