Andromeda
Strain 4K
(1971/Universal/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)/Dirty
Harry 4K (1971)/Outlaw
Josey Wales 4K
(1976)/Pale Rider 4K
(1985/all Warner 4K Blu-rays)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Sound: B-
(Strain:
C+) Extras: B/B/B-/C+ Films: B/A-/B-/C+
The
following big screen, widescreen classics get 4K upgrades fans and
more have been waiting for...
Robert
Wise's The Andromeda Strain 4K (1971) is a welcome upgrade to
the solid feature film adaption of the Michael Crichton novel, a hit
in its time and as relevant as ever. I reviewed the film in my
coverage of this now out-of-print import DVD at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15111/Andromeda+Strain+(1971/Universal/Umbrella+PAL+Im
The
film holds up and I still find myself explaining it to others and
talking about it, as many have still not heard or barely heard of it
despite Crichton's later successes. Sadly as we post, the scenario
in the film is more possible than it has been in many decades.
Extras
repeat the ones on Arrow's regular Blu-ray edition, reviewed here
with more thoughts on the film...
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15660/Andromeda+Strain+(1971*/**)/Skeleton+Of+Mrs.+Mo
Don
Siegel's Dirty
Harry 4K
(1971) is the one Eastwood classic of the bunch and we covered it
with the four sequels in our coverage of that Blu-ray set at this
link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7078/Dirty+Harry+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%
Still
highly imitated and influential as a rough look at police life, still
being written off as a 'fascist film' when it is more complex than
that, seeing this upgrade just confirms how key a film it is. Then
serial killers are now all over the place.
Extras
repeat those from the previous Blu-ray reviewed above.
Eastwood
took over helming more of his films afterwards, starting with The
Outlaw Josey Wales 4K
(1976)
where he plays a now-adult man out for revenge for killings when he
was a child and it wants to be more than a Western Revenge film, but
it becomes a little more mixed up than it needed to be (to be more
commercial?) as he joins a group of confederates to go after rogue
Union officer killers and one of our other critics noted it was more
like High
Plains Drifter
than it should have been. With that said, it has some good moments,
but pushes it a bit too many times with its melodrama and some other
off bits.
Fans
will be happy with the overall upgrade and extras, but other should
watch with limited expectations. It is one of his films with Sandra
Locke who was such a good match for him, but the ugly way it all
ended makes it hard to watch this film like a Woody Allen/Mia Farrow
outing, no matter how good. John Vernon, Chief Dan George, Bill
McKinney, Sam Bottoms, Woodrow Parfrey, Paula Trueman, Royal Dano,
Joyce Jameson, Matt Clark, Will Sampson, John Russell, Doug McGrath
and Charles Tyner also star, making this more watchable.
Extras
include a Feature Length Audio Commentary by Richard Schickel
5
Featurettes: An Outlaw and an Antihero, The Cinematography of an
Outlaw: Crafting Josey Wales, Clint Eastwood's West, Eastwood in
Action, Hell Hath No Fury - The Making of The Outlaw Josey
Wales
and
Documentary: Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy - Reinventing
Westerns.
Pale
Rider
4K
(1985) upgrades the old Blu-ray version well enough, which we covered
years ago at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7527/Pale+Rider+(1985/Warner+Blu-ray
More
comical than it should be, to was one of the only Westerns to have
any traction at the box office or with critics after Heaven's
Gate
(1980) and before Young
Guns
(1988) slowly brought back the genre. Its still mixed with Eastwood
fighting against the decline and death of the genre, to which
Unforgiven
had to reinvent it form beginning to end to work and work as well as
it did. This upgrade is now the best way to decide for yourself.
Extras
include
lose the trailers from the old Blu-ray, but add 2 Featurettes: The
Diary of Sydney Penny: Lessons from the Set
and Painting
the Preacher: The Cinematography of Pale Rider
Now
for playback
performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10;
Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on
Andromeda Strain 4K
is the same scan as the older Arrow Blu-ray, but color and a certain
sense of solidness are better here, though grain is all over from
more optical printing than most films of the time to the kinds of
film stocks used. Otherwise, this looks fine and is one everyone who
likes the film or did not get it see to be able to get more involved
with it. Unfortunately, the
PCM 1.0 Mono sound repeats that of the previous regular Arrow Blu-ray
version and has some brittle and limited points throughout that are
unpleasant and the audio deserves more audio restoration. Even the
old import DVD has simple stereo, so again, where is the 6-track 70mm
blow-up sound? An isolated music score track would have been nice
too.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra
High Definition image on all three Eastwood releases look
good, but Harry looks the best with slightly richer color and a more
consistent image throughout. Wish they were all in Dolby Vision, but
that is not so in these cases. The
lossless Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems)
upgrades do their best to make the films sound better, but they
cannot betray their older sonics, the first films being optical
theatrical mono and Rider
issued in Dolby's old analog A-type Dolby System noise reduction.
That is why the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes
(save Stereo for Rider)
can have a fullness the Atmos upgrades do not. Either way, the Atmos
tracks are not bad, but not the best for older films from their time
that have had similar upgrades.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
