Dancing
Hawk
(1977*)/Die
My Love 4K
(2025/MUBI 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Hi,
Mom! 4K
(1970/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray/*both Radiance )/The
Late Show
(1977/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Point
Blank 4K
(1967/MGM/Warner/Criterion 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Wake
In Fright 4K
(1971, aka Outback/Arrow
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/**all MVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+/B+/B/B+ Picture: B/B/B/B/B/X Sound:
C+/B/B-/C+/C+/C+ Extras: C+/D/B/C-/B/B+ Films: C+/C+/B/B/B/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Late Show
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Now
for some very artistic, different, unique and risk-taking films you
should know about...
Grzegorz
Krolikiewicz's Dancing
Hawk
(1977) is an ambitious, abstract Polish film has a young man becoming
unimaginable successful after surviving WWII in Poland, finding
himself in higher Socialist Polish society, but at what cost? Has he
sold out to ideology, convenience and/or against who he really is?
Has he cleaned himself of his poor rural past or strayed from it way
too much?
Patterned
on Welles' Citizen
Kane
and a bit of Kubrick's Barry
Lyndon,
the film questions individuality and identity against society and
ideology in clever ways that work more often than not, but it may
stay off a bit and get lost a little in the process, though the film
looks good, can get graphic and impressed visually in its editing and
cinematography. Even when it does nto necessarily hold together, it
is worth a good look for how well it does work when it does and its
nice to see it, specially so well restored.
Extras
include a
new interview with critic Carmen Gray (2025)
Two
short films by cinematographer Zbigniew Rybczynski: Soup
(1974, 9 minutes) and Oh!
I Can't Stop!
(1975, 10 mins)
Reversible
sleeve featuring original artwork by Jerzy Czerniawski and Andrzej
Klimowski
Limited
Edition booklet featuring new writing by critic Piotr Kletowski
and
this is a Limited Edition of 3,000 copies, presented in full-height
Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of
certificates and markings.
Lynne
Ramsey's Die
My Love 4K
(2025) offers Jennifer Laurence another opportunity to play a woman
having a breakdown, which she does well, does often enough and is
becoming as synonymous with this as Sissy Spacek did playing Southern
Gals so well. This time, she has the director of Ratcatcher,
Morvern
Callar
and We
Need To Talk About Kevin
to guide her. Does it give it more of a female discourse? Maybe.
Is it a good film?
This
time, she plays a married writer moving into an old house with her
husband (a well-matched Robert Pattinson) to write what she hopes
will be a major book, even having a baby in the process. When she
starts to not be there as much, she starts to get distracted and
worse. Is he cheating or her? Why is he not there as much? Is
something else going on?
Well,
the film and its script have more good moments than not and the cats
is up to it all, but the film does not work as fully as it could have
and Kubrick's The
Shining
haunts it a little more than I would have liked it to, along with
other films in the horror genre alone. There are some melodramas we
could add, but by doing this story, Ramsey cannot escape the shadow
and ideas of such works. However, all give it an ambitious try and
it is worth seeing if you are curious for what does work here. Too
bad it was not able to go further or find new territory to cover, but
its a mature, interesting try, which is better than most of what we
have seen lately.
There
are no extras.
Brian
De Palma's Hi,
Mom! 4K
(1970) is a funny sequel to his film Greetings
(1968, the first film to get an X-rating when that meant something
different for too brief a time) which we have covered twice, with
both films (among others) on Blu-ray at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15383/De+Niro+&+De+Palma:+The+Early+Films+(Wedding
And
that also includes coverage of an earlier DVD release of the film
(linked in that text) and shows the early genius of the acting of
Robert De Niro, repeating his character from the first film. Now he
wants to make an explicit sex film. Can he do it? Can he get anyone
to have sex? Can he get anyone to have sex in front of a movie
camera? Will they get arrested? Will he get involved in radical
politics that gets him into even more trouble?
De
Palma was developing his identity even more here, including some
experimental moments (including a 'TV show' called Baby,
Be Black)
and it holds up as well as ever. The further restoration pays off
and in 4K, its more fun than ever. Definitely catch it!
Extras
include
a Feature Length Audio Commentary by writer Travis Woods (2026)
Interview
with critic Ellen E. Jones (2026)
Dionysus
in '69:
an experimental theater production of Euripides' 'The
Bacchae',
filmed by Brian de Palma (1970, 85 mins)
Archival
interview with co-writer Charles Hirsch (2018)
Original
Theatrical Trailer
Reversible
sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters
Limited
Edition booklet featuring new writing by Matt Zoller Seitz
and
this is a Limited Edition of 5,000 copies, presented in full-height
Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of
certificates and markings.
Robert
Benton's The
Late Show
(1977) is one of the great Neo Noir films and though Polanski's
Chinatown
and Altman's The
Long Goodbye
get more credit because they are more serious films (despite some
comedy in places,) this Altman-produced gem has great performances
all around and a very witty script as elder detective Ira wells (Art
Carney, who just won an Oscar for Harry
and Tonto
a few years before) is shocked by the murder of his old partner. As
he's trying to figure out what to do as the funeral ends, he is
approached by a young gal (another ace performance by Lily Tomlin)
who wants to hire him to find her stolen cat!
He
refuses, at least as first, especially because she only has so much
money, but changes his mind as leads to the murder start to oddly
turn up and she may inadvertently be able to help him. From there,
we meet a variety of characters, a few of whom are none too savory
and the film just keeps delivering laughs and clever moments after
laughs and great Noir and detective references and then some, the
more you know about both, the more you get out of the film. If not,
its so good, you STILL get plenty of laughs and great moments.
The
title refers to the state of seeing Noir and detective films at the
time, pre-home video, pre-cable, pre-satellite and pre-internet, as
these black and white film from the 1930s to the 1950s were usually
being shown very late night in syndication and the film is gutsy and
smart enough to get that and continues to be that clever throughout
as well. They knew people were watching and loving them, that they
had a following, along with the sales of so many detective novels, et
al, and some may consider this some of the earliest fan service in
cinema history as it is some of the most intellectual and intelligent
fan service of all time. There are even multi-layered jokes, like
the one on The
Thin Man,
but you'll have to see the film to believe it and figure it out like
the actual mysteries the film has.
Carney
and Tomlin are not only two of the greatest comic talents of their
generation, but of all time and the chemistry works, joined by a
dead-on (no pun intended) cast that also includes Bill Macy (TV's
Maude,
Analyze
This,)
Eugene Roche (TV's Soap,
They
Might Be Giants,
Cotton
Comes To Harlem,
Foul
Play,)
Joanna Cassidy (Blade
Runner,
The
Outfit,
The
Bank Shot,
The
Laughing Policeman,
Night
Games,)
John Considine (TV's original Twilight
Zone,
California
Split,
Endangered
Species,)
Ruth Nelson (Humoresque,
3
Women,
Awakenings)
and Howard Duff (radio voice of Sam Spade, The
Naked City,
Illegal
Entry,
Jennifer,
While
The City Sleeps,
Panic
In The City,
No Way
Out)
makes it one of the best-cast movies all around.
If
you have never seen this gem, this Blu-ray is a great new reason to
catch it or catch it again. Check it out!
Extras
include
an Original Theatrical Trailer and brief clip of Tomlin promoting the
film on the TV talk show Dinah!
John
Boorman's Point
Blank 4K
(1967) is one of the great thrillers and too many people still do nto
know about it or get it. Based on the Donald E. Westlake book about
a gangster (Lee Marvin in one of his greatest roles) who seeks out
revenge after his fellow criminals leave him for dead, take his money
and think that's the end of it. A vengeful former moll (the great
Angie Dickinson) decides to help as the film becomes a character
study of the people criminality, the world around them and
existentially so, thanks in part to some amazing editing,
cinematography and music melding in ways that in the genre alone
bridged the gap between older gangster films and the first Godfather
film, a more brutal look at crime and a more adult film overall.
It
is not always the easiest film for some viewers to follow, but is
worth the effort and so ahead of its time, inspired in part of the
French New Wave approach to editing, that it is still ahead of most
such films. Adding to the tension from the screenplay by Alexander
Jacobs, David Newhouse and Rafe Newhouse is a great cast in top form,
including Keenan Wynn, Carroll O'Connor, John Vernon, Lloyd Bochner,
Michael Strong, James B. Sikking, Sharon Acker, Kathleen Freeman and
a then-unknown Sid Haig. Also look for an uncredited Barbara Feldon
in a TV commercial.
For
Boorman, this was a breakthrough film that he would follow with Hell
In The Pacific,
huge hit Deliverance,
extremely underrated Zardoz
(far superior to his ambitious, unfortunate Exorcist
II: The Heretic,)
classic Excalibur,
Emerald
Forest,
Hope &
Glory
and later triumphs like The
Tailor Of Panama
and The
General.
This is a master filmmaker launching and the energy and cleverness
show. Its great that Criterion has released this 4K Ultra HD
Blu-ray/Blu-ray set and hope this gets more people to see, hear and
think about the film. Its worth all the effort for real film fans
and those who like these kinds of stories.
Extras
include a
Feature Length Audio Commentary featuring Boorman and filmmaker
Steven Soderbergh (whose great film The
Limey
was highly inspired by this one)
• Interview
with Boorman conducted by author Geoff Dyer
• New
interview with critic Mark Harris
• New
reflections on the film by filmmaker Jim Jarmusch
• New
program on the midcentury Los Angeles architecture featured in the
film, with historian Alison Martino
• The
Rock (1967),
a short documentary on Alcatraz and the making of the film
• Interview
with Marvin from a 1970 episode of The
Dick Cavett Show
• Original
Theatrical Trailer
• and
an essay by Dyer in the illustrated paper pullout included with the
set.
You
can read more about the film's amazing music soundtrack in my review
of the limited edition CD at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/254/Point+Blank/The+Outfit+(Limited+CD
Ted
Kotcheff's Wake
In Fright 4K
(1971 aka Outback)
has been reissued in a impressive upgrade and restoration, a key
Australian film that was not an Oz-Ploitation film or
turn-of-the-century melodrama. We covered its original Blu-ray
release years ago in a Blu-ray import at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10432/Wake+In+Fright+(1971/aka+Outback/Madman+Enterta
Gary
Bond, Donald Plesence, Chips Rafferty, Jack Thompson and Sylvia Kay
are among the solid cast that continue to impress as it becomes more
obvious as Australian Cinema continues how key and important the film
is. Save the brutal shooting of actual kangaroos that is awful,
unacceptable and ugly, the film's rawness, honesty and capturing of a
place and time is inarguable and now in 4K, more vivid than ever. We
also get far more extras versus the older Blu-ray.
Extras
do not have the older's Blu-ray's 32 page booklet, but we still get a
Feature Length Audio Commentary by director Ted Kotcheff and editor
Anthony Buckley from the older release
Audio
commentary by Peter Galvin, author of The
Making Of Wake In Fright
Return
to the 'Yabba,
a featurette tracking down the film's Broken Hill locations
Take
in Fright,
an interview with director of photography Brian West
Sounds
of the Outback,
a previously unreleased interview with sound editors Keith Palmer
and Eddy Joseph
The
Cinema's Great Squeaky Bald Git,
an appreciation of actor Donald Pleasence by film historian Kim
Newman
The
Filmmaker and the Film Buff,
a discussion between Philippe Mora and Paul Harris
Yer
Mad, Ya Bastard!,
an archive interview with director Ted Kotcheff
Not
Quite Hollywood,
an archive interview with actor Jack Thompson
Q&A
with Ted Kotcheff from the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
Audio
interview with Ted Kotcheff, conducted by Paul Harris
Audio
interview with composer John Scott, conducted by music historian
Daniel Schweiger
Alternate
scenes from Outback
2009
TV report on the rediscovery and restoration of Wake
in Fright
Who
Needs Art?,
a 1971 TV segment with behind-the-scenes footage
Chips
Rafferty obituary by Ken G. Hall
US
theatrical trailer and TV spot
Foreign
Visions of Local Stories,
a trailer reel of Australian films helmed by overseas filmmakers
Image
Gallery
Collectors'
booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jay Slater, Paul Le and
David Michael Brown plus archive materials
and
a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned
artwork by Jeff Marshall.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.33 X 1, HDR (10;
Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Die
My Love 4K
is an interesting retro choice that does not always feel or play like
that, with the narrow-vision frame making the female's plight more
confining and claustrophobic to its advantage. Maybe Dolby Vision
would have expanded this a bit, but it works and the 1080p Blu-ray
version is not bad, but no match for the 4K. The DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on both disc version is very
effective with a consistent sound field and is as well recorded as it
is well-mixed, making it the best film sonically on the list.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Hi,
Mom!
4K is even more colorfully authentic (including black and white
sequences) to the original on film than even the 1080p Blu-ray also
included, that is an equal to the older Arrow 1080p Blu-ray of the
film they issued a few years ago. Of course, due to the experimental
nature of the film, the image quality can be inconsistent, part of
that inherent to how the film was made, but I like it and the DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is as good on both discs here
as the mono was on the Arrow Blu-ray, as good as this low-budget
theatrical mono film will ever sound.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Point
Blank 4K
is a solid scope shoot that looks solid with more detail and depth
than the previous Warner Blu-ray and a little more than the 1080p
Blu-ray included here, but the two discs here have an annoying issue.
Why the teal color in the background and sky, et al? It affects the
color scale too, making this all a slightly disappointing. Those who
want it closer tot he original 35mm release will stick with the older
Blu-ray, which we never got for review but I have personally.
Scanned in 4K from the original 35mm camera negative, as lensed by
Director of Photography Philip H. Lothrop, A.S.C., it is solid
otherwise save that issue we see on more transfers than we would like
to. The extras might be the
reason to get this too, while the PCM 1.0
Mono lossless mix is good, but I would have preferred a 2.0 Mono
track in some format. The magnetic soundmaster survives and the
amazing music soundtrack shows maybe a 5.1 mix might have been
possible, but who knows.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Wake
In Fright 4K
definitely outsides the older HD transfer from the older Blu-ray
easily and impresses more throughout, everything looking more dense,
realistic and more palpable, so that all impresses throughout, while
the DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mix is better than the lossy
Dolby Digital form the older Blu-ray, why it is not 2.0 Mono like
other 4K versions of the film from other markets is odd. Otherwise,
a great upgrade all around.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Dancing
Hawk
rarely shows the age of the materials used, but because it ism
visually experimental, some of the footage is going to look rough
because that is intended. The
PCM 1.0 Mono sound is good and works, but I wish (again) this were
2.0 Mono because it would have made thew surrealism more effective,
even if the film was no in stereo or surround of any kind. It looks
great just the same.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on The
Late Show
is excellent and made me wish this were 4K, but is looks solid,
is very consistent and is a real pleasure to watch. The sound is
here in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix, but (as the
credits show) the film was recorded in Altman's 8-track multi-channel
sound system and encoded with Dolby System and their old analog
A-type noise reduction, so what happened to the stereo and surround
tracks?
Guess
they are somehow misplaced, missing or (the most horrific scenario)
somehow were destroyed, which is a real shame for a film that arrived
the same year as the first Star
Wars,
but this still sounds good and you can hear all the great dialouge,
wit, jokes and in-jokes.
To
order The
Late Show
Warner Archive Blu-ray,
go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo
