Warner Home Video is releasing newly remastered transfers of Bonnie and Clyde, with unique special features, in several editions. Amazon is taking orders at the following links:
Buy,Download, Or Stream Bonnie and Clyde – Ultimate Collector’s Edition! Click Here
Standard DVD 2-disc Special Edition
Standard DVD 2-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition
Blu-ray
HD
Buy,Download, Or Stream Bonnie and Clyde – Ultimate Collector’s Edition! Click Here
The first three were released on March 25th; the HD version is due out on April 15th. Warner Brothers has announced that it won’t aid HD after May 31, 2008, so there may be a tiny window to glean the HD version.
The unique transfers have been made from the “current elements,” meaning stuff like unusual negatives or modern prints. (Observe below for an update on the video and audio quality.) The special features announced, included in all the recent releases, are these:
– the full-length History Channel documentary about the valid Bonnie and Clyde called “Treasure and Death: The Myth of Bonnie and Clyde” (43:10)
– a fresh three-part documentary about the making and releasing of the film and its relation to the proper Bonnie and Clyde:
. . . “Bonnie and Clyde’s Gang” (22:35)
. . . “The Reality and Record of Bonnie and Clyde” (24:07)
. . . “Releasing Bonnie and Clyde” (18:06)
– two newly discovered deleted scenes (5:23)
– two trailers (4:11)
– Warren Beatty’s wardrobe tests (7:39)
The HD and Blu-ray editions will also include as a “high-def uncommon” a hardcover book (34 pages according to Amazon, 32 pages according to dvdbeaver) with a detailed production history, star/director filmographies and rare archival behind-the-scenes photos. The book is an integral fragment of the case. This isn’t included in the standard DVD Special Edition.
The Ultimate edition will also include some non-DVD extras. Details are given in the earlier reviews of the Ultimate edition (January 17, 2008) .
No commentary was announced, so I subtract one star. For some the making-of features may partially get up for the lack of commentary.
As for the movie itself, it’s a landmark, but there are already many well-behaved reviews here about that ….
Update on the video and audio quality of the novel releases (March 27th)
I haven’t got my copy yet, but I’ve checked out some early professional reviews. All the ones I’ve seen that compare to the older DVD agree that the video quality of the recent releases is considerable improved. I’ll give some details from a sampling of reviews here for anyone fervent, but the upshot is that everyone is blissful with both unique transfers (HD not being out yet) .
Standard DVD
DVD Beaver, which specializes in DVD image evaluations and comparisons, says the standard DVD 2-disc Special Edition video is “very strong,” desirable, with minimal noise. They relate improved detail, inequity and color from the older DVD. Skin tones are said to be a bit on the red side (which is what most people win to factual color) . The image is said to have a glossy glance at times, perhaps the same glance described at DVD Town as “a shrimp glassy.”
The sound is the fresh mono, described by DVD Beaver as “sure and consistent.” No one raves about the sound, but everyone finds it profitable overall, for mono.
The review at DVD Town finds the unusual transfer “friendly for a movie some forty years feeble.” It mentions noticeable grain in some shots, but this may refer to scenes in which there was intentional grain introduced for attain. Also mentioned are occasional softness, skin tones a touch sad, but overall color “quite realistic.” Says the definition is favorable for standard DVD, inequity strong.
DVD Verdict says, “The remastered print looks very capable, with strong colors and high incompatibility, and advantageous detail …,” with a dinky grain at times.
Blu-ray
DVD Beaver says the Blu-ray version is, as would be expected, even better. The darks are darker than on the recent standard DVD, the brights brighter, very strong detail, with a touch redder skin tones, very minor noise. The image is said to support a natural gape.
The sound is described with very same adjectives as for the standard DVD: distinct and consistent.
Home Theater Forum’s reviewer calls the Blu-ray transfer’s color fidelity “outstanding” and overall quality “trustworthy,” including sharpness and detail. Blacks are said to be very dim, though less so in the later fraction of the movie.
A review at High-Def Digest praises the Blu-ray image quality very highly, particularly the color, which it describes as vibrant, aloof and natural.
(I’ve posted the links to the reviews cited in the first comment for this review.)
This movie ignited critics and the public alike when it was first released in theatres. Noteworthy discussion centered around the movie’s graphic violence (which was considered plain by 1967 standards — two years later “The Wild Bunch” would raise the ante even higher) ; there was also worthy hullaballoo over the film’s glamorization of its lawless true-life anti-heroes (which was in fact an passe Hollywood tradition best exemplified by a handful of leisurely 1930′s and early 1940′s biographical Westerns including “Jesse James”, “Belle Starr”, “Billy the Kid”, etc. in which graceful actors portrayed the murderous title characters as Technicolored lads and ladies) .
Buy,Download, Or Stream Bonnie and Clyde – Ultimate Collector’s Edition! Click Here
35 years later the fires of debate have burned out, and what remains distinguished about “Bonnie and Clyde” is neither its cutting-edge violence nor its historical inaccuracies, but instead the radiant craftsmanship that went into its creation. The performances are uniformly outstanding; the cinematography is evocative of a time and location that can detached be glimpsed in parts of the Ozarks, Oklahoma, and North Texas; the editing is tidy and well-paced; the direction is innovative and assured, even poetic in some sequences (the initial acquaintance of Barrow and Parker, the reunion of Bonnie’s family, the final ambush scene) . This film is the telling of memoir, not the legend of biographical scholarship, and it unfolds its record masterfully.
The DVD showcases the film beautifully. The edition I purchased offers both the widescreen and reformatted versions; an earlier grunt of this title on DVD offered only the widescreen release (which I personally capture and recommend, but you may not agree) . This is a classic top-notch of multiple viewings, and a DVD I endorse without reservation.
HAI Flat Iron