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

ADDITION: Olive Signature Blu-ray (July 2020): Olive Films have also transferred Milos Forman's Hair to a dual-layered Blu-ray.  This is part of their 'Signature' marquee. It starts with the MGM logo and looks, pretty much, identical to the UK 1080P - most probably from the same source or D1. The image quality is, likewise, excellent with grain texture and rich colors.

Olive offer a DTS-HD Master track for the audio in 5.1 surround (no 2.0 channel option.) and it sounds as fresh and impressive as the BFI for the musical numbers. Galt MacDermot from the title song 'Hair' to "Aquarius," "Easy to Be Hard," "Let the Sunshine In," "Good Morning Starshine etc. often sung by the cast; Beverly D'Angelo, Treat Williams, Don Dacus, Dorsey Wright, Annie Golden, Cheryl Barnes and/or a chorus. Olive offer optional English subtitles (song lyrics too - see below) on their Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray.

Olive have totally different supplements than the BFI starting with an audio commentary by assistant director Michael Hausman and actor Treat Williams. It has plenty on the production and both have interesting anecdotes and stories about the making of, preparations, location shots, the other performers and Milos. Ex. one of the Lipizzaner stallions in the opening musical number in the park - got loose and ran onto the road where a police officer scolded Forman "I don't care who you are..." and Milos replied "I don't care who you are either". "The Tribe Remembers" runs 1/2 hour with with actors Beverly D'Angelo, Don Dacus, Ellen Foley, Annie Golden, John Savage, and Dorsey Wright reflecting on Hair and their participation. "Making Chance Work: Choreographing Hair' spends a dozen minutes with choreographer Twyla Tharp (that Treat Williams says, ion the commentary, 'ran them ragged'.) "Cutting Hair' has editors Lynzee Klingman and Stanley Warnow on that part of the production for 20-minutes. "HairStyle" spends a 1/4 hour with production designer Stuart Wurtzel and "Artist, Teacher, Mentor: Remembering Milos Forman" has director James Mangold talk fondly about Forman for 25-minutes. There is an essay by critic Sheila O'Malley (in both digital text screens or an included leaflet) and there is a trailer for the film.

Both are great Blu-ray releases with the difference in extras being the only important separation. We absolutely endorse for whatever geographical region you can purchase from. The film and musical numbers are a joy!

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ADDITION: BFI Blu-ray (October 2019): BFI have transferred Milos Forman's Hair to a dual-layered Blu-ray as a '40th Anniversary Edition'. It starts with the MGM logo and looks very passable with some marks, speckles, dirt and light surface damage. I suspect that the North American Blu-ray looks similar. Colors can show some impressive depth and vibrancy - there is a heaviness at times but solid detail in the few close-ups. The screen captures below should give you a good idea of the 1080P video quality. It varies as Forman's intent - sometimes looking grittier (the beginning) than others that can look quite pristine.

On their Blu-ray, BFI give the option of a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track or a linear PCM 2.0 channel track (both 24-bit in the original English language.) It iconic music. I found some buoyancy in the musical numbers via the surround but to be honest both tracks sounded amazing with these memorable 'standards' still playing in my head. BFI offer optional English subtitles (song lyrics too) on their Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

BFI add plenty of extras starting with a 55-minute 1969 audio recording (running to the film) of Nicholas Ray in Conversation. Some may recall him as "The General" in Hair. In this interview he discusses concluding his screen career in Hair - reflecting upon his legacy with film critic VF Perkins at London's NFT. We get the 1966 short film Aquarius with the Age of Aquarius arriving in Nancy Hanna's jazzy psychedelic animation. Companion to that is the 1968 1/4 hour short entitled San Francisco. Anthony Stern's award-winning impressionistic documentary shot on the streets of San Fran, stunningly soundtracked with a rare early version of Pink Floyd's 'Interstellar Overdrive'. There is 3-minutes of an Indian Pop Instrumental from circa 1970 - as the camera rotates around a flower. Discomania is Oscar Riesel's star-spangled British disc-dancing extravaganza from the glory days of glitterballs, lurex, sequins and rollerskates produced in 1979, running 25-minutes. There is an image gallery, trailer and second disc DVD plus for the first pressing fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Ellen Cheshire, new interview with the film's screenwriter Michael Weller and an essay on director Milos Forman by Kieron McCormack is included.

This frequently reminded me of Julie Taymor's Across the Universe of which Hair was surely an inspiration. It's a film that is great to pull out for friends to showcase a few of the musical numbers and impressive dance choreography. The BFI Blu-ray has done a good job with the HD presentation while including a bevy of extras. An easy recommendation to anyone keen! 

Gary Tooze