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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
Directed by
Sam Peckinpah
USA 1973
Criterion's 4K UHD of "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" is reviewed / compared HERE
Pat
Garrett & Billy the Kid may be the most beautiful and ambitious film that
Sam Peckinpah ever made. The time is 1881. Powerful interests want New Mexico
tamed for their brand of progress, and Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is
commissioned to rid the territory of his old gunfighting comrades. He serves
fair notice to William Bonney--Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson)--and his Fort
Sumter cronies, but it's not in their nature, or his, to go quietly. Peckinpah's
theme, more than ever, is the closing of the frontier and the nature of the loss
that that entails. But this time his vision takes him beyond genre convention,
beyond history and legend, to the bleeding heart of myth--and surely of himself. Excerpt from Richard T. Jameson's review located HERE.
NOTE: When director Peckinpah saw a shot he did not like during a screening of dailies, he urinated in the screening room. |
Posters
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Theatrical Release: May 23rd, 1973
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Warner - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC
DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: |
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Included with Sam
Peckinpah's Legendary Westerns Collection (The Wild Bunch / Pat Garrett
and Billy the Kid / Ride the High Country / The Ballad of Cable Hogue)
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Distribution | Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC |
Runtime | 1:55:08 2nd - 2:01:28 |
Video | 2.35:1
Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.63 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate: Disc 1 |
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Bitrate: Disc 2 |
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Audio | English (Dolby Digital 2.0), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 2.0) |
Subtitles | English, Spanish, French, None |
Features |
Release Information:
Edition Details: • Disc
One: 2005 Special Edition (115 mins.) |
Comments: |
Criterion's 4K UHD of "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" is reviewed / compared HERE
The 2005 Special Edition makes a
strong case in places. The scene with Garrett's wife is nothing short of
essential, although we are told in the commentary that this was in the
original preview cut and should have been in the 1988 release all along
(it was skipped over due to the scene being removed from the original
negative for network television use). The return of Dylan's lyrics to
Pickens death scene is also a blessing - Peckinpah may have preferred
Fielding, but once you go with Dylan you should go all the way; the
surviving preview cut did not include sound and the decision to drop the
Dylan lyrics was made in 1988. Some of the tougher editing and
re-ordering of scenes also makes sense. I'm even quite partial to the
new ending, although I'm not sure I prefer it to the old (preview) one
which would seem from the evidence to be Peckinpah's favoured conclusion. Excerpt from Thomas Clay's post in the Mobious Forms HERE William D'Annucci says: The main problem is that no "real" finished version of PAT GARRETT exists. Peckinpah was working with a shaky script and an abbreviated deadline that gave him far too little time to make a fine cut. Peckinpah's friends and critics interviewed here dance around the sad fact that Peckinpah's alcoholism had gotten totally out of control during PG&BTK, leaving him with a scant amount of functional hours in the day. The version we'd all want, with Peckinpah at his full energy focus and skill displayed in the WILD BUNCH, was never fully allowed to happen.
*** Well, the shorter 2005 Special Edition has a strong brownish/sepia tinge that I can only assume is intentional. It makes skin tones much redder and removes some detail. More than that there are some large cropping issues noticeable with the 2005 Special Edition being the culprit. It is hard to make definitive statements as these really are two different films. I can only state that I, personally, much prefer the Turner transfer (which is also tighter to the frame) and that version of the film but it was important for Warner to include both, although Peckinpah fans may still be left wanting. |
DVD Menus - Disc One: 2005 Special Edition (115 mins.)
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Disc 2: 1988 Turner Preview Version (122 mins.)
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Subtitle Sample
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Screen Captures
2005 Special Edition TOP vs. 1988 Turner Preview Version BOTTOM
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2005 Special Edition TOP vs. 1988 Turner Preview Version BOTTOM
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2005 Special Edition TOP vs. 1988 Turner Preview Version BOTTOM
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NOTE: The rest of the caps are from the 2005 Special Edition
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DVD Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: |
![]() |
Included with Sam
Peckinpah's Legendary Westerns Collection (The Wild Bunch / Pat Garrett
and Billy the Kid / Ride the High Country / The Ballad of Cable Hogue)
|
Distribution | Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC |