as regular readers will know, and that's a phrase i feel not used for a bit, i tend to do a fair bit of travels. well, why not, doing so lets you escape ghosts and make things seem not as bad as they do when you elect to stand still, look you see. much (most) of these travels are vehicle based, and are accompanied, as you may well expect, by some quality vibes. disc based, sadly, for i am bereft of a device on which to play actual tapes.
every now and then, which is to say quite often (at least weekly) i do indeed pick up some new tapes, or if you will discs, to listen to on my travels. it was with immense, indeed great, delight that not so long ago i found a tape (disc) of the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. sure, a copy has existed in my collection ever since it was released, but it was lovely to get another to listen to as i travel. and yes, this very much inspired a recent re, or if you will re-re-re-rewatching of the film.
not sure if it is representative of a film being brilliant, iconic or what have you, but watching it again saw me see it exactly as i remembered (or recalled) it, in all its vaguely disturbingly shockingly funny brilliance. at the time it was obviously and undoubtedly "controversial", due to its stark and unapologetic violence, as well as some murmurs or mumblings about how Oliver Stone elected to partially alter the original Tarantino script. well, whatever.
indeed what i watched (again) was the "original uncut version" which, as you can see clearly below, also gets labelled the "director's cut". rather confusingly there's another version of similar name what sticks a load of deleted scenes in. yeah, avoid that one. they were, as much as i love Denis Leary, deleted with very good pacing and dynamics reason. nice to watch as an extra, as i did (again) on this fancy video (blu ray), but just disjointed when shoved into the film.
for the brilliance of the film, well, five (5) outstanding performances from Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr, Tommy Lee Jones and a very scary Rodney Dangerfield. appreciating that one really should not speak ill of those sadly no longer with us, the big let down (and this isn't the first time) is Tom Sizemore. he's out of his depth here, and the performance sticks out for all the wrong reasons. quite the shame.
the soundtrack tape (disc) what i was so excited to get another copy of remains brilliant. produced by Trent Reznor (that one), it's a chaotic reflection of the film, mixing dialogue and music as per the soundtracks for Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction (but weirdly not True Romance), separated into tracks but absolutely no gaps or pauses between the, well, anything.
my memories are of going to see this motion picture four (4) times at the cinema, in each instance with different people. unless i went on my own once. during one screening i actually did bear witness to that thing i had only heard of people doing, when a few walked out. perhaps they had to be somewhere else, or were just generally distressed by it all. no, i haven't willingly walked out of a film myself, but i did get dragged out of one. that's another time, another place, though.
has it all, the film and soundtrack, aged well? no idea, mate. that's eye of the beholder, etc. for me, yes, it's as excellent now as it was nearly 30 (!!!) years ago. when i put the tape (disc) in the player mostly i am inclined to just let it play again and again, whilst also having a wish to watch the film yet again. perhaps i need help, or maybe it's just that good.
viddy well.............................................
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