Kansas City

[FrauBlucher]

Returning to the city of his birth for inspiration, legendary maverick director Robert Altman helms an evocative, bullet-riddled tribute to the music and movies of his youth in Kansas City, a Depression-era gangster flick as only he could make one.

Blondie O’Hara (Jennifer Jason Leigh) resorts to desperate measures when her low-level hood husband Johnny (Dermot Mulroney) gets caught trying to steal from Seldom Seen (Harry Belafonte), a local crime boss operating out of jazz haunt The Hey-Hey Club. Out on a limb, Blondie kidnaps laudanum-addled socialite Carolyn (Miranda Richardson), hoping her influential politician husband can pull the right strings and get Johnny out of Seldom Seen’s clutches.

Nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and featuring a remarkable soundtrack performed live by some of the best players in contemporary jazz, one of Altman’s most underrated and idiosyncratic films finally makes its long-awaited Blu-ray™ debut.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentation
• Original 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by director Robert Altman
• Newly filmed appreciation by critic Geoff Andrew
• Gare, Trains et Déraillement, a 2007 visual essay by French critic Luc Lagier, plus short introduction to the film narrated by Lagier
• Robert Altman Goes to the Heart of America and Kansas City: The Music, two 1996 promotional featurettes including interviews with cast and crew
• Electronic press kit interviews with Altman, Leigh, Richardson, Belafonte and musician Joshua Redman, plus behind-the-scenes footage
• Four theatrical trailers
• TV spots
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by Dr Nicolas Pillai, original press kit notes and an excerpt from Altman on Altman.

[Glowingwabbit]

And Kansas City it is

What's the point of Kansas City without Jazz '34???

[Adam X]

I'd buy it if it were just the film and nothing else. Very happy to see this coming.

[JamesF]

Believe me, Jazz '34 was the first thing we went for, but according to the Altman estate it was produced in a hurry using a bunch of bad, short-term contracts and licenses that all have to be renewed if it's ever going to be released again, an expensive and time-consuming process that is sadly unfeasible and disproportionate for what would basically be a bonus feature. So treasure those VHS tapes!

[hearthesilence]

I guess it's too late, but an interview with Hal Willner would have been great for an extra - he introduced a screening of Jazz '34 here in NY and he had a lot of great anecdotes that sadly I no longer remember (wish I had noted them when they were still fresh in my memory). Altman was trying to make Kansas City for a while, and previous musical consultants had dropped out, which is how Willner wound up working on the film.

One thing about Jazz '34: when they screened a 35mm print, it was clearly sourced from a broadcast video master even though the film was actually made up of outtakes shot in 35mm. One wonders if a film negative with no video intermediate was ever made, and I doubt anyone will ever go back to the OCN to make a proper one - the cost alone would be prohibitive for something with a niche audience.

[domino harvey]

My writeup from the noir thread a few years back

Kansas City (Robert Altman 1996) Altman’s sparring twin tales of Dermot Mulroney’s loser stickup artist who picks the wrong victim in robbing local gangster Harry Belafonte’s client and Mulroney’s wife Blondie, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh in a conscious imitation of Jean Harlow, who kidnaps a local politician’s wife in order to finagle a release of her husband. Belafonte is an actor who has never done much for me, but he does his best work in this film, and anything that works here usually involves him. Belafonte’s great monologue on white culture is almost worth suffering through the rest of this film, which is unfocused and often ludicrous in its plot machinations. The impact and import of the jazz performances here was and is overstated, and I defy anyone to justify the actions of Miranda Richardson’s character in the finale based on everything else we’ve seen in the film.

[Randall Maysin]

This movie stinks. Unlike McCabe & Mrs. Miller or even Vincent & Theo, I didn't even enjoy the period atmosphere/performances or just letting the film wash over me. Oliver Stapleton's cinematography and colors are mousy and dull, and the screenplay is too boring as well, to be immersive. Basically all this movie's being directed and co-written by Altman means is that this basic story is more feeble and boring than it would have been in many other hands. Belafonte is quite good, although that's rather like Chief Dan George in Little Big Man--this film and this role are the best opportunity of his career?!?! Makes me sad for them, but that's the films not either actor. JJL is a gifted but, um, rather pungent actress, and I find that she is so strong-willed a performer that she can sometimes (often? always?) become a brick wall on screen, and this quality plus the mannerisms and rotten teeth she brings to this film add up to a pretty unbearable performance.

[hearthesilence]

I like the music, but I don't think I know anyone who likes the actual film, which is why this release is such a surprise. Belafonte and the production design were the only things I liked about the dramatic elements of the film, and unfortunately, the only other thing I remember is Leigh's grating performance.

Gosford Park was quite the comeback - so much of his work from Prêt-à-Porter on was very forgettable.

[Adam X]

the only other thing I remember is Leigh's grating performance.

It's funny, that's why I remember really liking it. Along with Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.

[Rayon Vert]

I'm guess I'm one of the exceptions who likes this one. It's not a masterpiece but along with Gosford Park it's the only post-Short Cuts film of his that I consider a keeper (maybe that says as much about how mediocre-to-awful a lot of those late films are!). I also thought JJL was sub-par but the film still packs a punch in its disillusionment and brutal ending, and in its riffing on classic Altmanesque themes like betrayal and political corruption. Like many of the director's films, I don't value it so much for the story as the details, including what I actually thought to be in stark contrast to RM a handsome recreation of the period, as well a terrific Harry Belafonte and the enjoyable jazz performances.

[M Sanderson]

So it's actually from a 2k restoration coming from France. Saw the positive review for it on blu-ray dot com.

[tenia]

Might be "2K" practically speaking, but it looks like an older HD master to me. Not sure how they can score this as high as 4.25, considering its thick grain and obvious sharpening in places.