My favorite western of all time. That shot when Frank and his gang emerged out of nowhere like ghosts, just walking up to the family farm from the desert wearing dusters and Morricone’s music giving you goosebumps, was one of the most beautiful shots in film. 🎥❤️
I came across this movie at like 2 in the morning one night when I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep. The showdown happened right when the sun was coming up. One of the best movie experiences I’ve ever had.
Jason Robards is a two time Academy Award winner and has won an Emmy and Tony. Just a suggestion look up the actor bio if you’re not familiar with them. Otherwise a great review of the film
2 of the gunfighters that are waiting for Bronson. Are also well known American western character actors. Woody Strode who played Stony. And Jack Elam who played Snaky.
Nah Its Truly a Great Movie, with some of the Greatest Cinematography that still Stands To this day! Unfortunately, many people in our "modern era" really want instant highspeed action// gratification! There is so much more to take in with this Great Movie. The views, the many shoot locations around the US, Spain, etc, etc! Also the wardrobes, the Gritty Characters, The Action! A Truly Epic Film!!!! ❤
Hey man! Great review. I got my review copy & I think the 4K transfer is absolutely gorgeous. I also own the old 2011 blu-ray & I can say there is a HUGE difference. It’s like night & day between the two releases. The old blu-ray (which is good) looks more compressed & grainy while the 4K is a much sharper image & good amount of grain. Overall, the 4K is an upgrade.
Sergio Leone wrote the screenplay with Donati.The story is by Leone, Argento, and a multiple-Academy Award nominee and one-time winner Bernardo Bertolucci. A crazy lineup!
Can't believe you didn't specifically mention Ennio Morricone, the greatest composer of music for Westerns, ever. He gave each main character their own theme music, and some of the music set against a scene of someone riding a horse across the scenic backdrop is amazing. You did mention "the sound and the music", but Mr. Morricone was deserving of just a minute of your time. And yes, the Blu-Ray version, which I have had for a while, looks and sounds great.
It only needs 100gb if they left the grain intact. If its indeed scrubbed its drastically easier to encode at lower bitrates and look visually indistinguishable from the scrubbed master file..
Have you seen Once Upon a Time in America? By far of Sergio Leone’s most epic movie, which follows the main character’s (played by Robert DeNiro) life from childhood to an elderly man. The theatrical release in the U.S. was a butchered cut of the movie, but what is now on Blu Ray is a good version. That movie really deserves a 4K release
That's just for Paramount Presents titles with the special fold out slipcover. I think it's inspired by Criterion, even if they use a specific type of case. Regular Paramount titles have normal 4K cases.
Opening scene has one of my all time favourite quotes about the number of horses. The three bad guys picking up Charles Bronson but only have 3 horses. Bad guy « oh it looks like we are one horse short », Bronson reply « no you brought two too many ». You can guess what happens next.
I’m seen several screenshots and think the 4K will look awesome. After all the whining over the Cameron releases, I still grabbed them and am so happy I did. Abyss and Aliens look amazing. And while I was able to see why a few people complained about True Lies, it was nowhere near as bad as the Predator transfer was a few years back. In fact, I only noticed it for the first few minutes because I was going out of my way to look out for it. After around 15 minutes in I just forgot about the nonsense and enjoyed the rest of the flick, which still looks awesome.
Anyone interested in buying Is spaghetti western from the 1960s would prefer it look as intended. Seriously, who are they trying to please? It’s not like GenZ is going to be buying this.
Well, I'm Gen Z and I pre-ordered this as it's easily one of the best films I've watched (and I've already watched a couple thousand in my relatively short life). But I get your point. Putting this on a 100GB disc would piss off no-one (but it would cost a little extra). But putting this on a 66GB disc will piss off people (and will save money). Guess which option the multi-billion, transnational megacorporation picked?
Seems like a missed opportunity to nail this one on 4k. The Base HDR is putting out ~37mbit. So this is more like the quality of a high quality online streaming service rather than a 4k Blu-Ray. It's not a disaster but disappointing to see such a soft and highly compressed image.
The 4k is fantastic. Avdio/video is 5/5 it's not crap. I have watched movies for about 45 years now. Super 8 - VHS - Laserdisc- DVD - Blu ray- and now 4k. The picture doesn't have so much grain" i love grain" and I saw the movie a couple of times in the cinema. But come on now,just look at the picture, and see for yourself, in My opinion it's that it's wonderfull, in the cinema i remember some out of focus shots, that is the way it was shot. The sound is also great,but you have to turn it up a bit. Go get this disc, if you like the movie🎬
Leone says he did that slow, rotating camera pan straight into Henry Fonda's face purely for shock value. He knew audiences were going to flip the second they found out Fonda just had an entire family murdered in cold blood.
The restoration and mastering was overseen by Martin Scorcesse. I would think that he would know best. I've seen other professional reviewers who say this is an excellent transfer.
The 4k transfer is great. It's absolutely beautiful. The audio is great as well. This is now one of my favorite 4K transfers, up there with 2001 and Apocalypse Now.
First Villain Role for Fonda And he didn't disappoint 💯💯 absolutely Fantastic!!! That final duel between him and Bronson, just Epic Film making/Moment!!!!!!
Thanks for this honest review. I'm very disappointed by what I'm hearing about the video quality. Paramount going on the cheap. SMH. So frustrating. Anyways, thanks for the great review.
He took his time an didn’t rush things out of fear that people have no patience. Like the opening when their waiting for him I felt like I was with them waiting for him. This is the realism of the whole picture. It’s like most movies are like a bunch of punch lines with no set up.
He apparently doesn’t know who Jason Robards is, and doesn’t know how to pronounce his name. He thinks that Charles Bronson had just started his career when appearing in this movie, and he also can’t pronounce Claudia Cardinale’s name correctly. And then to top it off, he said he’s not an expert “video/audio review guy.” So, exactly what are his qualifications for reviewing this movie? What a disaster! Ha-ha!
I’m debating on if I should cancel my order or not. All Bill Hunt mostly said was it had compression issues and a nearly 3 hour movie had no business being on a 66MB disc. Again people thrive on bad transfers and milk them to the teet. Negativity is what sells and gets the views and attention.
A note from film preservationist Robert Harris: The interesting thing is that original dye transfer prints (Technicolor) were not grainy, and this reminds me of an original 35.
Charles Bronson wasn't as big as Henry Fonda, of course, but Charles was in quite a few movies before this one, Ken. One of the very first of his was 1953's House Of Wax with Vincent Price. He played his mute assistant at the museum. He also did an episode of the original Twilight Zone with Elizabeth Montgomery from Bewitched TV fame. He had his own TV series for a short while, 2 seasons, The Man With The Camera, 1958. Also known for his big role as one of the "7" in The Magnificent Seven from 1960. The Great Escape 1963, The Property is Condemned 1966, The Dirty Dozen 1967. I would respectfully disagree with you on Charles Bronson.
Speaking of Paramount, have you heard that Sony might be acquiring them, along with some other company, Apollo Global Management? Wonder what they might mean for physical media releases...?
I think it is pretty obvious that DNR was used to mask the reduced image detail from the video compression used. This is supposed to be a premium video line and should be providing the best image quality possible. Not going on the cheap by putting a near 3hr movie on a 66gb disc. I’m sure the non compressed file size has to at least be around 80+gb. My advice to you is to never view the prior Blu-ray release otherwise you will only confirm how Paramount has made suckers out of all of us with this release.
I bought the 4K version of this movie and I’m gonna use it on my Panasonic UB 9000 THX certified Blu-ray player and it’s on a hook or should I say hooked up to a Sony master series 83 inch 90 J!👍
Ken I really liked your review. I'd love to see more reviews. I find the problem with most RUclips content providers is that they peddle the FOMO stuff or owning every edition of certain titles. I've been an advocate for curating a physical media collection but it's unessessary to have every adition of one movie. Physical media should be fun to collect not a burden. A person doesn't need to spend thousands of dollars on a collection to happy. These boutique labels has amazing packaging but at.the end of the if the movie is.not good, packaging cant.save it. Double and triple dipping.is a bit ridiculous too. I refuse to buy Elm Street until the sequels come out. My advice to new collectors is find what you love dont.buy everything. Sometimes I think collection hauls are causing people to spend more money on movies they don't need. FOMO is an excuse. Own what you love. The sickness is not real its choice.
Hey Ken. I love your in-depth disc reviews, but you really stepped it up for this release. Fantastic work and I agree 100% with every sylable you said. I daresay Hulu used the same 1080p master that is on the previous blu-ray, which looks superb upscaled to 4K. I probably won't buy this 4K given the issues.
Thanks for the review. I do wish they would leave the grain in and not do any DNR on these releases. Also they should put the special features on their own disc. This is a special release and the movies should be on disc by themselves so they get the full space for the video and audio of the movie. But that is just me...
I got the uk slipbox collectors edition arrived today. Nice set better than the US version imo anyway. And it looks awesome on my oled and running on my panny 9000. And i am abit ocd with pic quality. Still worth picking up without a doubt
Apparantly they havent compressed the file at all. Once they had the original file ready to put onto disk the file only needed a 66gig disk they havent compressed it. And theres only the movie on the disk and alot of 88 or 100 gig disks are norm for special features etc. And also there was alot of big names was involved in this 4k restoration and all put there name to it so they wont compress it. They all signed it off saying there happy with it. Ive just viewed it on 65 oled with my panny ub9000 it looks fantastic imo
Every movie is compressed. This is compressed more than others, because it is longer than others and the disk is too small for its length. If there would have been bonus material there would have been less space for the movie, but because of the length of the movie there is already too little space on a 66GB disk.
@@thezodiac8764 im only saying this because of a video on here of someone saying they had spoken to the company with made the disk and thats what they said. It didnt need a bigger disk than the 66gig they used and if they needed a bigger disk for the sake of pennys for bigger sized discs they would of used them. But wasent needed its only what i heard. But personally i think it looks fantastic on my setup
And also if it had atmos it would of needed larger disc size. And also another example is shazam 2 i have the novamedia 4k which is on a 66gig disc but the italian version is on a 100gig disc yet both run exactly same frame rates etc so the 100gig disc had spare room so the disc size doesent always make any diffrence anyway. All i know on my setup looks fantastic so im pleased with it
@@Moviefudgetrumpet This passage from a review on thedigitalbits shows that a bigger disc would certainly have a better picture quality: UPDATE: I’ve now compared the 4K disc to the Kaleidescape presentation. The larger file size and higher video data rate on the K-Scape download definitely makes the difference between the film’s grain structure looking natural and organic instead of like vague digital compression artifacting as it appears on the disc. Fine detail appears just a tad more refined and overall dimensionality is improved as well. Bottom line: I really wish this film had been released on a 100GB disc. If I were to grade the Kaleidescape video image, I’d give it an A- compared to the 4K UHD’s B grade on disc.
If you already seen the 4K streaming version of this movie, you're going to be disappointed with the 4K physical version, yes the 4K physical is better than the 4K streaming version, but both are much alike, DNR Filtering, compression, slight film grain has been removed, the disc is only a BD60, why didn't they do it BD100. I hope Kino Lorber can do there own restoration of this classic film, like how they did the beautiful 4K The good, the bad and the ugly. They better not screw up, Once Upon a Time in America, in 4K.
Naught mind the trolls, it's the best it's ever looked, bar film in a well run cinema! Got then UK Limited Collector's Edition, but I do like the Paramount Presents packaging too...
This movie very well might seem slow for the generation which isn't known of it's patience or ability to stand still for a one second. Everything must go faster and faster, movies, music,... everything. The mood, thoughts, feelings dosen't matter. We are becoming mindless zombies in this phase.
'Once Upon a Time in America' is his magnum opus, even though this one is still a masterpiece. Check out the documentary they made about Leone and what Spielberg says about him and how he also considers OUATIA to be his defining movie.
Lack of care about film grain is insane. They digitally remove the grain when using things like DNR. What's in the grain? Details of the picture. That's why people in the films with heavy DNR look like wax figures because they've literally had details of their bodies removed. DNR = literally removing parts of the picture of a film. Skip these DNR releases or they'll keep doing this. Don't mindlessly consume. Sounds like you don't know what it is if you're making fun of people that care about it.
@@djdepression oh no, I don't have my silver artifacts resulting from the chemical process of developing the film. The "detail" you are missing is a silver artifact that was hiding the actual details you never were going to see. This argument is equal to the old man at the coffee talking about the good ole days and how bad things are today.
@mutiger2001 you don't know what you're talking about clearly. I'll leave you with this: what do they replace all those "white dots" on the screen with? Also, grain isn't static. Grain moves around the screen through the course of the film. You trust a digital process to remove that and restore the picture to how it was meant to be seen as if there was never grain (even though there was because it was shot on film)? Watch Aliens on bluray and then on 4k and tell me that the 4k is more accurate. But once again, you don't know what you're talking about and obviously don't care about film preservation. Have a nice life.
@@djdepression I said it a silver artifact, and that is exactly what it is. What you are seeing is not static but a silver fleck deposited on the film as it was being developed. That artifact is hiding your truly beloved detail. You if you not know how what causes grain please don’t tell someone they don’t know what they are talking about when you are just taking buzz word talking points from Reddit keyboard warriors. Please at least understand the origins and cause of your beloved grain if you are going to care so much about it.
u not understand original film preservation? no smoothing DNR , manipulation is not good, Waxy is not good, and only serves to protect EGO of a mad Director with his obsession with scrubbing. The more JCameron looks at his film the more he goes going insane.
Ok, your a bit young, so I will cut you some slack, and hopefully drop a few pearls off for all who are ready to go to war over this movie. I kid. A little. For starters Jason Roberts is an acclaimed actor in many movies. Before I go any further, if you love, or become hooked on this movie please find and read Sir Christopher Frayling's great book on this movie, "Something to do with Death". Sergio Leone made a masterpiece film in which the camera work, lenses used, score, and choral music provide much of the inner dialogue for the actors. Which isn't to say that the actors skated through the film. One could argue that the combination of actor's expressions, augmented by close-up shots and deep a focus photography conveys more information than a verbose Tarantino movie. The outdoor shots in Monument Valley are magnificent, the likes of which hasn't been photographed since the heyday of John Ford. I would be remiss if I didn't point out the excellent character actors who really turn the movie into the realm of The Greatest Movies: Gabrielle Ferzettii is as important to r movie as The Big Four, Frank Wolff, Woody Strode, Jack Elam, Keenan Wynn, Paola Stoppa, and others. Note the way that Leone directs the extras! It's easy to believe that your watching documentary footage interspersed with the movie! Pay special attention to the actors faces or you won't really GET a lot of the emotional connections that are going on. The first ten or so minutes of the movie, the credit sequence may seem to be a drag, a waste of time. Pay close attention and you'll notice the humor, and the sheer bad-assery of the characters. If nothing else, pay ATTENTION TO THIS MOVIE and you'll be rewarded with a great time. If you get distracted, or bored for two minutes you'll miss the "looks", the throwaway lines, humor and the psychological richness of the movie. I've seen this movie maybe seventy plus times, and I was picking up angles or tidbits even after fifty viewings. I hope that I have helped promote the appreciation of this great film! As for the transfer, I am a bit confused. On the one hand some of the beloved (considering the movie genre) grain eyes is lost from the upgrade. On the other hand due to the movie being transferred to a 66 gig disc the movie lacks the " smoothness " of better quality movie 4K upgrade. So which is it? Is it "too slick" or too rough in a cheapskate way? And would a unaware, non tech head fan even notice? One other thing that the reviewer should have mentioned regarding Devil Leone. He made two more movies in his career. The near-great "Duck you Sucker, aka " a Fist Full of Dynamite" starring the great Rod Shelter and James Coburn. His final film, "Once Upon a Time in America". a great movie, called by some critics his greatest. Take care to watch the uncut version, the butchered version should be withdrawn. IMO, it's just behind " Once Upon a Time in the West". Anyone who sees Leon's movies can see right to the heart of Tarantino. Hell, Leone has influenced more movies over the past sixty years than any other director. Sue me if I wrote too long😎
Directors don't know how make films like this anymore, Westerns 1st 1/2 part is set up and character development, then Bang u in deep in the Story. OMG why crap transfer.....im about to click the Check out yet im thinking maybe hold. I got A OLD DVD and popped it in last night and remaster looks surprisingly OK on my OLED. Smoothing DNR is BS!!!! I like Grit and grain....suites the film😢I was hoping just colors would pop and they not F with it too much!! probably wait till price go down,just saved me $40 to put to another New Release 4k.
I feel with all the negativity I'm going to wait and see if this will drop down to less than 20. I feel that some of these movies are way too expensive for what you get.
I’ve been saying this for weeks and I get criticized for bringing up all the negativity lately, we wanna preserve physical media right but yea so much negativity, it’s kinda getting old and makes it not worthy of buying anything anymore.
@@davidgolden1726this isn’t going down in price simply because its paramount presents. They have discounted double jeopardy yet at all and it’s been out for a year already.
When I first saw it, it was the theatrical cut and I hated it. It felt like a copy of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Then some time later I saw the extended cut. At that point I realized that this movie was elevating the revenge story and Segio Leone's own dollars trilogy to the realm of poetic allegory. I look forward to your assessment.
all of the people in this movie are quite remarkable henry fonda who is in this movie, was also in 12 angry men charles bronson, another person in this movie, i believe he was in the great escape with steve mcqueen as well as a lot of other movies the strange thing with another random actor in this movie, kennan wynn, is that this is the same person who in a series of disney movies, plays this weird character that Annoys the crap out of the students of medfield , alonzo hawk is the character in like absent minded professor ,son of flubber and i think wynn also showed up on herbie rides again and in the movie, the shaggy da point is, good on paramount for restoring this western, the performances are great but, i do have a angry bone to pick outside of acknowledging how terrific this movie is, the great escape and other mcqueen movies Need a 4k and Done right, Give people a Steve Macqueen collection warner or any studio would thank the consumers if they did
I heard Martin Scorsese oversaw the restoration, so it’s really strange to hear that there’s DNR being applied to this film; that he’d approve such a thing.
Scorsese supervised the restoration in 2007 which was the basis for the 2011 blu-ray and this version. So the starting point is pretty good I'd imagine. But there's a lot that can go wrong between the base restoration and disc
@@midlevelmedia yeah hopefully my comment didn’t come across as directed at you it was more of a general statement. I had people coming at me on another social platform because I said I thought it was great. Lol
Thank goodness I don't go crazy with new releases. In couple of years, another new release, and a couple of years later. ANOTHER NEW RELEASE. And so on and so on and so..... Here's me buying, new version with new commentary and extra $30.00 vs old last version with everything minus extra commentary and making of, $10.00. I'll be buying $10.00 one. Why?!? Because I'm not going to spend $20.00 for those 2 extras. Besides that, in a couple of years.......
There is no DNR applied on this movie. It's all misinformation. Don't buy into the hype. Compare the old blu-ray to this is night and day difference. To much brownish color looked unnatural.
I am really bummed about the DNR. I've seen some screenshots and while I wouldn't say it's awful, it's certainly not as detailed as it could be. Paramount better not do this to Chinatown, one of my favorite films of all time, or I'll go medieval on their ass.
Bill Hunt made an update saying it’s mostly compression issues cuz it’s on a smaller disc, I don’t know why Paramount didn’t put it on a BD100, instead of a BD60.
![20 Things You Didn't Know About The Good, The Bad & The Ugly [1966]](/img/1.gif)
My favorite western of all time. That shot when Frank and his gang emerged out of nowhere like ghosts, just walking up to the family farm from the desert wearing dusters and Morricone’s music giving you goosebumps, was one of the most beautiful shots in film. 🎥❤️
I came across this movie at like 2 in the morning one night when I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep. The showdown happened right when the sun was coming up. One of the best movie experiences I’ve ever had.
Bronson wasn’t just getting started in this movie. He’d already been in The Magnificent Seven in 1960, and The Dirty Dozen.
Didn’t mean it was his first film, but he certainly wasn’t the big name he would become.
@@midlevelmediahe arguably never became a big name. He was a B movie action star
Not to mention John Sturges' "The Great Escape" (1963).
@@jeffcunningham0389 , Bronson was just hitting his super stardom.
@@jameshorton7496 he was never a superstar?
I think we can all agree that the scene stealer in opening train station sequence is the stray fly that landed on Jack Elam's face.
So great. 😂
That fly deserved an Oscar.
Having the DVD of this, getting the 4K will be a freaking huuuge update!
Jason Robards is a two time Academy Award winner and has won an Emmy and Tony. Just a suggestion look up the actor bio if you’re not familiar with them. Otherwise a great review of the film
2 of the gunfighters that are waiting for Bronson. Are also well known American western character actors. Woody Strode who played Stony. And Jack Elam who played Snaky.
Nah Its Truly a Great Movie, with some of the Greatest Cinematography that still Stands To this day! Unfortunately, many people in our "modern era" really want instant highspeed action// gratification! There is so much more to take in with this Great Movie. The views, the many shoot locations around the US, Spain, etc, etc! Also the wardrobes, the Gritty Characters, The Action! A Truly Epic Film!!!! ❤
Hey man! Great review.
I got my review copy & I think the 4K transfer is absolutely gorgeous. I also own the old 2011 blu-ray & I can say there is a HUGE difference. It’s like night & day between the two releases. The old blu-ray (which is good) looks more compressed & grainy while the 4K is a much sharper image & good amount of grain. Overall, the 4K is an upgrade.
Sergio Leone wrote the screenplay with Donati.The story is by Leone, Argento, and a multiple-Academy Award nominee and one-time winner Bernardo Bertolucci. A crazy lineup!
Can't believe you didn't specifically mention Ennio Morricone, the greatest composer of music for Westerns, ever. He gave each main character their own theme music, and some of the music set against a scene of someone riding a horse across the scenic backdrop is amazing. You did mention "the sound and the music", but Mr. Morricone was deserving of just a minute of your time. And yes, the Blu-Ray version, which I have had for a while, looks and sounds great.
I talked Morricone in the initial cut, but trimmed it out for time purposes. I love the score though.
On RUclips there's a great interview with Fonda on the Dick Cavett show talking about this movie
There is no reason that Paramount couldn't have put this on a 100gb disc rather than a 66gb.
It only needs 100gb if they left the grain intact. If its indeed scrubbed its drastically easier to encode at lower bitrates and look visually indistinguishable from the scrubbed master file..
Mine is 100 gb
@alexdas2000 no it isn't
@@kevindudley9617 yes it is, I ordered for Paramount’s website
Have you seen Once Upon a Time in America? By far of Sergio Leone’s most epic movie, which follows the main character’s (played by Robert DeNiro) life from childhood to an elderly man. The theatrical release in the U.S. was a butchered cut of the movie, but what is now on Blu Ray is a good version. That movie really deserves a 4K release
Leone's best film.
It was the prime of Bronson’s career.
Weird how Paramount doesn’t use the black 4K cases.
That's just for Paramount Presents titles with the special fold out slipcover. I think it's inspired by Criterion, even if they use a specific type of case. Regular Paramount titles have normal 4K cases.
I think the 4k looks much better. Best it’s ever looked.
Agreed.
@@midlevelmedia I will say this why clean it up. Basket case wash great with grain intact
@@williamdriver1959 I believe the studio changed the aspect ratio from 2.33:1 to 2:39:1 The enlargement opened up and greatly exaggerated the grain.
Opening scene has one of my all time favourite quotes about the number of horses. The three bad guys picking up Charles Bronson but only have 3 horses. Bad guy « oh it looks like we are one horse short », Bronson reply « no you brought two too many ». You can guess what happens next.
PLEASE,....if you are going to quote film dialogue,........ GET IT RIGHT !!!!!!!!!!!
I will stick with my gritty, grainy blu ray.
The way Ken says "Robards" is funny.
😂😂he said roll-board and I think should pronounce more like “robot”.
I’m seen several screenshots and think the 4K will look awesome. After all the whining over the Cameron releases, I still grabbed them and am so happy I did. Abyss and Aliens look amazing. And while I was able to see why a few people complained about True Lies, it was nowhere near as bad as the Predator transfer was a few years back. In fact, I only noticed it for the first few minutes because I was going out of my way to look out for it. After around 15 minutes in I just forgot about the nonsense and enjoyed the rest of the flick, which still looks awesome.
If you liked those, you won’t have a problem with this at all. I think most will be happy with the upgrade here.
Anyone interested in buying Is spaghetti western from the 1960s would prefer it look as intended. Seriously, who are they trying to please? It’s not like GenZ is going to be buying this.
Exactly!
Well, I'm Gen Z and I pre-ordered this as it's easily one of the best films I've watched (and I've already watched a couple thousand in my relatively short life).
But I get your point. Putting this on a 100GB disc would piss off no-one (but it would cost a little extra). But putting this on a 66GB disc will piss off people (and will save money). Guess which option the multi-billion, transnational megacorporation picked?
@@agentahmed7350 very good taste! Yes, time and compression are money. Lol
Seems like a missed opportunity to nail this one on 4k. The Base HDR is putting out ~37mbit. So this is more like the quality of a high quality online streaming service rather than a 4k Blu-Ray. It's not a disaster but disappointing to see such a soft and highly compressed image.
The 4k is fantastic. Avdio/video is 5/5 it's not crap. I have watched movies for about 45 years now. Super 8 - VHS - Laserdisc- DVD - Blu ray- and now 4k. The picture doesn't have so much grain" i love grain" and I saw the movie a couple of times in the cinema. But come on now,just look at the picture, and see for yourself, in My opinion it's that it's wonderfull, in the cinema i remember some out of focus shots, that is the way it was shot. The sound is also great,but you have to turn it up a bit. Go get this disc, if you like the movie🎬
Glad I stuck with the Blu ray then. Great film but the Blu is good enough for me.
That first scene with Fonda was crazy
For sure. He’s great
Leone says he did that slow, rotating camera pan straight into Henry Fonda's face purely for shock value. He knew audiences were going to flip the second they found out Fonda just had an entire family murdered in cold blood.
The restoration and mastering was overseen by Martin Scorcesse. I would think that he would know best. I've seen other professional reviewers who say this is an excellent transfer.
The 2007 restoration was overseen by Scorsese, which this is sourced from, but Scorsese didn’t actually work on this 4K.
The 4k transfer is great. It's absolutely beautiful. The audio is great as well. This is now one of my favorite 4K transfers, up there with 2001 and Apocalypse Now.
First Villain Role for Fonda And he didn't disappoint 💯💯 absolutely Fantastic!!! That final duel between him and Bronson, just Epic Film making/Moment!!!!!!
Agreed!
The score was done by ennio morricone, who did the master horror score for JC's The Thing
According to the review on digital bits they used too small of a disc and there are compression issues
I decided to stick with my Blu-ray. I'll "upgrade" when they put out a standard version and it drops to under $20.
Thanks for this honest review. I'm very disappointed by what I'm hearing about the video quality. Paramount going on the cheap. SMH. So frustrating. Anyways, thanks for the great review.
Thanks for watching!
Been thinking on ordering a copy of the Blu-ray... Did you review it? If not, what are your thoughts on it, please and thank you...
He took his time an didn’t rush things out of fear that people have no patience. Like the opening when their waiting for him I felt like I was with them waiting for him. This is the realism of the whole picture. It’s like most movies are like a bunch of punch lines with no set up.
He apparently doesn’t know who Jason Robards is, and doesn’t know how to pronounce his name. He thinks that Charles Bronson had just started his career when appearing in this movie, and he also can’t pronounce Claudia Cardinale’s name correctly.
And then to top it off, he said he’s not an expert “video/audio review guy.”
So, exactly what are his qualifications for reviewing this movie? What a disaster! Ha-ha!
I’m debating on if I should cancel my order or not. All Bill Hunt mostly said was it had compression issues and a nearly 3 hour movie had no business being on a 66MB disc. Again people thrive on bad transfers and milk them to the teet. Negativity is what sells and gets the views and attention.
I was pretty positive here.
Thanks Ken, really appreciate your impressions on this. There may be a less compressed version coming from Eagle Pictures. Fingers crossed !
A note from film preservationist Robert Harris: The interesting thing is that original dye transfer prints (Technicolor) were not grainy, and this reminds me of an original 35.
Excellent commentary by the Spaghetti Western Podcast Guys on the Bluray included in the package.
There is an interview of Henri Fonda on RUclips that you can easily find where he talk about his cast and his first scene in the movie
Charles Bronson wasn't as big as Henry Fonda, of course, but Charles was in quite a few movies before this one, Ken. One of the very first of his was 1953's House Of Wax with
Vincent Price. He played his mute assistant at the museum. He also did an episode of the original Twilight Zone with Elizabeth Montgomery from Bewitched TV fame.
He had his own TV series for a short while, 2 seasons, The Man With The Camera, 1958.
Also known for his big role as one of the "7" in The Magnificent Seven from 1960. The Great Escape 1963, The Property is Condemned 1966, The Dirty Dozen 1967.
I would respectfully disagree with you on Charles Bronson.
Speaking of Paramount, have you heard that Sony might be acquiring them, along with some other company, Apollo Global Management? Wonder what they might mean for physical media releases...?
got burned on pre-order inflated price and the disc bit rate…. should i even have my hopes up for Once Upon A Time In America?
I think it is pretty obvious that DNR was used to mask the reduced image detail from the video compression used. This is supposed to be a premium video line and should be providing the best image quality possible. Not going on the cheap by putting a near 3hr movie on a 66gb disc. I’m sure the non compressed file size has to at least be around 80+gb. My advice to you is to never view the prior Blu-ray release otherwise you will only confirm how Paramount has made suckers out of all of us with this release.
I bought the 4K version of this movie and I’m gonna use it on my Panasonic UB 9000 THX certified Blu-ray player and it’s on a hook or should I say hooked up to a Sony master series 83 inch 90 J!👍
Does this come with Italian mono?
Ken I really liked your review. I'd love to see more reviews. I find the problem with most RUclips content providers is that they peddle the FOMO stuff or owning every edition of certain titles. I've been an advocate for curating a physical media collection but it's unessessary to have every adition of one movie. Physical media should be fun to collect not a burden. A person doesn't need to spend thousands of dollars on a collection to happy. These boutique labels has amazing packaging but at.the end of the if the movie is.not good, packaging cant.save it. Double and triple dipping.is a bit ridiculous too. I refuse to buy Elm Street until the sequels come out. My advice to new collectors is find what you love dont.buy everything. Sometimes I think collection hauls are causing people to spend more money on movies they don't need. FOMO is an excuse. Own what you love. The sickness is not real its choice.
I love Charles Bronson in this film but for me personally, Jason Robards steals the Show.
Great review buddy and my favorite western.
Thank you Don
Hey Ken. I love your in-depth disc reviews, but you really stepped it up for this release. Fantastic work and I agree 100% with every sylable you said. I daresay Hulu used the same 1080p master that is on the previous blu-ray, which looks superb upscaled to 4K. I probably won't buy this 4K given the issues.
Thank you for watching!
Thanks for the review. I do wish they would leave the grain in and not do any DNR on these releases. Also they should put the special features on their own disc. This is a special release and the movies should be on disc by themselves so they get the full space for the video and audio of the movie. But that is just me...
I agree
I got the uk slipbox collectors edition arrived today. Nice set better than the US version imo anyway. And it looks awesome on my oled and running on my panny 9000. And i am abit ocd with pic quality. Still worth picking up without a doubt
Apparantly they havent compressed the file at all. Once they had the original file ready to put onto disk the file only needed a 66gig disk they havent compressed it. And theres only the movie on the disk and alot of 88 or 100 gig disks are norm for special features etc. And also there was alot of big names was involved in this 4k restoration and all put there name to it so they wont compress it. They all signed it off saying there happy with it. Ive just viewed it on 65 oled with my panny ub9000 it looks fantastic imo
Every movie is compressed. This is compressed more than others, because it is longer than others and the disk is too small for its length. If there would have been bonus material there would have been less space for the movie, but because of the length of the movie there is already too little space on a 66GB disk.
@@thezodiac8764 im only saying this because of a video on here of someone saying they had spoken to the company with made the disk and thats what they said. It didnt need a bigger disk than the 66gig they used and if they needed a bigger disk for the sake of pennys for bigger sized discs they would of used them. But wasent needed its only what i heard. But personally i think it looks fantastic on my setup
And also if it had atmos it would of needed larger disc size. And also another example is shazam 2 i have the novamedia 4k which is on a 66gig disc but the italian version is on a 100gig disc yet both run exactly same frame rates etc so the 100gig disc had spare room so the disc size doesent always make any diffrence anyway. All i know on my setup looks fantastic so im pleased with it
@@Moviefudgetrumpet This passage from a review on thedigitalbits shows that a bigger disc would certainly have a better picture quality:
UPDATE: I’ve now compared the 4K disc to the Kaleidescape presentation. The larger file size and higher video data rate on the K-Scape download definitely makes the difference between the film’s grain structure looking natural and organic instead of like vague digital compression artifacting as it appears on the disc. Fine detail appears just a tad more refined and overall dimensionality is improved as well. Bottom line: I really wish this film had been released on a 100GB disc. If I were to grade the Kaleidescape video image, I’d give it an A- compared to the 4K UHD’s B grade on disc.
I agree, Once Upon a Time in the West is Leone's best. Great video!!!
Thanks for watching Dell!
I´ll give that title to once upon in a time in america.
Your case has a broken piece where it holds the disc.
Yeah. Came like that unfortunately.
If you already seen the 4K streaming version of this movie, you're going to be disappointed with the 4K physical version, yes the 4K physical is better than the 4K streaming version, but both are much alike, DNR Filtering, compression, slight film grain has been removed, the disc is only a BD60, why didn't they do it BD100. I hope Kino Lorber can do there own restoration of this classic film, like how they did the beautiful 4K The good, the bad and the ugly. They better not screw up, Once Upon a Time in America, in 4K.
They could’ve for once released a proper director’s cut without the harmonica rising scene and the correct ending music cue…
Naught mind the trolls, it's the best it's ever looked, bar film in a well run cinema! Got then UK Limited Collector's Edition, but I do like the Paramount Presents packaging too...
This movie very well might seem slow for the generation which isn't known of it's patience or ability to stand still for a one second. Everything must go faster and faster, movies, music,... everything. The mood, thoughts, feelings dosen't matter. We are becoming mindless zombies in this phase.
'Once Upon a Time in America' is his magnum opus, even though this one is still a masterpiece. Check out the documentary they made about Leone and what Spielberg says about him and how he also considers OUATIA to be his defining movie.
The Good,the bad and the Ugly is his best according to IMDB & Rotten Tomatoes
Once Upon a Time In America is not "iconic" enough for most youtubers to know that it even exists.
Film grain obession of this community is insane, most dont even know what it actually is.
Lack of care about film grain is insane. They digitally remove the grain when using things like DNR. What's in the grain? Details of the picture. That's why people in the films with heavy DNR look like wax figures because they've literally had details of their bodies removed. DNR = literally removing parts of the picture of a film. Skip these DNR releases or they'll keep doing this. Don't mindlessly consume. Sounds like you don't know what it is if you're making fun of people that care about it.
@@djdepression oh no, I don't have my silver artifacts resulting from the chemical process of developing the film. The "detail" you are missing is a silver artifact that was hiding the actual details you never were going to see. This argument is equal to the old man at the coffee talking about the good ole days and how bad things are today.
@mutiger2001 you don't know what you're talking about clearly. I'll leave you with this: what do they replace all those "white dots" on the screen with? Also, grain isn't static. Grain moves around the screen through the course of the film. You trust a digital process to remove that and restore the picture to how it was meant to be seen as if there was never grain (even though there was because it was shot on film)? Watch Aliens on bluray and then on 4k and tell me that the 4k is more accurate.
But once again, you don't know what you're talking about and obviously don't care about film preservation. Have a nice life.
@@djdepression I said it a silver artifact, and that is exactly what it is. What you are seeing is not static but a silver fleck deposited on the film as it was being developed. That artifact is hiding your truly beloved detail. You if you not know how what causes grain please don’t tell someone they don’t know what they are talking about when you are just taking buzz word talking points from Reddit keyboard warriors. Please at least understand the origins and cause of your beloved grain if you are going to care so much about it.
u not understand original film preservation? no smoothing DNR , manipulation is not good, Waxy is not good, and only serves to protect EGO of a mad Director with his obsession with scrubbing. The more JCameron looks at his film the more he goes going insane.
Ok, your a bit young, so I will cut you some slack, and hopefully drop a few pearls off for all who are ready to go to war over this movie. I kid. A little. For starters Jason Roberts is an acclaimed actor in many movies. Before I go any further, if you love, or become hooked on this movie please find and read Sir Christopher Frayling's great book on this movie, "Something to do with Death". Sergio Leone made a masterpiece film in which the camera work, lenses used, score, and choral music provide much of the inner dialogue for the actors. Which isn't to say that the actors skated through the film. One could argue that the combination of actor's expressions, augmented by close-up shots and deep a focus photography conveys more information than a verbose Tarantino movie. The outdoor shots in Monument Valley are magnificent, the likes of which hasn't been photographed since the heyday of John Ford. I would be remiss if I didn't point out the excellent character actors who really turn the movie into the realm of The Greatest Movies: Gabrielle Ferzettii is as important to r movie as The Big Four, Frank Wolff, Woody Strode, Jack Elam, Keenan Wynn, Paola Stoppa, and others. Note the way that Leone directs the extras! It's easy to believe that your watching documentary footage interspersed with the movie! Pay special attention to the actors faces or you won't really GET a lot of the emotional connections that are going on. The first ten or so minutes of the movie, the credit sequence may seem to be a drag, a waste of time. Pay close attention and you'll notice the humor, and the sheer bad-assery of the characters. If nothing else, pay ATTENTION TO THIS MOVIE and you'll be rewarded with a great time. If you get distracted, or bored for two minutes you'll miss the "looks", the throwaway lines, humor and the psychological richness of the movie. I've seen this movie maybe seventy plus times, and I was picking up angles or tidbits even after fifty viewings. I hope that I have helped promote the appreciation of this great film!
As for the transfer, I am a bit confused. On the one hand some of the beloved (considering the movie genre) grain eyes is lost from the upgrade. On the other hand due to the movie being transferred to a 66 gig disc the movie lacks the " smoothness " of better quality movie 4K upgrade. So which is it? Is it "too slick" or too rough in a cheapskate way? And would a unaware, non tech head fan even notice?
One other thing that the reviewer should have mentioned regarding Devil Leone. He made two more movies in his career. The near-great "Duck you Sucker, aka " a Fist Full of Dynamite" starring the great Rod Shelter and James Coburn. His final film, "Once Upon a Time in America". a great movie, called by some critics his greatest. Take care to watch the uncut version, the butchered version should be withdrawn. IMO, it's just behind " Once Upon a Time in the West". Anyone who sees Leon's movies can see right to the heart of Tarantino. Hell, Leone has influenced more movies over the past sixty years than any other director. Sue me if I wrote too long😎
Directors don't know how make films like this anymore, Westerns 1st 1/2 part is set up and character development, then Bang u in deep in the Story. OMG why crap transfer.....im about to click the Check out yet im thinking maybe hold. I got A OLD DVD and popped it in last night and remaster looks surprisingly OK on my OLED. Smoothing DNR is BS!!!!
I like Grit and grain....suites the film😢I was hoping just colors would pop and they not F with it too much!!
probably wait till price go down,just saved me $40 to put to another New Release 4k.
I feel with all the negativity I'm going to wait and see if this will drop down to less than 20. I feel that some of these movies are way too expensive for what you get.
Amen
I’ve been saying this for weeks and I get criticized for bringing up all the negativity lately, we wanna preserve physical media right but yea so much negativity, it’s kinda getting old and makes it not worthy of buying anything anymore.
@@davidgolden1726this isn’t going down in price simply because its paramount presents. They have discounted double jeopardy yet at all and it’s been out for a year already.
When I first saw it, it was the theatrical cut and I hated it. It felt like a copy of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Then some time later I saw the extended cut. At that point I realized that this movie was elevating the revenge story and Segio Leone's own dollars trilogy to the realm of poetic allegory. I look forward to your assessment.
thank you for the honest review ken. very disappointed with the release from paramount. this one is a miss.
Definitely not as good as it could have been.
Charles Bronson is in his best in this movie👍
all of the people in this movie are quite remarkable
henry fonda who is in this movie, was also in 12 angry men
charles bronson, another person in this movie, i believe he was in the great escape with steve mcqueen as well as a lot of other movies
the strange thing with another random actor in this movie, kennan wynn, is that this is the same person who in a series of disney movies, plays this weird character that Annoys the crap out of the students of medfield , alonzo hawk is the character in like absent minded professor ,son of flubber and i think wynn also showed up on herbie rides again and in the movie, the shaggy da
point is, good on paramount for restoring this western, the performances are great
but, i do have a angry bone to pick outside of acknowledging how terrific this movie is, the great escape and other mcqueen movies Need a 4k and Done right,
Give people a Steve Macqueen collection
warner or any studio would thank the consumers if they did
The Great Escape has a Kino Lorber 4K edition with slipcover. It is really good and well done, in my opinion. Better than the older Blu-rays or DVDs.
I heard Martin Scorsese oversaw the restoration, so it’s really strange to hear that there’s DNR being applied to this film; that he’d approve such a thing.
Scorsese supervised the restoration in 2007 which was the basis for the 2011 blu-ray and this version. So the starting point is pretty good I'd imagine. But there's a lot that can go wrong between the base restoration and disc
Wanna see a fantastic 4k western?! Check out Gunfight at the OK Corral from Kino! Holy hell that one wowed me.
DNR is like MSG in your takeaway food.
That’s my hero 🦸 sleep can’t stop u not even car accident can’t stop u get that ☕️
I heard there’s dozen edits of this movie?
Great western but never mentioned the awesome score. From what I read Henry Fonda wanted to play the role of the bad guy.
I did originally, but cut it down because I was going on way too much. Love the film and score.
Love the shirt
"I believe Jason Robards is an american actor as well"??? Isn't that... quite obvious?
Does it include the extended cut on 4K?
Yes the extended version is on 4K & on the blu-ray disc. Theatrical version is not included.
I dont get the hate for this transfer, I thought it looked fantastic
Looks very good for sure. No hate here, just thought it could have been a bit better.
@@midlevelmedia yeah hopefully my comment didn’t come across as directed at you it was more of a general statement. I had people coming at me on another social platform because I said I thought it was great. Lol
@@TheTylerpoe Yeah I don’t understand that at all. All a matter of opinion and what you value with your transfers.
Thank goodness I don't go crazy with new releases. In couple of years, another new release, and a couple of years later. ANOTHER NEW RELEASE. And so on and so on and so.....
Here's me buying, new version with new commentary and extra $30.00 vs old last version with everything minus extra commentary and making of, $10.00. I'll be buying $10.00 one. Why?!? Because I'm not going to spend $20.00 for those 2 extras. Besides that, in a couple of years.......
Dobby Atmos
Jezus Christmas, cancel your orders everyone! 😂
I actually thought about it. But I got a good preorder price for the german release with a poster and art cards so I guess I'll keep it.
Compression issues isn’t worthy of cancellation.
There is no DNR applied on this movie. It's all misinformation. Don't buy into the hype. Compare the old blu-ray to this is night and day difference. To much brownish color looked unnatural.
While I do prefer the Dollars trilogy this is a really great film and Leone is one of the greatest directors of all time.
I am really bummed about the DNR. I've seen some screenshots and while I wouldn't say it's awful, it's certainly not as detailed as it could be. Paramount better not do this to Chinatown, one of my favorite films of all time, or I'll go medieval on their ass.
Bill Hunt made an update saying it’s mostly compression issues cuz it’s on a smaller disc, I don’t know why Paramount didn’t put it on a BD100, instead of a BD60.
@@blackphilipalvarez1305 That changes the reason why it looks the way it looks, but unfortunately doesn't make it any better.