Blu-Ray News #325: Escape To Athena (1979)/March Or Die (1977).

Here are two late-70s pictures from Sir Lew Grade. Shout Factory is bringing the twin-bill Blu-Ray out in just a few days.

Escape To Athena (1979)
Directed by George P. Cosmatos
Starring Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, David Niven, Stefanie Powers, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono, Elliott Gould, Paul Picerni

Escape To Athena has a crazy cast (Sonny Bono?), gorgeous Greek locations, a terrific motorcycle chase and a cameo from William Holden.

Roger Moore made some interesting pictures in-between his Bond films, and this is one of them — though I’m a bigger fan of Shout At The Devil (1976) and The Wild Geese (1978)

March Or Die (1977)
Directed by Dick Richards
Starring Gene Hackman, Terence Hill, Catherine Deneuve, Max von Sydow, Sir Ian Holm

They tried to make Terence Hill a star in the US, and it didn’t work. Me, I much preferred the Trinity films. Anyway, this is a pretty lavish production, but it should be better than it is. Hackman is always good, of course.

I’m so glad films like this are making their way to Blu-Ray. I’m looking forward to seeing Escape To Athena again.

4K News: The Guns Of Navarone (1961).

The guns built for the movie. Navarone is not a real island, by the way.

Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Gia Scala, James Darren, Richard Harris

Sony has announced a 60th anniversary 4K edition of J. Lee Thompson’s The Guns Of Navarone (1961) — in both the US and the UK. The Blu-Ray from 2011 was a huge upgrade from the DVD, and I’m eager to find out how much more resolution can be gotten out of this thing. (It’s never been a super-sharp-looking film, as far as I can tell.) Sony has listed a lot of extras, some carried over from the Blu-Ray. I’m excited about the restoration of the picture’s original four-track stereo.

The Marx Navarone playset is a really cool thing.

Of course, no matter how you see it, The Guns Of Navarone is terrific. Alistair MacLean’s “impossible mission” novel made a great movie — and everyone from director J. Lee Thompson to that stellar cast to composer Dimitri Tiomkin brought their A game. What always strikes me about it is how quickly its 158 minutes go by. (The same can be said for another MacLean picture, 1969’s Where Eagles Dare.)

I haven’t taken the 4K plunge yet, and it’s terrific to see these older pictures getting this UHD treatment. The movie itself, of course, is highly, highly recommended.