The Shooting / Ride in the Whirlwind Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

The Shooting / Ride in the Whirlwind Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 23, 2014

Monte Hellman's "The Shooting" (1966) and "Ride in the Whirlwind" (1966) arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include new video interview with actress Millie Perkins; new video interview with producer Roger Corman; new video interview with actor Harry Dean Stanton; video appreciation of actor Warren Oates created by critic Kim Morgan; two audio commentaries with director Monte Hellman and film historians Bill Krohn and Black Lucas; and a lot more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Michael Atkinson's essay "We Can Bring a Good Bit of Rope". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The Long Walk

The Shooting

A mysterious young woman (Millie Perkins, The Diary of Anne Frank) hires cowboys Willett Gashade (Warren Oates, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia) and Coley Boyard (Will Hutchins, Spinout) to escort her to a small town somewhere in the desert. She only reveals to them that she is looking for a wanted man.

Overwhelmed by the woman's beauty, Boyard does his best to win her sympathy, but the more he tries, the more she manipulates him. Gashade warns Boyard to be careful, but he misinterprets his intent and the two friends exchange some harsh words.

Before they enter the desert, the travelers are joined by Billy Spear (Jack Nicholson), an evil cowboy with a twitchy finger who has also been hired to track down the wanted man. Spear’s attitude quickly annoys Gashade. Later on, Spear forces Gashade to surrender his gun while Boyard is abandoned in the desert. Eventually, the wanted man emerges on the horizon.

Filmed by maverick American director Monte Hellman, The Shooting is a low-budget noir picture disguised as a western. It is slow, very atmospheric and allergic to the flashy shootouts that are so prominent in the big-budget westerns from the same era.

The film begins and ends abruptly. Parts of its story also remain somewhat vague. This is hardly surprising, however, as Hellman’s films are typically concerned with the reality in which their characters exist, not necessarily their complete stories. (See Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop and Road to Nowhere).

The script for the film was written by Carole Eastman, who also collaborated with Bob Rafelson on Five Easy Pieces and Jerry Schatzberg on the excellent Puzzle of a Downfall Child. The dialog is snappy and colorful, just perfect for the film's temperamental stars, Nicholson and Oates.

Ride in the Whirlwind

On their way back to Waco, three cowhands get trapped in a shootout between vigilantes and a gang of outlaws. Two of them, Wes (Nicholson) and Vern (Cameron Mitchell, The Toolbox Murders), manage to escape. After the vigilantes kill the outlaws they go after the cowhands, convinced that they are also part of the gang.

Ride in the Whirlwind is a more traditional western, though it too sees the West from a very unique angle. In this film the West is a lonely and rather dull place where justice is constantly redefined while the majority of the people living there look like prisoners who have come to realize that their lives have been complete and utter failures.

Ride in the Whirlwind was shot simultaneously with The Shooting (both were produced with Roger Corman’s involvement). Its editing is somewhat problematic, but the visuals are just as impressive as those from The Shooting.

Nicholson wrote the script for Ride in the Whirlwind, but he is a lot better in The Shooting. Harry Dean Stanton plays the leader of the outlaws, Blind Dick, while Perkins is the young, naive and very quiet daughter of a strict rancher.

The Shooting / Ride in the Whirlwind Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted 1080p transfers, Monte Hellman's The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this release:

"Supervised by director Monte Hellman, these new digital transfers were created in 4K resolution on a Scanity film scanner from the original camera negatives. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction. The original monaural soundtracks were remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm magnetic tracks. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD, Audio Cube's integrated workstation, and iZotope RX 3.

Transfer supervisors: Monte Hellman, Lee Kline.
Colorist: Sheri Eisenberg/Sony Colorworks, Culver City, CA."

Please note that the screencaptures included with our review appear in the following order:

Screencaptures #1-14 are from The Shooting
Screencapyures #16-30 are from Ride in the Whirlwind

Both films look spectacular on Blu-ray. During close-ups detail and clarity are fantastic, while the wide panoramic shots boast incredible fluidity. Colors are lush, stable and very natural. There are a couple of sunsets where the natural light and the rich colors look simply sensational (in one of the audio commentaries on the disc director Hellman specifically mentions how important it was to get them right on film). Image depth is consistently very pleasing (see screencaptures #1 and 3). I would specifically like to mention that the nighttime footage boasts fantastic clarity as well. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. Overall image stability is excellent. Debris, scratches, cuts, damage marks, and stains have been carefully removed. (The raw looking finale of The Shooting appears as intended). Lastly, there are no encoding anomalies to report in this review. All in all, these are fantastic presentations of Monte Hellman's The Shooting and The Whirlwind which will undoubtedly remain the definitive presentations of these films on the home video market. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

The Shooting / Ride in the Whirlwind Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind arrive with English LPCM 1.0 tracks. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for each film.

Clarity is good on both tracks, but there are some minor dynamic and balance fluctuations. As a result, at times the dialog could be slightly difficult to follow (especially on The Shooting). However, it is very easy to tell that these are production limitations (both films were shot with modest budgets). There are no pops, cracks, background hiss, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in this review.

The Shooting / Ride in the Whirlwind Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• House of Corman - in this video interview, legendary producer Roger Corman and director Monte Hellman recall how The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind came to exist, and discuss the art of film editing. In English, not subtitled. (6 min, 1080p).

• The Diary of Millie Perkins - in this video interview, actress Millie Perkins discusses her contributions to The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind, her interactions with Jack Nicholson during the shooting of the films, some of the riding lessons she was given, etc. In English, not subtitled. (17 min, 1080p).

• Whips and Jingles - in this video interview, actor Will Hutchins recalls how he was approached by Monte Hellman to play Coley Boyard in The Shooting, his initial impressions of the script for the film, how different sequences were shot, etc. The interview is moderated by film curator Jake Perlin. In English, not subtitled. (16 min, 1080p).

• Blind Harry - in this video interview, Harry Dean Stanton recalls how he was approached by Jack Nicholson to play the bandit Blind Dick in Ride in the Whirlwind. The interview is moderated by Monte Hellman. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• The True Death of Leland Drum - in this filmed conversation, director Monte Hellman and actors B. J. Merholz (Edgar) and John Hackett (Winslow) discuss the shooting of Ride in the Whirlwind and legendary wrangler Calvin Johnson's invaluable assistance. In English, not subtitled. (17 min, 1080p).

• Heart of Lightness - in this filmed conversation, assistant cameraman/assistant director Gary Kurtz and director Monte Hellman remember how certain sequences were shot in Utah, and discuss the credits at the end of the films (apparently not all of the people that worked on the films were credited), the funding of the films, the handling of some of the horses that were used in the films, etc. In English, not subtitled. (19 min, 1080p).

• The Last Cowboy - legendary wrangler Calvin Johnson worked with some of American Cinema's greatest stars, such as John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. In this filmed conversation, he and director Monte Hellman remember where and how different parts of The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind were shot. In English, not subtitled. (18 min, 1080p).

• An American Original - presented here is a video appreciation of actor Warren Oates. The piece was written and narrated by film critic Kim Morgan for Criterion in 2014. In English, not subtitled. (14 min, 1080p).

• Commentaries - included on this release are two audio commentaries with director Monte Hellman and film historians Bill Krohn and Black Lucas. There is plenty of factual information pertaining to the production history of the two film, the shooting processes (and specifically the selection of the locations), the framing and the editing, the careers of those involved with the two films, etc.

• Leaflet - featuring critic Michael Atkinson's essay "We Can Bring a Good Bit of Rope" and technical credits.

The Shooting / Ride in the Whirlwind Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

When Jack Nicholson introduced Monte Hellman's The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind at the Cannes Film Festival, Jean-Luc Godard was amongst the French critics that saw the films and was enormously impressed. It is not difficult to tell why. These are stylish, notably atmospheric westerns that even today look and feel strikingly original. Both have been restored in 4K and look astonishing on Blu-ray. Criterion's release also comes with an excellent selection of exclusive new supplemental features. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.