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Currentfilm.com Review:
The week of 6/10/08 sees two Westerns make their debut on the Blu-Ray format - one classic ("The Professionals") and one newer mini-series ("Broken Trail"). "Broken Trail" stars Robert Duvall and Thomas Hayden Church as Print Ritter and his estranged nephew, Tom Harte. Set in 1898, the two find themselves as guardians of five abused Chinese women. Although the two are attempting to deliver a herd of horses, they also find themselves having to protect the girls from rivals who intend to kidnap them. "The Professionals" is the classic Western (nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography) starring Woody Strode, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Lee Marvin as four soldiers of fortune hired to rescue a wife (Claudia Cardinale) kidnapped by a band of mercenaries lead by Jesus Raza (Jack Palance).
The DVD
VIDEO: "The Professionals" is presented in 2.35:1 (AVC/1080p), while "Broken Trail" is shown in 1.78:1 (1080p/AVC). Both presentations look quite good, considering the source material (in the case of the TV film "Broken Trail") and considering the age (in the case of "The Professionals".) The considerably newer "Broken Trail" looks quite good, with excellent sharpness and detail, as well as solid depth to the image. Small object details are also presented with pleasing clarity. "The Professionals" often looked crisp and well-defined, but definition could vary somewhat, as some scenes (especially some dimly lit sequences) can appear noticably softer.
The only concern encountered during the "Broken Trail" presentation was a few instances of minor noise. "The Professionals" had a few flaws to contend with, including some minor-to-mild wear on the print (some specks, marks and occasional scratches, although not as much as one might expect from a film of this age), noticably varying level of grain and some slight edge enhancement in a handful of scenes.
Colors looked very good on both presentations, as "Broken Trail" and "Professionals" both offered rich, warm and well-saturated colors that looked spot-on, with no smearing or other faults. Flesh tones also appeared accurate on both presentations.
Each film offers a ton of subtitle options, including: French, Arabic, Dutch, English, Bahasa, English SDH, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish ("Broken Trail") and English, English SDH, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Thai and Bahasa ("The Professionals").
SOUND: Both films are presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. "The Professionals" offers TrueHD soundtracks in both English and French, while "Broken Trail" offers TrueHD soundtracks in English & French, as well as Spanish & Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 presentations. Both films offered rather low-key sound mixes, with "Broken Trail" only really bringing the surrounds into play for mild ambience and some reinforcement of the music. "The Professionals", not surprisingly, puts the rear speakers to even lesser use as really, the main element heard from the surrounds was the score. Audio quality was fine on "The Professionals", as while the elements all sounded rather flat and thin, there was no distortion or other issues. "Broken Trail" sounded quite good, as despite the TV origins, effects seemed crisp and clear, while dialogue seemed natural and clean.
EXTRAS: "Broken Trail" offers just one featurette: "Broken Trail: The Making of a Legendary Western", which runs a bit over 20 minutes and provides a reasonably in-depth overview of the production, with enjoyable cast interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.
"The Professionals" offers three featurettes: "The Professionals: A Classic", "Burt Lancaster: A Portrait" and "Memories from The Professionals", which runs a little over 20 minutes. The title also offers a small group of trailers for other titles from the studio, including "21" and "First Sunday".
Final Thoughts: Two wonderful Western epics, "The Professionals" and "Broken Trail" get fine treatment for their Blu-Ray debuts, as both offer good presentation quality and at least a few minor extras. Recommended for fans.
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