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Released by: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Released on: 3/23/2004
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Rutger Hauer, John Hurt, Craig T. Nelson, Dennis Hopper, Burt Lancaster, Meg Foster, Chris Sarandan
Year: 1983
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The Movie:
Based on the best selling novel of the same name by Robert Ludlum, The Osterman Weekend would be Sam Peckinpah's final film. Interesting that it should be so conspiracy oriented considering where the notorious director's drug addled head was at during his last few years. While his swan song doesn't hold up to such classic and intense films as The Wild Bunch or Straw Dogs, it does have enough going for it that it is worth reevaluating now that the man's work seems to be having a post-humus renaissance of sorts.
The film follows John Tanner (played by Rutger Hauer of The Hitcher), the host of investigative news show named Face To Face. Tanner is convinced by a CIA (John Hurt of Alien) agent that the men he has been friends with for years that he has invited to his home this coming weekend are working for the KGB. The CIA convinces him that these men are threats to American security and that he has to do his part to help them bring them down as it is in the best interests of the country.
The three men - Bernard (Craig T. Nelson of Poltergeist sporting an amazing fake moustache), Richard (Dennis Hopper of Blue Velvet), and Joseph (Chris Sarandan of Dog Day Afternoon) - and their wives show up for the weekend. When they do, Tanner begins to act suspiciously, a natural reaction under the circumstances. The tension breaks and it's Tanner against his friends in a brawl that leads to Richard, Joseph and the three women leaving in Tanners RV. But when Tanner and Bernard face off, the find that there is a lot more going on here than either one of them are aware of and the fate of Tanners wife and son may very well hang in the balance.
Despite some very obvious flaws (some of the trademark Peckinpah slow motion scenes are totally unnecessary, and there are more than a couple of plot holes), The Osterman Weekend is a pretty solid thriller. In fact, it doesn't do a half-bad job of blending Ludlum's conspiracy oriented fiction with Peckinpah's recurring 'man against the system' themes. Hauer is good in the lead, portraying using his odd facial structure to convey some intensity in his role, while Craig T. Nelson (who I admit to always associating with the TV sitcom Coach) does an equally good job in the role of Bernard Osterman, even busting out a couple of cans of whupass a few times with the kung fu skills we never knew he had.
The action sequences are well directed and intense and while, as I mentioned early, some of the slow-mo is unnecessary, about fifty percent of the time it does accentuate the violence and lend it a more dramatic quality.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Osterman Weekend is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85.1 and is enhanced for anamorphic television sets. Aside from some grain that is present and somewhat noticeable throughout the feature, this is a great transfer. Colors look really nice and natural and the blacks remain stable throughout. There is some mild edge enhancement but it's not really much of a problem at any given time and print damage is minor.
Anchor Bay has gone all out with the audio options on this release and there is an audio track here to please pretty much everyone. The original sound mix is retained with a clean sounding Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track, and there's also a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track as well. True surround mixes are also included by way of a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and an ass kicking DTS-ES 6.1 mix - both of these tracks really bring the action sequences to life and make nice use of the rear speakers and the subwoofer to really liven up the film.
The only extra feature on the first disc, aside from chapter selection, is an informative commentary by Sam Peckinpah biographers/historians Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, David Weddle and Nick Redman. There's a whole lot of information crammed into this track and these guys, having all written books on Peckinpah, obviously know their stuff. With heavy emphasis put on Peckinpah's notorious battles with the studios over his work, this track is quite interesting and anyone with an interest in Peckinpah as he was off the set should give this track a listen.
On the second disc, we find Sam's First Cut which is the director's version of the film as he intended it to be. This is how the film was meant to be seen, before the studio made changes to it and fired him from the project. Peckinpah was let go after an extremely negative reaction to this cut of the film that was only ever shown once at a test screening - and caused walkouts during it's opening scene. Never before released, this version is in pretty rough shape but to actually be able to see it is quite interesting, as it clocks in at roughly fourteen minutes longer than the theatrical cut of the film. There are a few major differences in this cut - the opening is much grislier and where the theatrical version was voyeuristic, this cut borders on the misogynistic. There's also a subplot where Tanner has a relationship with his director that isn't mentioned in the theatrical cut, extended footage of Dick and Virginia on the phone. Also in this cut, the ending does a lot of cutting between the footage of Tanner chasing down his family and footage in the TV studio, making for a more intense ending, if not necessarily a better one.
Alpha To Omega: A Retrospective is a brand new feature length seventy-eight minute documentary that explores Peckinpah's later years as he was working on what would turn out to be his final film. New interviews with the producers, cast members (save for Dennis Hopper who is conspicuously absent here), and Sam's publicity agent give for a well rounded look at those who were around him and knew him during this time. He was a difficult man to work with, that much is obvious, so it is interesting to hear about some of the experiences that the actors and, more specifically, the actresses had on set with him.
Rounding out the extra features are a pair of theatrical trailers and a healthy sized still gallery, some talent bios, as well as some nice liner notes by Gary Hertz that detail the history of the film and how it came to be that Peckinpah directed it.
The Final Word:
The Osterman Weekend is far from Peckinpah's best film but on its own it is a reasonably entertaining action/thriller with a few tense moments and some nice action scenes. Anchor Bay has done an excellent job with the DVD release and put together some great extra features that compliment the movie perfectly.