Infamy in a directors filmography, is as beneficial as classics. See for instance directors like the Coen Brothers and their LADYKILLERS or Fellini and his CASANOVA. Both examples of widely derided and ultimately flawed films from great film makers. Sam Peckinpah has legend and legacy that follows any of his films. THE OYSTERMAN WEEKEND, his final film, is a rather unexpected spy thriller. Obviously created at a time when the cold war was bubbling over in the dust of Afghanistan, it delivers on to us the paranoia of the age, with all that delicious fear and confusion now gone. Thankfully Imprint from Australia have released the film in its two versions, with multiple extras to enjoy.

John Tanner (Rutger Hauer) is a well known TV personality, who interviews military types. He has, as an annual tradition, a party for his big friends Bernard Osterman (Craig T. Nelson) a tv writer, Richard Tremayne (Dennis Hopper), a plastic surgeon and Joseph Cardone (Chris Sarandon) a trader, who also happen to have been his college buddies. There they meet, eat and speak replete about the world and its faults. However, when Tanner is informed that these friends are likely to have been a part of a Soviet spy network, by a CIA agent named Lawrence Fassett (John Hurt), things turn sour very quickly for Tanner and his family. 

I am not going to insist on this being an exceptional or centrally important film from those in Peckinpah canon. It is a mesh up of his technique, his direction style and his obsession with male camaraderie and masculinity. The issue with the making of the film are legendary and well covered in Mike Siegel directors cut commentary and in his excellent documentary, but boil down thus. He was persona non grata at the studios, due mainly to his drugs and drink problems. He was also unwell and lacked the ability, he once had. However the producers decided that he was the man for the task (even though Peckinpah hated the book and the script and they hated his rewrites). The resulting version, the sets directors cut (that has been restored but still suffers in reel 1 and 2 as explained by IMPRINT in the introduction text), after the original was met with open hostility by audiences and so was recut for a theatrical version, that also appears on the set for us dear viewers.

The difference between the two is night and day for anyone with a passing interest in film making or directors like Peckinpah. I loved Siegel examination of the two but would say to the unexperienced that film historians Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, David Weddle, and Nick Redman commentary, grounds the work and the expectations better. Though as almost all are open to admit, this version will probably sour the viewer to trying out the directors cut. This set is possibly more aimed at the readers here and at other, more cine literate realms for it wants to take the Directors cut seriously and also discuss the problems of versions, visions and various fan expectations. Imprint have again delivered, even if the film doesn’t.

DIRECTOR’S CUT

• TWO-DISC BLU-RAY SET
• NEW UNRESTORED 2K SCAN sourced from Sam Peckinpah’s personal 35mm directors cut negative
• NEW Audio commentary by Peckinpah expert Mike Siegel
• NEW Passion & Poetry: Sam’s Final Cut – documentary by Peckinpah expert Mike Siegel
• NEW The Two Cuts – comparison video by Peckinpah expert Mike Siegel
• NEW Three Animated Galleries:
  • Filming “The Osterman Weekend”
  • “The Osterman Weekend” in Pictures
  • Promoting “The Osterman Weekend”
• Aspect Ratio 1.60:1
• Audio English LPCM Mono
• Optional English Subtitles

THEATRICAL CUT

• 1080p high-definition presentation of the Theatrical Cut in 1.78:1 aspect ratio
• Alternative unrestored presentation of the film in 1.66:1 aspect ratio scanned from a 35mm German print
• Audio commentary by film historians Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, David Weddle, and Nick Redman
• Alpha to Omega: Exposing “The Osterman Weekend” – feature documentary
• Theatrical Trailer
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles