MovieChat Forums > The Shooting (1968) Discussion > DVD's Quality?

DVD's Quality?

posted 19 years ago by esedwards
18 replies | jump to latest

i've been looking online for DVD's of "The Shooting" and "Ride in the Whirlwind." however, i see that there are multiple DVDs. does anyone own either of these on DVD and care to comment on the quality and type of DVD they have?

i've been reading about different versions such as a "Director's Restoration Series DVD"
http://www.bordersstores.com/search/title_detail.jspid=51915373&srchTerms=monte+hellman&mediaType=3&srchType=Keyword

and another released by "Madacy Entertainment Group" for 5.99:
http://www.bordersstores.com/search/title_detail.jspid=54722455&srchTerms=monte+hellman&mediaType=3&srchType=Keyword

how is the quality? i've read that some DVD's have problems such as being Pan&Scan. thanks for your help.

[–] dylan7589 18 years ago

I tried to watch the Madacy release last night, but the quality of the audio is terrible. I would say, without hesitation, this is the worst sounding DVD I have ever heard. We had to turn it off after half an hour. Very loud and distorted dialogue. I wouldn't take the Madacy release for free.

[–] elsondeo 16 years ago

Thank you Dylan. I made it exactly the same 30 minutes. My stamina has not been tested to this degree for a long time. From the opening glass cutting screams to ... well I didn't make it much further.

[–] Rsatrapa 17 years ago

The Madacy version seems to be the one I just rented from Netflix. Avoid at all costs. Regardless of what anyone thinks of this movie, this version's menu offers only two choices, PLAY and SCENE SELECTIONS. The quality of the video portion is poor, but the audio is almost impossible to sit through, and obviously there are no subtitles to fall back on. If you must watch this -- and I can't recommend it even though I'm a fan of both westerns and independent/art films -- at least do yourself the favor of finding a version that offers subtitles. 'Cause you're gonna need 'em.

[–] esedwards 17 years ago

first of all, i would like to say that i appreciate everyone who had posted and appreciate their help. while my opinion may be slightly different i do value yours.

FOLLOW UP:
i found the Madacy version really cheap and went ahead and bought it regardless of the warnings. i've been wanting to see the movie for several years and figured this may be my only way.

after reading Rsatrapa's post i was expecting the quality to be very bad. however, i did not have any trouble understanding the dialogue of the characters. granted, the audio was not good by any stretch of the imagination but i wouldn't avoid it all costs.
similarly, i would like to point out that i've seen better video on a vhs tape. even still, it did not prevent me from understanding the story or seeing everything well enough.

all in all, for anyone really wanting to see the film, i would recommend buying the the Madacy version if you can find it cheap (i found mine new for $5).

[–] Vampenguin 17 years ago

The DVD I have is a double feature with Guns of Diablo, and it cost me around $5 at Zellers.

The quality isn't perfect, but its bearable for sure. The fact that I got a masterpiece like The Shooting PLUS a half-decent Bronson flick more than makes up for the somewhat poor image/sound.

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Death is but a door, time is but a window...I will be back.

[–] rikoshea-1 16 years ago

Hello,
I bought both "The Shooting" and "Ride in the Whirlwind" on DVD. They were new from Amazon Z-shops.

"Ride in the Whirlwind" distributed by 23Century - the digital print was absolute crap - like watching an old blury video.

"The Shooting" distributed by Madacy - it was OK; watchable.

I'm a fan of Monte Hellman so I then sought out both these films from VCI Home video at great expense as they are currently not readily available. I was not dissappointed. These are the director's restored widescreen version that have been digitally remastered and also include Hellman's director commentary. The restored version's are visually excellent and contain marvelous cinematography. It's a totally different movie experience.

[–] Robbmonster 16 years ago

I don't know if you're still looking, but today I bought a copy of The Shooting from my local video store for AU$5 (cheap!)

I took it home and watched it, not expecting much, but I was very pleasantly surprised indeed! The 4:3 - widescreen (1.85:1) - transfer was the best I have ever seen of the film, and the sound was very acceptable. The dialogue came through quite clearly, ever though the ambience of the film sometimes sounded like it was shot next to a busy freeway.

Anyways, the distributor was a company called 'Flashback Entertainment', and I know nothing about them. the website (according to the dvd cover) is www.flashbackentertainment.com, and the catalogue number for The Shooting is 1153.

Highly recommended, and that's even with no special features to speak of.

"It's just a movie" is no excuse for filmmakers treating audiences like idiots!

[–] ryankent1984 15 years ago

I believe this is the version I have seen:

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/advancedSearch.do?searchType=2&pGroupID=5&artist=&title=&catalogue=HSC10097&primaryID=5&affiliate=td&lpgrp=network&tduid=e335fc53b066cb12156b80f13f4f444a

OrbitMedia release. The audio and visuals aren't brilliant. I'd say 5/10 for both. It added to its low budget charm I think though.

I would love to see a fully restored version.

[–] simonsayz-1 15 years ago

The best versions of this one and "Ride in The Whirlwind" is the French disc from Carlotta, which has both films on one disc, both in remastered form and at their correct aspect ratio (1.77). The remasters are the same as for the VCI discs, so its those or this one for best quality. Audio is clear and understandable on both films, the French subtitles are NOT fixed. You would still need an all-region player but nowadays almost any player can be turned region-free, often by a simple code, and it definitely is worth it for fans who want this movie in high quality.

This disc is also available in two different box sets from the same company, once combined with Two-Lane Blacktop and with Cockfighter, once with Cockfighter only. The box sets have lenghty Monte Hellman retrospectives ("Hellman Rider", "Plunging On Alone") on it.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] zachhh 14 years ago

The Criterion Collection are in the process of putting it out sometime this year.

[–] Jetfire59 14 years ago

I just saw it on Encore Westerns. The audio was okay, fairly clear, but there were bits that were impossible to make out. It reminded me of the TV series "Firefly" when they would slip a Mandarin phrase in every now and then. Even the closed captioning simply said "indistinct" in the middle of sentences.

I think Rasputin put it best when he said, "Mmm, those pastries gave me indigestion".

[–] flanagan-3 14 years ago

IT WAS A DRAW.Watched it last night and had so much trouble understanding it that I turned on the closed-caption but got the same results.They couldn't understand it either.

[–] esedwards 14 years ago

I love how every movie I've bought a crappy DVD version for, Criterion decides to put out a few years later and charge a lot more for it. So frustrating...

[–] Robertb-3 13 years ago

A Company called EZTAKES (www.eztakes.com) has The Shooting available in a high bitrate (about 1500kbs) mp4 file that you can convert to a DVD with the right software such as ConvertxtoDVD version 4. It's in English & widescreen but since I haven't seen the movie all the way through I don't know if it's a true widescreen transfer ot just a matted pan & scan version. Picture & sound quality looks good on my computer. The price is around $9 if I remember right & there is no DRM to deal with.