Blu-Ray News #384: Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973).

Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Written by Rudy Wurlitzer
Starring James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills, Barry Sullivan, Jason Robards, Slim Pickens, Bob Dylan

Criterion is bringing out Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973) on 4K and Blu-Ray in July. And since Peckinpah’s last Western was such a mutilated mess by the time MGM got done with it, Criterion is packing all three existing version into the set —
• 50th Anniversary Release, supervised by editors Paul Seydor & Roger Spottiswoode
• Sam Peckinpah’s Final Preview Cut
• Original Theatrical Release

Opinions on the film (no matter which cut you’re looking it) are all over the place. It’s brilliant in some places, other places not. It does, however, contain what I consider the saddest single scene in all of cinema — the great Katy Jurado sitting down beside the gut-shot Slim Pickens as he dies (with “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” on the soundtrack).

Of course, there will be all sorts of extras. This is gonna be a nice set, something us Peckinpah nuts have been hollering for for years. I’m really looking forward to messing around with this thing.

Blu-Ray News #12: Convoy (1978).

Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Starring Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw, Ernest Borgnine, Burt Young and Franklyn Ajaye

OK, so it’s really not all that good. But I’m so glad Kino Lorber is bringing Sam Peckinpah’s Convoy (1978) to Blu-ray. (That’s him with the headphones staring at Kristofferson.)

It’s got a great cast, some incredible New Mexico scenery and as you’d expect, Sam’s as good with crashing cars and trucks as with people getting shot. This was his next-to-last film (coming between 1977’s Cross Of Iron and 1983’s The Osterman Weekend), and his addictions and excesses were getting the best of him. His friend James Coburn was brought in as second unit director. Some say Coburn shot a great deal of what we see on the screen, as the picture went way over budget and behind schedule.