Blu-Ray News #142: Valdez Is Coming (1971).

Directed by Edwin Sherin
Starring Burt Lancaster, Susan Clark, Jon Cypher, Barton Heyman, Richard Jordan, Frank Silvera, Hector Elizondo

Kino Lorber has announced that Valdez Is Coming (1971) is coming to Blu-Ray. It’s the second of three Westerns Burt Lancaster made in the early 70s, the other two being Lawman (1971) and Robert Aldrich’s Ulzana’s Raid (1972).

It’s based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, and at one point there was talk of Marlon Brando playing Valdez, Lancaster taking the part that went to Jon Cypher and Sydney Pollack directing. What a different movie that would’ve been.

No details from Kino Lorber yet, and the release date is simply later this year.

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Screening: Apocalypse Now (1979) At The Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Directed by Francis Coppola
Written by John Milius and Francis Coppola
Starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederick Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Larry Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford

I saw Apocalypse Now (1979) somewhere outside Philadelphia. (It was one of the prints with the credits appearing over the footage of Kurtz’s base being blown up.) It was a powerful experience, and I left the theater wrung-out and numb.

What really drove it all home was after the lights came up and we headed up the aisle, there were two men — obviously Viet Nam veterans, and looking a bit like Dennis Hopper did in the movie — in a tight hug, sobbing. That said a lot more about this film than any review anyone could ever write. Wish I’d had the guts to thank those men for their service, but I was 15 and stupid.

Apocalypse Now is being shown at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on August 1 as part of Cinespia’s outdoor film series. They say it’ll be the theatrical release version, and this is certainly a picture that needs to be seen on a large screen.

And to those two vets from that night in ’79, and to everyone else who served over there, thank you for your service.