On this, the ninth of September in the year of our lord two thousand and ten, a great personal quest has come to a close with a magnificent triumph. I am pleased to announce that I am now the proud owner of The Criterion Collection edition of John Woo's classic guns-a-blazin' 1992 masterpiece Hard Boiled. I have spent the better part of a decade searching for this extremely rare out of print film, and having never even laid eyes on it before I am still in shock that I only had to pay about a fourth of what I would have shelled out for it. Considering that my personal collection of Criterion films is about a measly forty titles this one now joins the ranks with Verhoeven's Robocop, Demme's Silence of the Lambs, Hitchcock's Rebecca, Pekinpah's Straw Dogs, and Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (all also OOP) as the crown jewel of my collection. I could have just as easily gone on Amazon and purchased them at a high dollar amount, but where is the fun in that? I feel like I have stumbled upon Superman issue #1 Days like today are what make me truly appreciate the hunt. Don't believe me that this one is hard to get your hands on? Don't take my word for it, but click here to see what Remy from Ratatouille has to say on the subject.
P.S. Don't feel obligated to remind me of how much of a nerd I really am. I'm well aware.
3 comments:
My Criterion Collection collection is paltry compared to yours. I have a couple Kurosawa, and a few other random films, but no Bergman to speak of. What's the matter with me? (It has something to do with their outrageous prices) I do have The Vanishing, which is one of my prized possessions. You've seen that, right Allen?
Oh yeah I got that one. One of my all time favorites. I'm only a tad disappointed that there are so few (in fact none if memory serves correct) special features to speak of on that disc.
I think my favorite (non OOP) prized possession would have to be the three disc box set of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. There were so many times I considered breaking down and just getting the single disc version, but every time I watch it I am so glad I waited. (Ditto Rushmore)
I also have that Kurosawa box set that contains Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro, which now that they are all on special edition blu ray really pisses me off.
I got so tired of looking for Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa that I broke down and got it on Amazon, but it is my only mulligan, promise.
Post a Comment