Lee Van Cleef film-TV prints (Best Sources)

2009-04-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

[This is an ongoing List, so check back -- and feel free to email me with your own suggestions for the Best Sources for prints of LVC's film & TV performances.]

BIG GUNDOWN, the [La Resa Dei Conti] (66-IT/SP) 1.47
"Franco Cleef" Restoration -- uncut Anamorphic (16:9) Widescreen (2.35:1), including Italian & English Audio Options, Optional English Subtitles, and a Trailer.
NOTES: "Franco Cleef" painstakingly and seamlessly spliced together a Definitive Version of this film from diverse International prints, cleaning up the image and audio to create a stellar print. Due to the varied Sources, a handful of shots (literally, under five minutes of film, total) are in the original Italian language with English subtitles, as this was the only way to include the scenes and compile a Definitive Version.
http://www.thedriveinconnection.com/fc.html

More to come....

Meanwhile, "Franco Cleef" (the Man Behind the Curtain, who worked his Wizardry on THE BIG GUNDOWN) provided me the following list of "the best and most complete versions" of Van Cleef's Spaghetti Westerns --- I'll expand upon the Details, as time permits:

TITLE // LANGUAGE // ASPECT RATIO // REGION CODE // DVD LABEL
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BAD MAN'S RIVER // English language // WS // PAL // Stonevision

BARQUERO * // English language // WS // NTSC // TCM

BARQUERO * // English language // FS // NTSC // Encore Westerns

BEYOND THE LAW // English language // WS // NTSC // Wild East

BIG GUNDOWN // Eng lang // 2.35:1 // NTSC or PAL // "Franco Cleef"

CAPTAIN APACHE // English language // WS // PAL // Stonevision

DAY OF ANGER // English language // WS // NTSC // Wild East

DEATH RIDES A HORSE // English language // WS // PAL // MGM-UK

EL CONDOR // Eng lang // OAR // NTSC // Warner Archive DVD-R **

GOD'S GUN // English language // WS // PAL // MGM UK
(FC comments: "best available; apparently is missing a second or two, haven't checked it".)

GRAND DUEL // English language // WS // NTSC // Wild East

KID VENGEANCE // English language // FS // NTSC // Legacy
(FC comments: "[Legacy] used a VHS source, best available right now".)

RETURN OF SABATA // English language // WS // NTSC // MGM

SABATA // English language // WS // NTSC // MGM

STRANGER AND THE GUNFIGHTER, the // Eng lang // WS // PAL // Seven (French DVD label)

TAKE A HARD RIDE // English language // WS // NTSC // Anchor Bay

===

KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS ABOVE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FS = Full Screen, approximately the shape of standard US TV screens -- 1.33:1 aka 4:3
-----
OAR = Original Aspect Ratio (as it was originally shot by the director)
-----
WS = Wide Screen [aka, "Letter Boxed"; either OAR or fairly close]
-----
Label Name in Italics = no professionally-produced DVD exists; Source is TV-Cable channel

* BARQUERO was shot Full Screen (or Full Matte), according to the best information available; Turner Classic Movies aired a WS version early this century, but it was indeed cropped to produce the "WS" effect [I have compared the two versions side-by-side to confirm this point]; thus, BARQUERO gets two listings, above.

** Warner Archive DVD-R collection: I receive NO stipend for this, it's merely in service of Fandom -- purchase EL CONDOR (et al WBAs) here:
http://www.wbshop.com/Warner-Archive/EXCLARCHIVE,default,sc.html
You can learn more than you would ever want to know about WBAs here:
http://www.wbshop.com/Warner-Archive/ARCHIVE_FAQ,default,pg.html

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As is evident, I have chosen to organize the films via their best-known English Language Title.

I've also taken the liberty of placing "El Condor" under "e" -- rather than the standard format of dropping "the", "a", etc, when they occur at the beginning of a Title -- as the English Language release kept the Spanish Language Title (a place name) intact. If I were writing this List in Spanish,
I would position "El Condor" under "c"...but I'm not, eh?

Max Headroom

2009-02-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

Film at 11.

(Or 12, or 1, or whenever the hell I get 'round to it....)

"It's all Tom B's fault!" ;)

Best,
DCG.

the Noir Corral

Lee Van Cleef film-TV prints (Best Sources)

Max Headroom