17-18 Thieves Like Us & O.C. and Stiggs

[therewillbeblus]

It would be right up Fun City’s alley!

Also, the first time I watched this was near the very end of an agonizing personal project to be an Altman completist, and I admittedly zoned out a lot and didn’t appreciate the film at all, as by that point I was wading through some all-timer duds, in a negative headspace that affected by behavior as a poor viewer. Revising it a few weeks ago, I had to rewind almost every scene to catch all the brilliant gags and jokes in overlapping dialog. It’s definitely one of those films so populated with subtle deadpan gifts of dark comedy where even being slightly distracted will deplore its value. Shout-out to Never Cursed’s accolades prompting my return to the film, and I hope one day he writes a manifesto on its sociological value!

[beamish14]

beamish14: Where did you see this print play? I’ve actually tried to see if HealtH or O.C. and Stiggs ever played Los Angeles, but couldn’t find any info. It seems neither played at UCLA’s Altman retro years ago when his estate donated all his prints to them.

Can we get a seperate thread for O.C and Stiggs? I agree with therewillbeblus that it might be my own personal favorite Altman. I didn’t see it for the first time until two years ago assuming it was terrible, but now have seen it at least five times. On top of being very funny, it’s Altman’s bitter attack on Reagan conservatism and a further reexamination of Americana, albeit with two ill behaved teens who steal lobsters and drive a large car.

I actually wonder if the music rights are that big of an issue? It was released as a DVD at some point and the music is by King Sunny Ade whose catalog is pressed by a major label, Island Records. I wonder what the cost of licensing that music is? I feel the biggest reason it hasn’t been reissued is because of the negative reputation it has, but it’s still far superior to Fool for Love which has gotten an HD release. I keep hoping Vinegar Syndrome or Fun City Editions and their MGM connections allow them to license this. I just can’t see any other labels being interested in touching this one.

I caught O.C. & Stiggs at the Cinefamily at least 8+ years ago. I’ve begged theatres to show H*E*A*L*TH, too, and UCLA has some very faded prints that aren’t worth projecting. A Fox archival copy screened at an Altman retrospective in Milwaukee, I think, a few years ago. The Archive isn’t don’t with restoring his films. I wouldn’t be surprised if that film and Jazz ‘34 were on the docket.

You’re totally right in that the film is all about poking holes in Reagan-era ignorance and hubris. The titular characters are designed to be unlikable assholes who are homophobic morons to boot. Little wonder that is was made just before Altman relocated to France for several years

One more thing about the film-Peter Bart (the idiot currently running Deadline who also oversaw Variety for a while) bashes it and the similarly brilliant and underseen Nothing Lasts Forever (Tom Schiller, 1984) in his book about running MGM, and he calls them both wastes of resources that helped make the company library vulnerable to Ted Turner’s acquisition.

[swo17]

And speaking of R2, unlike the R1, the UK version of OC and Stiggs is anamorphic 2.35, despite what's on the box, and you can get it in a box with four other MGM Altmans for ~8 pounds on Amazon.co.uk

If it's anamorphic presumably it's at least a marginal improvement on the US DVD, but can anyone otherwise comment on the quality of this UK release?

[ChunkyLover]

Final specs for "O.C. and Stiggs":

[therewillbeblus]

The O.C. & Stiggs blu-ray looks terrific overall, thrilled for others to finally discover it

Came here to note a fun Altmanverse 'cameo' I never picked up before: Hal Philip Walker -the concealed politician permeating the milieu in Nashville with an Oz-like pervasive influence- returns in visible form as a TV personality politician constantly shown on the tube in Reagan America, where the Schwabs watch him 24/7 to get their right-wing echo-chamber broadcasts. I wonder if allowing Walker to emerge from the shadows into a de-mythologized form, transmitted without formidability to the principal characters, is a statement in itself for how Altman sees the change in zeitgeist between the mid-70s and late-80s, how maybe just how he feels about it

[Rayon Vert]

Do we know how Thieves Like Us compares image-wise with the previous U.S. blu-ray release?

[Rayon Vert]

OK, I see blu-ray.com did a review and compares them.

Thieves Like Us is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Radiance sent only a check disc for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage about the transfer that might be included in their insert booklet, but this has some noticeable differences when compared to the Kino Lorber release, at least judging by screenshots. This release is considerably darker and I'd argue better suffused, though that darkness may contribute to a somewhat swarthier appearance in the grain field. Detail levels look generally very good throughout the presentation, though as Brian noted in his review of the Kino Lorber release, there's a certain anachronistic softness to some shots that may work against the hardscrabble grittiness of the story. Evidently as with Kino Lorber's release, this release also shows some very minor age related wear and tear.

[CSM126]

Anyone else have a copy of O. C. And Stiggs that won’t play? Mine just boots back to the player menu every time. The machine acknowledges a BD-ROM in the drive but it won’t play it at all. No scratches on the disc that I can see either. Strange.

[nicolas]

Anyone else have a copy of O. C. And Stiggs that won’t play? Mine just boots back to the player menu every time. The machine acknowledges a BD-ROM in the drive but it won’t play it at all. No scratches on the disc that I can see either. Strange.

Which player do you have? I have a Panasonic UB824 and very rarely a new disc (all pressed) didn’t play straight away, even after trying repeatedly. I’ll eject the disc, cut power from the player, restart and everything’s been fine the two or three times this happened to me over the course of two years. If that fails too and you can’t check the disc on another player, Radiance are surely helpful in getting you a replacement.

[Drucker]

I finally cracked open O.C. and Stiggs the other night. A friend came over and he's been on a mini-Altman kick, so we cracked it open. I liked it a great deal! Going into it, I wasn't expecting a fairly straight-forward looking Altman film, but right from the start there's no mistaking the style for anyone else. Altman's willingness to satirize the Regan coalition to the point of offensiveness rubbed me the wrong way at first, but as the film got going I found the film more funny than grating. The film is bizarrely over the top. The teenage protagonist's irreverence ends up being a very effective vehicle for the film to stick two middle fingers in the air at the 1980s. But there are also some very touching moments, particularly from Stiggs, and Altman's critique of the decade has aged really well.

On the other hand, I will say the film does go on a bit too long. The last act is painfully overlong, and Dennis Hopper's role is exactly what you'd expect, so if that's funny to you fine but it made me roll my eyes.