According to information from Walmart, the retail giant will exclusively offer two movies from the western genre (one of them from the Aussie variety) on Blu-ray on May 24, both from the MGM/UA library: The Big Country (William Wyler, 1958), starring Gregory Peck, and Quigley Down Under (Simon Winder, 1990), starring Tom Selleck.
No information on specs or special features is available at this time.
Honestly, Walmart has to do a WHOLE lot more in regards to getting their shit together on the Blu-ray front. Such a disappointing place to shop at for Blu-rays...or anything else for that matter.
"The Big Country" is one of the greatest westerns ever made, probably one of the finest films ever, and way over due for a BD release. The production was fantastic, score, setting, actors, photography, script, direction all outstanding. One can only hope it has upgraded BD sound as well. It so embodies various staple elements of the Westen, in a grand opera form, that it might be easy to take it for granted. But that would be a big mistake. This is right up there with "The Searchers" as a defining example of American mythos.
Holy cow, these are both awesome movies! I never thought I'd see The Big Country come out on Blu-Ray, and last year when I first watched it I thought, "Boy, these vistas could really benefit from high-def." Awesome news!
The Big Country is a fine western with the great Gregory Peck and also with Charlton Heston, who's nice in this. I hope the transfer does the majestic landscapes and cinematography proud. To see it's going blu is a pleasant surprise indeed. I'll order it when it's available at one of the retailers I prefer to do business with (and probably at a lower price).
I'm surprised at how many times I've seen people wish for Quigley on Blu-ray, so I know this will have a pretty good market.
I'm with the others regarding Walmart and Blu-rays. First, they never have any. Second, it takes a lot to get me into one of those stores. Call me a snob, but I'm happy to pay 10% more at Target if it means I don't have to set foot in the world of depression known as Walmart.
Will these be Walmart exclusives on a permanent basis? Pretty frustrating for overseas customers like me, I would love The Big Country on BD (probably get Quigley too, if I could).
According to The Digital Bits, these are online exclusives. Not available in stores????? That can't be right. At least Target exclusives were in their stores.
ilconsigliere, that means nothing. All they say in the article is that they took the original negative and struck a new print. They use the word "restored" but doesn't really look like they did anything. They didn't even correct color fading digitally.
The master for the blu-ray would be a scan of the negative, and then whathever they decided to do on the digital realm. We don't know when or how that master was made. Hopefully it won't be too old.
