I have this thing, I call the “Easy Rider Theory of Home Video Visuals”. I don’t want to come across as arrogant, but I honestly believe a bad transfer of a movie can ruin even the best film. Get a copy of Citizen Kane or 8 ½, wash it out, transfer it to 10th generation VHS, and it will take a lot of the impact out of it. I do digress a little, because when I was younger I’d order horror tapes from sites like Video Search of Miami, and for the most part would be just happy to see a film that I’d long to see uncut like Dario Argento’s Tenebre. On the same token every copy of Burial Ground I saw until the Blu-ray had such murky night time scenes, they were practically unwatchable.
I’m no fan of Easy Rider still, but as a kid I’d see this film come on TV, and I could never make it through. The TV transfers were washed out, cropped, and just looked plain terrible. Then about 10 years ago Criterion released their STUNNING America Lost and Found Box Set. I watched each film in that set, plus extras (Head is my favorite in there, btw), and I was not only able to watch Easy Rider front to back, but I was able to discern the influence’s Hopper was bringing to the table and actually enjoy it on its own terms.
So Ghost Dog – The Way of the Samurai. This is one of my wife’s favorite films. Now she turned me on to Jim Jarmusch nearly 20 years ago when we started dating by lending me a DVD of Stranger than Paradise, and that film’s lo-fi charms struck me immediately and sucked me in (and helped turn me into the film nerd I am today). However, the DVD of Ghost Dog by Artisan entertainment was terrible. There were some less than great transfers of Jarmusch’s films on DVD, but Ghost Dog was practically unwatchable, so for the last 2 decades I could never make it through the film. And I am a guy who is such a fan of the director that I even love his debut Permanent Vacation and his later more esoteric Limits of Control, but this film evaded by ability to watch it, and I knew if I could just get through it, I’d dig it.
Well finally, Criterion gets this one out to Blu-ray in a gorgeous transfer and sound mix. And last night I finally made it through, and I am now officially kicking myself for delaying this viewing so long. Ghost Dog deserves every accolade I’ve heard it get for the last 20 years.
The film stars Forest Whitaker as the titular Ghost Dog. Ghost Dog was a young man, who was once saved from a near fatal beating by a mobster who he now takes assassination order from. He gets these orders via carrier pigeon. Unfortunately, for Ghost Dog his latest hit has gone slightly wrong and he has killed a made man in front of another gangster’s daughter. He was not instructed to kill her, and now his own life is on the line. He now must go and take care of the remaining members of the mob to save his own existence.
Ghost Dog is just a cool, calculated film from Jarmusch. It is a 90’s update of films like Branded to Kill and Le Samurai, but set in New York City with an amazing hip-hop score (by the RZA). The performances are just fantastic, but truly Forest Whitaker owns this film from top to bottom. However, the rest of the cast really fill this in to make it something truly special.
Criterion presents the film in a splendid 1:85:1 1080p transfer. Everything here looks fantastic, colors pop, detail is great. However, the star of this disc is the sound mix. The RZA score basically took over my home theater, and basically created the perfect atmosphere for this viewing. Extras include a Q&A with Jarmusch, interviews with the cast, crew, and even the founder of the U.S. Shaolin Temple plus so much more. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.