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An American Hippie in Israel [Blu-ray]
(Amos Sefer, 1972)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Box Office Spectaculars Video: Grindhouse Releasing
Disc: Region: FREE! (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:33:04.537 Disc Size: 44,340,472,626 bytes Feature Size: 18,513,653,760 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.00 Mbps Chapters: 34 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: September 10th, 2013
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio English 828 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 828 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit) Dolby Digital Audio English 320 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps / DN -4dB (Beverly Cinema Experience)
Subtitles: Hebrew, none
Extras:
• THE HITCHHIKER, The Uncensored Director's Cut DVD of the Feature/Extras DVD of the Hitchhiker NOTE: This is limited to 2000 individually numbered copies!
Bitrate:
Description: Spectacular New Hi-Definition Digital
Restoration Of The Original U.S. Theatrical Version
The Film: Israeli counter-culture movie about hippies and the inherent destructive forces in man, with touches of surrealism. An American Hippie lands in Israel and is picked up by an actress. He rants about the horrible state of the world, what governments made him do in Vietnam, and about his dream of living free in a secluded spot. They hit it off, but he is hounded by strange white-faced men who always appear to spoil his fun or shoot down his friends. When they run off to a tiny rocky island, their utopia deteriorates faster than you can say 'Lord of the Flies'. Mostly a boring movie with endlessly long scenes of hippies 'being happy', dancing, having sex, and taking a road trip. The metaphor works, but its crude, and there is a surreal dream sequence involving various strange communes, violence, and a huge hammer applied to 'tape-recorder-men'. Excerpt from The Worldwide Cellulois Massacre located HEREIncited by a disillusioned young man who has decided to flee from civilization, a group of 4 people go searching for freedom and happiness on an isolated island . When their boat goes astray and they are left without food, their animal instincts take over, bringing the film to its catastrophic end. Excerpt from BFI at IMDb located HERE
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. An American Hippie in Israel arrives fort the first time on home theatre curtsey of Grindhouse Releasing via a stacked 3-disc edition with a new Blu-ray transfer in a 2000-individual release limited edition package. The image quality is at the mercy of the original elements - now over 40-years old as well as the limitations of the original production. Colors are flat and dull which creates a kind of wash-out effect which is probably not too far off the original. Actually the 1.78:1 framed video looks quite impressive - all things taken into consideration. A couple of scenes even hint at depth. There isn't a lot of damage and the 1.5 hour feature takes up 18 Gig of space on the dual-layered disc. I don't know that a more robust bitrate would do much more to the, already, tainted visuals (production and age). I must admit, despite my reservation on the film, that this Blu-ray provides a decent representation of the original elements which don't exceed beyond an authentic presentation. It's about all you can ask for the 1080P.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :Audio gives two options a DTS-HD Master 1.0 channel mono track at 828 kbps sounding super flat or what is called the 'Beverly Cinema Experience' a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround that sounded pretty hollow to me - which may be intentional. There is odd separation in the latter but the unusual-ness certainly suits the entire viewing experience. There are optional Hebrew subtitles and m y Oppo and the back cover have identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.
Extras : There is a lot here in this 3-disc set from Grindhouse Releasing. First the Blu-ray and extras then a DVD with similar and lastly a DVD of the alternate Uncensored Director's Cut of the film in a 1.33:1 poor quality video with burned-in Hebrew subtitles. The supplements include 10-minutes worth of 'controversial' deleted scenes from the original release, a Channel 10 Tel Avi News Segment, silent screen tests, interviews with Co-Star Susan Devore and Production Manager Moshe Berman as well as a featurette on Asher Tzarfati entitled 'An Israeli Actor In Israel' and another; A Cult Is Born - on the revival In Tel Aviv. But the most prominent bonus is the, almost hour-long, in-depth interviews with stars Asher Tzarfati And Shmuel Wolf. The package contains a fold out poster (cover art) and liner notes with essay by John Skipp.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze September 7th, 2013
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
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