[versions] Vintage Clint Eastwood films original audio preservation

[ac3]

If anyone knows how to get the audio or video out of amazon rentals lemme know cause i might rent any which way you can. Noone has uploaded it anywhere. Its probably better than the analog ld's

[Stamper]

I just updated the first post. It looks like Honkytonk Man is also in the original 2.0 mix on Amazon WEB-DL.

It looks like some of Clint's lesser known films somehow escaped as a package and got their 2.0 mixes restored on Amazon Video. (Hopefully, they are the right mixes).

That's Honkytonk Man, Bird, Pink Cadillac, White Hunter Black Heart.

[Turisu]

Is there any way to identify 5.1 mixes that are direct or close representations of an original 70mm mix? I tend to look for mono surrounds and directional dialogue as clues.

An (non-Clint) example; The 5.1 track on the original 1999 DVD of Ghostbusters has mono surrounds whereas the BD 5.1 track is a remix with split surrounds. The dialogue is locked to the centre channel though.

[Stamper]

Updated the first post with a list of Eastwood films where original mixes are available. It's pretty short!

It seems the original Unforgiven 1997 DVD list on the back "Soundtrack remastered in 5.1" so it's definetely a 5 years later remix/upmix.

It appears no DVD has the 2.0 english track. The listing for english 2.0 are the commentary track. I'm guessing it's back to the LD for that one!

On a note about mixes variations, from DVDcompare, it seems that the original Blu-ray USA and Australia has English Dolby Digital 5.1 / French Dolby Digital 5.1 / Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, all upmixes, however the 4K and the European Blu-ray releases have French and Spanish Dolby Surround (original mixes).

So anyone looking for the upmixes for french and spanish of Unforgiven should hold onto the original US and AU discs. (or simply remux).

I checked out Magnum Force, and clearly the second spanish track, the one in stereo, is made from the 5.1 remix. It's easy to tell in the plane hijack sequence, as the remix removed Dirty Harry signature gunsound and replaced it with a generic one, as he doesn't use his gun.

I suppose every spanish stereo track on that series (and probably on all these remixed Eastwood flicks) is also derived from the remixes. Boy, those remixes are awful and the new foley sounds totally artificial.

[Stamper]

High Plains Drifter:

We have the original DVD for the mono mix. The new Kino Blu-ray says it offers the mono mix too, but the track is stereo with very clear separations for the Music and Sound Effects, and the dialogues in the middle. It looks to me that it's a fold down of the 5.1, and not some stereo mix made later after the original release.

The LD history is one Discovision disc with a 1.0 mono track in 1979, then a widescreen LD with a 2.0 track (no mention of stereo on the cover) in 1992. So it's back to the DVD soundtrack for that one.

[Stamper]

I checked out the flac versions package of the 4 Dirty Harry movies you can find on the internal organ.

Kchrules warned me they were unfinished sync, and he is right. The sync drift on an off depending on the scenes.

I would suggest anyone who has them, not to use them.

[Stamper]

Updated the first post with Hang 'Em High. You can find the 2.0 mono on original Blu-ray releases in addition to 5.1 remix. However Shout! new disc, which is the best encode of the same master, actually adds a stereo mix in place of the mono.

The good thing is, you can remux the mono or foreign dubs from the old disc to the Shout!, as it is in sync with the old version.

[Stamper]

Updated the first post. Thanks to Sertoli I was able to listen to the Unforgiven JP LD audio, and indeed, it has a voice narration that inexplicably has disappeared from all versions of the film!

[dwalkerdon]

High Plains Drifter:

We have the original DVD for the mono mix. The new Kino Blu-ray says it offers the mono mix too, but the track is stereo with very clear separations for the Music and Sound Effects, and the dialogues in the middle. It looks to me that it's  a fold down of the 5.1, and not some stereo mix made later after the original release.

The LD history is one Discovision disc with a 1.0 mono track in 1979, then a widescreen LD with a 2.0 track (no mention of stereo on the cover) in 1992. So it's back to the DVD soundtrack for that one.

The High Plains Drifter remastered DVD from the Clint Eastwood Western Icon Collection also has the original 2.0 Mono Mix (it was released in 2007, years before the Blu-ray version)

[NeonBible]

Updated the first post. Thanks to Sertoli I was able to listen to the Unforgiven JP LD audio, and indeed, it has a voice narration that inexplicably has disappeared from all versions of the film!

That's interesting to know. Was the narration present in the theatrical releases or added especially for the LD?