The Big Gundown (1966) - Indicator (Dec. 2022)

[yoloswegmaster420]

Released the same year as Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Sergio Corbucci’s Django, The Big Gundown (La resa di conti) is a classic spaghetti western. Directed by the great Sergio Sollima (Face to Face, Violent City) this brutal film elevated western regular Lee Van Cleef (Ride Lonesome) to his first ever starring role.

When bounty hunter Jonathan Corbett (Van Cleef) is hired to track down a Mexican peasant (Tomas Milian, in a career-defining role) who has been accused of an appalling crime, he is initially outwitted by the wily bandit. However, the relationship between the two men soon takes an unexpected turn and they team up to take on railroad baron Brockton (Walter Barnes).

With its rousing score by legendary composer Ennio Morricone, and its politically charged screenplay by Sergio Donati (Once Upon a Time in the West) and Franco Solinas (The Battle of Algiers), The Big Gundown has earned its reputation as one of the greatest and most influential Italian westerns.

This individually numbered Limited Edition includes three versions of the film – the US theatrical cut, the extended US cut, and the original 110-minute Italian version – along with a fascinating selection of new and archival extra features, a poster, and an 80-page book.


Special Features:

2K restorations

Three feature presentations: La resa dei conti (110 mins): the original Italian theatrical version, presented with both Italian and English soundtracks; the original US theatrical version (90 mins); and the extended US cut (95 mins) with scenes added for television broadcast

Original mono audio

Audio commentary with writers and film experts Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman on the Italian theatrical version (2022)

Audio commentary with film historians C Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke on the extended US cut (2013)

Spaghetti Western Memories (2012): documentary in which director Sergio Sollima and actor Tomas Milian revisit this much-heralded western

Tomas Milian: Acting on Instinct (2013): the genre-film star revisits The Big Gundown and reveals some of his acting secrets

Stephen Thrower on ‘The Big Gundown’ (2022): the author and musician on the unique qualities of Sollima’s classic

Austin Fisher on ‘The Big Gundown’ (2022): the author of Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western: Politics, Violence and Popular Italian Cinema situates the film in the wider context of the genre

Isolated music & effects tracks

Original US theatrical trailers

Original Italian theatrical trailer

TV spots

Image galleries: production stills and promotional material

New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

Limited edition exclusive 80-page book with a new essay by Italian cinema expert Roberto Curti, archival interviews with Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian, and Sergio Sollima, extracts from the film’s promotional materials, an examination of the work of co-screenwriter Franco Solinas, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits

Limited edition exclusive poster

UK premiere on any home video format

Limited edition of 5,000 copies

[sb5]

Nice. Looks like the full Italian cut will have an English (or most likely English/Italian hybrid) track. That was my one big issue with Grindhouse release. I’ll probably dip again as long as the video quality is same or better than the Grindhouse one.

[the13thman]

But will it restore the few seconds of missing footage at the end?

[HuggyBear73]

So diabolik isn't getting this?

They only have the ..Santo ..set up for preorder.

[dallywhitty]

That coat looks snug.

[AnimalCMan]

Whoa! Already have the Grindhouse release, but definitely getting this since it looks to have a hybrid soundtrack on the Italian cut. Also who am I kidding this is my favorite western, so I’ll get any new edition of it.

[88mph]

Ah dilemma. I have Big Gundown from Grindhouse already. Indicator will additionally have the US theatrical cut, though I would probably never watch it. No doubt their encode will be top notch however!

[grahams76]

Originally Posted by 88mph

Ah dilemma. I have Big Gundown from Grindhouse already. Indicator will additionally have the US theatrical cut, though I would probably never watch it. No doubt their encode will be top notch however!

Same dilemma. I'm not fussed about the US theatrical cut, but having an English track on the Italian cut is a big bonus. On the downside, getting rid of the Grindhouse would mean losing the Morricone soundtrack CD and I don't have that elsewhere.

[Quake1028]

Uhhhhh....yes, please!

[Rebastion]

Originally Posted by the13thman

But will it restore the few seconds of missing footage at the end?

please do elaborate

[the13thman]

Originally Posted by Rebastion

please do elaborate

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparison....php?fid=21220

[The Mole]

The German Release uses a different, much older master in comparison to the Grindhouse version. It also has a mastering error during the film. Don't ask me for a timecode because I sold that version years ago but somewhere in the middle of the film the techniscope image suddenly starts literary floating around on the screen for a few seconds.

After this, their flawed release of DEATH RIDES A HORSE (where the last ten minutes of the film are extremely zoomed in lossing almost 30% of the original image for no known reason) and countless examples of very very poor compression I avoid releases from Explosive Media wherever I can.

[Rebastion]

Originally Posted by The Mole

After this, their flawed release of DEATH RIDES A HORSE (where the last ten minutes of the film are extremely zoomed in lossing almost 30% of the original image for no known reason) and countless examples of very very poor compression I avoid releases from Explosive Media wherever I can.

The zooming originates from the MGM master. Koch/Plaion's upcoming release will have a new master that will hopefully do away with that. Also note that a small company like Explosive Media doesn't do its own restorations or anything, like most BluRay companies they author discs with the material they can acquire....

[CelestialAgent]

Plaion are reissuing Death Rides a Horse?

[The Mole]

Does not change the fact that their encoding is often real crap. The US BD of THE STUNTMAN looks really great. The Explosive disc uses exactly the same master, but filtered and compressef into oblivion.

[Magyalmar]

Amazon has changed the release date to 30.01.2023, quite a big delay.

[Rebastion]

Yes Indicator has posted a delay announcement for a number of titles a few days ago

[munin]

Originally Posted by Rebastion

Koch/Plaion's upcoming release will have a new master

This turned out to be not the case by the way...

[Rebastion]

true. it is a minor improvement however, fixing some of the problems with the previous releases, but indeed not as good as a new scan unfortunately

[grim_tales]

I have the Grindhouse release, is it worth upgrading?