Our review of a very well know controversial 1970s movie Directed by the great Sam Peckinpah.
I last viewed this movie in 2011 and my comments then was, good print but colours are beginning to fade". What a bummer, the fade has, (as expected), got rather more shift to brown. This one always had muted colours, the Cornish countryside always looked rather "dull" in colour rather than the lush greens it should have. The sky on this print was always that sort of dull grey rather than the blue that the uncensored DVD has. This is an abridged feature but a very good one. The controversial rape sequence is the American version so it is heavily censored with the second nasty man virtually cut out all together.
The actual print is in very good condition with only a very few little marks here and there, no lines, no splices other than the joins, plus one manufacturers splice on the last reel. The sound is very good and the focus is excellent. As you can see by the images the colour is pretty poor with a shift to brown but it is actually better than what you see from the screen shots. The interior house sequences actually look pretty good. Fortunately, the last last two 400ft reels do have better colour than the first three so as the main part of the action is toward the last third of the film the red hue is only noticed in a couple of places with the rest still being good.
We viewed this one tonight as a last view before selling. This film is joined onto three full 600ft spools so the last 200ft of reel two and all of the last reel has improved colour so we are going to keep it for another year or so. Never a dull viewing with the very lovely Susan George, By the way, we did not use any filter during the viewing. What you see here is screen to camera raw shots as always.

Susan George = Gorgeous

another nice looking print there Tom, I can feel another £1.00 max fees coming over the weekend

Yes i would if it were mine but unfortunately Brother wants to keep it a bit longer. It does look better than what you see here but the first half is quite browny/red so i didn't enjoy it so much.when we bought it the film had good colours but never what i would call vibrant colours.

I've seen quite a few copies floating around in my collecting years, it's one that I've never owned. I think we sing from the same hymn sheet where fade is concerned mate.

I think we do Del. It is only my personal preference. A while ago another member put it quite simply. He said, what it is with fade for me, is that i remember the films when we first bought them, (this one included, and back then they had excellent and vibrant colours. To see them go from that to what they are now is just a bit disappointing and takes away a lot of the viewing pleasure. (inevitable for many prints but still disappointing).
Aside that, in order for me to be able to afford new titles i can no longer afford to do it using disposable income as i simply dont have it. So these days i have to be sensible and sell to buy. At our ages now we decided its time to very slowly sell off some bits and pieces, much more to go still, and hopefully, for every 5/10 we sell we will try and replace it with a new title hopefully with good colour, (or even a good old b/w). I would love to keep every single print i ever bought but i am a realist and know my limits on space.
If a copy of this film, Straw dogs, turned up with great non faded colours i would snap it up. Some of the films we have sold, assault on precinct 13, star trek the motion picture and Death wish are films we would love to have kept but i dont want to wait until they are worth nothing. I know we are not in the hobby to make cash, but at the present time, these titles that are now gone have given us many many years of great viewing pleasure and i hope they continue to do so for other collectors. After all, those collectors may never get another chance bearing in mind how they rarely they turn up, especially with the colours left in them from our collection. With that cash raised i have been able to afford to buy Die Hard, The silence of the lambs and now Bullit IB Tech 16mm print and another title hopefully in the pipeline which i will only mention once and if i get it. I would never have spent those sorts of sums had i not have been able to raise the cash with sales of faded / fading prints.
Hugh Scott Thompson kindly sent me some filter gels a few years ago and i was gob smacked at how effective they are. He was great at getting things sorted and proving how little money it could cost, I do use the filters as there are still titles we have that i dont want to sell, The Warriors springs to mind among others.The reduction in numbers in the collection was also as Andy Woodcock once said, quality over quantity. Two forum chaps that, in my opinion, are missed for there knowledge and banter and also Dave Hardy.

Also, i would like to add, i understand there are many collectors who are happy with fading, even red prints. I have no problems with that, why would i, thats entirely up to the individual. I only gasp when i see faded or worn prints go for stupid money. That for me is a little confusing. However, that is, of course, there choice. The one that springs to mind was Clockwork orange. It was faded and scratched but went for well over 500 quid. I understand it's very rare and that filters could bring it back to some life but i simply couldn't grasp why someone would pay that for that type of print. I do not wish to disrespect anyone's preference, but equally, my opinion is only just that so please dont have a pop, i mean no disrespect to anyone.

A great post there Tom, with far too many points to answer, however I agree totally with regard to seeing the prints with great colour 20/30 years ago and seeing them now with fade/turning red colours, I can't watch them, it is now with me quality over quantity, I'd rather have 30 top quality features than 150 faded/red prints. However I can only applaud anyone getting £200+ for a turning print, I'd have sold it like a shot