STACK #192 Oct 2020

FILM FEATURE

visit stack.com.au

Boutique Blu-ray label Imprint Films is unleashing its biggest slate to date on October 28, including classics from directors Mario Bava, Sam Peckinpah and Paul Thomas Anderson. Words Scott Hocking

stuff of legend, as is the studio’s editing of the film without Peckinpah’s consent. This Limited 2-Disc Hardbox Edition includes both the original theatrical cut and the 2005 extended cut that restores the missing footage, along with a 2019 feature-length making-of documentary and new audio commentary by film historians Glenn Erickson and Alan Rode. Additional extras include extended/deleted scenes and outtakes, vintage featurette, Peckinpah Anecdotes, isolated scores for both versions, original trailers and more. Making its worldwide Blu-ray premiere is Boogie Nights’ director Paul Thomas Anderson’s first film, Hard Eight (1996).

Danger: Diabolik (1968)

pop, even moreso in HD! Blu-ray extras include new 2020 audio commentaries by Bava biographer Tim Lucas and John Phillip Law, a new video essay by Kat Ellinger, 2005 featurette, trailer, and Beastie Boys’ music video Body Movin ’ with optional commentary by BB’s AdamYauch. Charlton Heston and Richard Harris lead the cast of Sam Peckinpah’s western epic Major Dundee (1965), in which a Union

Boasting the kind of quality cast that would become Anderson’s forte – Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Gwyneth Paltrow – this is an absorbing crime-drama involving a professional gambler (Hall) who teaches a down on his luck loser (Reilly) the tricks of the trade. Look out for SLJ in a memorable bad guy role! Anderson contributes two audio commentaries to this forgotten gem that’s ready to be rediscovered. Richard Bach’s bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull is as synonymous with the seventies as string art, and the ambitious 1973 live-action film adaptation captures the spiritual themes of the book. James Franciscus voices the rebellious gull that embraces his need for speed after being banished from the flock, while Neil Diamond provides the soundtrack (which was more

A lthough revered for his ultra-stylish forays into gothic horror, Italian filmmaker Mario Bava’s work spans numerous genres, and his 1968 action- comedy Danger: Diabolik is a psychedelic romp with a Barbarella meets James Bond vibe. Master criminal Diabolik (John Philip Law) and his girlfriend (Marissa Mell) pull off seemingly impossible heists and attempt to keep one step ahead of the law in this beloved cult classic. Based on an Italian comic book series and featuring a score by the late, great Ennio Morricone, Danger: Diabolik is tremendous fun and pure eye candy – if you’ve ever seen a Bava film, you’ll know that the primary colours really

officer leads a motley crew of prisoners into Mexico to hunt down a band of murderous Apaches. The volatile working relationship between the director and his stars is the

20 OCTOBER 2020

jbhifi.com.au