Sunset (1988) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Action Comedy | Trailer-Silverado, Buck And The Preacher | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1988 | ||
Running Time | 102:13 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Blake Edwards |
Studio
Distributor |
Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Bruce Willis James Garner Malcolm McDowell Mariel Hemingway Kathleen Quinlan Jennifer Edwards Patricia Hodge Richard Bradford M. Emmet Walsh Joe Dallesandro Andreas Katsulas Dann Florek Bill Marcus |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | $13.95 | Music | Henry Mancini |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 4.0 L-C-R-S (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
|
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
|
||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English French German Italian Spanish Dutch Portuguese |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes |
Blake Edwards' Sunset, starring then television star Bruce Willis, was released in early 1988 just prior to Willis' career-making turn in the action masterpiece Die Hard. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I imagine the Tristar executives were licking their wounds for not delaying the release of their entertaining turn of the century adventure until after the release of the action juggernaut. Sunset virtually vanished from theatres overnight upon release, which is a shame as the film is quite entertaining.
Set in the late 1920s, Willis stars as Tom Mix, the legendary silent western film star who has just landed the role of Wyatt Earp in a film adaptation of the legendary Gunfight At The OK Corral. To assist with the authenticity of the project, the real Wyatt Earp, played by the charismatic James Garner, has signed on as the technical advisor. During production of the film, which is entitled Lawman, the two larger-than-life characters get tangled up in a murder mystery involving one of Earp's old flames. With high adventure beckoning, the two heroes team up and take on the corrupt underbelly of old Hollywood the best way they know how - with a whiskey in one hand and a six shooter in the other.
I remember seeing Sunset during its `blink and you'll miss it' run in cinemas. I enjoyed it then and darn if it's still not a lot of fun 16 years later. Willis and Garner make extremely enjoyable leads, especially Garner who gives legendary lawman Wyatt Earp a real larger-than-life presence. As a director I can take or leave Blake Edwards. There's no question the guy is talented, but for every one of his films I've enjoyed like S.O.B., Blind Date, and The Great Race, there are others like Victor Victoria and the Pink Panther films that I despise with a passion. I consider Sunset to be one of the better outings for Mr Edwards. The film is simply too much fun not to enjoy on some level. Combine a delightful mix of humour and old fashioned adventure, then cap it off with a ravishing Henry Mancini score - you just can't lose.
Sunset has been presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced for widescreen viewing.
Columbia Tristar have once again delivered the goods for a catalogue title. The transfer has a strong, sharp image with little in the way of aliasing. Blacks are solid with reasonable shadow detail and grain is minimal at best. I could not detect any low level noise issues.
Colours are natural with no image bleeding.
There are the occasional film artefacts consistent with a film of this vintage, but they are less than obtrusive.
Columbia never cease to amaze with the quality of their catalogue releases - I hope this trend continues.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The film has been given an English audio track in Dolby Digital 4.0 and four 2.0 tracks in Spanish, French, German and Italian. Obviously the 4.0 English track is the preferred option.
Character dialogue is crisp and clean with no dropouts or audio sync anomalies.
The film's score is by legendary film composer Henry Mancini, and he does not disappoint. Mancini provides a sweeping score that captures both the sense of adventure and the time period of the story.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of surround channel usage in the 4.0 mix. The rear channels contain a number of directional effects that are well placed, and add nicely to the more robust aspects of the film.
The subwoofer adds enough reverberation and bass to support the lively audio mix.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
All versions of this DVD currently available are essentially the same.
Sunset is a thoroughly enjoyable action film from director Blake Edwards. If gunfights, bar room brawls and sly humour are your cup of tea then look no further. The disc has a very good transfer with no extras, but for a very inexpensive catalogue title it's hard to beat.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using Component output |
Display | LG 76cm Widescreen Flatron Television. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Sony HT-K215. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Sony HT-K215 |
Speakers | fronts-paradigm titans, centre &rear Sony - radio parts subbie |