Ezy DVD has a street date for the R4 release of Nov 15 2007. RRP $3.92. Bargain. Haven't seen this movie since watching it several times back in the '80s on VHS, and loving it. Looking forward to seeing it again. I'm not holding my breath for a pristine anamorphic widescreen transfer, but you never know.
sharePlease post a reply after viewing it as to the quality of the transfer
shareOK, I bought this DVD from EzyDVD for about Aus$6 including postage (bargain!)
It's one of two movies on the same disc, the other being some Lee Van Cleef western I've never heard of which is called "Thieves of Fortune" on the cover but the actual movie seems to be called "Chameleon" in the opening credits. Weird.
Anyway, back to "High Risk" ...
Quality is about VHS-grade. 4:3 pan and scan, video about 5 out of 10 (or 6 if you're generous), audio about the same. MPEG compression artifacts like macroblocks and mosquito noise in many parts but not the worst I've seen. No doubt squeezing two movies on the same disc was detrimental to the bitrates of both. Overall the picture is fairly soft but it's watchable. The print used wasn't overly grainy or dusty, but there's some gate weave in some shots. As I mentioned, it's about the same quality as a VHS copy, and while it won't degrade over time like a tape, you still have some annoying compression artifacts to put up with.
Bottom line: if this is the only way I can see this movie in a digital format right now, I guess it'll have to do, but a cleaner, anamorphic widescreen DVD would of course be much, much better.
If you are a fan of this movie and remember it nostalgically from the early '80s like I do, this copy will keep you happy for now and bring back fond memories. But if you've never seen this movie, move along, nothing to see here. It'd be more worth your while seeing it for the first time in a decent, clean widescreen version, if anyone ever releases one.
Boy you said it well in those last sentences.
I really enjoyed it as a thirteen year old kid in the theater.
Then I recently watched DVD version.
If didn't have the nostalgia, I would have been bored.
I live in Portland, Oregon.
Lindsey also lives in this city.
I am a promoter and I had an idea.
Maybe I could get her to introduce this film.
If I can track her down.
I wonder if there is a 35mm print,if so must be in sad shape.
I guess we could have her introduce a dvd version.
I'm a Cinemajunkie !