NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (August 2022): Indicator have transferred Budd Boetticher's Bullfighter and the Lady to Blu-ray. The Indicator offers two presentations of the film: the complete 124-minute version, restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive; and the original 87-minute theatrical cut. The Indicator fares much better in 1080P with richer black levels. The film still has some light scratches (notable in the stock footage) and speckles but the UK transfer is a notable upgrade in video despite the obvious weaker segments (*contrast and detail drop) that do surface throughout.

NOTE: We have added 58 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Indicator use an uncompressed linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. This advances upon the Olive films (16-bit lossless.) There are crowd sounds in  Bullfighter and the Lady has few aggressive moments plus there is a score by Victor Young (Arise My Love, Union Pacific, The Accused, Strategic Air Command, The Sun Shines Bright, Johnny Guitar, China Gate etc.)   sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Indicator offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'B' Blu-ray. But it should be note that much of the Spanish is not translated - as would have been accurate for the theatrical viewings. The bare-bones, Region 'A'-locked Olive had no subtitle options, nor extras of any kind.

The Indicator Blu-ray offer the original 87-minute theatrical cut in a 1080i transfer with a very low bitrate and it has optional English subtitles. On the 124-minute version is a new commentary by critics and authors Glenn Kenny (author of Robert De Niro: Anatomy of an Actor) and Farran Smith Nehme (author of Missing Reels: A Novel.) They discuss how deeply personal the film was for Boetticher, the mutilation of the 87-minute theatrical cut, Glenn shares anecdotes of the production, tidbits of Ford and Wayne, Farran mentions that Robert Stack was actually being a skeet shooter (as was his character of Johnny Regan in the film) - as well as Joy Page and her role in Casablanca... Glenn reads from a Schrader article where Bullfighter and the Lady is mentioned, the story it is based by Ray Nazarro, and briefly discussed is Ernest Hemingway's book on bullfighting Death in the Afternoon. There is much more. It's an excellent, revealing commentary. A notable addition to the Indicator Blu-ray is My Kingdom For… Boetticher’s final film as director, made in 1985, a partly autobiographical documentary about bullfighting, featuring Bullfighter and the Lady actor Robert Stack. In it the Boettichers (Mary and Budd) show off their exquisite Portuguese Lusitano and Spanish Andalusian horses, and Budd narrates the history of these magnificent horses which are paramount to the development of the "rejoneador" (bullfighting on horseback). It's education and runs almost 1.5 hours. There is a new 25-minute interview with Mary Boetticher and as well as An Evening with Budd Boetticher from 2001 which is an audio recording (plays to the film) of the great director in conversation with film preservationist Robert Gitt. We also get the hour-long Budd Boetticher: One on One where the director discusses 'his career, his attitudes about the film industry, and interesting experiences with friends as Randolph Scott and Audie Murphy. The interview is complemented with film clips and photographs from Boetticher's career.' Lastly are a trailer and image gallery plus the package has a limited edition booklet featuring a new essay by Matthew Thrift, an archival letter from Budd Boetticher discussing his love of bullfighting, archival profiles of Katy Jurado, an overview of contemporary critical responses, new writing on My Kingdom For…, and full film credits.  

Budd Boetticher's Bullfighter and the Lady uses a semi-documentary approach in examining the sport of bullfighting and the lives of matadors. It focuses on the realities of the dangers involved with some machismo courting of a young lady. It was reported that during production, one stunt man, actually, died. One could see some homo-eroticism between Johnny Regan (Stack) and his bromance with Manolo Estrada (Roland.) Boetticher had stated that the film got made because John Wayne liked the story. But he also says that Wayne and John Ford cut 42 minutes out of Bullfighter and the Lady so that it would be less than 90 minutes, making it essentially a "B" picture. He says "It took me forty years to get it back the way I wanted it.. It was a helluva blow, I tell you." The Indicator Blu-ray offers both cuts, a wonderful commentary, the valuable extra; My Kingdom For… , the revealing Budd Boetticher: One on One, a limited edition booklet and and more. This Indicator package is strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze