The Shooting | Ride in the Whirlwind
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Synopsis
In the midsixties, the maverick American director Monte Hellman conceived of two westerns at the same time. Dreamlike and gritty by turns, these films would prove their maker’s adeptness at brilliantly deconstructing genre. Shot back-to-back for famed producer Roger Corman, they feature overlapping casts and crews, including Jack Nicholson in two of his meatiest early roles. The Shooting, about a motley assortment of loners following a mysterious wanted man through a desolate frontier, and Ride in the Whirlwind, about a group of cowhands pursued by vigilantes for crimes they did not commit, are rigorous, artful, and wholly unconventional journeys to the Old West.
Picture 8/10
The Criterion Collection presents two westerns directed by Monte Hellman: The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind. Both films are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this single dual-layer disc. Each film has been newly restored and are encoded here at 1080p/24hz.
Of the two films found here The Shooting is probably the weaker of them, but it may just have to do with general look and film elements rather than the transfer itself, though it still has its own faults. Compression may be a slight issue as there are moments where noise is fairly apparent in the skyline and empty landscapes when rendering the film’s grain structure, which has been left intact; it just doesn’t always look natural and can be a bit blocky. Colours are also a bit muted but I believe this is just the film’s look, whose primary colour is brown, and nothing to do with the transfer or even the elements (on the commentary Hellman says that the way it is presented here is how he wanted it to look but lacked the resources—he describes it as “black and white” in colour). But detail is extraordinary, especially in the long shots of the rocky landscape. Motion is smooth, and textures and depth are still delivered extraordinarily well.
What surprised me most, though, was just the condition of the print. For some reason I expected the elements to be rough but they’ve either been well take care of or someone did a hell of a restoration because the film’s in great condition. There are a few scratches and marks, pulsating and fluctuations, plus some noticeable debris on the sides of the frames, but that’s about it.
Ride in the Whirlwind ends up looking better but I do feel it has more to do with the film’s general look rather than the restoration and encode. The Shooting has a very monotone look to it, which is what Hellman was going for according to the audio commentary for that film. This film is a bit richer in its use of colours, with the various shades of red and browns in the landscape leaping through far better. The blues in the sky are richer and cleaner as well, and the greens in the vegetation look great.
The digital transfer has some of the same issues as what can be found in The Shooting: film grain is present though not always rendered as cleanly as I would hope. It mostly looks fine but there are moments where it looks a little blocky or more look noise, mainly in vista shots. It’s not as noticeable as it is in The Shooting, though that may have to do more with the fact that that film had so many shots of barren landscapes it was just more noticeable. Still, despite these slight issues the transfer is otherwise sharp, delivering an extraordinary amount of detail in close-ups and longshots alike, with stable movement, and an overall filmic look. The print has some minor marks and some dirt on the edges of the frame in places, but it’s been cleaned up remarkably well and is in far better shape than I ever would have expected.
Overall, both presentations really look remarkable, a surprise considering the independent and low-budget nature of the films.
Audio 6/10
Both films present their monaural soundtrack in lossless 1.0 PCM.
The Shooting's audio is a bit rough, which surprised me a little, especially after I viewed Ride in the Whirlwind, whose track didn’t have the same issues or was at least able to hide them better. When the film first opens dialogue can be very hard to make out and I did have to turn on the subtitles. As the film progressed it got better but there’s always a slight reverb and distortion in the dialogue that can sometimes be drowned out by the music, along with just a generally flat tone to the overall track. Part of it may be just the drawl employed by the actors, but some of it just sounds like a rough audio recording, either related to the equipment or the elements.
Though age still holds it back a bit, Ride in the Whirlwind's is quite a bit cleaner and easier to hear. It's still flat, lacking depth and fidelity, but damage isn't an issue and diaogue is easier to hear.
The Shooting (1966): 5/10 Ride in the Whirlwind (1966): 6/10
Extras 8/10
Both The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind are presented on the same dual-layer Blu-ray (I suspect the DVD edition will feature each film on their own disc) and share the same supplements, though each does get their own audio commentary. The tracks feature Hellman along with film historians Bill Krohn (from the L.A. division of Cahiers du cinema) and Blake Lucas.
The track for The Shooting features the three talking a lot about how both The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind started development and the many influences that inspired Hellman to make these films (Antonioni comes up a lot during the track, specifically L’avventura and its lack of a resolution). Hellman talks a little about the script (which actually gave more back story to the events) and its eventual release (or lack thereof). Where the track is great, though, is when Lucas and Krohn talk to each other about the other’s writing on the subject and their theories, as well as when they talk to Hellman about their theories to the film only to have Hellman shoot them down here and there. What proves most interesting, though, is when Hellman talks about the advantages of the digital age, as he is now just finally able to get the colours the way he wants in this film thanks to computers, and he wishes they had the technology back in the day. He also loves Blu-ray as it exposes details he hadn’t seen in years. Good track overall.
In comparison to the track for The Shooting, Ride in the Whirlwind's track gets a little more technical in nature, with Hellman talking about his style of filmmaking, the number of takes he’ll make, his style of editing, how he likes it when accidents happen on set (like a hat blowing off), and so on. Hellman also talks a lot about Nicholson’s script, Nicholson apparently having done a lot of research while writing it. Lucas and Krohn talk about the film’s editing, Nicholson’s performance, and then Roger Corman’s films in general. It may be the weaker of the two tracks but it’s still an enjoyable and insightful one.
The other supplements on the release are shared between the two films, made up mostly of interviews, though oddly seem to concentrate more The Shooting over Ride in the Whirlwind.
House of Corman is a quick 6-minute interview between Hellman and Roger Corman. Throughout both commentaries Hellman mentions how much Corman hated the scripts and at one point even threatened to fire Hellman because he was printing too many dailies (budgets were limited so Corman preferred his filmmakers to only print what they would actually use). Corman denies this to an extent. He claims he never threatened to remove Hellman, but admits that the scripts, as he read them, needed more action (some of his suggestions for Ride in the Whirlwind did make it). The two also talk a bit about the general atmosphere working under Corman and Hellman also covers the various things he learned. Surprisingly short in length (though not the shortest interview here) but a great addition for sure.
The Diary of Millie Perkins features a nice 16-minute interview between Hellman and Millie Perkins. The two reminisce on making the two films, recalling some frustrations (Hellman didn’t want her to wear makeup but she always snuck some on), her reading of the characters and the little things she threw in. They also talk a little bit about Warren Oates, horse riding, and the overall experience, which she was grateful for.
Whips and Jingles is a discussion between actor Will Hutchins and film programmer Jake Perlin about Hutchins’ work on The Shooting. Despite the lack of Hellman this one actually proves to reveal a bit more, especially behind-the-scenes. Hutchins recalls some of the conflicts that occurred on set, primarily because of the budget. Jack Nicholson was acting as producer and would confront Hellman on a few occasions over concerns (as we find out through other features the films, which had a combined budget of around $150,000, came in under that). He also shares how some scenes came about, including that great one where he runs across screen with the flour blowing everywhere, and talks about his co-stars, including how Oates was apparently a great charades player. He also compares that independent environment to the studio environment and then recalls how he first saw the The Shooting theatrically in France (his girlfriend at the time commented on how great Jack was). Though I get the feeling Hutchins wasn’t as close as everyone else that is interviewed here it proves to be the more amusing of the interviews.
Blind Harry may be the more disappointing feature on here just because of who it’s with and how short it is: it features the always great Harry Dean Stanton but only runs just shy of 3-minutes. Stanton simply talks about how he came to be cast on Ride in the Whirlwind and the trick to playing an “authority figure.” He also talks about how he possibly spent time in jail during the shoot but isn’t entirely sure. It’s a funny interview but shockingly short.
The True Death of Leland Drum features Hellman talking with actors B.J. Merholz and John Hackett, who had roles in either film. Like just about everyone else they talk about riding horses and the trouble they had with that, and share other stories from the set. Merholz, though, who had possiblt the shortest part in The Shooting, ended up becoming a page of sorts, and was the one who would deliver messages to and from Corman: Merholz is the one who tells Hellman that he was at risk of being fired because of all of the dailies he was printing, and also tells him about Corman’s general displeasure with the films.
On a more technical level is the 19-minute Heart of Lightness, a discussion between Hellman and assistant cameraman/assistant director Gary Kurtz. Kurtz was brought on by Corman (he had worked on a number of other features for him) and the two talk about the difficulties of the shoot, the equipment used, and how certain shots were achieved. We also learn their packaged lunches weren’t very good. They also talk a bit about Corman, his obvious concerns over budget, and how he decided to continue with a film or not. There are a few more anecdotes from the set but this one stands out more for the mere fact we get more details about the technical difficulties in making the two films.
Also great is an interview with horse wrangler Calvin Johnson, found under The Last Cowboy. There are plenty of anecdotes about Johnson throughout the features and it’s nice to finally meet the man. He talks about his contributions working with the certain actors, particularly Perkins, while also talking about the landscapes that were chosen to shoot against. Mixed in with this is footage of Hellman revisiting some of the locations and some wonderful footage of the different colours found across the rather vast landscape. Another fascinating inclusion, with Johnson a great subject.
The only thing close to a scholarly supplement, other than some of the comments by the two critics in the commentary, is An American Original, a video essay by critic Kim Morgan, who goes over Warren Oates’ career and his appeal, particularly to the likes of Hellman and Peckinpah. The 14-minute feature is a wonderful tribute of sorts, looking at his wide range of work, from his westerns to his work as GTO in Two-Lane Blacktop to appearing opposite Bill Murray in Stripes. Though mostly comprised of photos from his films I was surprised to see some great looking high-def footage from Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (making me regret not upgrading my DVD to the now out-of-print Twilight Time Blu-ray) but disappointed to see some not so great footage from Cockfighter, which looked like upscaled standard-definition footage (so maybe it’s not coming as soon as we would hope?)
The release then closes with a nice scholarly essay on the two films by Michael Atkinson.
Though the commentaries somewhat fill the void, as does Atkinson’s essay, the lack of scholarly material is disappointing, as is the lack of Nicholson, who played a huge part in getting these two films made (I assume he was unavailable as he is usually pretty good at participating in special features, even when he’s not directly involved with a film, like his participation in the features for L’avventura). Still the material is great and all of it is worth the time of going through.
Closing
With two very unique and enjoyable films, decent presentations for each (despite a few minor issues), and a nice array of supplements, this release comes with a very high recommendation.
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