Heat: LD Audio

[The Aluminum Falcon]

Hi all!

Would anyone consider preserving the original audio for Michael Mann's Heat?

Not only does the BD track omit, as per Mann's wishes, a line of off-screen dialogue ("Ferocious, aren't I?"), but the LD track allegedly, according to multiple OT.com posters, has far superior fidelity and overall dynamic range. I just caught a 35mm showing, and, man oh man, were those gunshots loud, in a way they don't seem to be on the BD.

The LD seems pretty cheap:

http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/07098/14192/Heat

NOTE: The BD release is also missing the line "Shift through the detritus," but the accompanying video in this instance is missing, meaning a BD-synced LD track will have to omit the line as well.

NOTE2: The color timing is far different on the BD from the theatrical release! 35mm was much more saturated, with bold yellows and yes, even cyans! The fleshtones and lighting look so flat on BD compared to the print I saw. It seems like your average IP transfer, in which little attention was paid to emulating the stylistic theatrical look.

This makes me wonder how Thief actually did look upon release...

[Lil Brutto]

I have the LD. Just need to find it.

[The Aluminum Falcon]

I have the LD. Just need to find it.

That's great!

[Lil Brutto]

This is one of my favorite flicks. I would have thought at least this film wouldn't require us to go back to the LD audio but stranger things have happened!

[captainsolo]

I too was recently wondering about tracking down the LD. I'd be happy if we could sync to the old DVD which I always felt was probably a bit closer to the theatrical look. The SE seemed to re-use that transfer, and then you have the obligatory random Mann tinkering in terms of cut, transfer color and sound.

This is an excellent idea!

I too believe nothing touches the LD audio.

Make it snow

[Lil Brutto]

I found my LD. Capturing now...

Thanks, that's great Lil Brutto. I can wait to hear it myself.

[The Aluminum Falcon]

As I mentioned, I saw Heat in a vintage 35mm print recently at the Michael Mann retrospective in BAM.

Color looked nothing like any of the video releases, including the first DVD. It was more saturated, for one. Blues veered towards lighter tone, even teal-ish(!). Yellows, on the other hand, were far more prominent, providing a nice counterpoint to the blues. This often had a nice effect of accentuating the artificiality of the light at night. Overall, the pinkish flesh hues in all the DVDs and BD are inaccurate; flesh should be more yellowish.

I was surprised, but that was how the palette looked.

I'd be curious how Thief 35mm looked (DCP showed in the retrospective)... The "Theatrical Cut" on the Arrow BD looks like what it is, an old video transfer, with far too magenta skintones and an almost utter lack of blues. After watching the 35mm Heat, I suspect the new 4K remaster might be more accurate than initially suspected.

EDIT: Also, at the risk of completely derailing my own thread, I must say that the director's cut of Blackhat was a marked improvement! I certainly hope it gets a home video release, makes up for a lot of the plot incongruities of the theatrical cut. I might do a recut fan edit, following the revised order of the scenes in the coming months.

[The Aluminum Falcon]

LD audio sounds fantastic, and, of course, the lines omitted on the BD are clearly there. As said before, the "Ferocious, aren't I?" may be preserved if/when synced to the BD because there are no visual changes at that point. The former, "You shift," would be a tad more difficult.