"I don't direct, and I expect my actors to be the same way. I don't want them to act."
Filmography Features Beast from Haunted Cave (1959) The Terror (1963) [uncredited, some scenes] Flight to Fury (1964) Back Door to Hell (1964) Cordillera (1964) [w/Eddie Romero] The Shooting (1966) Ride in the Whirlwind (1966) Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) Cockfighter (1974) Shatter (1974) [uncredited] China 9, Liberty 37 (1978) Avalanche Express (1979) [uncredited] Iguana (1988) Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989) Road to Nowhere (2010)
Shorts
"Inside the Coppola Personality" (1981) [documentary]
"Stanley's Girlfriend" (2006) [segment, Trapped Ashes]
"Somewhere Near Salinas: A Conversation with Kris Kristofferson" (2007) [documentary]
Make it Three Yards: A Conversation with James Taylor (2007) [documentary]
"Vive L'Amour" (2013) [segment, Venice 70: Future Reloaded]
Books
Monte Hellman: His Life and Films by Brad Stevens (2003)
stroszeck wrote:Besides the atrociuos and long OOP editions of a few of Monte Hellman's DVDs, including COCKFIGHTER, THE SHOOTING and TWO LANE BLACKTOP, are there any companies out there that own the rights to this man's work and would be able to release decent prints onto the DVD format? I don't believe any major studios own the rights to his work since the subpar dvds come from smaller boutique labels (probably kin to those companies that released butchered copies of Zhang Yimou's masterpieces a couple years ago).
There is nothing at all atrocious about Anchor Bay's dvds of TWO LANE BLACKTOP and COCKFIGHTER... From what I recall, my dvds of THE SHOOTING (R1) and RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND (R2 Japan) are fairly good quality too.
I'm still awaiting a decent dvd of CHINA 9 LIBERTY 37, though
I saw a restored print of TWO-LANE at Cannes a couple of years ago and this was the rumour at the time. Nothing has come of it, though, and, to be honest, they'd be struggling to improve upon the Anchor Bay edition.
Isn't Two-Lane still owned by Universal? I thought that was where AB leased it from. If so, then the Criterion-Universal relationship (and the long-OOP status of the AB edition) bodes well for a potential Criterion release, which I'd welcome, since I missed out on the AB version and wasn't about to pay $100+ for it despite it being a great film.
Interesting how the R2/R4 land have in-print editions of this 100% American directors films and we need to spend a fortune to get a barebones disc. I hope if the Criterion rumor is at all true, that at least an Eclipse boxset could possibly be in the works...
Sigh, stroszek, first you were claiming that the Anchor Bay disc had an 'atrocious' transfer and now you're labelling it 'barebones' - when, in fact, it contains a Hellman commentary, documentary featurette and trailer.
As I said before, Criterion would be struggling to improve on the Anchor Bay edition.
King Records/DVD in Japan has already done his two Corman westerns and Cockfighter and is about to release Two Lane Blacktop. They are all remastered, (Two Lane Blacktop even will have a CD soundtrack), looks incredible, lots of extras, etc. They've been doing a whole series of good films from that time, recently there was Electra Glide in Blue, The Hired Hand, Bring Me the Head... almost all with soudtrack CDs and big books of the Japanese release posters, press books, etc..
Well, to be perfectly honest I haven't seen the dvd in over a year and from what I recall I was not very impressed by it. That being said, I guess I'll just have to cough up the dough and get it.
I can't be the only one who is curious about Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! The idea of Hellman doing this kind of picture is both depressing and intriguing, and the marketability of horror leads me to suspect that, for better or worse, it may beat many of his earlier works to DVD.
Don't know what's happened in the last few years (or the ins and outs of different R1 releases), but both of these films have long been only available in butchered pan and scan versions. It's the only way I've ever seen them, and they're a couple of my favourite westerns anyway.
There were a variety of French releases in 2006 - looks like you can get them in a straight double feature or in a choice of triples, with Two Lane Blacktop or Cockfighter - but I don't know if these releases remedied the AR butchery. I've been holding out for the rumoured Criterion editions but currently have an Australian P&S double feature which was dirt cheap.
The problem is I'm buying them on behalf of someone who can't wait for Criterion. It seems non-R1 would be fine, too, but I just can't find any information on which of the many available versions is preferable.
According to this imdb poster the Carlotta is the best available with removable subs and he says it's in OAR. I had the Passion release, which is awful so stay away from that one.
The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind are being released as a double feature blu-ray on August 21st. I wonder if this means that Criterion scrapped their plans to release them?
BillWatkins wrote:The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind are being released as a double feature blu-ray on August 21st. I wonder if this means that Criterion scrapped their plans to release them?
God, I hope not. Thankfully, the company behind this release (Intergroove) seem to be no more than bootleggers with a measly half-dozen titles to their credit. Some damning reviews for their "blu-ray" of Brando's One-Eyed Jacks, which suggest that the disc wouldn't even pass muster as a (very poor) DVD.
Cultcine is selling an uncut, anamorphic widescreen version of China 9, Liberty 37! I'll finally get to see this. According to a poster on the avmaniacs forum, Warner actually owns the rights to this, and a planned Archive release was postponed due to quality issues. Those of you more patient than me can wait for that one I suppose, but I'm checking out the cultcine version. The only Hellman I haven't seen...can't wait \:D/
Happy with the Cultcine release of China 9, Liberty 37. It runs for 98 minutes. According to imdb, the original running time is 102 minutes, so I guess the DVD comes from a PAL source. Posted some caps here.
