American Flyers (1985)
Drama • 1h 53m
Director: John Badham
Cast: Kevin Costner, David Marshall Grant, Rae Dawn Chong, Alexandra Paul, Janice Rule, Luca Bercovici, Robert Townsend, John Amos, Jennifer Grey, Doi Johnson, John Garber, James Terry, Jessica Nelson, Tom Lawrence, Brian Drebber, Judith Jordan, Katherine Kriss, Jan Speck, Sig Frohlich, John J. Caraccioli, Barbara Barron, Robert Anderson, Peter Boyles, K.C. Carr, Martin Chenoweth, Jim Flanagin, Steven Burch, Kate Sullivan, Gregg Hayden Bilson II, Christie Blackwell, Michael Harshberger, Brad Peterman, Chris Ziesmer, Emanuel Alongi, Eddy Merckx, John Barvik, John Bowen, Wesley Falker, Lindsay Hankins, Ray Hilliard, Fritz Johnston, Scott Noakes, Brian Searchinger, Bruce Thompson, Splinter Wrenn, Pat Ahern, Matt Barnes, Robert Barnes, Jeff Burrows, Keith M Chatfield, Jeff Cloud, Larry Douture, Tim Draeger, Boe Freeburn, Richard Getz, Bob Grummel, Charles Hansen, Jeff Hartmann, Tom Hartmann, Scott Havlick, Tim Herrin, Sam Hilliard, John Holcombe, Greg Joder, Craig Kappes, Keith Keever, Uli Kick, Dan Klaussen, Tommy Knox, Todd Kube, Dave Langdon, Kean Leader, Jeff May, Eric Michieli, Bryan Miller, Phil Miller, Dirk Mynatt, Bill Nelson, Mark Peterman, Doug Peterson, Lindon Schultz, Randy Sclar, Mark Southard, Dave Taylor, Peter Thron, Danny Valerio, Steven Van Zandt, Robert Ware, Scott Weber, Bruce Whitesel, Rod Yoder, Pat Zeller, Robert Bruce Baird, G. Larry Butler, Fawn, Gregory Krieger, Craig Manning, Lucille Mues, Thomas J. O'Connor, Kenneth Shelley, Tony Teebo, Ken Tipton, Kimberly Wallendorff
Compare the discs
About the film
When Dr. Marcus Sommers realizes that he and his troubled, estranged brother David may be prone a fatal brain disease that runs in their family, he decides to make peace with his sibling, and invites him on a trip to the Rockies. There, the brothers bond over their shared enthusiasm for cycling and decide to enter a grueling bike race through the mountains. However, Marcus' health soon begins to fail, and David must compete without his brother at his side.
- Alternative Titles
- American Flyers
Director: John Badham
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray in November
The 5.1 track sounds very good and is said to be sourced from the original 6-track mix used for 70mm blow-up releases, but there is no conclusive proof of that.
Director: John Badham
(Arrow 4K Blu-ray? while it lacks the 70mm mix)
4K restoration of the original 3D left eye and right eye camera negatives
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Vincent Sherman
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: George Pal
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Compton Bennett
4K restoration from original technicolor negatives
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematrographe's HDR grading is overcooked, which is a known VinSyn tendency. Additionally, their booklet mis-credits the encode to FiM.
YMMV, but for some, the included BD encoded by Marcus Johnson—ironically may make for a more pleasing experience.
Director: Roman Polanski
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK 4K teased by 88 Films https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=24252379
Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray > Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Arrow has a different grade and a better encode than the Shout! Factory, though the difference in either is not major. Imprint release, which leaves Shout! Factory's master and subtitles as is, is encoded by FiM. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24473097&postcount=56
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (similar to Criterion LaserDisc, but less distorted)
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Arrow used the alternate mix, but with extra filtering and lowered dynamic range. The alternate mix has much better fidelity.
Imprint presumably used the Shout! Factory original mix and left it as is, though no official confirmation.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sidney Lumet
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
The 4K discs in both Criterion and Imprint sets are FiM encodes, but low-passed, Imprint minimally less so. Unfortunately, unlike with The Killing, Kino does not hold up at all, the grain is much rougher and the compression visibly struggles making for a much less pleasant watch, even if select stills look better.
All discs use the same source transfer. Criterion cleaned up some hums and hiss, but lost a little bit of high-end detail. Unlike The Killing, the difference's relatively mino.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematographe is an FiM encode
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