B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - THE DEATH OF RITCHIE (TV 1977)

Looks like a lot of fun to me, I don't know. Seriously and for those that don't know, The Death Of Ritchie is one of the most iconic TV movies of the entire '70's decade. I was roughly 15 when it aired and i can tell you that both Robby Benson and teens taking drugs were very hot topics at the time. The film is based on a true story where a father who couldn't control his teen's behavior from drug abuse was forced to take the law into his own hands. The father here is good ole Ben Gazzara and he is at his Gazzara best with a ferocious intensity, his scenes with Benson as father and son a perfect chemistry. At the time more emphasis was on Benson as a model but his performance here is really amazing. Streams free on Tubi, Freevee, Roku and Plex, if this was being rated on the standard scale I would give it five stars, 'nuff said. 2.75 stars/2.75

Sunday, May 5, 2024

THE UNOFFICIAL 4th COLORIZED VERSION OF "NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD" (1968) - AND NOT A BAD ONE AT THAT

 

Greetings all - If you love all things Night Of The Living Dead related like I do then you might be interested in this new version produced by a place called Lost & Found. 

I rather like it and it has a lot of improvement over the Off-Color produced version which was the 3rd colorized and is most widely available on Tubi, etc. 

The farmhouse interiors on this new version are vastly superior to the old ones. One of my biggest complaints about the Off-Color version has been the ugly unnatural blues and pinks all over the interior shots but this one they're gone. However, and it's a big however - whatever software/system this guy used the hues are changing a lot more than they should. The shots where characters don't move around a lot are lovely but when there's lots of movement the hues change. It's going to depend on your eye whether that bothers you or not but I found it not to be a dealbreaker, you can be the judge! 

And as a bonus/comparison, here's the very first colorized version which was done literally the first year that VHS tapes started hitting the mass market, about 1986. It's not very good lol. 

No comments:

Post a Comment