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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (October 2021): Kino have transferred Robert Aldrich's The Last Sunset to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New 2K Master". It's quite a step you from the 2006 DVD set Rock Hudson Screen Legend Collection reviewed HERE. The 1080P is in the neighborhood of 6-7 times the bitrate of the SD transfers. The, comparatively, dull DVDs can't compare to the richer and deeper colors of the Blu-ray. It's on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate and has few speckles, no overt damage and offers a consistent, textured HD presentation with highly pleasing contrast.  

NOTE: We have added 60 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. The Last Sunset has typical western genre effects - gunfire, horses, cattle etc. that come through authentically flat but exporting modest depth. The score is credited to Stanley Kramer-regular Ernest Gold (The Defiant Ones Inherit the Wind, Cross of Iron, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, On the Beach, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, and Dementia.) There are a few guitar ballads utilized, often by the Mexican works that include Dimitri Tiomkin's Pretty Little Girl In The Yellow Dress performed by Kirk Douglas and Cu Cu Ru Cu Paloma by Tomás Méndez, among them. The music supports The Last Sunset well establishing a western aura. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Nick Pinkerton. He reads from Alain Silver and James Ursini's book What Ever Happened to Robert Aldrich?: His Life and His Films, discusses how the director was fiercely protective of his independence, he then covers numerous aspects of the production from composer Gold with a quoted interview, providing brief evolutions and summations of the careers of Joseph Cotten, Rock Hudson, Carol Lynley, Jack Elam, DoP Ernest Laszlo, while referring to The Last Sunset's mise-en-scène. It's at his usual highly informative consistency. There is also a trailer for the film.  

Dalton Trumbo's script of Robert Aldrich's The Last Sunset is brimming with heavy mix of sexual tensions, revenge, spousal impotence, fatherhood, potential incest, end-of-life acceptance - it was adapted from Howard Rigsby novel "Sundown At Crazy Horse". There's a lot going on behind the cattle drive with plenty of macho olde-west tropes and provocative dialogue; "That sister of yours, Stribling, was just a free drink on the house and nobody went home thirsty. I mean nobody!" The Kino Blu-ray is a humungous upgrade and the commentary gives it impressive value. Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze