Year Of The Dragon now on DVD

Message

MikeJ · #1 Post by **MikeJ** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 4:45 am

I've always been a fan of this movie. I don't think it adds up at the end but I give it points for aiming high... Warner Bros released YEAR OF THE DRAGON on DVD last week. I was happy to discover when I picked it up that there is a commentary track by director Michael Cimino. I would have been perfectly content to just have a widescreen transfer of this movie. The commentary track is the syrup on the pancakes.

AndyDursin · #2 Post by **AndyDursin** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:01 am

Mike,
Thanks for the tip. Warner catalog titles come out and fly under the radar many times because they don't publicize them to media outlets.

YEAR is not a perfect movie but I remember seeing it (back on laserdisc about 10 years ago) and thought it was a very interesting film, one of Cimino's better efforts. Great to know there's a commentary as well, though I could have sworn one of the complaints about the movie was that it was cut down from something much longer. I'm curious if that was the case.

BTW welcome to the board as well!

Andy

MikeJ · #3 Post by **MikeJ** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:58 pm

Thanks, Andy. Regarding Year Of The Dragon, I always thought the film had been edited down from a longer version as well but Cimino does not address this at all in his commentary. The impression I got was that this was the movie he wanted to make and the only problem he has with the film is that he was asked to change a critical line of dialogue from Mickey Rourke's character in the last scene. That original piece of dialogue does provide a kind of coda to the film so who knows why there was an issue with it. If he was so unhappy with this change, he probably could have had the original line of dialogue restored to the film. His commentary is pretty good, I thought. He talks less about the film and more about his career, including his experience working with Clint Eastwood, and it's a treat to actually hear his side of things instead getting it from another source.

AndyDursin · #4 Post by **AndyDursin** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:03 pm

Thanks for the info Mike. I'll pick this up at Deepdiscount's next 20% off sale.

I'm not surprised Cimino talks about his career particularly -- has he done many DVD commentaries before? I know there wasn't one on HEAVEN'S GATE, that's for sure!

About the last line of dialogue...I can't really recall the ending except that it was set some time down the road, so to speak...was something added he didn't like? (I don't mind talking spoilers here, the movie only came out a couple of decades ago, lol!).

MikeJ · #5 Post by **MikeJ** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:22 pm

You might be getting the end of YEAR OF THE DRAGON confused with the end of HEAVEN'S GATE, which does have an ending that takes place further down the line. YEAR OF THE DRAGON ends with another funeral parade in Chinatown. The Stanley White character, after having been relieved of duty, busts in on the funeral proceedings and tries to arrest everyone and this sets off a riot. His reporter girlfriend and only friend on the police force pull him away from the riot and White has some silly line of dialogue that is clearly looped in.
As far as other Cimino commentaries go, there is an R2 release of THE DEER HUNTER that has a commentary track by Cimino as well. This has been available over there for over a year, possibly two years, and it really surprises me that it hasn't shown up as a special feature here in R1.