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Honkytonk Man (1982)
Honkytonk Man (1982) poster
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Honkytonk Man (1982)

Drama, Music • 2h 3m

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Kyle Eastwood, John McIntire, Alexa Kenin, Verna Bloom, Matt Clark, Barry Corbin, Jerry Hardin, Tim Thomerson, Macon McCalman, Joe Regalbuto, Gary Grubbs, Rebecca Clemons, Johnny Gimble, Linda Hopkins, Bette Ford, Robert V. Barron, Lloyd Nelson, Charles Cyphers, Tracey Walter, Marty Robbins, John Russell, Ray Price

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IMDbThe Movie Database (TMDB)

Best English-friendly, video & audio release

Amazon Streaming Release

HD Streaming

Updated 4 months ago


Additional info

The Amazon Streaming release is the only HD release so far, and looks to be a faithful, non-upscaled copy of the film, so preferable to the old DVD.

The Streaming release also has a 2.0 mix which is likely the original mix and preferable to the 5.1 mix on the old DVD. 


About the film

During the Great Depression, a young boy leaves his family's Oklahoma farm to travel with his country musician uncle who is trying out for the Grand Ole Opry.

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Director: Clint Eastwood

Best English-Friendly:

US Paramount/International Warner Bros Blu-ray

Best Video:

US Paramount

Video Notes:

US Paramount > International Warner Bros Blu-ray

Best Audio:

International Warner Bros Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

International Warner Bros Blu-ray has a lossless PCM 5.1 track

Director: Clint Eastwood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros Blu-ray with TrueHD audio

Director: Clint Eastwood

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Dolby Stereo mix

Additional Info:

According to one source: "Best audio is the original dolby stereo that is included on the UHD Blu-ray. It sounds miles better than anything released on DVD, Blu-ray (they sound much more muffled), and when compared to the atmos...However, it's not without its faults, as WB had to spoil and boost it causing clipping, still it's the best audio available for the time being."

Director: Clint Eastwood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

Director: Clint Eastwood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Director: Clint Eastwood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Director: Clint Eastwood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 2014 Blu-ray

Video Notes:

WB Blu-ray (2014 and 2006 should be the same transfer) and Germany Blu-ray looks the same, Spain release has forced subtitles.

Best Audio:

WB 2014 10th Anniversary Edition

Audio Notes:

WB 2014 10th Anniversary Edition upgraded audio to loseless.

Director: Clint Eastwood

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Director: Clint Eastwood

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Director: Clint Eastwood

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Mono: Streaming

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TV series

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Amazon Streaming

Upcoming Release:

US GKIDS/UK Anime, Ltd. Blu-ray announced

Best Video & Audio:

Japan Pony Canyon Blu-ray

Director: Jean Rouch

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Amazon HD Streaming

Sources: amazon.com (opens in a new tab)

Director: Robert Flaherty

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Amazon HD Streaming

Sources: amazon.com (opens in a new tab)

Director: Shinji Aoyama

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Amazon Streaming

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

The master on Streaming is sourced from a new restoration with much better detail and no blown whites than AU Imprint Blu-ray, but unfortunately cropped in and not in proper sepia tones. Caps

Director: Frank Borzage

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Amazon US HD Streaming

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Amazon US HD Streaming is from the 2018 UCLA restoration. Olive Films Blu-ray is from an older scan and quite rough. caps

Best Audio:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Olive Films Blu-ray is again rough, with distortion, crackle and other issues, but sounds much more natural. With some EQ the restored track can be significantly improved

Director: David Butler

Video format: Only Unofficial Sources

Sources: archive.org (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

The DVD isn't an official one, and according to a user review on Amazon:

This DVD comes from Archive.org, where the movie can be viewed for free. The original source, comes from the Fox Movie Channel

Director: Mariano Llinás

Best English-Friendly:

Germany Absolut Medien OOP Blu-ray

Best Video:
Video Notes:

Alternatively, HD Streaming on Apple TV or Amazon from Grasshopper

Director: Barry Mahon

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

SD: OOP Something Weird DVD

HD: Amazon Prime Streaming (with RiffTrax commentary)

Best Audio:

OOP Something Weird DVD

Director: Mark Sandrich

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Amazon HD Streaming

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · amazon.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

IVC Japan Blu-ray is clearly from a higher generation film element and looks terrible. Comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/XUTwiv7B

Director: Harold Ramis

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original theatrical release featured the song "I'm So Excited", which was later replaced with "Little Boy Sweet". The former is included on 1983 VHS/LaserDisc releases, and was at one point available on Amazon and Vudu Streaming streams.

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Bernard Rose

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Scream Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Turbine 4K Blu-Ray

Additional Info:

SF and Turbine also have the 2004 Audio Commentary with Bernard Rose, Clive Barker, Alan Poul and actors Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd and Kasi Lemmons

Director: Jerry Schatzberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Director: Kenji Iwaisawa

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Netflix Streaming

Upcoming Release:

US GKIDS Blu-ray announced

Best Audio:

Japan Pony Canyon Blu-ray for original 7.1 mix

Netflix Streaming for English dub

Director: Rob Reiner

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · instagram.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> US Kino Lorber/Germany Capelight - caps and audio comparison on this page. Discussion is still ongoing about the 2.0 but as none of the three 4Ks seem to have the true original mix, I think it's fair to leave them all in the blue tier for now and only note that Kino Lorber has the worst PQ.

Best Audio:

Nelson Entertainment USA LaserDisc

Additional Info:

The initial release of the Capelight 4K mediabook had some playback issues with Dolby Vision on Panasonic devices due to an encoding error, the HDR10 apparently works fine, see Capelight’s official response here. 

The 4K master has a shot at the very end of the movie (on James Caan's face) that looks incredibly soft and not good at all. This was visible on the DCP as well so it might just be a source issue rather than being the fault of Kino, Capelight or Arrow.

Director: Orson Welles

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

WB Europe 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

WB Europe 4K Blu-ray slightly better encoding than Criterion (caveat: missing Criterion extras)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Theatrical Cut: Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray
Redux Cut: Lionsgate vs Eagle Pictures?
Final Cut: Lionsgate or Eagle Pictures, both are not great (visible chroma noise)

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Theatrical: Germany 4K Blu-ray/US Blu-ray DD 5.1 (1979 mix)

Additional Info:

In the Lionsgate US/UK 6-disc set, there are 4 discs of the main feature. For whatever reason, the 4K discs lack the *original track. The Germany 4K Blu-ray release is different on this matter.

  1. UBD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0

  2. UBD: Redux/Theatrical: Atmos

  3. BD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0

  4. BD: Redux/Theatrical: Dtru5.1 (Redux mix?), DD5.1 (?), DD5.1 (Theatrical only), DD2.0 (downmix??)

    1. As a result the Theatrical Cut has 4 tracks, The Redux has 3. Differences are unclear.

  5. BD: Hearts of Darkness

  6. BD: Special Features

Director: John Ford

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Fox Blu-ray

Director: Sylvester Stallone

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)

Additional Info:

All foreign language tracks were pitched too low, replacement disc and Ultimate Knockout Collection disc fixed the error. 

The Steelbook and UK standard edition are the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection. 

Director: John G. Avildsen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray 

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray 

Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray 

Director: John G. Avildsen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray 

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray 

Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray 

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Researched and maintained by

bedioyskin

· last reviewed 4 months ago

Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.