Keoma – Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1976
Director: Enzo G. Castellari
Writers: Enzo G. Castellari, Nico Ducci, George Eastman, Mino Roli, Joshua Sinclair
Cast: Franco Nero, William Berger, Olga Karlatos, Orso Maria Guerrini, Gabriella Giacobbe, Antonio Marsina, Joshua Sinclair, Donald O’Brien, Leonardo Scavino, Wolfango Soldati, Victoria Zinny, Alfio Caltabiano, Woody Strode

Release Date: April 16th, 2019
Approximate running time: 100 Minutes 51 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: R
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $39.95

"The legendary Franco Nero (Django, The Fifth Cord) stars in the titular role as a half-breed gunfighter who returns from the killing fields of the civil war to find his hometown riddled with the plague, its inhabitants terrorized (with the help of Keoma's own estranged half-brothers) by tyrannical gang leader Caldwell (Donald O'Brien, Zombie Holocaust). Keoma's father (Willian Berger, Sartana in the Valley of Death) welcomes his prodigal son's return, but when Keoma saves a vulnerable pregnant woman (Olga Karlatos, Zombie Flesh Eaters) from Caldwell's thugs, the stage is set for a violent confrontation. With the help of his father and his friend, the freed slave George (Woody Strode, Spartacus), Keoma prepares to take a savage revenge on Caldwell and his gang.” – Synopsis provided by the Distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "The original 2-perf 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution at EuroLab. The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, picture instability and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques.

All original materials used in this restoration were accessed from Surf Film."

Keoma comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.4 GB

Feature: 21.1 GB

Keoma was released seven years ago on Blu-ray by Mill Creek Entertainment, and that transfer left a lot of room for improvement. And when compared to Mill’s Creek Entertainment’s Blu-ray, this new transfer from Arrow Video is superior in every way. Image clarity, black levels, and color saturation are greatly improved. Other areas of improvement include compression, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono Italian), 4/5 (LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Italian and a LPCM mono mix in English. Both audio mixes are in great shape. Dialog always comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well represented. Range-wise, both audio tracks sound great. It should be noted that the English language track has some minor instances of background hiss. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track and removable English SDH for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include image galleries: production stills (19 images), posters and press (21 images), lobby cards (64 images) and home video and soundtrack sleeves (29 images), International theatrical trailer (3 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Italian theatrical trailer (3 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival introduction to Keoma by filmmaker Alex Cox (5 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an appreciation by academic Austin Fisher titled Keoma and the Twilight of the Spaghetti Western (18 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Volfango Soldati titled Play as an Actor (30 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actor and stuntman Massimo Vanni titled The Flying Thug (24 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with editor Gianfranco Amicucci titled Parallel Actions (22 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actor / screenwriter Luigi Montefiori AKA George Eastman titled Writing Keoma (16 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with director Enzo G. Castellari titled Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust (28 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actor Franco Nero titled The Ballad of Keoma (21 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with spaghetti western experts C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke. reversible cover art, and a 36-page booklet (limited to first pressing) with cast & crew information, an essay titled “He Can’t Die”; Keoma and the Widely Reported Demise of the Spaghetti Western written by Simon Abrams, an essay titled Shooting from the Hip: The Westerns of Franco Nero written by Howard Hughes, a section titled Contemporary Reviews and information about the restoration. 

Summary:

Directed by Enzo G. Castellari, an Italian filmmaker who worked in just about every genre that was popular in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Notable films that he directed are Cold Eyes of Fear, High Crime, Street Law, and The Big Racket.

After the civil war’s conclusion, a half-breed returns to his home town only to discover that the ruthless gang is now in control and terrorizing the locales.

Like most of his contemporaries, Enzo G. Castellari ‘cut his teeth’ as a director working in the spaghetti western genre. The first five films that he directed were within this genre, the most notable of which was Any Gun Can Play. Years later, he would return to the genre three more times: Father Jackleg, Cipolla Colt, and Keoma. The latter two were in line with the spaghetti western and comedy hybrids that rose to prominence in the early 1970s, while Keoma is unlike any other spaghetti western that has come before or since its release.

If just viewed for what is on the surface, Keoma’s plot is fairly routine. And yet the result is something that greatly transcends its anemic plot and one-dimensional characters. Fortunately, all the shortcomings of the plot are quickly forgotten due to Keoma’s tremendous amount of atmosphere and the way it puts an existential take on this genre's familiar themes.

From an action standpoint, Keoma does not miss a beat, and when compared to other spaghetti westerns, Keoma is easily near the top when it comes to violent set pieces. Whether it be Keoma’s use of flashbacks or juxtaposition of images, the visuals are pitch perfect throughout. If any area of Keoma is lacking, that honor would go to its most unusual score.

Reportedly, Keoma made up its screenplay while they filmed, and while that could have spelled disaster for most films, that is, unless those hypothetical films did not have a leading man like the ever-dependable and charismatic Franco Nero (Django) in the role of a ‘Jesus Christ'-like protagonist named Keoma. Other notable performances include William Berger (Face to Face) in the role of the man who raised Keoma and Olga Karlatos (Zombie) in the role of Lisa, a woman who’s befriended by Keoma after she’s accused of having the plague. Ultimately, Keoma is a rare example of a late-in-the-cycle spaghetti western that holds up well against the best films from this genre's peak period (1964–1968).

Keoma gets an excellent release from Arrow Video that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer