My Two Cents
Wednesday, 26 January 2022 19:12

In the Heat of the Night hits 4K on 4/19, plus The Untouchables, The Sleeper Must Awaken, Peter Robbins RIP & more

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We’ve got another new review for you today: Stephen has taken a look at Lewis Gilbert’s The 7th Dawn (1964), which stars William Holden and Susannah York. It’s now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Stephen has also posted a first for The BitsA Blu-ray Review Supplemental—this one for his review from yesterday of Allan Arkush’s Get Crazy on Blu-ray, also from KLSC. After reading Stephen’s review, Arkush himself was generous enough to provide some additional background information on the remastering work and the making of the disc and its special features. If you’re a fan of the film, I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Now then... some release news: Kino Lorber Studio Classics has officially set their 4K Ultra HD of In the Heat of the Night for release on 4/19. You can see the cover artwork on the left. Note that this is one of KLSC’s 4K titles that will have SDR only, along with 5.1 and the original 2.0 mono audio. Extras on the UHD disc will include a new audio commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, along with Robert Mirisch (nephew of Walter Mirisch, and son of the Mirisch Company founder Harold Mirisch). You’ll also get the existing commentary with director Norman Jewison, cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and actors Rod Steiger and Lee Grant. [Read on here...]

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The package will also include a Blu-ray bonus disc containing Gordon Douglas’ They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970 – the sequel to In the Heat of the Night, co-starring Martin Landau and Barbara McNair), Don Medford’s The Organization (1971 – co-starring Barbara McNair and Gerald S. O’Loughlin), 3 featurettes (Turning Up the Heat: Movie Making in the 60s, The Slap Heard Around the World, and Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound), and theatrical trailers for In the Heat of the Night, They Call Me Mister Tibbs!, and The Organization.

Meanwhile, Scream Factory has officially announced the extras you’ll find on their 4K Ultra HD release of Albert Pyun’s The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), due on 3/15. Look for a new commentary with Pyun, 7 new interview featurettes (Tales of the Ancient Empire with Albert Pyun, A Princess’ Tale with Kathleen Beller, Mightier Than the Sword with John Stuckmeyer, Master of the Blade with Marshall Harvey, The Specialist and the Effects with Allan Apone, Brothers in Arms with The Chiodo Brothers, and Dedicated to Jack Tyree, Stuntman with the cast and crew), a Trailers from Hell segment, trailers, a TV spot, and a still gallery.

Also today, Lionsgate has revealed a new Best Buy-exclusive 4K Ultra HD Steelbook for release on 3/22: The Hunger Games Collection (SRP $199.99). Look for it to include all four of the previously-released films.

The Hunger Games Collection (Best Buy-exclusive 4K Ultra HD Steelbook)

Retail sources are telling us to expect Scream Factory to release Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2U on 4K Ultra HD on 4/26.

On the regular Blu-ray front, Classic Flix has set Little Rascals: Volume 5 for release on 4/5.

And here’s something interesting: Paramount has made Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables available for purchase in 4K Digital on Vudu, and we expect it to begin appearing on other digital services too. This does appear to be a new scan, and it’s worth noting that the film celebrates its 35th anniversary on 6/3. So it’s very likely that we’ll see a physical 4K Ultra HD release sometime around then as well. Thanks to Bits reader Chris R. for the heads-up! [Editor’s Note: It’s up on iTunes/Apple TV now too.]

In other news today, Arrow Video has revealed that Daniel Griffith’s recent feature-length documentary The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune will be available for streaming starting on 2/1 via the company’s streaming service.

Imprint Films is expected to announce their next wave of 7 catalog Blu-ray titles sometime tomorrow, and from the hints they’ve teased it appears that The Wicker Man may be among them. We’ll share the announcement on our social media tomorrow when it drops.

Our friends over at Trek Movie have posted a good look at some new images from the forthcoming 4K remaster of Robert Wise’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Director’s Edition. As you can see by this sample, it looks like the work is coming along very well indeed...

A frame from Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition in 4K

The film will debut exclusively on Paramount+ later this year, and should arrive on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray at a later date.

Here’s something very interesting: Director Michael Mann has co-written a sequel to Heat (1995) in novel form, and it’s coming to bookstores on 8/9. From the Heat 2: A Novel press materials...

“Michael Mann, four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker and writer-director of Heat, Collateral, Thief, Manhunter, and Miami Vice, teams up with Edgar Award-winning author Meg Gardiner to deliver Mann’s first crime novel—an explosive return to the world and characters of his classic film Heat—an all-new story that illuminates what happened before and after the iconic film.

Described by Michael Mann as both a prequel and sequel to the renowned, critically acclaimed film of the same name, Heat 2 covers the formative years of homicide detective Vincent Hanna (Oscar winner Al Pacino) and elite criminals Neil McCauley (Oscar winner Robert De Niro), Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), and Nate (Oscar winner Jon Voight), and features the same extraordinary ambition, scope, rich characterizations, and attention to detail as the epic film.”

Perhaps we’ll finally see Disney’s long-awaited 4K Ultra HD release around that time as well. You can pre-order the novel here on Amazon.com.

And finally today, a bit of sad news: Peter Robbins, the voice of Charlie Brown in all of the classic animated TV specials, has died. And tragically, it appears to be the result of suicide after a long struggle with mental health issues. You can read more on this here via NPR. All of us at The Bits today would like to send our love out to his family and friends. Peter was 65.

Peter Robbins RIP

We’ll leave you this evening with a look at the cover artwork for a few titles mentioned above and more, all now available for pre-order on Amazon.com by clicking on the images...

The Beatles: Get Back (Blu-ray Disc) The Matrix: 4-Film Deja Vu Collection (4K Ultra HD) The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 5 (Blu-ray Disc)

That’s all for now. Stay tuned...

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

 

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