According to the Criterion Monthly news letter (see the lower right hand corner of the letter) which states, "It's True. DAZED AND CONFUSED arrives just in time for summer!"

This is great news...

Now, if only they could convince Linklater to re-edit and release the longer cut of BEFORE SUNRISE that shows Julie Delpy's character tried to commit suicide!

And if I could only get Criterion to buy back the Universal DVD I bought last year...

As much as I love DAZED AND CONFUSED...

I can understand SLACKER...but why is Criterion releasing D and C?

Why is Criterion doing DAZED? This will fund much of their artier fare...believe me, the DAZED cult is much bigger than you know. It wouldn't surprise me if this outsells any other individual Criterion title.

FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS is (slightly depressingly) Criterion's biggest seller to date, so with DAZED's status as another major home video cult hit of the 90s (and a good deal more accessible than F&L to boot), I'd think Criterion and Linklater alike will be keen to make this release as irresistible as they can.

Man, I've come close to picking that one up (I assume you mean the oft-maligned "Flashback Edition", not the earlier bare-bones disc) on several occasions, only to wind up grabbing something else instead, despite the fact that I love this film and had previously bought it on both VHS and laserdisc. Great news that Criterion is doing their own edition - if they do it up right like they did with SLACKER, it should be a contender for the top-10 list this year.

Dave

You know, it always amazes me when people complain about some of the titles Criterion releases.

Look, they have a relationship with Linklater, and Linklater was famously unhappy with the way Universal treated DAZED & CONFUSED, plus DAZED has a HUGE cult following and was a critical success- why SHOULDN'T they release it?

Vincent

I don't understand the complaints or confusion that pop up when any contemporary films are added to the Collection, either. The great reasons Vincent has listed for DAZED being given a spine number are probably more true than the suspicious "this will fund much of their artier fare." Whenever the topic is approached, Criterion's Jon Mulvaney indicates that the margin by which ARMAGEDDON, CHASING AMY, and other controversial titles have truly funded their catalog of European art standards is minimal (Kurosawas and Bergmans kind of pay for themselves, you know?). The company honest-to-God picks movies they have a strong desire to work on and with which they want to associate their name.

You can believe it's all spin if you like, but I think Criterion is releasing DAZED AND CONFUSED because someone in the office really likes DAZED AND CONFUSED.

Why is it depressing that FEAR & LOATHING is Criterion's best seller? It's a fantastic DVD, and they really went above and beyond with educational archival materials and beautiful packaging.

Well, I think it's both. It's a quality film, and it will help fund releasing more obscure - not Bergman & Kurosawa - and riskier titles, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I don't think there's anything wrong with this - I just wondered why they picked this title? I love DAZED AND CONFUSED and am happy to see - what I hope will be - the near definitive version.

I certainly don't see my question as a complaint about Criterion's choices...I just thought this was unusual and not necessarily fitting with Criterion's typically high-priced elitist attitude...(and, yeah, I appreciate the attention they pay toward films otherwise lost or forgotten but, man, I hate their pricing structure and think its totally unecessary especially if they regurgitate old LD extras...they do do that don't they?)

Criterion may have an elitist attitude... They are, after all, a company that brought us a double-disc CARNIVAL OF SOULS with a bunch of dopey educational films as supplements, and a decked-out THE BLOB with a color wall poster enclosed, and a collection of Beastie Boys videos! With FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, GIMME SHELTER and NAKED LUNCH in the Collection, I think the air is drug-hazy enough for DAZED AND CONFUSED to fit right in.

Criterion only "regurgitates old" LD extras on case by case basis (Spike Lee welcomes you to the Voyager Laserdisc of DO THE RIGHT THING), sometimes altered (see CHILDREN OF PARADISE commentary), sometimes all-new, even for previously issued laserdiscs. To hear Mulvaney explain it, you're mostly paying extra for the restoration job and licensing.

Someone here with more real-world DVD-company-running experience can likely tell you if Criterion's justifications for pricing make any sense.

The only instances where I can think of Criterion simply "reguritating" old LaserDisc extras was in the earliest days of the DVD format, when they were essentially releasing DVD versions of their already-released LD titles. Even in those cases, it was a bargain- you could buy the LaserDisc special edition of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS for $99.95 list, or get the DVD version with the same extras for $39.95, and it looked better, to boot.

LaserDisc has been dead for years now, and Criterion has become essentially a DVD-only company, so they aren't "regurgitating" anything anymore, and their prices have dropped, to boot. I picked up the 2-disc THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH for less than $30, and it came with a reprint of the novel for crying out loud. This is considered to be price-gouging by some people? Give me a friggin' break!

Criterion is consistently the BEST company when it comes to their film-to-tape transfers, painstaking restoration work, and loving attention to detail, plus they have to license everything from third parties. I don't see their slightly higher prices as being unfair or any sort of hinderance at all.

Vincent

Well I, for one, am very much looking forward to seeing DAZED AND CONFUSED come out in what should be a definitive SE.

Speaking of Criterion, does anyone know if they still have the rights to Coppola's Dracula? It seems odd that there hasn't been a SE dvd of this yet.

I'm eagerly looking forward to this one, too. I never tire of watching it and get a special thrill out of having Parker Posey in the Criterion collection now =)

No, there's been no collaboration with Sony since the director's commentary from Criterion's Monty Python and the Holy Grail laserdisc appeared on the DVD. It's a shame, because there are plenty of remarkable laserdiscs with content begging to be transferred over to DVD (Ray Harryhausen's commentary on Jason and the Argonauts, Terry Gilliam on Baron Munchausen and The Fisher King, John Schlesinger on Midnight Cowboy, etc.)

Specs are up and it'll be arriving in June!

4K Spirit-Datacine transfer??!??!?? DROOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vincent

While not exactly known for their comedic leanings, Criterion have sneaked a doozy into their DAZED AND CONFUSED specs:

"About the Transfer

Dazed and Confused is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are normal for this format. Director Richard Linklater and director of photography Lee Daniel supervised this new high-definition digital transfer, which was created on a high-definition Spirit 4K Datacine from a 35mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of material included. The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the original stems, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. Plus, Melba Toast is packin’ 411 Positrac outback, 750 double pumper Edelbrock intakes, bored over 30, 11 to 1 pop-up pistons, turbo-jet 390 horsepower. We’re talkin’ some fuckin’ muscle."

The specs were already linked to in this thread, but just thought I'd post the artwork. Nice.

I"m gonna have to disagree with you there. Nothing about that box screams "1970s", "funny", "comedy", "sophisticated", or "buy this." It does say, "How do you like my 6-year-old son's art project?"

Gotta agree with Marty, I'm not a fan of that artwork at all.

But the special edition specs look really nice, though. I just wish they put it all in a better looking package.

Vincent

First review is in!

Wow! I can't recall ever being as excited about a DVD release as I am about this one. The reviewer did a nice job whetting my appetite, although I would disagree with his contention that Pink's debate on whether to sign the 'no-drug' paper was disconnected with the rest of the film. It was one of many plot points, but a highly symbolic one for an adolescent who's deciding what he's going to make of his life and how he's going to mesh his individuality with the soon-to-be 'adult' world. Besides, the true climax is the drive to Houston to get Aerosmith tickets, which would be THE big event of the summer for a teen in 1976; and cinematically, when the camera looks back through the car window to see the teens laughing and having a great time the way only teens really can, almost like a memory since all we can hear is 'Slow Ride' on the soundtrack, then a shot of the road winding ahead...that's how to end a movie. The only part of the film that's better is the very beginning, as I still get chills remembering sitting in the dark theater with the opening to 'Sweet Emotion' playing over the titles...wow.

I really can't wait for this.