Currently there are 2 different versions of Take a Hard Ride available on DVD in the US. Both have anamorphic widescreen transfers, which while similar, the Anchor Bay version is a little soft, and the Shout Factory version is very grainy (which could be compression artifacts due to squeezing two movies and extras onto one disc).
The main difference are the extras. The standalone Anchor Bay (above left) version features only the trailer, while the Shout Factory version also features the film Rio Conchos, the Take a Hard Ride trailer, and best of all 2 new interviews with Fred Williamson and Jim Kelly.
Both are priced about the same on amazon.com (under $12).
Comparisons below. Click to enlarge.
Anchor Bay transfer
Shout Factory transfer
Bottom is clearly the best picture. I always wonder how the billing gets changed around. When the film came out & I saw it in a theater, Jim Brown had first billing & Lee second. But on some posters Lee has first billing. Same with El Condor. But in Kid Vengeance at the drive inn first run showing I saw of this, even the film had Lee first & Jim Brown second.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all (if not all) posters in English for Day of Anger have Lee first billed or only billed. But when I saw the film new at a downtown theater I was surprised since I had looked at the posters, one sheets & lobby cards outside & saw the trailer a week or so earlier the Lee had second billing & an actor I had never heard of before at the time, G. Gemma, had first billing.
Shout Factory has black crush and over sharpened, you can see the "halo" around the border of the image and LVC's hat produced by sharpening. Neither transfer is particularly good, each has its pro and cons.
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