Brewster McCloud Blu-ray - Sally Kellerman

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Hello friends! In the current environment it is getting more and more difficult for us to maintain the website. Our income has severely been diminished by the increasing number of DVD/Blu-ray producers selling discs from their own sites. At present they don't offer us affiliate commissions which are our major source of income (Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc.). To continue producing comparisons, reviews and articles, we regretfully request YOUR assistance in the form of small monthly donations. We have started a Patreon page with the hopes that some of our followers would be willing to donate to keep DVDBeaver alive. We are a small niche, so your generosity is vital to our existence.

To those that are unfamiliar, Patreon is a secure/verified third-party service where users can agree to a monthly donation via credit card or PayPal by clicking the button below.

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Robert Altman
USA 1970

Brewster McCloud (Bud Cort) lives deep within the cavernous underground of the Houston Astrodome, but his dreams rise much higher. He aims to fly. Not in a plane. But with strapped-on wings he's designing - encouraged by a mysterious woman (Sally Kellerman) who may be his guardian angel. But Brewster McCloud, Robert Altman's wild, anarchic cult fave, isn't about dreams as much as it is about the highs and lows of humanity. It's a serial-killer mystery. A frenetic car-chase flick. A crazy circus-finale comedy. Shelley Duvall debuts as the tour guide whose seduction of Brewster may lead to his undoing. Ah, love. The thing that at once shapes and unravels us. The thing that may or may not give us wings.

***

Though it bears more than a few traces of the forced outrageousness that marked Doran William Cannon's previous screenplay, for Preminger's lamentable comedy Skidoo, Altman's unexpected follow-up to MASH is pitched fairly successfully between escapist fantasy and satirical comment on the same. Cort is the Icarus figure attempting to become airborne in the Houston Astrodome, Kellerman the sort of guardian angel who appears to have wandered in from a Dennis Potter play, and Murphy the cop mulling connections between bird shit and murder.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 5th, 1970

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Warner Home Video (Warner Archive Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray

1) Warner - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP

2) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

Box Cover

Distribution	Warner Home Video Region 0 - NTSC	Warner Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:45:04	1:45:13.432
Video	2.35:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.6 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	2.35:1 Disc Size: 31,368,366,636 bytes Feature Size: 30,738,817,024 bytes Average Bitrate: 34.98 Mbps Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC 1080P
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1509 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Trailer (2:45) DVD Release Date: July 13th, 2010 Keep Case Chapters: 21	Release Information: Studio: Warner Archive Disc Size: 31,368,366,636 bytes Feature Size: 30,738,817,024 bytes Average Bitrate: 34.98 Mbps Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC 1080P Edition Details: • Theatrical trailer Blu-ray Release Date: January 21st, 2013 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 24

Comments:

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

ADDITION - Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray January 2019: Short story - still bare-bones with only a trailer but a significant improvement in audio (24-bit lossless for the cool John Phillips songs) and video (see captures below). Lovely, amusing film from Altman that someone would be willing to do a commentary for. At least it has subtitles now... a strong improvement over SD but Warner, the director's fans cry out for extras. Lovers of Altman may be sufficiently enticed by the superior HD presentation. I can't blame you a bit.

***

ON THE DVD: Sure there is an sneaking analogy in the narration of the birds to the human characters in the film, the Icarus mythology link - and Altman's easily identifiable style but if you look at this film as simple entertainment - it works so well. Brewster McCloud has moments of hilarious human interaction and circumstance. It's witty in the director's own signature structure.

It's, standard, single-layered, but progressive and anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect ratio and looks very good. This is labeled under the Warner's new "Re-mastered Edition" marquee and it's hard to find fault in the image. Colors, greens and red notably, are bright and detail in close-ups is impressive. Unlike some other Warner Archive releases there is no damage visible at all. It can look at bit thick at times but I have no evidence to suggest that this isn't an authentic look - as it was with M*A*S*H. Contrast is excellent. In short the DVD supplies a surprisingly strong presentation. I can't image it looking any better with a dual-layered rendering.

As usual, no subtitles - and, audible and clear 2.0 channel stereo sound. Extras consist solely of the film's trailer - looking rougher than the feature perhaps identifying the 're-mastering'.

This is such a quirky, fun entry that it's hard to know where to position the scope of Altman's other films. I had a ball and am thankful that Warner have brought this to DVD - I believe it may be the only digital edition available at present and we recommend!