American Cinematographer - March 2000 - 18

by Chris Pizzello

so

Easy Rider
Special Edition

star/co-writer Peter Fonda, associate

Columbia TriStar, $24.95

manager Paul
admits that he

Because it immerses the viewer

minded

producer William Hayward, production
Lewis and Kovacs, who

thoroughly in the 1960s hippie

aesthetic, Easy Rider is one of those
films
it

indelibly rooted in the

was

made.

era

in which

But director Dennis

Hoppers refreshingly European-flavored
film is too ambitious to be dismissed

as

crew

was one

members

of the few soberon

the set. "We

figured somebody had to make this
movie!" he notes with a laugh at one
point. Particulary fascinating are
Kovacs's explanation of the helicopter
shot that ends the film, and the filmmak¬
ers' ruminations on the meaning of

a

Captain America's famously enigmatic

it's

line, "We blew it."

quaint relic of the Flower Power era -
important to remember that the over¬
whelming critical and commercial
success of Easy Rider was one of the true
catalysts of the 70s renaissance in

Chinatown

Paramount, $29.95

American film, a vibrant era in which the
director

was

God and studio heads

cowered in his shadow.
Mindful of

Easy Riders influence,

Columbia TriStar has rolled out

a

deluxe,

full-dress edition of this

Hassle-Free

eloquent study of personal and political
corruption in 1940s Los Angeles, a
potboiler that revolves around, of all
things, a water scandal.
While supplements are always

bonus of this very

reasonably priced disc is a fascinating
documentary,
Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage. Despite
the pungent haze of marijuana smoke
that permeated the Easy Rider produc¬

North America

800-354-4448

tion, the filmmakers' reminiscences

Los Angeles

888-988-6025

astonishingly clear-eyed. The principal

61 2 94500200

contributors to the documentary are

Units stationed

throughout the U.S.

to meet your

location needs.

www.musco.com
e-mail:

muscolight@musco.com

renders the

widescreen transfer features excellent

and exhaustive one-hour

Australia

John Alonzo, ASC did in Roman Polanski's
1974 masterpiece Chinatown, which

City of Angels as a beautiful,
sprawling metropolis that's unmistakably
sinister around the edges. Film noir expe¬

The real

Happen®

cinematographer has ever
photographed Los Angeles quite like

important film.
cinematogra¬
phy of Laszlo Kovacs, ASC is well-repre¬
sented here, as the anamorphic

The instinctive, naturalistic

sharpness and surprisingly robust color
saturation. A few scenes look slightly
washed-out, and some pesky age arti¬
facts are present during the night camp¬
fire scenes. But considering the age of
the source materials (and the major
restoration effort required to repair and
preserve them), these small imperfec¬
tions are quite acceptable.

We Make It

No

are

director/star/co-writer Hopper (who
reveals that his aim

was

to make the

"first American art film"),

producer/co¬

rienced

a

welcome

rebirth with the release of this

on a

DVD of

a

classic film, it's

the

quality of the audio and visual presen¬
always be the crucial
factor if a disc is to earn a place in the
proud film buff's personal library. This
edition of Chinatown does not disappoint,
with Alonzo's famous golden-hued tones
rendered perfectly throughout. The

tation that should

widescreen transfer features rich color

saturation, excellent blacks and
total absence of

an

almost

grain. Special mention
must also be made of the Dolby Digital 5.1
soundtrack, which envelopes the listener
in Jerry Goldsmith's sultry score.
Rounding out the disc is the film's
original trailer (in widescreen, no less),
which gives away a shocking amount of
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