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NOTE: These Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. The Criterion Blu-ray is described as a "New 4K digital restoration, approved by cinematographer Adam Holender". The new HD image is significantly sharper than MGM's 2011, Region FREE, Blu-ray but colors shift to be very green/blue. I found the teal-leaning very noticeable initially but I got used to it and the improved detail is such a dramatic improvement over the older 1080P transfer. I have never seen it looks this good. There are some occasional aspect ratio anomalies between the two - with the new 4K showing a shade more in various sides of the frame. I wasn't crazy about the green cast but the restored visuals have so much more depth and crispness that it is easily the finest (of the dozen or more viewings I've had) of Midnight Cowboy. Wow, indeed. I rank the original music by the master John Barry (The Lion in Winter, Dances With Wolves, Deadfall, The White Buffalo, and the Bond themes among his many credits) in Midnight Cowboy as some of the best ever put to film with 'Toots' Thielman's harmonica - and add Harry Nilsson's efforts and we have a veritable festival of iconic scores - all in one film soundtrack. The Blu-ray presents it as a the optional of a linear PCM mono track or a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround bump at 3409 kbps. The uncompressed 1.0 channel is hard to describe it's lean, pristine expression. I doubt I could find a more fitting match for film and music. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles on Criterion Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray release. Criterion include the 1991 audio commentary from 1991 featuring director John Schlesinger and producer Jerome Hellman as found on the previous editions. It also has the 35th Anniversary documentaries; After Midnight Reflecting on a Classic and Controversy and Acclaim. They were produced in 2004 for MGM's thirty-fifth-anniversary DVD release of the film. They feature interviews with producer Jerome Hellman, cinematographer Adam Holender, actors Dustin Hoffman, Sylvia Miles, Jennifer Salt, and Jon Voight, and others. We also get cinematographer Adam Holender 's excellent 25-minute video essay where he discusses his work on Midnight Cowboy, recorded for the Criterion Collection in February 2018. Director John Schlesinger sat down for a career-overview 15-minute interview with Merle Goldberg for BAFTA Los Angeles in 2000. Presented as an excerpt from that conversation, in which he discusses his approach to gay themes in his work. Also included are 1/2 hour's worth of excerpts from BAFTA's tribute to Schlesinger on May 19th, 2002, at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, featuring producer and studio executive David Picker and actors Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. We also get a 1/4 Jon Voight interview with David Frost from 1970, where the actor discusses his work on Midnight Cowboy and his career to that point. Also presented are 7-minutes of excerpts from Voight's original, improvised screen test for Midnight Cowboy, conducted by screenwriter Waldo Salt. The Crowd Around the Cowboy is a 9-minute 1969 short documentary, filmed on location during the production of Midnight Cowboy, was shot and directed by Finnish cinematographer Jeri Sopanen, and features rare behind-the-scenes footage of the cast and crew at work. Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey is an hour-long 1990 documentary by Eugene Corr and Robert Hillmann about the life and career of Waldo Salt was nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary feature. There is a 14-minute piece noted photographer Michael Childers was the life partner of director John Schlesinger and served as his assistant on Midnight Cowboy. In this new program, Childers discusses a selection of photographs from the many candid images he shot during the production of the film. Lastly, is a new trailer and the package has an essay by critic Mark Harris. I consider this one of the greatest American films ever made. The 4K Blu-ray presentation, uncompressed monaural audio score and extensive new extras make it the BD release of the year for me. Positively a 'must-own'. *** ADDITION: MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray (January 12'): Without some extensive restoration/cleaning to remove the minor speckles and scratches - THIS is as good as Midnight Cowboy is going to look for Home theater usage. Schlesinger's masterpiece was never meant to paint a 'pretty' or glossy picture. The gritty nature of the visuals export the magnificent vérité aura of the film experience. The grain is heavy... and wonderful. Any noise morphs well into texture and I think the image quality, despite the imperfections, is absolutely magnificent. The dual-layered transfer with a high bitrate adds a few more layers to the contrast and detail only marginally jumps. This is more about the film-like qualities being set free - and with the high bitrate - we can see Midnight Cowboy in its closest to theatrical state. The SD-medium was always a dead-loss at presenting this film. Extras offer the previously released audio commentary by producer Jerome Hellman and three video pieces; a documentary: "After Midnight - Reflections on the Classic" running almost 1/2 an hour, another entitled "Controversy and Acclaim" for 10-minutes and the featurette: "Celebrating Schlesinger" where Hoffman, Voight and others extol the brilliance of Schlesinger. These are excellent and worth revisiting. Okay - here is the final selling point of a Blu-ray package I already consider essential - it's only a shade over $10. A 'sawbuck' for one of the greatest films... ever made. This has our most heart-felt endorsement - an ageless film that only grows to higher status with repeat viewings. Buy now... *** ADDITION: - Region 1 - Special Edition - February 06' - Well, its 2006 and to think that MGM would be putting a Best Picture - Oscar winning film to digital in anything but progressive/high definition would be incredible to believe... but they did it. This is really shameful and disappointing. The negative: the image has no more clarity/detail than the previous NTSC release although it is anamorphic. The positive are that the colors appear to have improved drastically and look more in line with the PAL edition (skin tones especially). The extras - actually - only the commentary is a valuable addition. Hellman is soft-spoken and brings quite a lot of good information to the viewing. This is the biggest plus to this package. The non-progressive transfer of the SE (non HD) will have a tendency to look very poor on excellent viewing systems but the combing may not be as visible on tubes. But we expect this DVD to physically last a lot longer than most peoples tube TVs. You will upgrade one day and this image may look unwatchable. Get a load of the Extra disc - its 2.25 Gig (of 4.7 single or 9.4 dual). It could have easily fit on the first disc (which is only 5.5 Gig). Actually both documentaries and the featurette (which don't all add up to an hour) look all to have been filmed at the exact same time - interviewed actors and directors are all wearing the same clothes in all three supplements! the final kicker are the 6 large sepia postcards included in the DVD package. To be honest I had a strong feeling about this release, but regardless it is still a very large disappointment. We can only hope that the trend of Warner buying off MGM titles continues with this one. NOTE: MIDNIGHT COWBOY - Based on the screen captures, the color is most accurate with the PAL edition, as I have seen this in 35mm on a few occasions and the old Criterion Collection 12" LaserDisc was as accurate. As a matter of fact, the Laser was at 1.66:1 aspect ratio and remains one of the best Lasers they ever issued. Also, in the opening of the 1.85 X 1 MGM copies, you can see the frame being scrolled up and down so you don't miss any of the credits, which is a disaster! Mr. Hellman's commentary is likely the one from the Criterion Laser, which is outstanding. As for the sound, I can't imagine the PAL not sounding the best of the three DVDs, as the 4.0 on the older MGM DVD was not as good as the PCM 2.0 16bit/44.1kHz Mono from Criterion's Laser (which sounded richer) and doubt the NTSC 5.1 was any better. Why no DTS? The film was issued in optical mono sound back in 1969 and it was only for its 25th Anniversary that the film was upgraded to Dolby analog SR (Spectral Recording) stereo, which especially benefited the classic song "Everybody's Talkin'" by Nilsson and the amazing score by John Barry (that also includes some great vocal cuts) as they were recorded in stereo and exceptionally so. The new Special Edition set was made to cash in on BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, but Sony needs to do this right (and at the right aspect ratio) for Blu-ray. More extras would not hurt, either, especially for one of the greatest films ever made! Nicholas Sheffo from FulvueDrive-In.com **** This is a disgrace. Both releases have some huge problems. The uneven cropping (which I believe to be the fault of the Region 2 edition mostly) seems very hap-hazard - its all over the place! Sometimes the NTSC is losing image on the bottom, mostly the PAL is losing image on the left edge. The captures are all 'first frame' so we know them to be accurate. Color balance seems to be off on both editions as well. Skin tones can look terribly red in some scenes (on both!). Even though the PAL edition is anamorphic - it is much hazier. The Region 2 has some contrast boosting and the NTSC looks like it has a green gauze over the image. This is a fantastic film and I can't believe that MGM won't invest a bit of cash and but out a decent transfer (with some extras) for this BEST PICTURE (1969). It is really shameful! - Gary W. Tooze