DVD can be had
share
I got mine off of Ebay for five dollars.
shareYeah you can buy a copy from ebay, but it's a pirated copy. I don't know why the movie hasn't been put on dvd as it is one of the finest movies I have seen. You can't blame people wanting pirated dvds of it... because it ain't available. Film companies ought to put all their old movies on dvd by law, as vhs tapes are out now. they ain't even making vcrs anymore. Also I think that Sam Shepard did a fine acting job in it. If they cut him out, there would be no movie. Ellen Burstyn should have got an oscar for her performance. I wonder if she studied hands-on healers for that role? I think it changed her life too as she is involved in all kinds of spiritual stuff right now. She had a small part also in The Five People You Meet in Heaven... another good movie.
shareThey should realize that they could cut down on pirated movies if they just released them properly and officially. You'd think they'd catch on by now ...
But I think when they talk about pirated movies, they're talking about current movies that are being sold illegally overseas, and movies here that have yet to be released. I know there's been copies of "Marie Antoinette" floating around. These are obviously European ones being sold in America, as the movie's already been released there.
Do the pirated DVDs just contain the same blurry print as the VHS? Or have they been cleaned up a bit?
...and nobody beats The Riz!
I think the ones I have are just copied from VHS. But, really, it's not a completely horrible transfer. I should just buy a VCR again and copy them myself if I want them that badly.
shareI have the film on VHS and the tape is "copyguarded". I know. I tried when I found out that VHS tapes start to degrade. The film is now available on Amazon for $17.95 as part of their Vault Series. The disk is made on demand and shipped within a few days of placing the order. Total price for this classic... $24.00 including shipping.
shareYup - it's been on sale for years
shareHow exactly would a bootlegged DVD have a better looking print than the VHS (which doesn't look all that bad, really)? Do you think that bootleggers somehow have access to the studio's film prints or something? OF COURSE they're just VHS-to-DVD-R dubs - THAT'S WHY THEY'RE CALLED BOOTLEGGERS.
The reason why so many older studio titles aren't yet on DVD is for the obvious reason that VHS was around for 25+ years, so that there was all kinds of time for all kinds of stuff to come out in that format; DVD has only been around for less than a decade. Also, because of people's high expectations (digital remastering, letterboxing, supplemental materials, commentaries, deleted scenes - you name it) for the digital format, it takes a fair amount of time, effort and (mainly) money on the part of the studios to put stuff out on DVD (properly, anyway). Yeah, it's a pain to have to wait for all these titles that have been out there on VHS for years now, but what are you gonna do? And now, with HD-DVD, we all get to buy into a whole NEW format...
Well, I didn't figure the DVD would be completely remastered; however, the VHS print is particulary bad, and some people do have the technology to clean them up a bit. That's what I was asking.
...and nobody beats The Riz!
There is a guy in Hollywood called the Movie Hunter who has an arrangement with the studios where he can go and get a dub from the master copies they always keep. Sometimes they'll make him a DVD or sometimes he can only get a VHS tape, but they may be better quality. I have an old VHS tape of this film, but I might ask him to get me another and see if it's better.
You can also buy a "DVD VCR" these days that will convert any VHS tape to a DVD, they range from $120-200 in my experience. But of course the VHS tape you copy has to be good quality.