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Easy Rider

The late 1960s were an "interesting" time, not only in regard to domestic and world affairs, but also in many ways concerning the upheaval and reawakening of our motion picture industry. For those who didn't live through it and survive it, the best source for information is probably Peter Biskind's book, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.

Here's the segue.

Speaking of Easy Rider, Columbia is about to release their Blu-ray of the the little low-budget film (1969), which almost single-handedly rocked the industry and opened doors for a new form of filmmaking.

Columbia did preservation and restoration on the film about a decade ago using the best analogue techniques, but now with a firm hand on digital, the work has been redone starting from scratch.

Easy Rider is generally a very sharp, highly resolved film for the era, with spot-on color and densities and proper grain structures. I use the word generally because some of the film, which will be obvious, was shot in 16mm. Two entire reels have also been gone for decades, and have been replaced anew by scanning the separation masters at 4k. The difference between the overall look, textures and feel of this new Blu-ray when compared to the now ten year old standard definition version is nothing short of breathtaking.

How many readers can identify the dupe reels?

With audio now in Dolby TrueHD, the sound also has been upgraded.

While I'm aware that this may become boring for some readers, I must once again make note of the fact that this is (based upon the extant film elements) yet another letter perfect transfer from Columbia / Sony, which continues as the only studio with this kind of track record for Blu-ray. There are no concerns for pre-orders here.

Everything about this release comes Highly Recommended.

Robert Harris
Home Theater Forum
(10.16.09)

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