Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Criterion Collection) (4K + Blu ray Digipak) [USA]

[C.C. 95]

Release Date: July 2, 2024
Prices and Links:
Criterion- $55.96 (4K + Blu ray) , $39.96 (Blu ray only)
DiabolkDVD- $49.99 (4K + Blu ray) , $34.99 (Blu ray only)

Director: Sam Peckinpah
Writer: Rudy Wurlitzer
Starring: James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills

• United States
• 1973
• 106 minutes
• Color
• 2.35:1
• English

Sam Peckinpah’s cycle of genre-redefining westerns came to a close with this blood- and dust-caked elegy for the American West, which marries his renegade style with a fatalistic sense of finality. As newly minted lawman Pat Garrett (James Coburn) stalks the outlaw Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) across the plains, their old friendship is twisted into rivalry, and mythic ideals of freedom come up against an emerging ruling-class order—all to the strains of a haunting soundtrack by Bob Dylan (who also appears as the mercurial Alias). Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid—presented here for the first time in three separate versions—stands as perhaps the maverick auteur’s richest, most mature work, a world-weary ballad that bears the solemn weight of history passing into legend.

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES​

• New 4K digital restoration of the 50th Anniversary Release, supervised by editors Paul Seydor and Roger Spottiswoode, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New 4K digital restoration of the Original Theatrical Release, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary for the 50th Anniversary Release featuring Seydor, Spottiswoode, and critic Michael Sragow
• Two 4K UHD discs of the films presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the films and special features
• New 2K digital master of director Sam Peckinpah’s Final Preview Cut, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Dylan in Durango, a new interview with author Clinton Heylin about the film’s soundtrack
• Passion & Poetry: Peckinpah's Last Western, a new documentary by Mike Siegel about the making of the film
• Archival interview with actor James Coburn
• Trailer and TV spots
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by author Steve Erickson

ORIGINAL THEATRICAL TRAILER

 

[TheWildEye]

Release Date: July 2, 2024
Prices and Links:
Criterion- $55.96 (4K + Blu ray) , $39.96 (Blu ray only)
DiabolkDVD- $49.99 (4K + Blu ray) , $34.99 (Blu ray only)
View attachment 576495
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Writer: Rudy Wurlitzer
Starring: James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills

• United States
• 1973
• 106 minutes
• Color
• 2.35:1
• English

View attachment 576496

Sam Peckinpah’s cycle of genre-redefining westerns came to a close with this blood- and dust-caked elegy for the American West, which marries his renegade style with a fatalistic sense of finality. As newly minted lawman Pat Garrett (James Coburn) stalks the outlaw Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) across the plains, their old friendship is twisted into rivalry, and mythic ideals of freedom come up against an emerging ruling-class order—all to the strains of a haunting soundtrack by Bob Dylan (who also appears as the mercurial Alias). Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid—presented here for the first time in three separate versions—stands as perhaps the maverick auteur’s richest, most mature work, a world-weary ballad that bears the solemn weight of history passing into legend.

View attachment 576497

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES​

• New 4K digital restoration of the 50th Anniversary Release, supervised by editors Paul Seydor and Roger Spottiswoode, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New 4K digital restoration of the Original Theatrical Release, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary for the 50th Anniversary Release featuring Seydor, Spottiswoode, and critic Michael Sragow
• Two 4K UHD discs of the films presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the films and special features
• New 2K digital master of director Sam Peckinpah’s Final Preview Cut, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Dylan in Durango, a new interview with author Clinton Heylin about the film’s soundtrack
• Passion & Poetry: Peckinpah's Last Western, a new documentary by Mike Siegel about the making of the film
• Archival interview with actor James Coburn
• Trailer and TV spots
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by author Steve Erickson

View attachment 576498
ORIGINAL THEATRICAL TRAILER

Hugely underrated and one of the finest Westerns ever filmed. Peckinpah was at the top of his game here.

 

[C.C. 95]

Hugely underrated and one of the finest Westerns ever filmed. Peckinpah was at the top of his game here.

Also- an older DVD was previously the only way you could get the Turner Cut aka FIRST PREVIEW CUT and the Seydor re-edit of the film.
This release has 4K editions of THEATRICAL CUT (first time available since VHS) and the 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (which is a refinement of the 2006 SEYDOR WARNER BROS. EDIT), and a 2K disc of the SECOND PREVIEW CUT (similar to The Turner/FIRST PREVIEW CUT)

 

[ishothim6x]

The Turner Preview version is by far the best cut of the movie (that I’ve seen) and, supposedly, the closest to Peckinpah’s original intentions. From the specs it seems it’s not included here? The hatchet-job theatrical and the flashier Seydor modern re-edit are lesser versions, in my opinion, so disappointed by that.

Has anyone actually seen this ‘Final Preview’ cut that Criterion are including?

 

[TheWildEye]

Also- an older DVD was previously the only way you could get the Turner Cut aka FIRST PREVIEW CUT and the Seydor re-edit of the film.
This release has 4K editions of THEATRICAL CUT (first time available since VHS) and the 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (which is a refinement of the 2006 SEYDOR WARNER BROS. EDIT), and a 2K disc of the SECOND PREVIEW CUT (similar to The Turner/FIRST PREVIEW CUT)

That's the DVD I used to have back in the day. I sold my collection early 2010s sadly (foolish looking back, hindsight is a horrible thing ) luckily that DVD with the Turner cut on the second disc is fairly cheap and easy to find.
Shame it's not on this Criterion.
So the second preview cut is a new discovery then? Do you know how closely it resembles the Turner Preview?

 

[C.C. 95]

That's the DVD I used to have back in the day. I sold my collection early 2010s sadly (foolish looking back, hindsight is a horrible thing ) luckily that DVD with the Turner cut on the second disc is fairly cheap and easy to find.
Shame it's on this Criterion.
So the second preview cut is a new discovery then? Do you know how closely it resembles the Turner Preview?

It's the SECOND PREVIEW.
The Turner cut was the FIRST PREVIEW.
The Second preview is from a 35mm print in Peckinpah's library.

This was posted on the "Sam Peckinpah" Facebook page today:

"The preview cut that will be available on The Criterion Collection's upcoming release of PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID is not Turner's, but Sam Peckinpah's final and never before seen preview cut, recovered and restored specifically for this release -- the closest we have to a director's cut of the film that we will ever get. Its 2k restoration will be included in the blu-ray, along with a 4k (and tweaked) 50th-anniversary restoration of the final cut and the theatrical cut.
Here's the story: A "heist" was engineered to get Peckinpah's final preview print out of the projection room where it was screened for MGM execs. Sam was walking off the picture, and a Watergate-esque "break-in" was orchestrated by those who felt that Sam's preview needed to be preserved. Unfortunately, the clean up crew didn't realize that it was an interlock print. Sound and picture were separate, so they grabbed the picture and left the sound behind whose retrieval required another mission. But all missions were ultimately successful. When Sam was presented with the print, he was so paranoid that MGM was going to come after it that he put a fake title ("The Racquet Club;" pictured) on the cans and leader. It's never been released until now, because it was among Sam's personal prints, not in the studio vaults.
When Michael Chaiken reached out to me on behalf of Criterion about their restoration and upcoming release of PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID, I got him in contact with Sam's friend and archivist Don Hyde, who pointed them in the right direction to locate and restore Sam's preview cut. I also encouraged them to contact Mike Siegel, who ended up making a documentary for this release, and connected Michael with Jeff Slater, who contributed from his abundance of archival material for the special features and provided additional contacts for supplemental material.
In short, this was a team effort -- and we are so grateful for Criterion's collaborative spirit to ensure that we did right both by Sam and all of his fans who have waited so patiently for its release. Now it's up to us to honor their work and procure our copies

 

[C.C. 95]

That's the DVD I used to have back in the day. I sold my collection early 2010s sadly (foolish looking back, hindsight is a horrible thing ) luckily that DVD with the Turner cut on the second disc is fairly cheap and easy to find.
Shame it's not on this Criterion.
So the second preview cut is a new discovery then? Do you know how closely it resembles the Turner Preview?

It's worth having that DVD- as it is the only edition that has the FIRST PREVIEW/TURNER cut.
The SECOND PREVIEW cut is supposed to be very close to the FIRST- So we may find that it renders the FIRST PREVIEW CUT obsolete.

 

[TheWildEye]

It's the SECOND PREVIEW.
The Turner cut was the FIRST PREVIEW.
The Second preview is from a 35mm print in Peckinpah's library.

This was posted on the "Sam Peckinpah" Facebook page today:

"The preview cut that will be available on The Criterion Collection's upcoming release of PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID is not Turner's, but Sam Peckinpah's final and never before seen preview cut, recovered and restored specifically for this release -- the closest we have to a director's cut of the film that we will ever get. Its 2k restoration will be included in the blu-ray, along with a 4k (and tweaked) 50th-anniversary restoration of the final cut and the theatrical cut.
Here's the story: A "heist" was engineered to get Peckinpah's final preview print out of the projection room where it was screened for MGM execs. Sam was walking off the picture, and a Watergate-esque "break-in" was orchestrated by those who felt that Sam's preview needed to be preserved. Unfortunately, the clean up crew didn't realize that it was an interlock print. Sound and picture were separate, so they grabbed the picture and left the sound behind whose retrieval required another mission. But all missions were ultimately successful. When Sam was presented with the print, he was so paranoid that MGM was going to come after it that he put a fake title ("The Racquet Club;" pictured) on the cans and leader. It's never been released until now, because it was among Sam's personal prints, not in the studio vaults.
When Michael Chaiken reached out to me on behalf of Criterion about their restoration and upcoming release of PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID, I got him in contact with Sam's friend and archivist Don Hyde, who pointed them in the right direction to locate and restore Sam's preview cut. I also encouraged them to contact Mike Siegel, who ended up making a documentary for this release, and connected Michael with Jeff Slater, who contributed from his abundance of archival material for the special features and provided additional contacts for supplemental material.
In short, this was a team effort -- and we are so grateful for Criterion's collaborative spirit to ensure that we did right both by Sam and all of his fans who have waited so patiently for its release. Now it's up to us to honor their work and procure our copies

That's really cool and what a mad story regarding the movies history.
Can't wait to pick this up down the line.