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Last night I watched William Friedkin's new color-desaturated, de-focused, reduced and blended with black-and-white French Connection Blu-ray, which comes out next Tuesday.

From the standard 2005 DVD. Stark, blueish, unprettified.

The Blu-ray image -- lighter, quasi-bleachy, snowier, more grain.

I don't care if this makes me sound unhip -- it's awful, a rip-off, a desecration and a five-alarm burn. The original film (i.e., the version that played in theatres in '71 and which was captured for the 2005 standard DVD) is plenty gritty and muddy-looking on its own without Friedkin futzing around. Please, I'm telling you -- don't buy this friggin' thing. Unless you're a purist monk it'll just piss you off. Trust me on this one.

Note: Some Came Running's Glenn Kenny is not a monk on this matter, as a recently posted essay makes clear.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 18, 2009 at 9:22 AM

comment #1

actionman says ...

When will there be a good DVD release of Sorcerer?

Posted by actionman at February 18, 2009 9:50 AM

comment #2

Glenn Kenny says ...

I wouldn't exactly call my write-up of the Blu-ray a rave, Jeff:

http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2009/02/what-hath-friedkin-wrought.html

Even allowing for notions of artistic license and creator's rights, I think there's something at least slightly perverse about only including Friedkin's gritted-up re-vision and eschewing a solid high-def rendering of its theatrical version. It's almost as if Friedkin wants to kneecap the whole format or something!

In any case, I imagine the shitstorm is just beginning.

Posted by Glenn Kenny at February 18, 2009 10:01 AM

comment #3

Chase Kahn says ...

meanwhile, Criterion just announced 'Ran' on Blu-ray for May 12th -- rejoice.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Criterion/Disc_Announcements/Criterion_to_Bring_Ran_to_Blu-ray_this_May/2503

Posted by Chase Kahn at February 18, 2009 10:10 AM

comment #4

televisiontears says ...

"Please, I'm telling you -- don't use this link I've conveniently provided and buy this friggin' thing. You see the link up there? For the love of God, do not click on it and purchase the item on that page. That link right there, underlined and in a different color. Whatever you do, don't click on it."

Posted by televisiontears at February 18, 2009 11:03 AM

comment #5

televisiontears says ...

Ran on BD? Man, I just bought the Criterion DVD a few months ago. For years, all I had was the old bare-bones disc, which has one letterbox bar on the bottom and looks like someone smeared bacon grease on the print before the transfer. This is one that will look fantastic on Blu-Ray.

Posted by televisiontears at February 18, 2009 11:08 AM

comment #6

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Sorcerer is a pretty badass Friedkin flick. Nice call there, Am.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at February 18, 2009 11:20 AM

comment #7

YND says ...

There's a review with lots of screen shots over at DVD Beaver:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews44/the_french_connection_blu-ray.htm

Their reviewer says "...keep in mind this was never a high-resolution film to begin with. Friedkin insists this is better than his movie has ever looked, and once you accept its alternating film stocks, tight and heavy film grain, high and moderate contrast as all being in keeping its faux-documentary look, you'll be just fine."

Posted by YND at February 18, 2009 11:44 AM

comment #8

actionman says ...

Thanks, Kaned. I love that flick. It's not as good as Wages of Fear but it's damn impressive. It really needs the widescreen treatment on a new bells-and-whistles DVD.

Posted by actionman at February 18, 2009 11:46 AM

comment #9

mutinyco says ...

He simulated a bleach skip, that's all.

It's a very common aesthetic. Every major working cinematographer today has has either done that or used a retention/re-silvering process like ENR: Storaro, Savides, Khondji, Kaminski, Richardson, Deakins, Toll, etc. It was even simulated in DI for Children of Men.

The controversy here is simply that it was applied to a nearly 40-year old film that didn't originally have this aesthetic.

From the ASC: http://www.theasc.com/magazine/nov98/soupdujour/pg2.htm

Or here. As a test, I just blended a color track at 50% opacity with a monochrome track (top image is unaltered): http://mutinycompany.com/unimaginative/lumetsilver.jpg

Posted by mutinyco at February 18, 2009 1:08 PM

comment #10

Edward says ...

That's a great look mutiny. You use Photoshop?

Posted by Edward at February 18, 2009 2:53 PM

comment #11

corey3rd says ...

The last time I saw a 35mm of French Connection projected, it had red shifted.

Posted by corey3rd at February 18, 2009 3:39 PM

comment #12

mutinyco says ...

Thanks. No, I did it in Final Cut Pro. I had originally mastered the Lumet video in B&W, so I simply layered a second video track over the existing one in its native color, then I took the opacity of the color track down 50%. This way, the color image blended with the B&W that was below it.

Posted by mutinyco at February 18, 2009 4:10 PM

comment #13

arturobandini2 says ...

Why does Hurricane Billy keep pissing all over his best work? Crabwalk restoration notwithstanding, I hated the recent changes he made to The Exorcist. The Pazuzu fright mask was a shocking subliminal flash in the original. What did he gain by superimposing it over refrigerator doors in the recut? We should probably be grateful he wasn't allowed to do Cruising Redux. The anal penetration shot would've flickered all through those Central Park tunnels.

Posted by arturobandini2 at February 18, 2009 7:54 PM

comment #14

TheJeff says ...

You won't find any "monks" on this one, Jeff. It's a fucking travesty.

Posted by TheJeff at February 18, 2009 8:46 PM

comment #15

frankbooth says ...

I agree with arturo. I've only seen the revamped version once, but all those excess not-quite-subliminal shots were a huge distraction. Even the crabwalk was a little silly-looking after all the hype.

Is there an unadulterated DVD available? I've never checked.

And from everything I've seen and read so far, the FC Blu-Ray looks like shit, and not because of grain.

Posted by frankbooth at February 18, 2009 10:19 PM

comment #16

Gordon27 says ...

"Is there an unadulterated DVD available? I've never checked."

The 25th Anniversary Edition is, I believe, technically still in print, but difficult to find in most stores. It's still reasonably cheap on Ebay, though. It has a great documentary, but no commentary (I think)

The "Version You've Never Seen Before" is much more widely available. This has the aforementioned commentary.

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