Does anybody know which was the original aspect ratio of DEATH WISH 3 and DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN? I am asking because the dvd releases that I have seen until now are fullscreen.

Also please suggest the best dvd releases for DEATH WISH 1-4 to buy.

thanks in advance

emerald

The intended OAR for Death Wish 3 and Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is 1.85:1 but both were shot open matte. Which is how the US Region 1 MGM DVDs are presented.

Death Wish can be obtained uncut on a R1 American Paramount DVD. I have this, it's a solid release.

Death Wish II was released cut in its R-rated version, and open matte, by MGM in the US. I own an uncut Spanish DVD called Yo Soy La Justicia which is in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. A/V is decent enough if hardly worth writing home about. It has an English language with no subtitles option.

There's also two double packs, combining Death Wish and Death Wish II, available - one from France and one from Australia, I believe.

With regards to other releases for the remaining three sequels, I don't know.

I cannot understand this. This means that the producers decided in the last minute to shoot the film open matte instead of 1.85:1?

I cannot believe that films such as DW 3 & 4 were shot open matte while other Cannon Group films of the same time were 1.85:1 (MURPHY'S LAW, 10 OT MIDNIGHT, etc). And considering that these films were not low-budget, it's hard to believe that they were shot fullscreen. Fullscreen is alright for TV-movies but not for feture films such as DEATH WISH 3 & 4.

Somebody please answer- this question has been bugging for months now!!

If these 2 films were really shot open matte I could stick to my VHS tapes instead of paying again for the MGM discs.

I did answer your question, and thoroughly.

As far as I'm aware the information I supplied is correct. It's not rare for a film to be shot open matte with the intention of the finished product being displayed at 1.85:1 and I believe this is what happened with Death Wish III and Death Wish IV: The Crackdown. Although it's hardly reliable, IMDB backs me up on this too.

If you were weaned on the full screen VHS you may want to stick with them. The DVD's will seem to lose picture info by comparison, instead of gaining info as you might expect.

Don't get me wrong... I never said that your info is innacurate. Thanks for answering, I just have unanswered questions on this case, there's no need to be pissed off, really...

Which is the best way to appreciathe the movie? Fullscreen or 1:85:1? As far as I know, movies that are shot open mate (TV/Video movies usually or low budget films) are better appreciated when displayed fullscreen. So if DW 3 & 4 were really shot open matte then the fullscreen discs will be fine right?

Also I cannot understand how a fullscreen movie can be turned into widescreen without being distorted. And what is the purpose for doing this?

No worries, I wasn't annoyed, just a bit confused by your second post.

With regards to the best way to appreciate it, that depends on who you're asking. I always tend to go for how the film was intended to be seen, so for me the MGM DVDs of Death Wish III and Death Wish IV: The Crackdown aren't good enough. But an open matte presentation will, of course, provide more information at the top and bottom although there's often the danger of boom mics appearing in shot. It's your call. You could always, if you have a widescreen TV, turn it to the same mode you use to watch a widescreen non-anamorphically enhanced letterbox DVD, thereby manually making it roughly the same ratio as it would have played theatrically.

Excerpted quotes from Lefteris's post:

:: As far as I know, movies that are shot open mate (TV/Video movies usually or low budget films) are better appreciated when displayed fullscreen... Also I cannot understand how a fullscreen movie can be turned into widescreen without being distorted. And what is the purpose for doing this?

My response:

Budget has nothing to do with whether a movie is shot with a hard-matte or soft-matte. In both cases, a 4-perf 35mm film frame is exposed, so they are using the same amount of film. The cost will be exactly the same.

As for how the full-screen image is turned into widescreen without being distorted, it's very simple- the top and bottom of the image is matted off during projection so that the resultant image as projected will be more rectangular. As for "why" some (actually, MOST 1.85:1 or less films) are shot open-matte, it was done specifically to accomadate television. The movie could be shown in theaters in widescreen, then for home video, instead of panning-and-scanning the image, they simply open up the top-and-bottom mattes on the image, showing picture information that was not shown in theaters.

NOW, as for movies that are shot full-frame but projected in widescreen being "preferable" in full-frame- this really is not the case. During original photography, there are markings in the camera viewfinder (and also on video tap monitors) showing what the 1.85:1 final theatrical framing will be, and all the important visual information is kept within the 1.85:1 boundaries. The "extra" picture above-and-below this 1.85:1 area is essentially "dead space" that isn't meant to be seen. The only reason it's even shown is to accomadate the squarer home video frame, but compostionally, it's dead space. Also, keep in mind that by opening those mattes and exposing the extra picture information on the negative, close-ups can become medium close-ups, and medium shots become more like long shots, etc. In other words, opening the mattes can sometimes actually change the entire feel of the film. Also, sometimes extraneous picture information like dolly tracks at the bottom, or boom mikes at the top, etc., can be seen in this "dead space", and that sort of stuff can take you right out of the film. I'd say a good percentage of the time that people complain about "mistakes" like boom mikes and the like are the result of open-matte full-frame video transfers- the matted, widescreen versions will cover these "mistakes" up.

The point is, the theatrical framing is the way to go most of the time, even if the full-frame version might have "more" picture information. There are some exceptions (some films shot in 16mm and later blown up to 35mm for example, like Romero's MARTIN which is badly framed in several places on the new "widescreen" DVD from Lion's Gate), and obviously 1.33:1 films from the pre-widescreen era of the 1950s should be shown full-frame and not matted, but for the majority of 35mm films shot "open matte", a matted presentation should be the way to go if you want to see the movie "correctly".

Vincent

Vincent, let me firstly say that I agree with everything in your exceptionally thorough post about watching films they way they were intended to be seen, dead space etc.

In a direct response to the quote above, I only meant to suggest that films shot open matte but intended to be exhibited in, for instance, a 1.85:1 ratio are better appreciated widescreen. Of course, if the movie was shot open matte and intended to be shown full-screen then that's the way to go.

With regards to "turning a fullscreen movie into a widescreen movie", it's possible - in a crude manner on a widescreen TV - to zoom in on the image so that the top and bottom of the picture is cut off. Basically, it manually turns an open matte picture into a 1.77:1 one, thus losing the dead space of the open matte format. This is far from ideal but if the only method of home-viewing available is open matte this is an answer to some. Not me, but I have friends who do this on occasion. I hope this post makes sense.

Graham:

Read the quote I made more carefully- I took it from Lefteris's post, not yours :)

I've since edited my post to make it clear that the quote was from Lefteris's post and not yours.

Vincent

Doh! That'll teach me to write posts while under pressure of a deadline at work. Actually, I didn't realise it was a quote at all - I thought it was a part of your post. Stupid of me I know...

According to imdb.com, the negative ratio was fullframe (1.37:1), but the "intended ratio" was widescreen (1.85:1). This is true of all five of the Death Wish films. So long as that as correct, I'd assume many of us will be unsatisfied watching the full frame releases of Death Wish 3-5.

charlie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089003/technical