Silverado

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General		Extras
Category	Western	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - 1.33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - Dolby City Trailer
Year Released	1985	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	127:15 minutes	Other Extras	Featurette - The Making Of Silverado (37 mins) Filmographies - Cast & Crew
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (78:33)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	2,4	Director	Lawrence Kasdan
Studio Distributor	Columbia TriStar	Starring	Kevin Kline Scott Glenn Rosanna Arquette John Cleese Kevin Costner Brian Dennehy Danny Glover Jeff Goldblum Linda Hunt
RRP	$34.95	Music	Bruce Broughton

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	No	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	Yes	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s) French (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s)  German (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 Kb/s) Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 Kb/s) Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	Yes
Subtitles	English German French Dutch Spanish Italian Portuguese Arabic Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Swedish Turkish	Annoying Product Placement	No

    The broad plot involves Paden (Kevin Kline), left for dead in the desert after being robbed of everything bar his long johns, being discovered by Emmett (Scott Glenn) and teaming up to reach the town of Turley where Emmett's brother, Jake (Kevin Costner) awaits. Along the way, Paden recovers his horse from the thug that stole it. The arrival of the duo in Turley leads to a slight case of mistaken identity with the leader of a wagon train heading for Silverado, such train including the wagon of Hannah (Rosanna Arquette) and her husband. Seeking a quiet drink and lodgings in the local saloon is Mal (Danny Glover), but there is a no African American policy in the saloon, which leads to a little scuffle interrupted by Sheriff Langston (John Cleese), who recommends that Mal leave his jurisdiction. Emmett now finds out that Jake is to be hanged the next morning for murder, so determines to break him out of jail that night. Paden in the meantime gets thrown into jail for killing the guy who stole his hat, so naturally when the break out happens next morning all three head off as wanted men - teaming up with Mal along the way.

    You sure you want the plot? Eventually, after a short interlude involving the rescue of money stolen from the wagon train, they arrive in Silverado, a peaceful town run by a crooked Sheriff Cobb (Brian Dennehy), who so happens to be a former companion of Paden's. All sorts of mayhem ensues with all sorts of injustices to be righted. Along the way, the entire deputy corps of the town is killed, as well as assorted personnel of the local crooked rancher, but ultimately we all live happily ever after when Paden kills Cobb in the obligatory shoot out in the main street.

    Told you this contained every cliché in the western book. But Kasdan has done a superb job weaving the clichés into one of the best westerns you will see. After the heights of The Big Chill, it comes as something of a surprise that this is equally as good, with a number of familiar faces carried over from that film, both in front of the camera and behind. At least Costner's role was not cut out of this effort! This really is a greatly entertaining film.

Video

    The video transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced. In this regard, we are fortunate as the original Region 1 release is only a 1.78:1 transfer.

    The transfer throughout has a glorious sharpness to it, with a clarity to it that I have rarely seen. The transfer has some quite wonderful definition to it. The transfer is only let down by some marginally grainy sections later in the film. Shadow detail was in general very good, although not quite up to the very best standards of more recent films.

    The colours are what really impress here, being a beautifully natural palette, not overly vibrant but capturing the feel of the New Mexico location exceptionally well. There is no hint of oversaturation at all. Rarely have I seen a palette of natural colours so exceptionally well captured.

    This is a quite clean transfer and there were no MPEG artefacts seen, and there were no apparent video artefacts to mar the transfer either. After the first couple of minutes, there were virtually no film artefacts at all, and even in the first few minutes these were not at all intrusive.

    The disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change at 78:33. Whilst the change is noticeable, it is not disruptive to the film at all, and definitely better than getting up and turning the disc over.

Audio

    There are five soundtracks on the DVD, with the default being English Dolby Digital 5.1. The other soundtracks are French Dolby Digital 5.1, German Dolby Digital 2.0 surround sound, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 surround sound and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround sound. I listened to the English default.

    Dialogue was usually clear and easy to understand, although there were occasional lapses that I believe are inherent in the original film and do not represent mastering problems.

    There did not seem to be any audio sync problems at all with the transfer.

    The music score to the film is provided by Bruce Broughton, and a wonderfully complementary score it is - it earned an Oscar nomination. The theme music is probably well known even to people who do not know the film well.

    This is a nicely balanced soundtrack, although not especially well detailed, and you really feel as if you are in the middle of the action. The rear surround channels were not that prevalent in the mix, but this was not missed at all.

    The subwoofer is really given a workout especially during the action music. Personally, I feel there is a little too much bass in the mix, and you might be better reducing the audio level of the subwoofer for the film.

Menu

Theatrical trailer

Featurette - The Making of Silverado

Filmographies

    A wonderful video transfer with hardly anything to detract from it.

    A good audio transfer, although a little bass heavy.

    A decent collection of extras, that adds to the enjoyment of the film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris
5th September 1999