JFK (1991)
Drama, Thriller, History • 3h 9m
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon, Michael Rooker, Jack Lemmon, Laurie Metcalf, Sissy Spacek, Joe Pesci, John Candy, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jay O. Sanders, Walter Matthau, Sally Kirkland, Donald Sutherland, Ed Asner, Brian Doyle-Murray, Ray LePere, Vincent D'Onofrio, Tom Howard, Lolita Davidovich, Jim Garrison, Wayne Knight, Gary Grubbs, Beata Pozniak, Tony Plana, John William Galt, Ron Jackson, Sean Stone, John S. Davies, Tomas Milian, Raul Aranas, Gail Cronauer, Gary Carter, James N. Harrell, Ellen McElduff, Jo Anderson, Marco Perella, Edwin Neal, Darryl Cox, T.J. Kennedy, J.J. Johnston, R. Bruce Elliott, William Larsen, Wayne Tippit, Dale Dye, Jerry Douglas, Ryan MacDonald, Duane Grey, George R. Robertson, Baxter Harris, John Seitz, Alex Rodine, Sam Stoneburner, Bob Gunton, John Finnegan, Walter Breaux, Melodee Bowman, Peter Maloney, Richard Rutowski, Bill Bolender, Price Carson, Gil Glasgow, Bob Orwig, Hugh Feagin, George Kelly, Victor Kempster, John Larroquette, Maria Mason, Ron Rifkin, Frank Whaley, Kevin Beard, Jeffrey Bornstein, Marie Del Marco, Alan Donnes, Orlando Gallegos, Robert J. Groden, Chuck Kelley, Codie Scott, Martin Sheen, John F. Kennedy, Anthony Ramirez, Stanley White, Fidel Castro, Jacqueline Kennedy, John Connally, Richmond Hoxie, Allison Pratt Davis, Scott Krueger, Ngô Đình Diệm, Agnes Aurelio, Gary Taggart, E.J. Morris, Cheryl Penland, Jim Gough, Perry R. Russo, Mike Longman, Ann Strub, Pat Perkins, Amy Long, Red Mitchell, Ronald von Klaussen, Michael Ozag, John C. Martin, Henri Alciatore, Willem Oltmans, Roxie M. Frnka, Zeke Mills, Ray Redd, Sally Nystuen Vahle, Spain Logue, Carolina McCullough, Barry Chambers, Linda Flores Wade, Alec Gifford, Eric A. Vicini, Michael Gurievsky, Caroline Crosthwaite-Eyre, Helen Miller, Harold G. Herthum, Norman Davis, Errol McLendon, Bruce Gelb, Nathan Scott, Jorge Fernández, Doug Jackson, Murray Stokes, Odin K. Langford, John St. Paul, Roy Barnitt, Alvin Spicuzza, Carolyn T. Wright, Henry Tull III, Michael Skipper, I.D. Brickman, Joseph Nadell, Chris Robinson, Chris Renna, Johnny Brink, David Benn, Dalton Dearborn, Merlyn Sexton, Steve F. Price Jr., Ruary O'Connell, Christopher Kosiciuk, John Reneau, Larry Melton, Carol Farabee, Willie Minor, Ted Pennebaker, Bill Pickle, Mykel Chaves, Loys T. Bergeron, Kristina Hare
Best video release
Director's Cut: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: Shout! Factory Blu-ray (included with collector's edition)
Upcoming
Theatrical Cut 4K Blu-ray in August
Best audio release
Theatrical Cut: The Shout UHD DTS-HD 2.0
Theatrical Cut: The Shout UHD DTS-HD 2.0 seems to be the same mix overall as the 1992 laserdisc PCM 2.0 but its not a straight port. Even though there are some minor differences, it does not seem to be a downmix of the 5.1. It could possibly be a new mastering. It has just a tiny bit more dynamic range than the laserdisc, but the laserdisc has a bit more presence in the lower and midrange frequencies.
UHD tiers
About the film
Follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison.
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Director: Jean Vigo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
France Rimini 4K Blu-ray see caps vs Artificial Eye Blu-ray
Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti & Charles Crichton & Basil Dearden & Robert Hamer
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Otakar Vávra
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray see nic review
Restored: Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored: Czech PAL DVD
Preferences will vary, the restored track sounds good, but not necessarily faithful to the original elements.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
(Indicator 4K Blu-ray, based on review)
Director: Anthony Mann
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2008 Universal DVD mono
The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original Laserdisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin.
The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.
Director: Basil Dearden
Excellent 4K master and encode, except for opticals grain is very fine, grading is beautifully silvery and luminous, nice HDR re-grade by Fidelity in Motion
Director: Oliver Stone
Sources: hometheaterforum.com (opens in a new tab) · x.com (opens in a new tab)
A improved Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray teased by Oliver Stone
Better than 2022 Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray due to poor encode and heavy DNR (review)
Director: Oliver Stone
2025 Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Atmos remix: 2025 Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Original 5.1 surround mix: 2007 Paramount Blu-ray (lossy AC-3 640k)
The original mix has better dynamics range. The 5.1 tracks on the SF release are downmixes.
Target exclusive 3 disc DVD have extras omitted from the Shout! Factory release
Director: Oliver Stone
Sources: lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
Twilight Time Blu-ray or MGM NTSC DVD for the original mono mix
Shout! Factory 4K only has a stereo downmix (which sounds muffled, as do the surround tracks)
Twilight Time Blu-ray has the mono track with seemingly the best fidelity, but its dynamic range has been heavily compressed
MoC UK Blu-ray has a proper dynamics and good fidelity, but bizzarely, everything is repeated after a few miliseconds, rendering echoey and metallic
MGM NTSC DVD has been denoised and has had a strong EQ applied and sounds muffled as a result, but it retains proper dynamics
Koch Media DE BD had poor dynamics and wrong pitch
Perhaps the digital JP LD would be better.
Director: Oliver Stone
Director: Oliver Stone
Director's Cut: WB Director's Cut DVD
Final Cut: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
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.
Director: Michael Cimino
2020 Shout! Factory 4K
2020 Shout! Factory 4K slightly better than StudioCanal in HDR10. Similar in DV
35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc
70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc marginally better than StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is downmix.
70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is remix.
Director: Rob Reiner
Arrow 4K Blu-ray releasing December 14 2026
Like many of Capelight's other releases, the 4K Blu-ray is low-passed but still looks good.
30th Anniversary Shout! Factory BD has the original stereo mix
Director: Gary Ross
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film. See comparison
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Disk Kino/WCL China import
review: Disk Kino
Both have better encoding than Disk Kino, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow
Shout Factory still has the best video while Arrow did a questionable regrade. Arrow definitely has less grain in most shots, has a worse encode and is cm v2.9 compared to Shout’s cm v4.0.
Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono
Director: Gus Van Sant
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Shout! Factory and Carlotta use the same scan https://slow.pics/c/Wcn5YFlw, the Carlotta has two extra bonus features
Director: Michael Mann
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Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.