Criterion's May Slate Includes '3:10 To Yuma,' Haskell Wexler's 'Medium Cool,' Mike Leigh's 'Life Is Sweet' & More

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by Kevin Jagernauth
February 15, 2013 3:12 PM
6 Comments

Saddle up, because Criterion has dropped the veil on the May releases and they've got a couple of gunslinging classics to share, along with some works from a couple auteurs and much more. So let's dive in.

First off, Delmar Davies gets a nice hat tip as both "3:10 To Yuma" and "Jubal" are getting stamped with the C. The former is probably the best known of the pair (partially due to remake by James Mangold in 2007 starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale) about a mild mannered rancher who brings a wanted outlaw to the train station. This disc will carry a high-def transfer, but not much else in the way of extras. Same goes for "Jubal," about a cattleman who becomes the centerpiece in a roiling drama on a ranch. But hell, two movies with Glenn Ford shoud be enough to please anyway.

Meanwhile, cinematographer Haskell Wexler's directorial feature debut "Medium Cool" gets the deluxe treatment. The film follows a cameraman (Robert Forster) who has an eye on the shifting tides of '70s America, and this one comes loaded with two audio commentaries, a documentary, interviews and more. And in keeping with gritty realism, though a bit more lighthearted, Mike Leigh's "Life Is Sweet" will arrive as well, boasting a new commentary and a few more odds and ends. It's the first of his films about working class folks that broke out in a big way, and it's worth tracking down.

Finally, toss out that "Band Of Outsiders" DVD you have, because that just got upgraded to BluRay dawg.

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More: The Criterion Collection, Criterion Collection, Mike Leigh

6 Comments

| Reply
ted | February 15, 2013 5:25 PMReply

Still surprised Criterion has never done any Paul Thomas Anderson films.
Sean | February 15, 2013 5:42 PM

now that the Hard Eight dvd is discontinued, i'm sure Criterion could get the rights and release on the blu.
LeighL | February 15, 2013 3:30 PMReply

It's nice to see that Criterion has finally released a film that wasn't already easily available on DVD in the US (Referring to Life is Sweet). They should keep this trend going. Not to say I don't appreciate many of their releases... but 3:10 to Yuma? Really?
Sean | February 15, 2013 5:44 PM

@thomas
in canada we already had a previous release of Kid with the Bike and Pina. but the criterion releases are better.

@leighl
i have my fingers crossed that Criterion keep working with Mike and they release everything film he's made since 1990.
Thomas | February 15, 2013 5:23 PM

"It's nice to see that Criterion has finally released a film that wasn't already easily available on DVD in the US "

I also prefer seeing them focus on films that aren't already readily available - some of their best work ever, in my opinion, has been on films like "Lonesome" and "The Music Room."

However, I think they've been doing all right this year in that regard. So far in the first five months of 2013, "Ministry of Fear," "Chronicle of a Summer," "Gate of Hell," the Pierre Etaix set, "Life Is Sweet," and "The Ballad of Narayama" are all R1 debuts. (As are "The Kid with a Bike" and "Pina," but since those are new films I'd put them in a different category.) The Etaix films are a world debut on home video, I believe.
Mongoosecmr | February 15, 2013 5:22 PM

Name recognition. Its perceived as somewhat of a classic, that means it sells. Pandering to mainstream movie fans is what lets them restore and release Life is Sweet for the first time stateside.