(Budd Boetticher, 1969)Release date: 26 February 2024Standard Edition Blu-ray
The final western from one of the genre’s greatest directors, Budd Boetticher (
Ride Lonesome), and the last screen appearance of war hero-turned-movie star Audie Murphy (
To Hell and Back),
A Time for Dying is an offbeat, elegiac look at the Old West, prefiguring Don Siegel’s classic western, and John Wayne’s final picture,
The Shootist.
Richard Lapp stars as a young man with fine shooting skills who crosses paths with real-life figures, such as Jesse James (played by Murphy) and Judge Roy Bean (Victor Jory), only to discover the true violence of the West.
Beset by post-production and distribution problems,
A Time for Dying is overdue the recognition it deserves.
INDICATOR STANDARD EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
- New restoration from a 2K scan of the original negative by Powerhouse Films
- Two presentations of the film: in its original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio; and 1.37:1 open matte shooting ratio
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary with screenwriter and novelist C Courtney Joyner and film historian Henry Parke (2022)
-
A Sense of Poetry (2022, 14 mins): filmmaker and novelist Christopher Petit discusses his fascination with A Time for Dying and his reasons for selecting it for the Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll
-
The Men Who Shot Jesse James (2022, 20 mins): Kim Newman, critic and author of Wild West Movies, explores the many film portrayals of the infamous outlaw
- New and improved subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
#PHISE248B
BBFC cert: 12
REGION FREEEAN: 5060697924244
