Yet another opportunity at Paramount has passed in terms of rectifying the ending to director Brian DePalma’s troubled SNAKE EYES (98 mins., 1998, R; Kino Lorber), which was released with a re-cut climax so horrid that it sinks what was an entertaining thriller into a complete waste of time. The compromised final product has been remastered in good-looking new Kino Lorber 4K UHD, but the tinge of what might have been remains.
DePalma’s Summer ‘98 effort stars Nicolas Cage as a cop hired by army pal Gary Sinise to supervise security for an Atlantic City boxing match that soon turns into an assassination plot, and for nearly two-thirds of its running time, director DePalma and screenwriter David Koepp deftly juggle suspense and Hitchockian twists and turns into a potent brew of entertainment, filled with the director’s trademark technical standbys (split-screens, flashbacks, foreground close-ups against widescreen backdrops, etc).
Unfortunately, just when the movie seems to be building towards the finish line, along comes a finale so utterly insipid and unexciting that you’ll want to have a bag of vegetables on-hand to toss one-by-one at the screen when it’s all over.
Reportedly, studio executives felt DePalma’s original ending, which involved an elaborate array of Industrial Light & Magic visual effects (check out the roster of ILM names over the end credits!), was too over-the-top, so it was junked at the last minute against the director’s wishes and refilmed…with something less than a fair amount of inspiration on the filmmaker’s behalf (understandably so). Try, two men walking down a corridor really slowly while a police van crashes outside the casino wall. Cut to epilogue sequences. Roll credits.
Fragments of that discarded ending remain in the finished film, from one brief glimpse of a wave crashing over the Jersey shoreline to several lines that Cage speaks in the now-incoherent final scene to co-star Carla Gugino about “surviving the wave and being trapped in the tunnel,” all of which correspond to an ending we didn’t see!
DePalma is on record in 2013 that he would’ve gladly participated in a restoration of his original version – so Kino Lorber’s new 4K UHD, while looking dynamic with Dolby Vision HDR (2.35, 5.1 DTS MA), is a big disappointment just the same as it only offers the theatrical cut, plus a new Steve Mitchell/Nathaniel Thompson commentary. While the disc is visually great, it’s still hard to recommend this compromised movie, which starts off with a bang only to finish without so much as a whimper.
INTERNAL AFFAIRS 4K UHD/Blu-Ray (115 mins., 1990, R; Kino Lorber): A film that’s generated something of a small following since its original theatrical release, “Internal Affairs” is a slick 1990 Paramount vehicle that marked British director Mike Figgis’ first Hollywood film, where Figgis coaxes excellent performances out of Richard Gere – as a single-minded, corrupt L.A. cop – and Andy Garcia as the idealistic, if not equally determined, Internal Affairs officer driven to take him down. Gere’s performance – which certainly went against the grain of his roles at that point in time – is one of his finest, and the movie – atmospherically shot by John A. Alonzo – is compelling and exciting, holding up extremely well in Kino’s 4K UHD (1.85, 5.1/2.0 DTS MA), a restoration from the OCN that’s an appreciable upgrade from Warner’s hazy older Blu-Ray.
“Internal Affairs” also boasts a slew of new extras, including over a half hour of extended and deleted scenes, shown here for the first time. Among those is a 10-minute alternate ending, which shows how much this Paramount release was “massaged” in post-production by the studio, sometimes obviously so (what’s ironic is the reshot ending is even darker than what they came up with originally!).
Other new extras include interviews with Figgis, writer Henry Bean, and co-composer Anthony Marinelli, who co-wrote the score with partner Brian Banks and Figgis himself. A new commentary by writers James Ursini and Alain Silver make for what’s likely to be a candidate for top catalog release of the year, already here in January!
HATARI! 4K UHD/Blu-Ray (157 mins., 1962; Kino Lorber): Outdoor adventure from Howard Hawks marked the third collaboration between the producer/director and star John Wayne. This fan favorite misses falling into “classic” status but still offers a good deal of fun, the vehicle originally intended to pair Wayne with Clark Gable.
That teaming, of course, didn’t happen, but the resulting 1962 African adventure is an agreeable enough, rough-and-tumble action-comedy in the traditional Hawks manner. Location cinematography by Russell Harlan, a classic score by Henry Mancini (including the staple “Baby Elephant Walk”), and a Leigh Brackett script filled with crisp dialogue make for an overlong (157 minute) epic that’s still worth a look for Wayne fans.
A brand new 4K scan of the 35mm OCN (1.85, mono) gives this “Hatari!” a great deal of appeal via its Dolby Vision HDR grading. Colors look good and details are strong across the picture, even if a reduction in quality is occasionally apparent seeing as there’s so much bluescreen work in the picture. A new commentary with Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff looks at the movie’s production while the trailer and a similarly remastered Blu-Ray are also on-hand.
CHERRY 2000 Blu-Ray (99 mins., 1987, PG-13) – MIRACLE MILE Blu-Ray (87 mins., 1988, R; Kino Lorber): Director Steve De Jarnatt worked with Kino Lorber to produce a superb pair of double-disc Blu-Ray packages of his late ’80s genre cult favorites “Cherry 2000” and “Miracle Mile.”
The entertaining CHERRY 2000 is best known around our circles for Basil Poledouris’ terrific score, which fetched quite a pretty penny on the collector market through its limited Varese CD Club pressing. The movie was shot in 1986 but never theatrically released (one of many casualties during Orion Pictures’ tenuous run), instead appearing several years later on video. The movie itself isn’t all that bad, a “Mad Max” variant with female bounty hunter Melanie Griffith going after a guy’s female robot companion in a post-apocalyptic future. This diverting escapist fare features engaging performances and intermittently amusing dialogue courtesy of the Michael Almereyda script, while De Jarnatt’s direction keeps things moving, mixing standard futuristic fare with romantic elements and a welcome sense of humor.
De Jarnatt followed “Cherry 2000” with MIRACLE MILE, a movie derived from his own script that starts off as a lightweight love story between leads Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham before becoming a Twilight Zone-styled thriller once Edwards learns from a random phone call that WWIII may be imminent. I was never a big fan of this gimmicky film, but “Miracle Mile” has grown a sizable cult following, both for the movie itself as well as Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack, over the years.
Kino Lorber’s Blu-Rays offer new 4K scans of the original 35mm camera negatives for both movies (1.85), and the results are vastly superior to past HD masters of each picture. Both releases contain commentaries by De Jarnatt and critic Walter Chaw plus additional tracks (De Jarnatt and a crew commentary on “Miracle Mile”; podcaster/historian commentaries on both movies), while “Cherry 2000” also features a 150-minute documentary encompassing “Cherry 2000” but with some crossover to “Miracle Mile”‘s production history also. De Jarnatt shorts, deleted scenes, bloopers, and additional interviews (Paul Haslinger as well as Edwards and Winningham on “Miracle Mile”) round out a pair of superlative releases for the films’ fans.
THE BEAST WITHIN Blu-Ray (98 mins., 1981, R; Kino Lorber): New to the Kino Cult collection is this gory early ‘80s UA release from “Omen” producer Harvey Bernhard, profiling the painful transformation of a typical 18-year-old (Paul Clemens) into a horrifying monster – the result of his mom (Bibi Besch) having been raped by a swamp creature years before. Ronny Cox co-stars as the boy’s father in Philippe Mora’s formulaic gross-out affair, best remembered for its make-up effects; writer Tom Holland, adapting a book by Edward Levy, would find more success with his subsequent work on “Psycho II” and “Fright Night.”
“The Beast Within” turned up in a 2013 Shout Blu-Ray and its extras — commentary with Mora and Clemens; an additional track with Tom Holland – have been ported over to Kino’s release. New to this package are an additional commentary with Mora and historian Calum Waddell; the 46-minute doc “I Was A Teenage Cicada: The Making of ‘The Beast Within’”; a 13-minute storyboard featurette; and trailers, TV and radio spots. The good-looking 1080p transfer (2.35, 2.0) appears to be derived from the same existing MGM master as was previously released.
HOUSEBOAT Blu-Ray (110 mins., 1958; Kino Lorber): Agreeable comedy pairs Cary Grant and Sophia Loren in the story of a widower (Grant) who, after a series of comic misadventures, moves into a houseboat alongside a woman (Loren) he hires as their governess. As family comedies of its era go, “Houseboat” is enjoyable enough, albeit mostly due to the performances of, and chemistry between, its leads. This VistaVision production has been restored in a 6K scan of the 35mm camera negative (1.85) with two trailers and a commentary from Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff on-hand.
MONTE WALSH Blu-Ray (99 mins., 1970, PG-13; Kino Lorber): Downbeat western drama, made at a time when the genre was heading full-tilt into revisionist fare like “The Wild Bunch,” does offer a flavorful lead performance from Lee Marvin in the title role of a veteran cowboy finding out that his Old West is fading away. Jeanne Moreau adds some “New Wave” flair to this Cinema Center Films production helmed by ace cinematographer William A. Fraker, graced with an appropriately melancholic score from John Barry that includes the Mama Cass ballad “The Good Times Are Coming.” The trailer and a commentary from Lee Marvin biographer Dwayne Epstein comprise the extras, with the CBS HD master (2.35, 2.0 mono) holding up well throughout.
NEXT TIME: Arrow’s latest including THE CELL on 4K UHD! Until then, don’t forget to drop in on the official Aisle Seat Message Boards and direct any emails to our email address. Cheers everyone!