Keoma Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Keoma Blu-ray Movie Review

Twilight's last gleaming.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 26, 2019

One of the nice things about the Blu-ray format’s “maturity” is that various labels and/or licensors can return to films that had arguably less than stellar releases “the first time ‘round”. While Mill Creek Entertainment’s two-fer of The Grand Duel / Keoma came out at least relatively recently (2012), my colleague Martin Liebman found both films on the disc had at least some technical deficiencies ( Keoma evidently more so than The Grand Duel ) in that edition. While Marty hedged his critique of the release at least a bit by trumpeting the fact that two movies were included and the list price was incredibly low (it’s virtually a “giveaway” currently on Amazon), he also stated upfront in his The Grand Duel / Keoma Blu-ray review, “Do the movies deserve more? Absolutely.” As if to answer that now seven year old query (and answer), Arrow Video has (once again?) come to the rescue, offering sumptuous new editions of each film (released separately, as is probably preferable to many consumers) with much improved video and audio, and with some very appealing supplementary material. (In perusing our database, it seems that Mill Creek evidently also released The Grand Duel as a standalone as a Wal-Mart exclusive in 2013.)

For an overview of some of the plot mechanics of Keoma , I refer you to Marty’s summary in his The Grand Duel / Keoma Blu-ray review. I’d only add a few more thoughts to the mix. The first is that despite this being a slow burning tale of roiling family dysfunctions and (ultimately) a kind of traditional revenge angle, Keoma is structurally fascinating from a number of standpoints. As commentators C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke point out in their extremely engaging analysis of the film, the way director Enzo G. Castellari handles memory in this film is rather interesting, with flashbacks kind of “intruding” into “current” time, which from an introspective psychological point of view is probably a pretty accurate way to depict how people actually experience remembering something from long ago. There’s also an almost Magical Realist element in terms of a character called The Witch (Gabriella Giacobbe) who reappears recurrently throughout the film and who in her own way is kind of weirdly reminiscent of Death in The Seventh Seal.

While it’s at least arguable that star Franco Nero is merely revisiting his characterization of Django in Keoma (and the film, like so many others, was evidently marketed as a “Django” film in some areas), Keoma offers Woody Strode one of his strongest seventies’ portrayals as George, an erstwhile ally of Keoma’s who has fallen on hard times, and who has to experience some really squirm worthy harassment in this tale.

Finally, also of note (both literally and figuratively), is what has long been one of Keoma's most notorious elements, an absolutely gonzo score from Guido and Mauricio De Angelis, music which Marty in his review described as "out there", and which commentators C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke more or less dismiss and not being "helpful". I'd only say this: long ago I was told by a composer with some pretty well known film credits that the best scores were subliminal, not actually noticed all that much by the conscious mind, but appealing to emotions perhaps not even fully articulated. One way or the other, Keoma's score is positively liminal.

Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Keoma is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet has the following information on the restoration:

Keoma is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Italian and English mono audio. The original 2-perf 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution at EuroLab. The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, picture instability and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques. The mono Italian and English language tracks were remastered from the original sound negatives at Deluxe Media, Los Angeles. The audio synch will appear slightly loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue was recorded entirely in post- production, as per the production standards of the period.

All original materials used in this restoration were accessed from Surf Film.

Of the two movies included on the old Mill Creek Entertainment release, Marty gave manifestly worse marks for the video on Keoma, and while relying largely if not solely on comparisons of screenshots (I literally gave away my copy of the Mill Creek double feature years ago, simply because of the quality issues, but do have fairly vivid memories of it), there are obvious improvements across the board in the Arrow presentation. The Mill Creek version suffered from boosted brightness and contrast, and a kind of noisy, video-like appearance, and with pretty lackluster detail levels throughout, and all of those anomalies are commendably missing in action on this Arrow version. While the image is considerably darker here, there's really no loss of detail, and the palette struck my eyes as much more natural looking in this version. Arrow's restoration gauntlet has removed any signs of age related wear and tear that I could personally spot. Grain resolves naturally throughout, with some expected spikes in opticals. You'll note in the screenshots Marty provided with his review that the Mill Creek version was just slightly windowboxed (look on the right and left sides of Marty's screenshots), and that is also not to be found here.

Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Keoma features LPCM Mono tracks in Italian and English, and you're getting dubbed performances one way or the other, as per the verbiage from Arrow's insert booklet, above. While there aren't any substantial differences between the two languages in terms of overall mix and fidelity, the English track struck me as just slightly hotter, but only incrementally. There's minor background hiss that becomes noticeable in quieter moments, but it's at such a consistent level throughout both language presentations that it kind of fades into the background, or at least did so for me. There are some interesting differences in voice work between the languages, and so some may find toggling interesting due to that fact alone. I noticed no outright damage in either track.

Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• English and Italian Versions with language appropriate credits are offered.


• Audio Commentary by C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Clarke is another enjoyable chat by the pair. A number of topics are addressed, including some of the artful framings, which they attribute to a larger budget and more planning time, and the perhaps questionable (and undeniably controversial) score.


• The Ballad of Keoma (1080p; 21:41) is a new interview with Franco Nero.


• Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust (1080p; 28:53) is a new interview with Enzo G. Castellari.


• Writing Keoma (1080p; 16:14) is an interview with Luigi Montefiore, AKA George Eastman (whose name Spaghetti Western fans may know from his acting work). Eastman AKA Montefiore readily admits some influences here, including Django.


• Parallel Actions (1080p; 22:18) is a new interview with editor Gianfranco Amicucci.


• The Flying Thug (1080p; 24:03) is a new interview with actor Massimo Vanni.


• Play as an Actor (1080p; 30:02) is a new interview with actor Wolfango Soldati.


• Keoma and the Twilight of the Spaghetti Western (1080p; 18:43) offers Austin Fisher assessing the film within its historical production period.


• An Introduction to Keoma by Alex Cox (1080i; 5:03) is an archival piece featuring the director discussing the film.


• Original Trailers

  International Trailer (1080p; 3:47)

  
  

  Italian Trailer (1080p; 3:43)

• Image Galleries

  Production Stills (1080p; 3:10)

  
  

  Posters and Press (1080p; 3:30)

  
  

  Lobby Cards (1080p; 10:40)

  
  

  Home Video and Soundtrack Sleeves (1080p; 4:50)

As usual, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet with two essays, "He Can't Die": 'Keoma' and the Widely Reported Demise of the Spaghetti Western, by Simon Abrams; and Shooting from the Hip: The Westerns of Franco Nero, by Howard Hughes. A selection of contemporary reviews has also been compiled by Roberto Curti and James Blackford.

Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Keoma is one of the more interesting films from what several people in supplements on this disc suggest was the "first wave" of Spaghetti Westerns, and one of the most interesting things is how it, coming at the tail end of this perceived wave, sought to mix things up with some structural artifices, even if at least some elements of the story were admittedly pretty rote. While the score may indeed be a turn off for some, the rest of the film should prove to be an exciting viewing experience for both newcomers, and maybe especially longtime fans who have been hoping for a better version than the one Mill Creek provided several years ago. Technical merits are first rate, and Arrow has assembled a mighty slate of enjoyable supplements. Highly recommended.