{jatabs type="content" position="top" height="auto" skipAnim="true" mouseType="click" animType="animFade"}

[tab title="Movie Review"]

{googleAds}

In 1965, rebel American director Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop) conceived of two westerns and decided to film them back-to-back in the Utah desert.  Surreal and gritty, these two westerns would prove Hellman’s skill at brilliantly analyzing the genre.  Shot for famed producer Roger Corman, The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind both earned a small amount of acclaim from the critics who actually saw the films, with the praise for The Shooting dwarfing the other.  

Criterion continues to bring the goods to film fanatics and releases both of Hellman’s westerns on blu-ray in this twofer HD release.  Don’t question the piggybacking of the two films.  It makes sense to do this and, while The Shooting gets more of the acclaim, both of these westerns are “lights out” good.  Seriously.  As an old-school double-feature billing, there is no question that Criterion’s release is an awesome ride through the arid desert.

In the eerily existential The Shooting, written by Carole Eastman, Warren Oates and Will Hutchins play a bounty hunter and his sidekick who are talked by a mysterious woman (Millie Perkins) into leading her into the desert on a murkily motivated revenge mission.  The frontier is hazardous and surreal and their target is as mysterious as their mission.  The face of evil has never been this unrecognizable.

Ride in the Whirlwind - about a group of cowhands pursued by vigilantes for crimes they did not commit - is based on a strangely prophetic script by Nicholson and features an unconventional journey through the Old West.  Hellman takes this case of mistaken identity into a very tense level as bloodthirsty vigilantes take the law into their own hands.

The films feature overlapping casts and crews, including a heavy like Warren Oates and, more specifically, Jack Nicholson in two early roles that would help define his offbeat Hollywood persona.  Hellman, a follower of the philosophies of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, coats each film in a thick layer of existential sunscreen, if you will.  His shots are insanely well-composed and detailed.  In one shot, a tree trunk splits the screen and, in another, ambiguity is harnessed with a camera’s sudden rotation. 

Whether he knew it at the time or not, Hellman – by deconstructing the western genre with these two independent films - created a template for others interested in the thinking man’s western to follow.  Tarantino closed in on it with Django Unchained and, more than likely, will continue to hearken back to Hellman with The Hateful Eight.  If you get the chance to see these two films or own the blu-ray, then jump on it.  Your mind won’t be sorry.

[/tab]

[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - November 11, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Language: English
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A

What a glorious handling of these films!  The new 4K digital restorations of both films, supervised by director Monte Hellman, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray are perfect.  The new 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 presentation has s a new crispness to the colors and images that has never been seen before.  Black levels are bold and colors are sharp.  Details are impeccable.  The two films have been finally treated with the respect they deserve.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• The audio commentaries on both films, featuring Hellman and film historians Bill Krohn and Blake Lucas, are rich with information and are truly riveting for fans of these long sought after films.

Special Features:

The supplemental material is loaded with new material, highlighted by new interviews with actors John Hackett, B. J. Merholz, Millie Perkins, and Harry Dean Stanton, assistant director Gary Kurtz, and chief wrangler Calvin Johnson, all in conversation with Hellman.  There is also a newly filmed conversation between actor Will Hutchins and film programmer Jake Perlin.  Also included is a new video appreciation of actor Warren Oates by critic Kim Morgan.  There is also an essay by critic Michael Atkinson.  This release is worth every bit of penny.

Interviews (25 min)

Conversations (10 min)

Warren Oates Appreciation (5 min)

[/tab]

[tab title="Trailer"]

[/tab]

{/jatabs}