658 Medium Cool

[swo17]

Medium Cool



It’s 1968, and the whole world is watching. With the U.S. in social upheaval, famed cinematographer Haskell Wexler decided to make a film about what the hell was going on. His debut feature, Medium Cool, plunges us into that moment. With its mix of scripted fiction and seat-of-the-pants documentary technique, this story of the working world and romantic life of a television cameraman (Robert Forster) is a visceral, lasting cinematic snapshot of the era, climaxing with an extended sequence shot right in the middle of the riots surrounding the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. An inventive commentary on the pleasures and dangers of wielding a camera, Medium Cool is as prescient a political film as Hollywood has ever produced.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

• New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Haskell Wexler, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Two audio commentaries, one featuring Wexler, actor Marianna Hill, and editor Paul Golding, the other featuring historian Paul Cronin
• New interview with Wexler
• Extended excerpts from Look Out Haskell, It’s Real!, a fifty-five-minute documentary about the making of Medium Cool, produced by Cronin and featuring interviews with Wexler, Golding, actors Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, and Robert Forster, Chicago historian Studs Terkel, and others
• Excerpts from Sooner or Later, a documentary by Cronin about Harold Blankenship, who plays the adolescent Harold in the film
• “Medium Cool” Revisited, a new half-hour video by Wexler comparing the themes explored in Medium Cool to the Occupy movement’s protests against the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic and programmer Thomas Beard

[matrixschmatrix]

I know the Wexler interview is recycled from the old disc- is the Cronin one new?

[GaryC]

I've been wanting Criterion to release this one for ages.

Does anyone know if the Wild Man Fischer track "Merry-Go-Round" has been restored to the soundtrack of the roller-derby scene? It was replaced on the previous DVDs because of music rights not being cleared, but as the same track was included in the documentary about Fischer, Derailroaded, that's presumably not an issue any more.

[zedz]

I never saw the old DVD, so it's a shock to discover there's a version of the film circulating without 'Merry-Go-Round.'

[GaryC]

Previous VHS and the Paramount DVD replaced "Merry-Go-Round" with Brother Bones's whistling rendition of "Sweet Georgia Brown" over the roller derby scene. To say it changes the tone of that scene would be an understatement. This version also changes the final credits page at the end of the film. The original credits page misspells the singer's name as "Wild Man Fisher".

The music rights issue wouldn't have applied to theatrical screenings (I've not seen the film in a cinema, having missed the chance at a "Mavericks" season at the National Film Theatre in London a few years ago) or television showings, but the amended version has turned up on British television at least twice, the last two times it has been shown on BBC2. Previous showings on BBC1 and Channel 4 were of the "Merry-Go-Round" version.

The rights to Fischer's first album An Evening with Wild Man Fischer (of which "Merry-Go-Round" is the opening track) are held by Frank Zappa's estate, and they have declined to release it on CD after Fischer and Zappa fell out - both are now dead of course. But "Merry-Go-Round" was cleared for use in the documentary about Fischer, Derailroaded so presumably there would be no issue with it now? If Criterion are releasing the original theatrical version of Medium Cool, and I hope they are, then maybe the alternate version of the roller derby scene/end credits could be included as an extra or Easter Egg.

The Wexler/Hill/Golding commentary is presumably the same one that is on the old Paramount DVD. This was recorded following a theatrical screening of the film, so the music rights substitution doesn't get mentioned.

I won't be region-free on Blu-ray for at least another six months, so this will be one disc to look forward to!

[Noiradelic]

The rights to Fischer's first album An Evening with Wild Man Fischer (of which "Merry-Go-Round" is the opening track) are held by Frank Zappa's estate, and they have declined to release it on CD after Fischer and Zappa fell out - both are now dead of course. But "Merry-Go-Round" was cleared for use in the documentary about Fischer, Derailroaded so presumably there would be no issue with it now?

The fallout wasn't just between Zappa and Fischer (you probably already know this, but just didn't get into details). While WIld Man was arguing with Zappa's wife, Gail, he threw a glass jar which smashed alarmingly close to Moon Unit, still a baby at the time. Fischer's death a year and a half ago could have softened Zappa estate executor Gail's ill feeling toward him, but An Evening with WIld Man Fischer still hasn't gotten a CD release, when more obscure albums on Zappa's labels have come out. It's possible Gail might now allow the use of one song for a boutique label's DVD release even if she's still withholding the album. Gail probably gave permission to use the song in the documentary, but it's a tiny label, so it's hard to say with 100% certainty.

[GaryC]

The rights to Fischer's first album An Evening with Wild Man Fischer (of which "Merry-Go-Round" is the opening track) are held by Frank Zappa's estate, and they have declined to release it on CD after Fischer and Zappa fell out - both are now dead of course. But "Merry-Go-Round" was cleared for use in the documentary about Fischer, Derailroaded so presumably there would be no issue with it now?

The fallout wasn't just between Zappa and Fischer (you probably already know this, but just didn't get into details). While WIld Man was arguing with Zappa's wife, Gail, he threw a glass jar which smashed alarmingly close to Moon Unit, still a baby at the time. Fischer's death a year and a half ago could have softened Zappa estate executor Gail's ill feeling toward him, but An Evening with WIld Man Fischer still hasn't gotten a CD release, when more obscure albums on Zappa's labels have come out. It's possible Gail might now allow the use of one song for a boutique label's DVD release even if she's still withholding the album. Gail probably gave permission to use the song in the documentary, but it's a tiny label, so it's hard to say with 100% certainty.

True, I didn't go into details. Gail Zappa is interviewed in the Derailroaded documentary and Frank appears in archive footage. Other tracks from An Evening with... also appear on the soundtrack, so it's pretty certain she did clear their use.

Incidenatlly, the original VHS release of Medium Cool over 30 years ago included "Merry-Go-Round" and the resulting lawsuit was one of the cases establishing the precedent that licensing music for cinema and TV showings (which is all that would have been done in 1968) did not cover use for homevideo or (later) DVD.

Anyway, I've emailed Criterion to ask them the queston, so I'll post here when I get a reply.

[Noiradelic]

I haven't seen Derailroaded yet, but if Gail Zappa participated in it, then you'd have to think that her feelings toward Evening with Wild Man Fischer have thawed.

[obscurelabel]

For what it's worth, the credits on Criterion's website don't list Fischer in the music credits:

Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Marcus Doubleday, Bob Jones, Noel Jukes, John Kahn, Ira Kamin, Fred Olson and Jerry Oshita, Mothers of Invention.

However, Brother Bones also isn't listed.

Has Criterion ever issued anything that did not have all of the original music?

[Calvin]

Another extra has been added:

“Medium Cool” Revisited, a new half-hour video by Wexler comparing the themes explored in Medium Cool to the Occupy movement’s protests against the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago

[MichaelB]

Has Criterion ever issued anything that did not have all of the original music?

I don't know about Criterion, but the BFI has had to make two music changes in recent years - Don Levy's short Opus (1967, included on one of the COI compilations) originally featured a Beatles track, and one of the pieces on the Miners' Campaign Tapes compilation originally included a song by The Clash.

In both cases, I imagine the cost of clearance was far in excess of anything realistically recoupable.

[swo17]

Another extra has been added

The Look Out Haskell, It’s Real! doc has also been revised from the whole thing to just "extended excerpts."

[JabbaTheSlut]

Paramount requested a number of specific cuts be made to both “Look out Haskell, it’s real!” and the audio commentary I wrote and recorded before permitting both to be attached to the Criterion Collection DVD.

[Cronenfly]

Beaver. Doesn't indicate whether the soundtrack includes all the original music or not.

[manicsounds]

What exactly are the music changes?

[Cronenfly]

Per GaryC above, it seems that just the Wild Man Fischer song "Merry-Go-Round" (roller-derby scene) was replaced on the earlier Paramount DVD.

[bdsweeney]

I'm thinking of going for a blind buy here.

Is the assumption that this is of the same ilk as the great 70s' 'paranoid' thrillers correct? Or is it more along the lines of Ritchie's The Candidate?

Or am I completely way off target?

[obscurelabel]

I'm thinking of going for a blind buy here.

Is the assumption that this is of the same ilk as the great 70s' 'paranoid' thrillers correct? Or is it more along the lines of Ritchie's The Candidate?

Or am I completely way off target?

Not really either, though it's been a long time since I've seen The Candidate.

The beginning scene makes me think that it's an American continuation of Weekend. The documentary feel reminds me of Wattstax and Nothing But a Man. The disjointed nature of the plot and the tone are something like Easy Rider. And the ending is reminiscent of Blowup and maybe Weekend again.

But not too much like Three Days of the Condor for example, although The Parallax View might be a little closer ...

[Cold Bishop]

I would link it with student-radical films like Zabriskie Point, Punishment Park, Ice, Hi, Mom!, etc.

[flyonthewall2983]

Blu-ray.com (5 stars across the board)

[obscurelabel]

On his blu-ray.com contact page, pro-bassoonist confirms that "Sweet Georgia Brown" is the music used during the roller derby scene on the Criterion blu-ray, just as on the Paramount DVD.

[Jobla]

That wasn't the news I wanted to hear (regarding the rescored Roller Derby scene), but I appreciate the heads-up. I'd rather know now than have to wait until Tuesday to find out.

[zedz]

On his blu-ray.com contact page, pro-bassoonist confirms that "Sweet Georgia Brown" is the music used during the roller derby scene on the Criterion blu-ray, just as on the Paramount DVD.

I'm still finding that very hard to imagine (never saw the DVD version). If you want to know why, maybe you haven't heard the inimitable Mr Fischer.

[richast2]

I'm still finding that very hard to imagine (never saw the DVD version). If you want to know why, maybe you haven't heard the inimitable Mr Fischer.

That's what "doing your thing" is.

[jonathancro]

The whole of 'Sooner or Later', the new film about Harold Blankenship, can be seen here:

https://vimeo.com/20546520" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;