Why The Lack of Extras Really Gets My Back Up

Why The Lack of Extras Really Gets My Back Up

I suppose to regular readers here, some may know that I have a long and familiar gripe - which is that of extras and bonus material (or lack of) which is completely neglected and left abandoned from so many of Eastwood’s titles on DVD and Blu-ray. To be honest, we are lucky if we are blessed with a simple trailer. But what really bothers me is the lack of effort by labels such as Warner Brothers. More often than not, there are at least a couple of different trailers made to promote a film - if you go down the route of TV spots (ads which are designed in various lengths specific for TV) there are often something like 6 or more different versions. This is evident by some of the 16mm reels I have where the entire range is often featured on one reel.

A TV spot on a blu-ray is actually a complete rarity - they just don’t appear. The likelihood is, that the said studio probably hold these in their vaults - yet it seems like a complete lack of interest or a ‘can’t be bothered’ approach towards adding these little gems to where they rightfully belong - on the disc as extras! 

To illustrate this, I recently came across a seller in the United States who had a nice 35mm print of a Bronco Billy trailer. Now I know for a fact there is a rather lame trailer for the film on the DVD and the Blu-ray. It just isn’t very good, containing silly overdubs (anyone remember the kid in the bank robbery saying ‘wow’?), plus there are some silly cartoon noises added for effect - it just cheapens the whole film. 

Anyway, I was taking a closer look at some wonderful screen captures the seller had provided - and it soon became clear that this was an entirely different trailer. Looking at the reel it was also a fairly generous length. The most apparent of these shots appears to feature Sondra Locke in full character of Antoinette Lily, who is sitting in a crew chair (cigarette holder in hand) and addressing the camera! Behind her is Billy’s Red Convertible Coupe… All of which begs the question - where the hell is this content on the disc? 

Don’t get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Bronco Billy, I think it’s a sheer delight - however, the film also has a limited fan base - a great deal of Eastwood fans just can’t get into it, and in that sense, Bronco Billy really needs as many selling points as it can gather…. While other material is left to gather dust in the Warner Archives - it is not exactly tempting fans to commit to buying it. 

The result is, material such as this is simply going to be forgotten - unless of course you can project 35mm - and for me, that simply isn’t a viable option. There is so much material linked in to Bronco Billy - the whole promotion tour in France where Clint and Sondra both took part in various interviews. I seem to remember the UK program ‘Clapperboard' which had a  special feature at the Deauville Film Festival on September 11th, 1980. The couple were actually in Deauville to present Bronco Billy. So there is a great deal of material out there, if anyone can just be bothered to do some solid legwork… I have a feeling this will be an endless gripe, until something drastically changes - although I have a feeling that any generation who would be genuinely interested would also have moved on. 

Ah C'est la vie….

End of gripe.