Curious if anyone here was fans of the films Traveling Executioner, Sitting Target, The Outside Man and Welcome Home, Solider Boys? I'm dying to see these films and was curious on thoughts on and if anyone is ever familiar with any getting a home video or TV/Cable release? Bill Lustig brought those films up in an interview I just posted on Twitch.

Funny you brought up WELCOME HOME SOLDIER BOYS as I just watched that for the first time a month or so ago. It is a very depressing tale of men returning home from Vietnam and encountering trouble both psychologically and with the general population. Joe Don Baker give a good performance as the lead. Definitely the kind of film that could have only been made in the early 70s (although some indie filmmaker could do it today regarding the Iraq war). Fred at Critical Condition just reviewed it recently too (some spoilers in the review):

http://www.critcononline.com/thriller%20pa...comeHomeSoldier

WELCOME HOME, SOLDIER BOYS has never been on home video in any form, AFAIK, though I presume it did used to play on TV. It was made by 20th Century Fox, so you would think it might show up on Fox Movie Channel, though it never does. The movie's meandering structure (by writer Guerdon Trueblood, who later made THE CANDY SNATCHERS) may frustrate some audience members, but if you stick with it, the excellent cast (including Joe Don Baker, Jesse Vint, Jennifer Billingsley, Paul Koslo, Billy Green Bush, Lonny Chapman, Francine York and Geoffrey Lewis) and Richard Compton's confident direction provides plenty of interesting moments, like when Baker runs across an old high school chum who clearly wishes to forget his previous life. I agree that this could be excellent remake material.

THE OUTSIDE MAN has come up on Mobius before and is worth watching. I saw it a few years ago when it was playing on pay cable. Although marketed as a straight crime thriller with the trailer displaying nearly every shot fired and car crashed in the picture, THE OUTSIDE MAN also works as a character study of an amoral Stranger in a Strange Land and an interesting look at how America can often seem to those overseas. Director Jacques Deray delights in showing off the billboards and apartment houses of Los Angeles, and lingers over a bus station's pay electric razors and coin-operated television sets. Even the action scenes are quirky, with the climactic shootout in a cemetary--in which the decedent is buried sitting up (!)--filmed in a chaotic manner quite unlike the carefully choreographed setpieces were used to in American thrillers. Another great '70s cast: Ann-Margret, Angie Dickinson, Roy Scheider, Georgia Engel of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, Felice Orlandi, Alex Rocco, Carmen Argenziano, Jackie Earle Haley, John Hillerman, Ben Piazza, Connie Kreski (the PLAYBOY centerfold who played Mercy in the self-indulgent Anthony Newley fiasco CAN HIERONYMOUS MERKIN EVER FORGET MERCY HUMPPE AND FIND TRUE HAPPINESS?), Talia Shire and Ted de Corsia.

Funny you should bring up bringing up WELCOME HOME, as it's also cited in Blake Etheridge's just-posted interview with Bill Lustig over at the European Cult Cinema board.

Don't get your hopes up for a Blue Underground release, however - he's just another fan.

Thanks for the link and info on Welcome Home. Sounds like there was at least a Japanese VHS of it at one time. I certainly want to track it down now even more.

Outside Man sounds good. I see a ton of VHS copies available on Amazon, so I'll pick one up.

For Sitting Target and Traveling, I've looked around various used home video shops and kept watch on eBay but nothing has turned up. I knew if anyone online might know of a home video release it would be the cult board here.

SITTING TARGET was released in Japan on VHS but that is the only release I have seen. I enjoyed the film which lived up to it's reputation quite nicely. EXECUTIONER I saw on TV 35 years ago and can't remember much...it was the CBS Late Movie on a school night.

In the UK SITTING TARGET turns up regularly on TCM.

SITTING TARGET is a terrific film; I seem to recall a review I wrote appeared in "Shock Cinema" some years ago, but I couldn't tell you the issue number. I originally saw it late night on ATV and again on TCM(UK). I recently acquired a copy of the Japanese VHS (and a Japanese poster); not sure what's keeping it off DVD as it's great example of the tough crime genre (perhaps exemplified by the TV series "The Sweeney") that British film and TV did so well in the 60's (eg. PAYROLL, GET CARTER) and 70's.

As a longtime Oliver Reed fan, I've been dying to see SITTING TARGET for years...
I've never seen THE SWEENEY either (poor deprived yank), but the SOUNDTRACK ALBUM is brilliant... a must-have disc.

My copy comes from the Japanese tape. I THINK it was put out by CBS/Fox. I wouldn't say it's a fun film, but reminded me of all those 70s road films, but with army men.

Just watched Sitting Target. Really stylish and Douglas Hickox's work here reminded me of John Boorman's work in Point Blank. Reed gets to boil and the story is really nicely realized up until the very end where it suddenly felt like it turned into more of a TV show. Not sure if it would play stronger on the big screen. From a technical perspective I'm sure I'll rewatch this one again to see the various angles, composition of shots, camera placement and editing used for many stand out sequences.

Just finished watching The Traveling Executioner. Outside of the Dion Brothers/Gravy Train this might be Stacy Keach's best performance ever. Really unusual film held together by great performances and an involving narrative.

SPOILERS

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The only real question that I have is this. In the version I saw Marianna Hill makes it to the end with all her hair (apparently now sentenced to life in jail - 99 years) and the kid says goodbye to her. End credits roll. This caught me off guard a bit because I've seen a lobbycard of Marianna Hill with her head shaved sitting in the electric chair. Perhaps there is an alternate ending to the film???